By Mary Charlebois
Long layover & cooking schools
117- days till take-off!
Did you know Amazon Prime Video has loads of travel films? Who knew? Among the titles, I found several about Malta, Gozo, and Comino, the three main islands in the Malta archipelago . I’ve spent some research time watching Malta on the flat-screen. It fired me up. I’m starting to think about packing, I’m ready to go.
Random Malta facts
The longest distance is 16 miles. – It’s known as the Sacred Island.
Temples on the islands pre-date the Egyptian Pyramids.
The ancient Greeks called the island Melitē, meaning “honey-sweet.”
Let’s cook
The Maltese are great cooks and renowned chefs. In the center of the Mediterranean, the best ingredients in the world are at Malta’s doorstep. Seafood from the Mediterranean Sea, fruit, veg and spices from Morocco, Greece, Italy, Spain, France, and the Middle East.
Over the centuries, each of Malta’s many conquerors— Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Greeks, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Sicilians, Spanish, Knights of St. John, French, and British—have left their touch on Malta’s tables. Malta has adapted variants of many cultures cuisines. I want to learn about Maltese food and its history. I plan to take cooking lessons. I’ve begun to search for candidates. Cooking schools and classes are more available than I thought.
I’m checking out the Mediterranean Culinary Academy for classes. If you’re gonna dream, dream big. Right? MCA has many choices. One that has my attention is A Taste of Malta. Local history is tied to present-day food, in addition to learning how to prepare traditional Maltese fare.
What should I do?
My dear readers, I need your help. I need suggestions for spending a six-hour layover in Heathrow. I fly Virgin Atlantic from San Francisco to London—sit in Heathrow for six-hours—change to Air Malta and head to the Blue Lagoon.
If you have any ideas, I’d love to hear them, leave them in the comment box below.
I won’t be leaving the airport, so no ‘tour London’ suggestions, please.
Thanks for stopping by, MaryGo
Folks Helping Me Plan My Trip to Malta
~ Visit Malta – Malta Uncovered ~
Some of My Malta ESP (eat, sleep, play)
~ Air – Virgin Atlantic – Air Malta ~
~ Housing – Air B&B ~
~ Travel Insurance – Allianz ~
*All photos courtesy of Visit Malta and Google Photos
What to do for 6 hrs at an airport…. Been there, done that a few times! It all depends on what time of day it will be. If you’re gonna be awake the whole time, do they have any shops to enjoy, especially with customs specials? Or, use the time to get some personal “down” time and listen to some nice mediation music. Or…be like me and try to get ahead of the eight ball by writing articles and reviewing/organizing photos.OR…just sit back and watch all the interesting people and happenings in an intl airport – I’m sure there’s some amazing moments and photo ops!
I arrive at 2:30 PM, after a 10.5-hour flight from SFO. I should sleep on the plane, it leaves at 8:30 PM. I’ll have a snack, a glass of wine and a movie, then comes snoresville.
For Heathrow, I might look into a ‘lounge pass.’ That would be an excellent place to get work done.
I do love photos in airports, but Heathrow has a no photo policy in certain areas. When I was there last August doing a video of the Grand Departure Hall, security came to me and said I couldn’t shoot and I had to delete the video in his presence. I complied, although I did keep some stills he didn’t ask about. One is in the story above.
Shopping is grand there. It’s like a huge mall, including a Harrod’s. I’m not much of a shopper, although I have £50 cash left from my trip to England last year. I thought I’d use it at Heathrow. A nice meal and a drink, perhaps to pass the time.
I there’s an art exhibit – very airport chic these days – or event, or perhaps one of those pod type hotels you rent by the hour. Whatever I do, I hope to write a story about the experience. Chances are it will be a bit of a comedy. –MaryGo
Mary,
You may want to have a little kip and then a shower to refresh. It depends which terminals you will be in – Virgin will fly to Terminal 3, Air Malta flies from terminal 4. My guess is departueres at T4 will give more options thatn arrivals at T3. There are buses every 15 minutes and transfer takes 20 minutes.
Inside Airport Plaza Premium Lounge (T3) & No. 1 Heathrow (T4)– both of these lounges have private napping areas with beds. Packages start at 3 hours. They also both have showers.
This site gives a list of shops in T4: https://www.heathrow-airport-guide.co.uk/shops-t-4.html
Enjoy your stay
Paul
Thank you Paul for the handy info. It was so nice to hear from you. –MaryGo