From Davao to Malta: The Story So Far

A week ago Mae, I, our two year old son and a mountain of baggage got on a plane bound for Manila. It was the first leg of our 8,320 mile journey to Europe. Malta is, of course, a member of the EU and is within the Schengen area so I needed no visa but my wife and son did. As we intend to settle in Malta and my wife wishes to work, she had to apply for the type "D" Malta National Visa which is the only one that permits residency.

PAL were, as is their custom, late to depart due to "congestion" at Manila and we arrived an hour late. Fortunately our onwards reservation with KLM was on the same physical e-ticket as our domestic flight which meant that PAL were kind of obliged to assist us in getting from Terminal 2 to Terminal 3. That transfer did not happen with any sense of urgency but a bus did eventually turn up and transported us and our luggage via an airside road and playing tag with TigerAir and AirAsia planes. We only just made the check-in desk in time - KLM's desk close 60 minutes before departure. The plane left the gate 30 minutes late and as we taxied towards the runway, the pilot told us that there would be a delay of up to 45 minutes due to "congestion".

After a quicker than usual turnaround at Taipei and we were on our way to Amsterdam where we arrived just as the local bird life was coughing at a chilly dawn. Many changes at Schipol since I was last there mid-summer 2014, most notable of which is the new inbound security checks. All flights from countries whose airport security measures aren't thorough enough for the Dutch arrive at one set of gates and to get from there to elsewhere in the airport, you have to pass through a sophisticated security check. Then as we were in transit to a Schengen country, we had to clear Immigration. There was a bit of a hiatus here because I don't happen to have a Residents' Permit for Malta - well living in Davao, one may well not, which is precisely what the Immigration Officer's superior told our inquisitor and instructed him to allow us to pass.

The next and final stage of our journey was with Air Malta, a delightfully small airline of 9 Airbuses and young cabin crews. No airbridges at Luqa, Malta's only working airport (there are two other wartime airfields one of which is a museum) and no walking miles to the terminal as can happen if you fly Cebu Pacific into Davao or arrive at Mactan on a turbo-prop. In any event it's a short bus ride from the aircraft steps to the terminal building where there are two entrances: one for Schengen and the other for non-Schengen arrivals; the former bypasses Immigration.

Now I mentioned we had a mountain of baggage - a total of 6 large (30 kg) suitcases and 6 carry-ons. I had ordered a mini-van to meet us but they failed to show so we had to take a taxi. Or rather, two taxis due to the volume of our baggage. Taxis at Luqa use the same coupon system as was common at Manila with fares starting at €20; there are no metered taxis at all in the country. As most of the taxis are the larger and plusher Mercedes Benz, Lexus, Volvo and BMW cars it's understandable that their drivers don't really want to transport just baggage. Eventually, after much arm-twisting by the mafiosa in charge of this operation, we boarded two taxis to our hotel on the north side of the main (Valletta) harbour, the 'village' of Sliema.

The Sliema Hotel, booked through eBookers at the same time as our flight reservations, costs about €40 a night, including 18% VAT. On arrival, well-knackered from 24 hours of travelling, the receptionist wanted us to prepay our bill, for all 7 nights, in cash; they do not accept debit or credit cards. But he gave us 24 hours to find an ATM and withdraw the cash. Not only does this hotel not take cards, it doesn't serve food - not even breakfast - no bar, no minibar, single channel TV and no coffee/tea making facilities. But the view of the harbour with its millions of Euros-worth of leisure craft was rather stunning.

Your correspondent did not do his research too thoroughly: the day after we arrived was a public holiday - "Freedom Day" which marks the withdrawal of British troops on 31st March 1979 and Malta became fully independent although it remains a member of the British Commonwealth. Malta was effectively shut for the day and many business - and banks - remained closed on the following day (Friday) also, giving their staff a nice long weekend. This meant that house-hunting couldn't really start until the Monday.

Unless you are a millionaire, forget about renting a property with "a view". Any view. Having seen a number of properties spread from St Paul's Bay in the north to the Freeport in the south, we settled on a flat in an older (stone) building in Il-Gzira which is the next village west from Sliema and on the north side of the harbour complex. This is a good location because Sliema is where most of the shops and banks are to be found and, of course, for those with a nautical inclination, that harbour!

The weather? Mostly sunny but offshore breezes keep the temperature down to a comfortable 18 - 20 degrees at this time of year.

So far so good. But, Malta is a tourist destination and both Ryanair and Easyjet operate several flights a day between here and the UK. Unfortunately we've witnessed some of the less attractive traits exhibited by Britons abroad fuelled on the local Cisk lager - which is actually a rather nice drop!

