— Hey guys, my internet time at the hotel ran out mid-post so I finished and published this after I got home
Second (and probably last) post from Malta. After the disagreements on where to go and what to do intially, degrees of compromise and unity have sprung up which has made the whole thing much easier and extremely enjoyable.
The day after my last post (Friday), the ten of us went down to the country’s main port, Sliema, and got on a boat that took us around the island-country so we could take in the sites and views. It was an fantastic 3 hour ride but in the last half hour or so the motion got to me but still fantastic! The boat then stopped off at the island just off the northern coast of Malta called Comino where we went to the Blue Lagoon, a beach of clear seawater where you can see all the fish and sealife. We all perched our stuff on a big rock that we waded out to and me and Jess swam to the other side of the beach (there was another beach and cave directly opposite our beach). Jess is practically part-fish so she was warning me if I was about to swim into a jellyfish, they’re quite small so it would’ve only really stinged but still better to avoid. We all hung around this beach for a few hours and then had to get the boat ride back. That evening we went to the cocktail bar that Becky has gone to the numerous times she’s been here (Smallts) and had a few drinks. I found out a bit later that, even though they checked our tickets, we had gotten onto the wrong boat for the cruise, the boat we had paid for was only supposed to take us up to Comino and back again but we had gotten on the round-Malta one (which was double the price so we saved about 20 euros there).
Saturday consisted of getting the bus into the capital city of Valletta to go shopping, I picked up a few little things for my mum and sister but nothing particularly special, Jenn might read my blog so I won’t divulge details yet. We did split off for a bit with some people wanting to do more shopping, some (Tim and Croucher) wanting to go to the war museum and some (including me) wanting to go back to the hotel for a swim. This was an example of where splitting off turned out to be ideal because then we were all happy doing what we want and no-one was left on their own or unable to do their own thing. That evening none of us could be bothered to go out so we went to the local off-license (or it’s Maltese equivalent) and bought a load of alcoholic drinks and fruit juices and had a cocktail party on Kym and Jo’s apartment balcony. I created a drink of mainly rum, vodka and a messy combination of fruit juices that people seemed to enjoy, there’s still a reasonable amount of alcohol left that we’re not sure what to do with (though we all have a fair idea). Jess and Becky were already staying over to sleep on their balcony to stargaze and invited me to stay as well, which meant I could sleep under the stars and Joe could have the fan in our apartment to himself so everybody wins.
Yesterday (Sunday) was a day we had purposely left unplanned, for me holidays abroad always involve simply sitting by a pool and swimming but others, and rightly so, think differently. I persuaded the others to allow just one day where we don’t all have to be up at a certain time to do this and that and just see what becomes of the day. In the end me, Kym, Jo, Becky, Tim, Jess, Muffin and Croucher spent the early morning in the pool (something I had to stop doing abruptly as the sunburn on my back started to itch really badly) and then in the afternoon went for a stroll through the shops along the coastline where we’re staying and then to the beach where we perched sunbathing or swimming (me doing the former with my t-shirt firmly on lest I burn more) for a good three hours before we decided to go back for dinner. On the way to the beach, Tim and Croucher disappeared to go and get their swimming stuff and never returned, we soon found out why. That evening there was a bit of an arguement, it’s not worth getting into it but Phil, Lexie and Tim went to try and find Cathy (a friend from college who does scuba diving, who were running a diving trip in Malta, which Phil is attending today) and hang out with her for the evening. They weren’t able to find her so rejoined us, who had stumbled across a Karaoke bar……
We had fully intended to enter in as a joke. Me, Jo, Kym and Jess got up and sang possibly the worse ever rendition of Lady Gaga’s ‘Poker Face’, so much so that the guy running it said “back to the music” when we were done and the next guy came on. Croucher entered on his own and sang ‘Take it Easy’ by The Eages, he was awesome and, given that by this point I had entered myself to sing a solo, I considered dropping out for fear that he was too good for me. I should here mention that it wasn’t a competition and just for fun. I stayed on Jo and Kym’s balcony that night again, admitedly sleeping on a far more comfortable sun-lounger but still.
I had selected to sing ‘Sugar We’re Going Down’ by Fallout Boy which I worried was too hard a song. The music started and I realised that I much rather have tried and made a twat of myself than not. I sang and got a huge applause at the end (louder from my mates admitedly but still), when I sat down I heard people muttering that I was actually quite good which they were evidently suprised at after Poker Face.
——This is where I got cut off so the remainder was written at home
Monday was a slow morning, and we intended to find the only aqua-park in Malta for the afternoon and hang out there. Phil was away at his scuba diving, as I mentioned. It took a bit of persuasion and the offer of subbing Tim (who was low on funds) to get him and Lexie to come with us (Lexie was going to stay with Tim to keep him company). If the aqua-park was too expensive we weren’t going to bother and go to one of only two sandy beaches in the country (the rest, like the one near us in Bugibba, are rocky), I was entrusted to find out prices before we left but couldn’t find them. The only bus we could get had to go down to Golden Bay Beach (one of the sandy beaches) before the park and we figured that it was free and we were there we might as well just go to the beach. We all perched by the sand for a little while and paddled before we realised that there was stuff to do. Those of us who went (Croucher and Lexie decided that they didn’t want to do any of them despite our attempts, Phil was diving) rented out peddle-boats and went for an explore around the area. I’m not great with rocking boats so I mainly stayed in the peddling side of things while me and Kym alternated steering, the part-fish Jess, along with Muffin and Tim were jumping in and swimming between boats. When our time was up, Kym, Tim, Jess and Becky decided to go paragliding, I could neither afford nor had the balls to join them so me and Jo retreated to a cafe that overlooked the beach with Jess’ camera and took pictures of the other’s paragliding while Muffin got a view from the ground (Croucher and Lexie soon joined us).
