In an email I received from Tunisair Express, it said we had to check-in two hours before international flights. While I suspected this was more of a suggestion, we didn’t want to chance missing the one flight going to Malta today. After a mediocre breakfast, we got in the car and drove 25 minutes off to the airport.
First, it took a few minutes to find a physical entrance to the airport. There was only one. Surprisingly, Avis didn’t find any other damage to the car, so we got our deposit back. That would be the high point of our airport experience. We went upstairs to check-in. There was no check-in for Tunisair Express. A worker sent us downstairs. We asked around again. A worker sent us upstairs. Another worker sent us downstairs. We eventually found the check-in counters down a corridor that was filled with the aroma of sweat, smoke, and a distinct lack of air conditioning. Check-in went smoothly, and there was a small departures lounge there with a café and a smoker’s zoo where we could watch them asphyxiate through the other side of the glass. We sat there for almost an hour until a man told us that the departure lounge with its own security and passport control was not actually our gate. Guess where he sent us? That’s right. Back effing upstairs.
We found nothing happening at our gate, so we went to a Priority Pass lounge in hopes of getting something to drink. They had nothing. It was also a little crowded, hot, and airless. We left in about 60 seconds and bought two bottles of water at a Paul’s Express. They wouldn’t take Tunisian dinars, just euro. Come again? It would be unusual to go into O’Hare and find out they don’t take US dollars, just Mexican pesos, so this was a bit perplexing.
Without any announcements being made one way or the other, we eventually boarded a bus about 20 minutes after our scheduled departure time, parked at the plane, drove off to do a lap of the airport and parked back at the same plane before finally boarding. Rather than use the international safety standard of using a push crew and tug to back up into position and start engines, we simply used thrust reversers to back up on to the taxi way. We departed over 45 minutes late in our ATR-72 turboprop.
Customs and baggage claim went pretty smoothly. Getting the rental car required a bit of a walk, but was also otherwise smooth. Malta drives right-hand drive cars on the left side of the road. This is something we had known at some point, but had also kind of forgotten until we were confused at which door to get into. The smooth process of arriving in Malta ended abruptly upon exiting the parking garage. Traffic was a bit chaotic.
We made our way from the airport to the ferry dock, which you’d think would be a fairly direct route on main roads. It was not. We were on roads that were so narrow that at times one vehicle would have to back up to a wider spot to let another by. After switchbacks and dealing with the stress of starting from a stop on steep hills using a manual on the “wrong” side of the road, we finally arrived at the Cirkewwa ferry terminal to the island of Gozo.
Being rational people, we figured we would have to buy tickets to ride the ferry to Gozo, so while I stayed in the car, Nicole went into the ferry company’s building nearby. Tickets are only purchased on the return leg apparently. She somehow got stuck inside the building with no exit. The sliding glass doors were one-directional and wouldn’t open. A man told her, “Wrong way!” while she tried to leave an unleave-able building. While all this was happening, cars began driving onto the ferry. I texted Nicole to just leave the building (unaware that this was not possible). The car in front of me pulled away. I started slowly driving forward as Nicole sprinted out of the building, jumping into the car just as we made a turn onto the ferry.
After a short twenty minute voyage across to Gozo, we drove to our place at the View Point Boutique Living Hotel, which I had booked a few days earlier on ID90. Our room (the Harruba) is actually pretty nice. Lots of outdoor space, spacious, and overlooks the hills of Gozo down toward the town of Xlendi (pronounced Shlendi). We had a very important item of business to attend to however and couldn’t linger long in our new digs. Laundry. I was down to my last bloomers! Nicole had located a laundromat about 12 minutes away.
We got close with relative ease, but the problem with Maltese roads is that they just kind of . . .stop. . .very abruptly. Between construction projects and sudden one-way streets we found ourselves in an infinite loop that we couldn’t escape. Getting to the laundromat was suddenly seeming like an impossibility. We were yelled at by a traffic cop for trying to cut through a one-way as if we should have known better. Come on man, I’m not from around here. I’m Brian from Madrid! We eventually managed to park a couple of blocks away, but then a couple of old Maltese men who spend their days loitering on their balconies judging what happens below them told us we couldn’t park there because trucks like to park there. And so would two kids trying to do their laundry, but we thought it best to move. After 35 minutes on a “12 minute drive,” we parked a ways away at a public parking lot and schlepped our suitcases full of dirty laundry to the laundromat.
It was a lot. In between cycles, we walked out to the coastal area of Marsalforn. Though Malta’s weather is often similar to Los Angeles, it seems to be going through a bit of a heatwave right now, so the sun felt fairly intense as we waited. As far as laundry waits go, the view wasn’t too bad for this one.
It was now about 6:30pm. We had missed lunch. We were barely settled into our hotel. Today was a lot. The benefit of the wait for laundry is that it gave us time to pick out a place for dinner. I suggested the Ta’Karolina restaurant down the hill in Xlendi. It was a rather popular establishment. I ordered ravioli, whilst Nicole had some focaccia and warm brie with honey. We were also served some other bread and bruschetta. Being close to Italy, Malta has a lot of Italian-inspired dishes and this meal really hit. After some pretty mediocre pizzas and meals the last week, this was like Michelin 5-Star dining. We split a bottle of Maltese white wine called Green Label. I figured we’d bring it back to the room after dinner, but all of a sudden it was gone. Perhaps it was the stress of the day.
Tomorrow we have no definite plans other than eating good food and just relaxing. It’s about time.
passports & pepto bismol 