Of all the Ryanair flights we had taken over the last year, we can’t fault the service. Sure, like all budget carriers, they try the ‘add on’ extra for luggage, extra to be able to choose your seat, extra for a cabin bag and priority boarding etc etc. There have even been sarcastic suggestions that they will soon be charging to use the toilet!
We have never paid to choose our seats as we have found that the cabin crew are chilled about us switching seats. In fact, we have got to learn that if we are the last to board, the exit rows with extra legroom are generally vacant (because no one wants to pay for them) so we just help ourselves to them knowing that nobody is going to come and claim them. All the flights have been on time or close to it. Except this time. I must say that it was not the fault of Ryanair, the ground staff are generally provided by local agencies and in the case of our flight from Bergamo, it was a total balls up. They lost track of who they had scanned onto the plane and I could sense it was going to be a problem. They actually scanned me twice and others had slipped through without being scanned at all so once we were all on board, the inevitable search for some passengers was made. They started searching by seat number but that was never going to work as hardly anyone was sitting in their correct seats, including us, legs stretched out in the exit row. So they announced that they would be coming through the cabin to sight everyone’s boarding pass to ensure everyone that should be on board, was on board. We eventually took off – about two hours after we should have.
The late arrival didn’t bother us as we knew exactly where to go to get the local bus to Floriana where we would be staying, and I even had time to go to the clinic to get some blood tests done. The apartment we booked was one that we had stayed in before. It was small but in a convenient location. We only booked it for three nights hoping that we would have completed all that we had to do and then we could rent a car and stay in a quieter part of the island for the remainder of the week.
Malta 
View to St Julians
Our mission for this visit was to get Linda’s ‘Identity card’, having already completed her citizenship and is now a fully fledged ‘Malteser’ complete with Maltese passport. The Identity card is an important item to have if you are living in Malta as you can’t do anything without it. Another important part of our mission was to obtain our ‘Euro Health Cards’ which would entitle us to healthcare throughout the European Union. We had previously ordered mine online as I already had my identity card but it was going to be a challenge for Linda to get hers as we had to first receive her Identity card!
Long story short, my health card was issued but got lost in the mail, Linda successfully applied and received her Identity card, then applied for her health card and received it the mail – all in the week we were there! Me on the other hand, thought I could just go into the office and pick up a replacement card- Not so! They insisted they would only mail it – so we were at the mercy of Malta Post again!
We had done all that we could do in Valetta, so we got our rental car and moved into a more relaxing apartment. In the four visits of the previous twelve months, we had hardly ventured outside the Capital so we were going to enjoy some time driving around the island to see how much it had changed.
Fort St Angelo 
Valletta Harborside
Prior to the latest visits, it had been about twelve years since we were last in Malta, and even then it had been a relatively short visit. I had spent a year on the island with my parents during the seventies, so there were some enormous changes since then. We drove all the way (and I say that loosely as nothing is too far in Malta) to Mellieha and to where the ferry goes across to Gozo, then back to the city of Rabat where my mother and her sister, as young girls, were placed to seek refuge during the second world war.
We found an outdoor eatery to have lunch and it was very pleasant in the sunshine – until that is, a sewage truck pulled up out the front and started pumping! That promptly got us to get back into the car to complete our circumnavigation, past the Dingli Cliffs and around to Marsaxlokk and Marsaskala to visit my cousin Rita and her husband. Rita had not long been diagnosed with a brain tumor, which was a bit of a shock. Sad for many reasons, Rita was a bit of a linchpin for the family and an important care provider to her elderly mother and her Aunt. (Update- We recently received the sad news that she passed away, RIP Rita. Life can be cruel.).
My health card had still not arrived and it was the day before we were due to leave. There was a very good chance we were going back to Italy without one of the main things we had come for. We had arranged to meet the people that were staying at the address we were using for our mail, on the morning of our flight to check if it had arrived, but we decided to drive past the evening before as we were in the area. Driving into the capital of Valletta can be difficult for a number of reasons; the streets are extremely narrow and in some areas, turn into steps without much warning. They are also very steep in places and parking is near impossible. On top of that, there is a congestion charge and permit required in certain areas that is monitored by cameras at all entrances. I had no choice but to leave the car in the middle of the street while I checked the mailbox. The current occupants were not home but I could see a letter just out of fingers reach. I thought if I stood on my toes, held my tongue in the right direction while forcing my hand into the slot, I’d have half a chance of grabbing it with the tips of two fingers and extracting my hand without dropping it to the bottom of the mailbox: Bingo!, I got it and it was addressed to me and yes, it was my health card, Hooray. We were so happy we felt like doing a happy dance in the middle of the street but there were a few cars backed up with horns a blazing so we got in the car, drove out of the city and looked for a bar to celebrate our good fortune in.
Streets turning to steps 
Mmmm Pastizzi 
Celebratory drinks
Our flight back to Bergamo was on time. It appeared it was not a full flight so we were pretty sure we would bag some good seats. We hung back trying to be the last on board but it seemed a young French couple were working the same strategy as us and there was an awkwardly slow walk across the tarmac in an attempt to be last onboard. They were goood, as they avoided all opportunities to pass us. That is until I asked Linda to stop and pose in front of the plane for a photo. Bam, they had to pass us then and we were able to claim the last vacant row of exit seats!
Wasting time! 
Farewell Malta
See you next time on Côte d’Azur where we booked a boat shed for the weekend!
People ask us about how we get our house sits. This is the main website we use. https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/refer/RAF147238/
If you use the link above you will also get a discount on membership.
If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask.
Enjoy.