For some reason, none of the Arsenal stickers will stay attatched. Evening all. Right, the trip to Malta has finished. And I have to say, we had a great time on holiday. I did not make use of the internet when on holiday, so I will make the post about it now. The kids did not know that we were to go there. We stayed at Gatwick overnight, the kids being told that it was a surprise for my wife for our anniversary. They fell for it! Anyway, they were excited about the room. And it was a good one, two single beds for the kids, a sofa bed as well, and the double bed for the two of us. Although the service in the restaurant that we ate in was not perfect, the food was good enough and the kids had a great time. It would have been a better choice to eat at one of the other places that served food, had we arrived earlier, but that fault was with me. I had stayed at work in the morning trying to clear a load of overdue paperwork before leaving. My wife and I have stayed at the hotel before, and other than the service at the meal not being as good as we would like, it was great and we would certainly stay there again.
Come the morning, and we had to wake early, we took the kids into the airport. It was only when we were waiting for the check in desk that they realised and needless to say, more excitement. As we had woken up a bit later than we should (and to be fair, I had wanted to wake later, it was the wife who had said that we needed to get up as early as we did) we did not get to spend a lot of time in Duty Free. A rush to the plane but EasyJet were great. My son being only four allowed us to board early (otherwise being small, he would probably be trampled otherwise), something that happened both on the flight to Malta, and the flight back. Of course, Malta meant nothing to the kids. It meant loads to my wife and I. We had stayed there in the past, BC (before children) at the Westin Dragonara Resort, but could not remember when. Back then (the staff told us that it was probably in 2003) we had arrived at the same time that a conference for an Italian petrol company was being held. Unfortunately, our room had been double booked. We were to be moved to a different hotel for a day or two, the Intercontinental, or as I called it after our first night, the Incontinental. We had paid for an upgraded room at the Westin and were given a Club room at the new place. I thought that would mean that we could take advantage of the club lounge. This was not to be, and we were kicked out when we went there for complimentary drinks. The Westin had arranged for us to have a meal at their best restaurant, and when we were there, the manager came over to see how we were. You see, we had arrived on my wife's birthday. We had wanted a sea view room, and ended up with a view of a car park. Anyway, we got a free bottle of wine, and a promise that things would be better when we were moved back to the Westin. When we were moved back, I thought that we would have a room upgrade, and we did. To the penthouse! And we had booked to stay there for two weeks! The penthouse was bigger than our house at the time!
Anyway, this time, I have to say that the kids loved it. And just as we had in the past, so did my wife and I. We ate at the different restaurants there, and while we did not have as good an experience at Palio's (in fact it was a fairly bad one), others who ate there liked it and when the hotel found out about it, we had the bill removed from our bill. The service at the hotel was brilliant almost all the time, and when it was not, other than the night in Palio's it was still very good. Eating at Quadro, which was the Compass Rose when we were there last was amazing. Excellent, patient and understanding service, the like of which it is hard to find anywhere on the planet as the people there retained the warmth for which the Island is famous. And the food there! I lost my watch, and the cleaning lady who found it had seen us waiting to be picked up in the lobby and came and found us before we left (I do wish we had given her a bigger tip). It is somewhere I do think that we will be returning to. While there we met up with some friends who had come over on holiday to see family. We did not get to see much of the island as we did not think that the kids, being so young would appreciate it, and my wife and I had seen most things when we were there before. So instead, they spent time in the pool. Loads of time and gained more confidence in the pool. On most days, around lunch in one of the pools, there is a 'Kids club' which the two took part in. On the first day, it was not that inclusive, but there was a wide range of ages there and the older kids dominated things, but on the other days the two had charmed the young ladies who ran it and took part in the activities.
Anyway, time to go, as usual, take are all. And I hope you like the jokes.
RIP Neil Armstrong. The man responsible for the United States' most unique achievement: planting the Stars and Stripes somewhere without having to kill anyone.
Police have reported that with further observation, it turns out the lion in Essex is just a snow leopard with a spray tan and hair extensions.
