Month: October 2021

We were a bit more human when we woke up, so I sorted out the rest of the unpacking and we took Ellie to King George park for a nice walk.

It was sunny but very windy and Alison’s Kiosk had prepared, so we had a coffee there.

Mal started the claim for the flight, we were too tired the previous day!

We also had to do our PCR test! Another day and we wouldn’t have had to do it. Typical, another waste of £86.

In the afternoon we watched the football. Mal was happy Hammers beat Spurs…I wasn’t!  We then watched Liverpool totally thrashing Man U. Rhys and co will not be happy.

Eventually we just heard an announcement that our flight was boarding! We boarded, complete change of Easyjet staff and a “We apologise for the delay” from the captain. By this time we were all exhausted but neither Mal nor I slept on the plane. It was also so uncomfortable having already sat for so long.  I sincerely hope others will be doing the same as us and applying for compensation.

We had suggested, when we knew the delay, that Lou went to bed as she was collecting us. Bless her as we came out of the airport, she was there. Back to their house and Rhys had my car all ready to go, windows clean etc. We had a quick cup of tea, collected Ellie and home!

What a rubbish end to the holiday. The only bonus was there weren’t long queues when we arrived at Gatwick as we were the first plane landing. Do we really want to go abroad again taking into consideration no customer service from Easyjet along with all the paperwork needed now because of Covid and the queues when so many people had not done it correctly, who knows.

In the afternoon we walked to the allotment to keep us awake a bit. Lots of squash and marrow and more runner beans and sweet corn.

We decided to see if we could stay up rather than go to bed which we did but it was hard to keep our eyes open. By 8.30pm we gave in and went to bed.

We had a leisurely breakfast and then started packing. We left our cases in the lock up room and went back to the Amazonia bar by the sea. We had checked out but they still let you have drinks and meals until you leave.

At 3pm we waited in reception for our taxi to take us to the airport. He was on time and at the airport, no problems.

Our plane was due to leave at 7pm. We boarded, the engines started ready to o and then they stopped. The pilot at 7.15 “We have a slight technical problem to sort and will leave very soon.” 8pm Pilot “These faults can be variable.” At this point I text Lou to let her know we ere going to be at least an hour late. She knew more than we did and sent me this…………

The pilot was lying to us. We shared this with the people around us and we called the air hostess and showed her. “Oh I will have to speak to the pilot.”  By this time we were all complaining just sitting there. They then brought round jugs of water and gave everyone a thimble full each. We all agreed this was not good enough just sitting there while the Easyjet announcement at Gatwick was changing by the minute. They finally gave in and let us off the plane, back into the departure lounge. The last Malta flight left so there was just our plane travellers left there and the doors locked. Two local staff guarded the gate………….NO EASYJET STAFF ANYWHERE!! So again we got together and complained and demanded to know what was going on. Their answer, come and get one of these each………………

We had all now had our masks on from when we entered the airport initially and were getting pretty annoyed by it as the departure lounge was hot and nothing was opened.

After a while, when the Gatwick announcement had moved to 6 the next morning, we complained again. We had all had enough. Eventually, the airport staff gave us vouchers each person was given a voucher for 4.50 euros. No announcement, so some people didn’t even get their vouchers. We then reminded them vouchers were no good when nothing was open!!! Again no Easyjet staff were to be seen or explain.  Half hour later we noticed they had opened the passport control gate so we were free to wander round the duty free , no one on passport control as we were the only ones in there!! That was a very strange feeling. They opened one cafe which we could redeem our vouchers, not even enough for a sandwich!

We spent the rest of the night just waiting, with the two airport staff telling us they had sent for another plane from Luton!! The seats were not ideal for sleeping so people were on the floor, had even found more comfortable seats in the bars. It just seemed so weird being able to wander around the airport and no one on passport control .

The entire time NO EASYJET STAFF or announcements. Appalling.

We went to the National Aquarium.

An amusing photo they took…….

It was really interesting but not good having to wear masks all the way round when it was really humid down there.

I forgot to mention we have to wear masks all the time in the hotel, many times we have left our room and then have to trapse back for them again.

Our last night. Good music and cocktails in the bar which followed a lovely dinner in Delos. The food has been so good here.

After our trips out, we had a days sitting on the lower terrace, overlooking the sea and swimming. A lovely sunny day.

We had the sea and the choice of 4 pools.

In the afternoon Mal decided we should go to see the “Tina” show and so he booked tickets for next year!

Late afternoon we walked along the promenade.

I think we may have drunk too many Espresso Martinis as we had a job getting to sleep!

After breakfast we walked to Salina National Park and had a walk around there.

It is also known as Kennedy Grove. The gardens surround a monument dedicated to the former US president John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK), who was assassinated in November 1963. The memorial was commissioned by the Maltese government in 1964 and was co-funded by American citizens living in Malta and the US government.

When we left the park, we walked to the Selina Nature reserve. We went to the information centre first and we were told all about the salt pans and the wildlife. It was really interesting.

It was a shame we didn’t have binoculars with us.

There wasn’t any entertainment in the evening so we had a very good late dinner and then played cards in the bar and drank cocktails!

After such a lazy day, eating, drinking and watching football, Mal had planned a full day for us. It was to start with the 9.15 bus from the bus station just around the corner, going to Siemla. It gave us 15 minutes to catch a boat for a cruise. We were at the bus station at 8.50. no bus! The next one was 3/4 of an hour later which meant we would miss the cruise. Our rep had warned us that the local bus service was less than dependable.

We decided to walk to the port looking for another boat. On the way we chatted to Mandy from “Malta Sightseeing”. She was so helpful and sold us a cheaper deal, an open top bus trip and then the cruise. We debated whether to do it another day but it seemed this was going to be a hot day, so a good day. From the top of the bus..

On reaching Siemla we had 15 minutes until the boat set sail. We were out in the open on the top. Well, the black clouds gathered, the rain started, the hail and the thunder! Of course none of us had macs or umbrellas with us. We went downstairs but it was leaking in everywhere and we were all getting soaked. It would have been such a lovely photo opportunity and also was so interesting the commentary, about all the lovely places we passed!

This was the strength of the downpour as we went past the largest hovercraft in the world!

Such a shame, the only rain we had all the time we were there.

It was a bit of a joke that I had bought a new sun hat at the beginning of the day to keep the strong sun off. I suppose it kept my hair slightly dry in the rain.

We found a restaurant and went and had some lunch and dried off a bit before catching the mini bus back to the hotel.

In the evening there was a singer in Agora bar who seemed to sing every song we loved and he had a great voice. We started on the espresso martinis. Dangerous as the waitress kept renewing them before we had even finished a glass!

One thing we didn’t like during this holiday was wearing a mask everywhere in the hotel, so many times we had to backtrack to the room because we had forgotten them yet again. Rather comical when I watched one of the bar staff with no mask or gloves on making our espresso martinis and then picking up the coffee beans with bare hands!