8 Things You Miss About Malta While You’re On Holiday
So you booked a holiday away from the rock with the aim of recharging your batteries and taking a break from the heat/claustrophobia/cranes/traffic. An understandable choice.
But then, a few weeks – or even days – down the line, something strange starts to happen.
Whether you’re in London or Lagos, New York or the Netherlands, at some point you really start to miss this sometimes infuriating, but insistently lovable, little speck in the Mediterranean we call home. Here are some of the things we miss the most:
1. Everything’s so close
Face it, Malta’s size being what it is, you’re bound to end up travelling somewhere far bigger. And while taking a break from overpopulation may be refreshing at first, you’ll start to miss Malta’s essential coziness soon enough.
2. Your family
If you’re a Maltese thoroughbred, you’ll soon start to miss the comforts of living with your friends and relatives, or at least having them a phone call/drive away. If you’re an expat, chances are you’re visiting family for the summer… which brings its own set of anxieties. Are you ready to make excuses about why you haven’t been to visit for so long?
3. Your friends
While some of you may be lucky enough to be travelling together, the fact remains that some of your friends will be in different countries at different points in time during the summer.
This also means that plans to have an uninterrupted staycation with friends isn’t really an option either (drat).
4. Huge events that everyone is going to
If you’re spending more than a couple of days abroad you’re bound to be missing out on some big event happening back home. From parties to theatre, there’s gonna be something you would definitely have attended had you been back home.
And even if you weren’t feeling out of the loop before, the endless stream of photos on Facebook will remind you of all the fun your friends have been having (without you).
5. It’s just so safe
Though we bitch about Malta all the time – sometimes justifiably so – one thing about the island is hard to deny: it’s generally a safe place to be. Prepare for mild culture shock on this count, especially if your chosen getaway is a high-powered sprawling metropolis like London.
6. Cisk
‘Nuff said.
7. The beaches at nearly every doorstep
Not only do we have a lot to gloat about when it comes to Malta’s beaches, but tying in with our first point, it’s hard to beat having the bulk of them literally a few minutes away from you wherever you are.
8. The blue skies
Photo by Virginia Monteforte
Sure, the heat can get a little bit too much during the summer. Unless you’re still a student and can spend all day on the beach, having to commute to work during the sweltering summer months is a challenge we hope we’re compensated for somehow once we step through the pearly gates.
While it’s nice to be refreshed by the temperate climes of mainland Europe and a regular drizzle of rain that is more regular, you will inevitably start to miss the blue skies. The constant, constant blue skies.