Travels

Rented the car from Thrifty at the airport. It was a small airport but immigration did take awhile. Baggage came fast. This airport has a paucity of carts and so it is good to grab a cart quickly. The car rental person was really helpful, and we got a Hyundai hatch back. Of course, they drive on the same side as they do in UK so it took a few minutes to get used to it. The weather was marvelous, clear and hot (about 32’c ).Malta is a tiny island but very congested. The first thing to realize about driving in Malta is that distances between “towns” is miniscule so before you know it you have gone through 5 towns. Also, the road signs are horrendous. The arrows often do not make sense. We were thoroughly lost several times, and eventually got to the Westin Dragonara in Placeville. The hotel was gorgeous and we got a room with two balconies. After unpacking, we went down to the pool. The beach was very rocky, so Bebo chose to stay at the pool. I had a drink and Mikku rested in the room. The people spoke reasonably good English and so communication is easy The water was very nice according to Srijoy. We then got back to the room, showered and ordered a room service dinner. The food was good. The Maltese pound is about $3. Thus the numeric value of things is low but things are about as expensive as UK. There was some Indian programs on TV which Mikku enjoyed. Eventually we called it a day. I chose to sleep one the balcony, which was really good. I just had to jerry-rig a towel based cover for the light. Had a great and relaxed sleep with the sound of the ocean in the background.

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The trip from DC to London was eventless. The crossing was generally quite pleasant. The upper economy class had a good seat and power outlets and so was able to watch some shows and one movie on the computer. Had a few drinks on the flight and reached London about an hour late. The taxi from Millennium Cabs was a van and we realized we need a bigger vehicle for the visit to UK later in the trip. Abdul was back at the Slough Marriott and he suggested a 9 seater Minibus. Went to bed by about midnight. Next morning (6/26) had the breakfast at the hotel and took a cab to Terminal 4 for Air Malta flight to Malta, flight left about an hour late. Did the new booking with Thrifty at Slough from the plane. The journey was trouble free and reached Malta around 4:30 pm. It war a clear day and had an excellent view of the Alps as well Sicily and Mount Etna (need to be on the ABC seats on the flight for these views).

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