I have been asked by several fellow FlyerTalkers to celebrate my 1,000th post by continuing my trip report, so I decided to oblige. How coincidental that my 1,000th post was posted at exactly 10:00 in the evening Mountain Daylight Time. Honestly, it was not intentional!

1,000 posts. I did not realize I wrote so much in six months since de-lurkerizing myself. Where have they all gone???

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I sure wish I would have known that information then, sowalsky. You also reminded me that I forgot to say that this was the lounge in the International terminal, as there is more than one Alitalia lounge in Malpensa Airport. Thank you.

I would like for other FlyerTalkers to contribute and add information to this trip report like sowalsky did for the sake of helping even one person who intends to use the information in this trip report for that person’s own travel itinerary and plans. Also, please alert me if any of the information which I have imparted here is in error.

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Day 3 Part II

The pale yet intense yellow of the limestone islands of Malta contrasted with the deep blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea, as what was mostly cloudy skies gave way quickly to partly cloudy skies with bright sunshine upon our descent into Malta. There were a few speckles of green dotted here and there on the Maltese islands, I noticed from the air as the airplane was landing, but what immediately struck me is how there were expanses of what appeared to be uninhabited land, all of a sudden juxtaposed with densely crowded cities. There was no real evidence of “suburbs” — Malta had either what appeared to be barren land or densely-populated cities. We landed at Malta International Airport in Luqa. Every time I saw the name Luqa, the 1987 song Luka by Suzanne Vega kept playing over and over and over again in my head.

We deplaned using a portable outdoor staircase onto the seemingly barren tarmac. The late afternoon sun was shining intensely, making the air and ground feel hotter than they actually were as I walked across the tarmac with everybody else from the airplane on our way to the terminal.

Walking into the terminal (no, there is definitely no airport lounge here!), I saw three booth stations (the top half was glass, the bottom half wood) occupied by Maltese customs officials at the end of a large yet spartan area. I waited for the few people on line in front of me until I was next, when I was informed that I had to fill out a customs form. Why did we not fill one of these out on the airplane?, I wondered. There was no sign indicating that a form had to be filled out, nor was it obvious where — or what — the forms were. It turns out that these forms were little bits of paper a little larger than the size of one’s hand. They were clearly (or, should I say, not so clearly) photocopies of a copy of whatever the original form looked like. On this form, which was annoying to fill out, were at least four questions (not their exact wording) varying the nationality: “What nationality are you?”, “What country were you born in?”, “What country do you currently reside in?”, and I forgot what the fourth question was in which I answered United States. Once the form was completed, I had to wait in line again.

After I was finished with customs, whose agents were courteous but not what I would call friendly, I went downstairs and left the customs area with nothing to declare. Between the advertisements and the various services available on the lower level, there was a lot more color. I rented a car with Hertz, so I proceed to the Hertz booth. The agent behind the counter claimed my reservation was cancelled, but made a new one for me, which took quite a bit of time. This was a minor annoyance, but I got the same low rate of 26.70 Maltese liri, or approximately US$74.75, for four days — at least, it was low until the 5.00 Maltese liri airport fee, 7.60 Maltese liri (or approximately US$21.25) fuel charge, and the 15% VAT 5.90 Maltese liri (tax, I guess) skyrocketed the rate to 45.20 Maltese liri, or approximately US$126.56 which, at approximately US$31.64 per day, is still a decent rate. I declined on purchasing insurance, and my Georgia driver’s license was sufficient documentation to drive in Malta. According to printed Hertz literature, it is Maltese law that a half-tank of fuel be in the vehicle and the customer is to be charged for that fuel. By American standards, fuel is not cheap virtually anywhere else, especially on Malta. I asked for a car in which nobody had smoked, which seemed to be no problem. I was even advised that I had gotten an upgraded car at no additional charge, which was a pleasant surprise.

I then proceeded to go to one of the two banks right across from the Hertz booth in the terminal to exchange $40.00 in travelers’ cheques. I received 13.96 Maltese liri in return. Next time, I will use an automated teller machine, not that that would have helped much due to the abysmal exchange rate, thanks to the already-weakened United States dollar, which kept weakening by the day. Every time I have traveled internationally, I always went when the exchange rate was more favorable to Americans. However, I kept saying to myself, “The Concorde was worth it!”

It was a long walk out of the terminal to the car park and then through the entire car park. I arrived at my transportation for the next four days. “This is an upgrade?!?”, I thought. It was a red four-door Opel Corsa 1.2 hatchback with black interior (oh, this will be ideal for the hot sun, I thought), and it clearly was not new nor was it completely clean. Fine, I can live with this car for the next four days. Good thing I am experienced in driving several manual transmission vehicles in Australia and New Zealand, because Malta is one of the countries where one drives on the left side of the road. As I drove it out of the car park and onto the road, I could feel how sluggish the acceleration — or lack thereof — was on this car. It was then I decided to refer to this “car” as the goat.

I drove the goat north on route 1, the main highway in Malta, to St. Julians. After driving through several traffic circles and intersections, this road became a divided limited-access highway. I learned quickly that the drivers on Malta are absolutely nuts, and even though I started second-guessing about not purchasing insurance, this native New Yorker relied on my years of experience driving in Manhattan, which definitely helped. Add to the mix faint markings in the roadway — if there even were any markings in the roadway — and confusing road signs which, when they existed, did not display the clearest or the most obvious messages, and driving becomes a volatile experience in Malta. I have not even taken into account off-ramps where one had to exit immediately, the haphazard street grid nor the narrow streets of the cities! Driving is definitely not for the faint-of-heart in Malta, so unless you are truly confident about your driving skills, I would instead recommend using their bus system, whose service is frequent and very inexpensive (about .15 Maltese liri per ride, or about US$.40) on their novelty antiquated buses, colored school-bus yellow with a white roof and pillars. Also, English and Maltese are the two official languages of Malta, so it is easy to ask the bus driver for assistance. It was difficult finding two buses that were actually the same model. Some of these buses, which are a part of the character and personality of Malta, bellowed and coughed black smoke into the air — a very unpleasant experience when one drives behind one of these prehistoric behemoths while the windows and vents are open.

After arriving in St. Julians, I needed to shift the car into reverse at one point but could not. Even though the goat was small enough to push back by myself if necessary, I was determined to figure out how to shift into reverse. The shifter indicated that reverse is where first gear is. After several minutes, I finally figured it out: under the knob of the shifter was a small ring that had to be pushed up while shifting into reverse. I had never operated a vehicle in which reverse had to be shifted in that manner. Good thing I figured it out on the side of a quiet street.

It was difficult due to poor signage, but I finally found the Hilton Malta, where I was staying for three nights. On my way to the Hilton, I passed the Westin Dragonara where I will stay during my last night in Malta. The Westin is basically around the corner from the Hilton.

Because I stayed at the Hilton Malta significantly longer than either of the Courtyards by Marriott in which I stayed so far, I intend to post a separate trip about this hotel in the Hilton forum on FlyerTalk for the benefit of Hilton HHonors members. Please let me know whether I should do this, or just incorporate it into this mammoth trip report.

Other than anything related to the Hilton Malta which I intend to discuss in my Hilton Malta report, I went out to a restaurant later that evening a few blocks from the Hilton called The Avenue. The air was filled with cigarette smoke and the atmosphere was crowded and noisy, but the food was good and the people were friendly. I had salmon for dinner. Not long after dinner was over, I returned to the hotel and went to sleep.