Yes, another trip Day 1+ 2

Finally. This trip was booked about 3 years ago. And rebooked, and rebooked and rebooked. I am sure you know why. A lot of thought has gone into it especially lately. I kept thinking "when I finally sit in the plane I can't change anything any more if I forgot something or so and I will finally relax and look forward". 

Some time ago we had bought 4 AirTags from apple but had not set them up. Yikes, nothing like doing things last minute like the night before when you are packing. It rained on and off on Sunday and in the evening we had quite a downpour. No internet! Really? That had not happen in a long time. First we try getting it back on but no luck. I had thought all the AirTags needed was the telephone but no, Wifi was needed too. We jump into the car and courtesy of Target which is probably not even a mile down the road it took virtually seconds with each one. It could not be any easier. One in each suitcase and one in each backpack. Another 5-minute-job done.

But we had looked forward. And finally on Monday September 12 at 10 o'clock we put ourselves and the luggage into an Uber and off we went to the Richmond Airport. We were told to be very early and since we were ready we did what we were told. But everything went really well so we were too early. An early lunch seemed a good idea. And it was. Sinful expensive but at least it was tasty. And we didn't leave anything perishable in our kitchen.

At 1:10 pm we are sitting finally in the plane. The stewardess took this photo. And of we go RIC to JFK.

Nuts or chips or a granola bar and non-alcoholic to drink. My after lunch coffee was just right.

Ha-ha, after we had landed in NY I got a message! Nice to know. 

We had plenty of time between flights at JFK and were allowed into a Delta lounge. Yes, time to celebrate.

And off, sitting in the second of the the flight sections. JFK to CDG (Paris). We were quite comfortable. James had enough legroom. A cabin screen showed the whole time the progress. Interesting to see start and landing.

Of course it is a night flight so first comes dinner. Oh, gosh, airline food always seem to be reason to make a joke about but it has gotten worse. That should be good for the scale but one meal probably won't help.

The mystery dessert. There was no taste to identify.

At 4:57 pm when we were leaving NY it had said 5848km/3634mi and Time to Destination 6h 51min.

Yeah, we are landing. 

But Paris Airport was not pleasant. We had to change terminals and the way they sent us was out of security zones which seemed several times. Every time when re-entering my new knee set of the detector and every time I was padded down. I thought it was 3 times and James thought 4 times. 

The tickets were booked by OAT at AirFrance. The first was a Delta plane. Nice. The second AirFrance. OK. The third was AirMalta. For whatever reason the Air Malta boarding passes could not be printed. We should do that in Paris. But security in Paris did not like the piece of paper we had about the AirMalta flight and they didn't want us to let back in. A supervisor had to be asked. Grrrrr.

That relatively small flight had no upgrade zone and James had almost no leg room. But otherwise it was a good flight. Look at this picture taken over the Alps. I had just woken up at the right time from a little snooze (after all we missed a night).

Malta in sight. Don't know why the clouds look so bad. The weather was nice.

We were welcomed at the airport by OAT. We didn't know that 9 of our group had been in the plane. We were brought to The Victoria Hotel and welcomed. The passengers on the small boat are divided into two groups. The Guide for our group is Vanessa. We have a welcome drink with her in the lobby. She tells us that our rooms are not ready yet and suggests a short little orientation walk around the block. She shows us the way to the water front with lots of restaurants etc. We pass a pub which she recommends, a Lidl and a pharmacy. Some walk further and some back. We stop at the pub because we are parched. Didn't have much liquid intake today.

We didn't have lunch yet either and it is about 3:30 pm. The menu has some light fair. I HAVE TO try the Maltese Ftira (difficult to say).

But our main reason: there was WiFi and we could get our phones and clocks synced to local time. See James holding his Fitbit close to the iPhone?

My Maltese Ftira was very good with capers, tuna, tomato and olives on Maltese bread. Very tasty. But we should have shared one order. It was a lot.

Back to The Victoria Hotel. It is very nice.

Our room is ready.

After sorting ourselves out a little AND having a shower our group is supposed to be in a conference room at 6:30 pm. Since we now have the correct time it is a little easier, ha-ha. There is wine and nibbles and then we sit in a circle and introduce ourselves.  

We are 17 in our group and they all seem to be fun people. We loved a lot at the introductions. 

Afterwards there was still time for a walk. James and I go down to the river. It is a lovely warm night with a slight breeze. 

Lots of people are now out and about. And a lot of (mainly young) people enjoying outdoor restaurants with live music. 

We decide to have some more liquid. The local beer is very tasty and very light. We decide to try a Malta pizza thinking even a little one would be plenty for us to share. But even that was too much. How could have one person alone have eaten that? It looked wonderful but was difficult to eat and some of the toppings were cold. Interesting.

Walking home (uphill) which still felt good. I worked on this blog somewhat but at 11 pm it is time to turn off the lights. James set the alarm for 7 am tomorrow morning.