A Week in Malta with Family

After a nice, quiet Christmas at home by ourselves- we were very happy to head to the airport for one last trip to meet up with my brother and his family. All of the schools were closed, so we were all off for the holidays anyway and wanted to get out of town. We had traveled to see them earlier in the summer, but made the mistake of making it too quick of a trip, so this one needed to be long enough to really catch up. Vienna gets cold and snowy for the winter, so they wanted to go anywhere warm - and Malta just happened to have direct flights for both of us. It's a tiny island south of Sicily- quite close to Tunisia. I don't know that it was the top of anyone's must-see list - but it checked all the boxes, so we booked our flights, found an Airbnb that was big enough for all of us, and set off on our last and 5th trip for the year. 

Tiny Malta- about as far south as you can get in Europe

closeup of the sites of Malta

I'm usually very excited about the planning of a trip - but I totally phoned it in on this one. I didn't even buy the Lonely Planet travel book, which is usually my first step.  So we hardly knew anything about Malta before we arrived. It turns out to be a very interesting little island- it's changed hands a bunch of times; it has both Italian and North African influences. In fact, it was once part of the British Empire, so there were a number of weirdly British things there too. The landscape is very dry and rocky, so it was actually the film location in Game of Thrones for the dothraki stuff. It wasn't a whole lot warmer than London, but the sky was beautifully clear and blue- and that was a nice change. 

getting good at getting to the airport

chilling on the plane

Day 1: Valletta

So the first day, everyone wanted to head into the old city of Valletta, but the baby was not cooperating. So they all ended up going while I stayed home with him to let him have a good long nap. They had a nice afternoon exploring the area while I chilled with him - until the power went out - I momentarily panicked- and then everything was fine. First lesson- Malta's power supply isn't super reliable. 

discussing important things at dinner

Day 2:  The Aquarium

The next day we were planning to head to the aquarium, and again the baby wasn't cooperating. So this time I went with them and our big kid, and left Spouso with the baby in the hotel. We took a bus to the aquarium, grabbed lunch and hung out on a playground, and then they met up with us just a bit later. It wasn't huge- but had some really cool exhibits- like a huge walkway under the shark tank that was just amazing. Afterwards, we hung out in the cafe for a drink and snack break, hoping to let some bad weather pass over us - but instead we got hopelessly stuck in it. We went back outside to catch our bus just as it started raining- I think we waited out by the street for maybe 2 hours getting completely poured on while thunder started rolling in before a bus finally came by and we squished onto it. 2nd lesson: Malta's transport isn't super reliable. 

Day 3: Mdina

On the third day, we all took the bus to Mdina- a very old city in the middle of the island. We stopped quickly for the Maltese pastry - pastizzi- a pastry filled with cheese and mushy peas - and then explored the old, walled city. 

mmm mushy peas! 

coming to the walls of Mdina

warming up with some cocoa

a rare photo of all of us that wasn't a selfie!

Day 4: Back to Valletta

Now New Year's Day - we decided to go back to Valletta. I still hadn't seen it, and they wanted to go back and catch a few things they'd missed. It was pretty close to our Airbnb, so we thought it would be the easiest to navigate, considering that some transport options were closed for the holiday. It turned out that the boat that usually ferried people to the city wasn't operating, but we found a shuttle and were able to get there after not much trouble. The city was still all decorated for the holidays - and just beautiful. 

cousin time!

blue skies!

not a stroller-friendly city.

beautiful Valletta

Day 5: Back to Valletta Again

So for the last day- we wanted to go to the south side of the island to see some very old monoliths. My brother's crew was able to get moving faster than us, so they packed up and got moving in the morning, with the intention that we would meet up with them after the baby's nap. But, the nap sort of dragged on, and we got a late start. We ended up stopping by a playground on the way to Valletta, and then stopped by Valletta one last time in order to see them fire off the canons (something they do every day but we had somehow mussed until now). We ended up meeting up with them in time for a quick carousel ride before heading on to dinner. So we never made it to the ancient ruins - but they sounded pretty cool. 

Around the House

So mostly we tried to stay out of the house as much as possible during the day, but still ended up spending a good bit of time there. We generally hung out all morning so that the baby could get a good morning nap in his crib. There was a nice little balcony with a view right on the water that was warm enough during the day to sit out and enjoy a cup of coffee. He napped on the go in the afternoons. We did dinner in the apartment a few nights- taking turns on cooking. We also were there every night - hanging out after the kids were asleep. We took turns going out every night in pairs to the local pub. It was nice getting out to the pub - but also just really nice to hang out each night and catch up with each other without the kids. 

balcony view

Traveling with 2 Small Kids

So- generally, by this point we'd gotten pretty confident about traveling with our two kids. We'd kind of mastered getting to the airport - baby on me, bags in stroller, Spouso takes the big suitcase, we all take the bus to the train together. We knew the airbnb would have a crib, so thankfully we didn't have to bring it. We have our own portable high chair, and knew we wouldn't be driving anywhere so we didn't need the car seat. We brought very few toys or books knowing they'd have a cousin to entertain them. We brought just enough baby supplies for a day or two, and swung by the grocery store for extras. So that was all great. Sometimes we knew it would be not be stroller-friendly, and just kept the baby in the carrier. Other times, we brought it with us, and were able to trade off between the boys to give the big kid's legs a rest. At one point though, I realized I'd had the baby in the carrier on me for close to 8 hours when my back started spasming - at which point it was clear he had become too big for that. So, I think this may have been our last trip with a baby, officially transitioning out of that phase. 

our very useful portable high chair

Traveling with Family

So, to be fair, we haven't every really traveled with anyone, so I have nothing to compare this to - but we thought this trip worked great. Traveling with my brother's family was awesome. It was a way for us to each see and experience something new while having lots of time to spend with each other and catch up. In some ways it was much easier - we could divide up and leave the kids at home with 2 adults while the other 2 adults ran out to pick up groceries or run to the pub. 

One thing I had been worried about was the fact that they are much more ambitious travelers than we are, and I didn't want to hold them back.  The thing that turned out to be essential was learning to divide up and not try to do everything together. The kids were just on such different schedules there was no way to get everyone fed and moving at the same time - so some mornings we split up and left one of us at home with the baby while the rest went out, and sometimes all of us stayed home while they went out. A few times they went for dinner at a restaurant when we knew we just couldn't - so it was easier for us to cook something quick at home while they ran out. Generally - just being flexible was critical- and it helped that they're all so easygoing. 

Anyway - Malta turned out to be lovely. Spending a week with them was fantastic. The timing was really nice - being able to have a relaxed Christmas in our own home, and then traveling and getting out of town for the rest of the long break was great. I would love for this to be a new tradition - but unfortunately this was their last holiday season before moving back to the US. Sad for us. And with that - it was back to the airport and back home for the next school term.