After a bit of looking (Portugal? Iceland? all the other places?), it was all very apparent that anywhere on the list like that was highly expensive at this time of year. But it would still be nice to go away somewhere in the sun, and preferably some place where we can swim. Last year we were in Croatia/Montenegro for other reasons but our anniversary fell during that time and it was a really nice trip. We didn't want to go back to Croatia, but where else could we go similar - that wasn't going to be super over-run and also not searingly hot?
One day Sasha suggested Malta. Malta was not on our list. But, I was sold - I'd always liked the idea of going to Malta, a far flung part of Europe, somewhere which looked interesting and also was a place not a lot of people we knew had been because it was a bit harder to get to. That harder to get to aspect meant it would not be over-run, but presented another problem - namely, it was harder to get to. Flights direct from Berlin were possible - but they were expensive, a problem just like we'd discovered for going to Ukraine. So, just like we had for Ukraine, I started looking up indirect flights - both ones suggested by airlines and flight aggregators, and researching different flights myself and the potential connections. Just like Ukraine, we found it much cheaper to book two separate flights than to go with through-booked flights. In fact, for this trip the cheapest way of doing it - by far - was to book two separate flights in each direction, with all flights operated by Ryanair. They would go Berlin to Brussels, 5 hours transit, and then Brussels to Malta; and for the way back, Malta to Bergamo in Italy, 3 hours transit and then Bergamo to Berlin. There's always a risk when doing this - if the first flight is delayed or cancelled, you've got no recourse on the 2nd flight. So its about balancing cost vs risk and trying to mitigate the risk as much as possible. Both airports allowed internal transfers so we didn't have to exit the airport terminal and re-enter like some, and 3 hours at Bergamo was about the minimum I would consider without the fallback of a guaranteed through connection - longer would be safer - but it was either 3 hours, or 8+ hours which would cut into the time we had in Malta and we didn't feel like spending any time in the cities we would stop over in, so 3 hours it was. All booked, and all fine. When I related to Sasha that at least one of our flights would be over 3 hours long, she asked if we'd get inflight entertainment provided. My reply was "It's Ryanair. We won't even get seat pockets" which while it sounds rather comedic, it is also very true!
A week or two after booking, a problem arose - Ryanair altered the schedule of the Bergamo to Berlin flight, to the point where they brought it forward 3 hours. Yes - it would take off at the same time our flight to Bergamo would land. Crap! At least because the time change was more than 2 hours, Ryanair had to offer the ability to change to another flight or cancel the booking with full refund. But that had been the last flight out of Bergamo to Berlin that night, and there were no others that we could take. We could fly out the next morning, but we'd have to overnight in Bergamo and take an extra half day off of work, or we could take all of Thursday off and explore Bergamo for the day to get something out of it. Or, we just take the Thursday and Friday off of work, use the weekend and spend 4 days in Italy, flying back to Berlin on the Sunday. For our big end-of travels we want to visit a lot of Italy, so here was an opportunity to do some of it now. We looked at all of our Italy destinations, decided to stick around the northern part and visit Lake Como as well as spend some time in Bergamo and Milan (mainly because Como was very expensive, so less time spent there the cheaper it would be!). I'd been to Milan before but Sasha hadn't, and neither of us had been to Bergamo or Lake Como before. We got the leave, booked the rest of it and it was all go - our Malta trip would now be Malta and Italy!
Day 1 - Malta via Belgium
Day 2 - Exploring and Swimming
Day 3 - Temples and TV Shows
Day 4 - The Blue Lagoon
Day 5 - From Malta to Italy
Day 6 - Bergamo to Milan
Day 7 - Milan to Lake Como
Day 8 - Exploring Lake Como
Day 9 - Back to Berlin
Summing Up
Malta - as I said earlier, it was not on our list, but I had been hoping we might be able to go there, even for just a weekend (a bit like Gibraltar). However making a decent amount of time of it was far, far better, and we explored a lot there - not everything, but definitely did all the things that appealed and by keeping the plans a bit fluid rather than locking everything in prior to going meant we were able to do the Blue Lagoon trip which was great - sure, the Lagoon was very crowded but it was very amazing and despite being in the middle of the peak tourist season, it clearly is the best time to go weather wise. I had am amazing time here, and I loved Valetta - it had a feel to it like it was some kind of Italian Dubrovnik. Slightly less polished, a bit more grungy but full of character and amazing nonetheless. The food and drink was also great - those Ftira Pizza's on the last night were not to be forgotten in a hurry! Since we covered virtually everything there is to do that we would want to, there is precious little reason to try and make it back any time soon and its safe to say it will not be happening during our Extended OE over here. It might be we never get to visit it ever again, but over the passage of time it might be nice to return. Only time will tell on this one!
Of course, the highlight of the trip was Lake Como. I had first heard of it from Jeremy and Rachel, and they had loved it; and I had seen a glimpse of Lake Como from the train I took from Milan to Zurich with Dion after stopping in the township of Como. Sasha heard of it from me, but when she saw pictures she was very enthusiastic to go there at some point. Lecco was not our first choice of a place to stay, but it made the most sense - and despite the inauspicious start there with our accommodation, we really grew to like Lecco. Most tourists seem to focus on the town of Como, or places along that arm of the lake (or go to Bellagio and stay there if they can afford it) and there's no question that Lecco is at the end of the quieter arm of the lake. However, I think its all the better for it - its a lot more chilled, provides the same (or better?) beauty of the lake and landscapes around it and has a decent amount of scale. We could find precious little reviews of Lecco online, but we would definitely recommend it to anyone.
One niggly thing for me throughout the Italian part of the trip was the accommodation - in all the 3 places we stayed, it did not turn out to be as expected. In the first place, it was just that it wasn't the same place we had booked but was of the same standard and the rest was fine. For Milan, it was that the accommodation was not located where we had thought it would be, and it was of a standard less than what they had made it out to be; and for Lecco, while it was of a decent standard we didn't get the private room with a bathroom like we had originally booked, and had to wait 30mins for check-in. I for one am getting rather sick of these "Virtual Accommodation" places as its often not what we're after. Both places were misleading in this regard I feel - I guess we just need to pay closer attention and if we choose one of these places knowing its like that, that's fine but it often comes as an unpleasant surprise. In contrast, Malta's Airbnb was superb - we don't often do Airbnb as most of the time we can find a Hotel or Hostel with private room for cheaper than a night in an Airbnb, but there are definitely times where it comes into its own and this was one of them.
Another niggly thing - Ryanair. I've been getting a little bit of Ryanair fatigue, and just when you think they are ok (in fact for me they were preferable to Easyjet for a long time) they turn the screws and add some other new restriction. Not the least of which is the new policy (which they deny, but its a fact) of deliberately placing people booked in the same booking in completely different parts of the plane from each other, forcing you to pay extra to get a seat. We've got our own little trick worked out to reduce that extra cost for choosing a seat but unless we decide we're fine not to sit next to each other - which would be ok for shorter flights but not for 3 hour ones - then you've got no choice. Upcoming (and delayed until the new year) is their new baggage policy forcing you to buy priority boarding if you want to take a bag larger than a laptop bag into the cabin. Quite how that one goes down, we will see but at this stage, alternatives to Ryanair are preferable when we take a trip.
Do I hear you asking for a Map? No? Too bad, here's not only just one, but two!