That evening we met up with Phil at dinner and considered what to do that evening. We got a call from Cathy (who we were unable to reach the night before) saying that we should all meet up at Geriatric Square (an area near our hotel where all the bars and big shops are), we split up for a bit to find her when we arrived and I passed her on the street and did a bit of a double-take. It was odd that, even though I expected to see her and was indeed looking for her, even though we’re more than 1000 miles from our country, we should still run into someone from Collyers on the street. It was her last evening so she was having a night out with her diving mates so we didn’t want to get in their way, we all had a chat for a while then we all went down along the coastline to catch the night-life. I say night-life when we really just went to the bumper cars and wasted what little money we all had left. Then we did split off somewhat but most of us went down and sat on the same bit of St.Paul’s Bay that we had gone to on Sunday and looked out along the coast (yes, I realise I’m painting somewhat Romantic view of the holiday but this is how it was) for a bit. Once again I slept on Jo and Kym’s balcony, I spent ten minutes in my apartment and realised just how stuffy it is in there and the balcony was much better.
We were all up early for the last full-day, we had asked about how to get to the Blue Grotto, a collection of naturally carved cliffs that formed fantastic caves and rock features along with the glittering, crystal clear water that made it blue. It took two hours to travel and the time we all woke up made us all a bit grumbly and tired but after we got on the boats that took us around the rocks we were all glad we did. Afterwards, Jo and Kym went off looking for food (we had skipped breakfast) and the rest of us sat on the rocks overlooking the sea for a while and a few of us swam for a bit. I went off looking for Jo and Kym and found them sitting in an air-conditioned cafe that was excellent, that was by far the hottest day and the amount of (uphill) walking made us all a bit tired. After a few hours Becky wanted to show us this small water theme park called ‘Popeye Village’, which is exactly what it sounds like, part of the set where they made the Popeye film. Phil and Lexie had decided they didn’t want to come to it so they stayed at Blue Grotto while we went, it was fun in a ‘look at all these adults acting like cartoon characters’ and it was nearly empty. Plus there was an area that looked out onto cliffs and led into the sea so we all went for a swim for about two minutes because Jess got stung under her arm by a jellyfish (they’re tiny little buggers that hurt but aren’t lethal or dangerous) and we looked around at the shops. I ran into the guy walking around pretending to be Popeye and had a ‘Popeye-Noise’ contest with him, he beat me.
We spent the last evening walking along the coast again and looking for bars, we went into one called ‘Miracles’ which was awesome, really good music and good drinks. After we left that bar, Phil and Lexie went back to the hotel, the rest of us decided we didn’t want to go to any more bars so we went back to our favourite bit of the coast, chatted for a bit and then came back to the hotel. The vodka I had bought for the cocktail party we had was only half empty and though I debated bothering to take it home, I eventually gave it to Tim and Croucher so they could do what they want with it and slept on the balcony once more. Technically I slept more on the balcony than in my own room but still.
Today was another early start, after a fumbling attempt at packing by the others (I’d lived out of my suitcase all week) we all had breakfast together and went to the main reception to pay off our drinks tab for the dinners of the past week. We had all worked out how much we owed (mine was just under ten euros) and asked if they could add together all the rooms into one big payment, they must’ve made a mistake or something because they only charged us around 20 euros and insisted that everything was settled so we went. Got the minibus to the airport which all went smoothly up until Lexie realised she had lost her phone. She says she had it on the minibus so it must’ve slipped out, she was pretty upset but we have the number for the bus company so I’m sure it’ll turn up.
Both ways, our flights went very smoothly and on our return to Gatwick our bags came quickly and Mum picked me and Muffin up and gave us a lift back. I can’t wait til Jen get’s home from work to give her presents. Also, I know it’s pretty odd that I have detailed everything that we’ve done here but I had such a fantastic time that I want everything I can get down on record. Besides, if people ask me what happened in Malta there’s so much to tell and I had such a fantastic time that I can just direct them here.
As expected, things didn’t always go right or to plan but they tended to only be little things, and none of them stopped me from having a good time, I did things that I never thought I would do, or was too scared to do and had the time of my life. Now I’m home and found out that my student finances have all been worked out and so it’s back to the old routine. Before my blog also resumes it’s old routine, I want to say thank you to every single one of my friends who came on this holiday for putting up with me when needed and just generally having a great time together. I expected that we’d all be sick of each other by the end of it but quite the opposite, Jo was saying how much she was going to miss not living with us all, and she’s right.
Tech reviews and news coming soon, I swear!