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. 

Christmas in London

So London is known for going all out for the Christmas and New Year's holidays. Something about the cold, rainy weather all fall means that people really get decked out with decorations - and there are just a million things do to around town. Our first year here, we had a brand new baby and barely left the house for the holidays. But our second year, the baby was now a year old and we wanted to see everything. Both of our mothers came to town, so we hit the sights. 

Carnaby Street

First- Carnaby Street is a smallish street in the middle of the downtown area that gets super decorated every year. This year's theme was the Oceans, so all of the decorations were made of reclaimed plastic. It was so cool that we took my mom, and then went back a few weeks later with my mother in law. 

Birthday and Decorations

I guess this will forever be a problem with having a December birthday - but we celebrated the baby's first birthday and then decorated the tree. We will have to find ways to separate the events and avoid his birthday just being consumed by the ever-expanding holiday season. He didn't seem to notice this year though. 

School Stuff

So if you've seen Love Actually, you know that there is a British tradition of doing the nativity play at primary schools and everyone gets a part. We are constantly surprised by the amount of religion included in the public school system and must always remind ourselves that there is no separation of church and state here. We were hoping he would get the part of the 2nd lobster- and were surprised to find out he had chosen the part of the bad guy, Caesar. (Caesar is bad because he required the census- which we explained isn't actually a bad idea, but the point was lost on him.) Anyway- he did great - he had one of the few speaking roles but commanded stage with authority! Later, I got roped into helping out at the school's Christmas Fair. We've also come to learn that meeting Santa in advance of the holiday is a thing they do here - but you don't sit on his lap. No mall Santas here.  Instead, he sits in something called a "Grotto", and the kids take turns awkwardly standing nearby to tell him what presents they want. It makes for weird pictures. 

selling toys and games at the fair - baby always on the hip.

chatting with Santa in the Grotto

Other Downtown Lights

The rest of the city downtown is also lit up - not nearly as cool as Carnaby, but still nice. We wandered around a bit- because it's more spread out, it isn't nearly as crowded as Carnaby - so I didn't have to carry the big kid around on my shoulders the whole time. 

Drinks at Somerset House

After wandering town to see the lights - we stopped at Somerset House for a drink. This is one of the many old, historic, probably once a royal residence, grand homes in the London area. It had an outdoor skating rink and bar area that was decked out like a wintery lodge. It was a lovely place to just sit and watch the skaters - I believe both kids fell asleep. 

Gingerbread City

After drinks, we headed to a new event called the Gingerbread City. Someone ran a competition between architecture firms and students to create houses out of gingerbread - and then created a huge display of them inside. It was amazing - everything made out of sugar- some parts were mechanized to move. Trains were moving through the whole thing. We could've stayed for hours - but everyone was getting pretty tired and cranky at this point and ready to head home. 

Christmas Day

After a pretty busy holiday season, it was nice to wrap it up with some quiet time at home just to ourselves- in our Christmas Jumpers - before heading out for our last trip of the year.