9/29-30/2025: Off We Go Again to Malta!

On Monday, September 29, our friend Eve drove us to the airport in Binghamton. Our flight to Detroit departed at 2:42. I am so glad Delta no longer makes us get up at 3:00 a.m. to catch a 5:45 a.m. flight. The afternoon flight is much more civilized.

We got to Detroit as scheduled and we had a couple of hours before our flight to Amsterdam. When booked, we had about a 3-hour layover at Schiphol airport which I thought would be plenty of time to get from Delta arrival to KM Malta departure. Since it was a different airline, and not a Delta partner, we would have to retrieve our luggage, get through immigration and customs, find the KM Malta Airline desk, check our luggage and get to our departure gate. Easy-peasy in 3 hours, yes? Then, as our plane rolled onto the tarmac in Detroit, it stopped. The captain said there was a mechanical issue and we were returning to the gate. At first, I thought they would disembark us, but no, we stayed on the plane. An hour went by, then two hours went by. Of course, I was sure we wouldn’t make our connection in Amsterdam after a two-hour delay. Finally, the captain announced that the problem was fixed and we would take off as soon as the paperwork was complete. Always the paperwork! Finally, we took off just about 2-1/2 hours late. My brain was already working on what we’d need to do if we didn’t make our next flight.

It’s about 7 hours from Detroit to Amsterdam. It was an okay flight, but certainly no sleep. I never can sleep on a plane. I’ve tried every neck pillow there is, and none of them have enabled me to sleep. Christine didn’t sleep much either. So, by the time we arrived, we were both jittery and a little cranky. We didn’t have much hope of catching our flight to Malta, but the pilot made up some of the delay, so we had 90 minutes to make our connection. We were off and running as soon as we landed.

We arrived at immigration where the line was 25 minutes wait, but our luggage wouldn’t be on the carousel for 40 minutes, so I wasn’t too worried about that. Glad we had immigration before getting our luggage. The immigration guard asked how long we’d be in the Netherlands, and when we said an hour, he looked at us funny and asked why we were in the line. Once we explained about the different airlines with no transfer service, he stamped our passports and let us through. Our bags arrived quickly, and then we were off to try and find the B terminal. Schiphol airport is huge! Fortunately, the signage is pretty good. We walked/trotted very quickly and found the KM Malta airline desk, checked our bags, and then headed off to security. We were getting our exercise! The sign said a 20 minute wait time. Ugh! Once through security, we headed to our departure gate. Unbelievably, they hadn’t started boarding the plane, so we even had time to go to the bathroom!

We were so happy to be on the Malta flight! It was a 3-hour flight from Amsterdam and when we got near Malta, we were so happy to see the beautiful 3 islands from the air. The Malta airport has been greatly renovated since our last visit last year. It was so different. Because we were coming from an EU country, there was no immigration or customs. We walked right through the airport to the outside. I ordered an E-cab on-line, which was a bit of a mix-up because I didn’t know where the pick-up place was. The driver came looking for us on foot. Once we connected, it was off to Sliema to our Airbnb, where we have stayed 4 times previously. I received instructions from the manager for getting in. The last time, we had to retrieve the key attached to fishing line by pulling it out of the mailbox. This time there was a lock box to open. After a frustrating 15 minutes of trying to get the lock box open, we figured out we were trying to open the wrong lock box. Once that was cleared up, we got the key and went up to our apartment.

The place looked essentially the same, except for some new furniture. We did a little unpacking and then headed around the corner and up College street to our favorite market to get some things for dinner and breakfast tomorrow. Back at the apartment, we finished unpacking, had chicken and salad for dinner, and collapsed into bed. We both were exhausted, but very happy to be in Malta.