There is a sizeable Filipino community here and Mae and I joined around 250 others at a Mass in Valletta last Sunday where the (Maltese) Priest was assisted by a Filipino nun. Most of the OFWs here are in the "caring industry" being either home-based carers or nurses.

Nice write-up, please continue to update this as it will be interesting to see how things progress for you, a few photos would be nice...

Best of luck to you, hope that your relocation works out well.

Thanks for letting us know about your move, Mark and glad to hear that you all arrived safely in your new island.
I hope your son is more comfortable now that you are all in Malta.

Will you be bringing many bags with you when you visit all of us in Birmingham in July?

Nice story... no running off to British-Malteser.com okay

Thanks guys!

There are so many fat people here but those I've heard speaking tend to have a British accent and wear inappropriate clothing for their age/body type. Mid-calf check cargo shorts, black socks and Birkestocks seem to be the fashion de jour amongst the older non-Maltese men. And who said Daisy Dukes look good if you're a size 48 woman?!

Ok so why is it Tas Sliema but Il-Gzira? Both are administrative areas with elected councils. And then there's Ħal, with the weird H, as in Ħal Luqa which is where the airport is. But I haven't heard anyone using these prefixes just as they seem not to say Triq, they simply say the place or street name - Sliema or Luqa.

We're not all here unfortunately, Mike. Our elder son is still in Davao with my mother-in-law and will join us in a few months. The younger one is still largely dependent on his mum for supplementary nourishment, so we had to bring him with us.

I'm not sure we can make that as Mae and the babe would need Visas. They also need Residents Permits for Malta otherwise they wouldn't be re-admitted should they leave the Schengen Area.

But aren't Maltesers British?

You'd feel right at home here, Dom, lots of Italian goods in the shops. As far as marauding Libyans are concerned, the Royal Navy seems to be doing a good job of protecting southern Italy and Malta. Lampedusa is much closer to Libya and appears to be the destination of choice for the people smugglers.

What an interesting update on your relocation. I hadn't realised you'd be making it so soon.
Very best wishes for a smooth and enjoyable settling-in and of course for a wonderful time in Malta.

I haven't been back there for many years, but I always remember my very first visit which coincided with a very noisy and crowded fiesta. I have great memories of Malta and I've no doubt you and your family will create many shining memories too.

Looking forward to more please.............

Here are a couple of photos taken from the end of our street - about 25 metres from our front door. The first is part of the harbour:

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Manoel Island is on the right, Tigne Point is left of centre with the eastern end of Sliema to its left. The really expensive - multi-million Pound jobs - are moored between Manoel Island and Valletta.

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This photo was taken from the same position as the first and shows The Strand which runs from Gzira, where the photo was taken, to Tigne Point which is about 1.5 miles away.

Malta's capital is Valletta but only visitors and "incomers" use that name, to the Maltese it's Il-Belt - why? Nobody seems to know, it just is!

We've signed-up with Go Communications for telephone/cable television and internet: that is supposed to be 55 Mbps downstream and 5 Mbps upstream. We'll see when it's all installed in just over a week's time . For now we're having top use mobile internet ("MiFi") which, after Globe's Unlimited at Php 1,000 for 30 days, is somewhat more expensive at €25 for 6 Gbps over 30 days. Our son is addicted to Youtube's "Chu-Chu TV" channel so he's costing us a small fortune in feeding his internet habit. Once we have the bundle installed (€35 a month) our phone load costs will be greatly reduced.

Go and Vodaphone both use the same scratch cards for load that we're used to in the Philippines. Melita is the third of the three mobile phone companies and their top-ups work the same way as T-Mobile's in the UK and you can buy load at any Bank of Valletta ATM. We chose Go as it's the only company offering the full phone/tv/internet package.

Our son's opinion of Malta? See for yourself!

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Handsome boy

It looks like Spain.
I had pictures in my mind of an old city with narrow streets and high buildings each side.
Impressions implanted by an old movie, perhaps.

My first tours around Malta reminded me of those early Clint Eastwood westerns.

I could easily have stayed there forever

I got tempted by transfer to Tokyo.
I'd still choose a retirement life in Japan given the opportunity.

Lovely photos and thanks for sharing, looks good there.

Reading Mark's posts could make you restless, Rob

Interesting mini-blog about your new start in Malta. I was tempted to make the move myself until I saw the prices of rental property online. Everything seemed to be three times the price of crisis-ridden Spain. I imagine that the cost of living is similar to that in Mallorca, most things being imported.

I`d like to wish you and your family the very best for your new life in Malta Mark!! Very interesting thread..Thanks!