Mischief on Arrival

We've arrived! The plane landed at around 2 o'clock in the afternoon, so the sun was out and baring down on us at 29 degrees. None of us could wipe the smiles off our faces. We had made it. Months of planning; buying flight tickets, sorting out accommodation, bank accounts and loads more, all leading to this. It felt like only yesterday we were in a lecture in Coventry hearing about ERASMUS Study Abroad Program for the first time. We couldn't be more excited.

However, getting here wasn't as smooth as we thought it would be. Here's a quick summary of our journey...

First of all Stacey and Claire arrived at Bristol Airport half an hour later than our agreed meeting time. So we rushed over to check our bags in, only to find Stacey's luggage was over weight, After a quick shuffle of stuff between suitcases (which held up the queue behind us, sorry!) we finally checked our bags in.

Then it was a tearful (tsunami of tears from Claire and Stacey) goodbye to our family and off we were. The four of us, close friends, embarking on the adventure of a life time, nothing could stop us!

Until we hit airport security. Georgia's bag got pulled aside for a search. All the things that you weren't allowed in your hand luggage, were in there. It was like a portable Boots Chemist! At the same time Stacey set the metal detector off and had to have a body search. She should have remembered to take her belt off.

After all that drama, we realised that the gate to flight FR3774 was due to close in 2 minutes. After dragging Jenny away from Superdrug, we sprinted off towards Gate 11. It sounded like a heard of cattle as we scrambled down the corridor, arriving just in time. Sadly this meant we were the lasts ones on the plane, and couldn't sit next to each other. But we didn't mind, we were too excited and, at last, we were on our way.

The plane touched down and we made our way over to collect our suitcases. Bags all piled up on the trolleys, we headed out of the airport only to find our pre-paid taxi wasn't there. After 20 minutes of phone calls and confusion the taxi driver finally showed up. With no regard to the speed limit (our seat belts strapped firmly on) we made our way to Sliema where we were meeting our estate agent who would take us to our property.

When we arrived, the estate agents was closed. The taxi driver unloaded our suitcases and drove off. We were left on the pavement with all our bags, very confused. Then we remembered that it was a bank holiday in Malta, so many shops and businesses were shut. We rang the estate agent, who luckily said he could be there in 15 minutes to drive us and our luggage to our apartment.

It was a very surreal moment, sitting on the pavement, surrounded by our 12 bags, but luckily we could see the funny side. Finally we made it to our apartment.


After popping to the local supermarket to stock up on food and water, we went for a late night walk around the coast into St Jullian's to look for a place to eat. It didn't take long for us to realise what a beautiful place Malta was. After finding a restaurant to eat at, which over looked the sea, we all agreed, we have all fallen in love with this country on our first night.