Traveller's tales

Mitch R takes his father-in-law by surprise:

In 1994, my father-in-law Bill had just about recovered from his first fight with bowel cancer. It was obvious that during his treatment he had considered the fact he might not be around forever, and had been talking to me and Vicky (my wife at the time) about things he'd never done and places he'd never visted. Top of his list of places he wanted to visit was the Mediterranean island of Malta. We said we'd look into it as soon as he was fit to travel. Deciding we'd surprise him, we told him that Malta was far too expensive and was difficult to book. We told him that we would take him to Spain instead. Trying to hide his disappointment, he said that at least he'd get to see Spain, another place he'd never visited. It was a difficult job hiding it from him, he nearly found out several times.

The day came and off we went to the airport. One of us kept him distracted while we checked in, somehow managing to keep him from noticing the destination displayed above the check-in desk. After waiting the usual amount of time til boarding, finally the announcement came over the tannoy that boarding would commence for the flight to Malta. Jumping up and grabbing our hand-luggage, we smiled at the bewildered look on Bill's face. "But that's not our flight.....that one is going to Mal......". Then the penny dropped. Accompanied by a stream of good-natured grumbling and name-calling, we made our way to the plane. Bill grinning like the Cheshire cat all the way.

Flying in over the island, the first impression you get is that it's quite a dry island, there was more brown than green in view. We were staying at a hotel in Marsascala, at the south-eastern tip of Malta. The town is built around a small harbour and is relatively quiet and friendly. HERE is a link to the Wikipedia entry for the town, which is quite informative. Considering the relatively small size of the island, there is quite a lot to see, Malta has a long history. Bill's main reason for wanting to visit was his admiration for the Maltese people and their bravery in the face of constant attacks from the Axis forces during WWII. Here's a little of what Wiki says about that period...