Travel day Sunday, Jan 11 (Go HAWKS!!)
Norberto arranged for his regular taxi driver to pick us up at 5 a.m. (Aurg!). 15 minute ride to airport and search for Ryan Air’s ticket counter.
NOTE : Ryan Air (a big Boeing customer) is a budget carrier. Our 2.5 hr flight to Malta on a 737-800 was $60 each. The reverse trip will cost us $45. What you give up for that price is:
- a seat that reclines
- a seat back pocket and it’s contents,
- an assigned seat. You can pay for the privilege, or get their random pick for free.
- an email reminder the day before the flight. You can chose to get it for a fee. See a pattern here?
- music and tv/movies. The armrests are totally free of buttons, plugs etc.
- complementary anything – nothing on the food cart is free, including water.
- a heavy carry-on. They have weight limits for carry on bags.
Dave’s suitcase, which fit as carry-on flying to Europe (and within the states) was larger than their max carry-on size, so it had to be checked – for a fee. If you make the mistake of thinking your bag WILL fit as a carry on and it doesn’t, that fee is double at the gate. We did witness 2 young ladies in this bind – trying in vain to squish their hard shell bags into the little measuring box. 🙁 There are more restrictions, all of which are detailed on their website. Ryan Air and Easyjet are great options for budget travel, just be advised to do your homework to avoid surprises.
Back to Sunday!
Flight was uneventful – we flew over the north coast of Africa, and arrived in a cloud-covered, windy (palm trees swaying) Malta.
Took local bus from the Malta airport..
to the ferry dock at north end of the island. The 30 minute ferry ride (cars & walk-ons) took us to the island of Gozo.
The island of Gozo is a part of Malta, just a little smaller and greener (less populated) island than the main island. Our lodging host (Joe) picked us up at the ferry terminal. We could have taken a taxi, or 2 different buses to get to the town of Xlendi, where our 1 week rental is located. Graciously he offered to stop at a supermarket for us to get provisions, as our little beach town of Xlendi has no grocery store – though it does have has 18 restaurants! – Laura