Just booked my holiday - YAAAAAY!!!!

[Jamie]

I'm high on excitement!! In just 3 weeks we are off to the Fortina Spa Resort in Malta. It'll be the first time EVER in a resort for me, also the first ever time all inclusive! Woooooooo!!! They even take you from the airport to the hotel!! And we got free upgrade to Business Class on our flights!!!!!

It's a place I'd had my eye on for a while, but we decided to wait until we'd sold our flat. That was nearly a year and a half ago that we thought that.... it's taken this long to get it ready, on the market, change of agent, on the market, finding a buyer and then waiting AAAGGGEEEESSSS for it all to happen, and then the move itself, with hardly any time to do it in.... but it's all done now, and we are treating ourselves with our first ever 'mainstream' holiday. I love the DIY holidays we've done before, definately, but it must be nice for a change to have a holiday where you can just put your feet up and everything is taken care of for you!

We've never even been away for more than a week before - this one is 10 days! There is something like 6 restaurants, 4 bars, 4 outdoor pools and 3 indoor, several spas, a beauty/treatment spa, evening entertainment, thalassotherapy facilities.... we are staying in two different rooms, for the first three nights it is in their top range spa bedrooms that have a spa for 2, a spa therapy bath, a steam cabinet shower for 2, a detoxy-thing machine, this is all private to your room..! I thought we can make use of these and detox ourselves and then the other 7 days are in a 5* garden view bedroom which seems more 'standard'.

I emailed ahead a while ago, and checked when I booked, that they have a restaurant that is specifically for those with special dietary needs, and it looks like I will manage to find what food is vegan without too much problem (fingers crossed!).

So now I've posted all about it, I guess I should go look on some websites for some hot weather holiday clothes!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!

[fiamma]

That sounds amazing! I'm just a little envious So happy things are finally moving for you - have a great time on holiday!!!

[cedarblue]

i like malta and have been there many times, it is very old and ancient with lots of interesting villages to mosey round.

[Jamie]

thanks fiamma

CB - we are in sliema, do you know it?

[cedarblue]

i know sliema very well

[fiamma]

I've never been to Malta...
Urghhh, sorry, realised at the last second your nmessage was for CB. I'm the one that needs a holiday, I think! Have a great time!!!

[Jamie]

lol fiamma! I know what you mean!

CB, how is sliema for vegans? although I don't know how much we will leave the resort. Probably a little but I guess it depends how far it is from the main bits of the town and how easy it is to get there!

[Wildflower]

Wow, I'm jealous.

Everyone in the UK and Australia seems to travel a lot and go to great places! Us Americans don't seem to leave the country much...maybe we travel more inside the US as foreign travel is sooooo expensive and the exchange rate is usually unfavorable, etc? Eitherway, I am jealous!

I will have to look it up and dream! Sounds like you will have an AMAZING time!

[Wildflower]

WOW - that looks very nice! I see that you can hire a personal chef to make you lunch/dinner for 20 liri per hour. Not sure if that includes the cost of food, but you could get your own vegan food prepared to your order! How luxurious!

[Jamie]

oooh that's true, never thought of that. but 20 liri an hour is still a lot of money! I can't think of anything I couldn't live without for 10 days, especially since I've already cased out the menus lol I think I'll have to arrange to keep some soy milk and marg, if I can get some, though. there's a mini bar in the room, I might be able to keep it in there if I can get some from the health food shop in town.

[cedarblue]

sorry jamie, its been many years since i went there, i wasnt even veggie let alone vegan.

[Jamie]

fair enough, thanks anyway!

[DancingWillow]

You must be getting more and more excited each day! And the closer you get, the slower the days seem to pass...but, you'll be there soon

Have a fantastic, wonderful, unforgettable time!!!!! You definitely deserve it, especially after waiting for such a vacation for a very, very long time! I've never had a vacation like that, but it sounds phenomenal! Enjoy every moment of it!

[Jamie]

thanks! well as of tommorrow, it's only 2 weeks away... then a couple of days after that, it's 10 days away, which is as long as the holiday is, so if it goes quick, it gets us to the holiday quicker, and if it's long, it'll remind us how long we'll have to enjoy the holiday!!

I'm waiting-in today for a delivery from M&S of about 10 bikinis to try on..! There wasn't much at all at my local store so I ordered a load online (pretty much anything black and in my size), intended to hopefully keep one and then return all the rest.

So I'm FORCED to spend all day (or at least until it comes), sitting around watching telly and looking at vegan websites it's a hard life!

[puffin]

Have a lovely time Jamie

Im planning some time away soon, well just days out. Cant wait as im fed up being here.

[Christina]

Hello. I know this is an old thread but Ive just booked a holiday in Malta to Sliema. To the bayview hotel (cheap package self catering holiday.) Anyone know if there is much to eat in the surrounding restaurants and if you had a good time there? I hope im not going to have to live of chips and pasta for two weeks. How far is it to Valletta and whats the cheapest way to get there?

[Jamie]

Hi Christina! I had a wonderful time there, I just wished we'd picked a cooler time of year so that it would be easier to get around and sightsee.

I can't remember that we ate out at any other restaurants because we had an all-inclusive package, but there was the all your basic stuff in the supermarkets (even a few brands of soy cream that I haven't seen in the UK), although soy is often 'soja'. There was also a health food store, somewhere up the hill in Sliema (walkable), that had a lot more of the usual favourites too (was in phone book). The places we went to at our resort, I think anyone can go to them, and they were really nice to help me find something suitable. It might be worth googling and checking the website to see what restaurants they have currently - they had some menus on the site form what I remember. More pricey than than the local places, I imagine though, but maybe a nice change from 'chips and pasta' don't forget salads and drinks

And do take one of the cruises from the harbour - they aren't very expensive, and I think we might have done it twice because we went once in the day and once in the night, and you can see a lot because of all the harbours in the area for them to sail into. Take your camera!!

Hope you have a brilliant time! I always wished we could have gone again, but we live in Australia now, so any trips back need to be to the UK to see family or to the US to eat vegan doughnuts!

[Marrers]

Nice to see you back on the boards Jamie! How are you?