My next adventure: Valletta (Malta) – May 2024

Nath

Day 1 (Athens) – What is going on Bristol?

Well, round two of ones 2023 travels has begun, this time in Greece! Flying out of Bristol, it is clear that the rapid expansion is having an effect as one, now has to arrive at the airside assistance point ONE HOUR before departure to enable said individuals to provide the necessary equipment to board the plane. Despite this, we were sat on the airfield for 30 minutes in the Ambulift as someone decided to let all passengers on before muggins which is always great fun…

Anyway, 3 hours and 45 minutes of flying and circling later, one touched down at Athens International airport. For those of you who wish for a fun fact, Athens International was constructed in the early 2000s in preparation for the 2004 Olympic Games! As it is located just outside the city, it allowed space for an extensive transport network, even the suburban railway stops there in addition to the M3 metro.

Factors such as the time of our arrival (20:00) may have influenced the efficiently of the airside assistance, however, we may have just set a new world record for the time between physically landing and exiting the airport.

Of course, if there is a metro or a train from any airport in the world to the city, one just can’t resist giving it a go! The M3 runs from the airport through the city and out to the cruise terminal (quite a nifty idea!) and departs every 30 (or less) minutes. As usual, I booked a hotel a few minutes walk away from a station. One good thing about the Athens metro is that the majority of stations have elevators giving you a little more choice. As the M3 is relatively new, the majority of stations in the centre provide level access from the train to the platform. However, going out to the airport is a different story after the M3 joins the suburban railway, the gaps are very large bar at the airport station.

49 minutes later and we arrived at our semi accessible hotel…more on that tomorrow! Speaking of tomorrow, we plan to head down and take in the world famous sights such as The Acropolis, Temple of Zeus etc.

Day 4 (Malta) – Rough Seas and The Malta Airport Experience

As mentioned previously, we began the day by heading over from the hotel and boarding a 90 minute cruise around the harbour and the ‘creeks’ around Valletta. As I simply booked whatever was available yesterday, the boat wasn’t accessible whatsoever, however, there are a few ‘Hop On, Hop Off’ cruises from Sliema with wider gangways although one still has the issue of getting down to the mooring.

Anyway, the cruise is a great way to see what Valletta offers from a distance (including Popeye’s restored ship) despite the rough seas of the Mediterranean (which I always envisage to be calm!)…

Heathrow was then calling as we disembarked hence we headed back to the hotel to catch the booked airport taxi. As I predicted, the company began by sending an ordinary taxi. Luckily, the accessible taxi was available at that time meaning a smooth journey out to the airport. As we queued up for check in, assistance spotted us and, very helpfully, completed the relevant paperwork with us all the way to the plane. Only thing was a delay of 80 minutes.

As we know, its common for LHR to take their sweet time to unload Superbunny, not this time, it was the first thing out of the hold and rushed up to the airbridge to greet us…perhaps the heavy rain had something to do with it? Think it may have set a new record for getting out of said airport!

On the 12th June, one will be returning to Southern Europe, this time to Athens in Greece where I will also be hopping over to Heraklion (Crete) for the day.

Day 3 (Malta) – Gozo? Appears not…

The plan for today was to catch the bus (500m from the hotel) up to Cirkewwa where it is then possible to board the ferry over to the island of Gozo, however this is me that we are talking about!

I made the decision to take Superbunny today as Gozo is a little more accessible than Valletta thus we began the day by walking to said bus stop. The bus arrived on time (every 30 minutes), however, in true style, a pushchair was already occupying the wheelchair space refusing to move. Now, when I am travelling across the UK, one experiences this issue regularly so it is second nature to me simply to wait for the next one hoping to god that the space will be free. However, a local took it upon himself to begin arguing with the driver and had to be escorted off said bus. Sadly, he didn’t achieve anything but it was definitely an eye opener into ones life for the PAs at least.

It was then so that the bus drove off into the distance and then we waited…waited and waited…the bus never showed. By this time, it was past 12 meaning that we would not arrive at Gozo until 3pmish rendering it a little pointless. The alternative plan was to catch a harbour cruise, however the majority leave in the morning rather than at 2pm. The good news is that we have secured a spot for tomorrow morning before we leave for the airport!

Now at a loose end, it was agreed that another trip over to Valletta was in order, at least it was a little quieter than yesterday…

Let’s see if tomorrow is more fruitful before heading back to Heathrow…

Day 2 (Malta) – A Hilly Valletta

Who’s idea was it to come to Malta in the Easter holidays in the knowledge that a large proportion of tourists to said country are British?

Anyway, the plan for today was to hop over the water by boat to the tiny capital of Valletta. The decision to confine Superbunny to the hotel room was two fold; I didn’t fancy the idea of getting run over on the streets of Valletta plus I was unsure of how accessible the boat was (we also know that, after Russia, small boats and Superbunny aren’t compatible!). The latter was soon answered after the 5 minute trudge from the hotel to the Sliema ferry crossing over to the picturesque capital that is Valletta. Now, you would have thought that, seeing as it’s a vital link between said places, the infrastructure would be a little more than a simple mooring point but no, it was exactly that. After negotiating a steep ramp i.e. a concrete slab, you are faced with a rather big step up to the gangway, Superbunny would have no chance!

In a matter of minutes, the ferry docked in Valletta after providing panoramic views of the walled city…

If you do decide to catch said ferry (rather than busing it which is most likely what one would have to do in an electric wheelchair), there is an optional and accessible (if parked properly!) shuttle bus which eliminates the need to walk up a steep incline from the harbour by dropping you off at the bottom of the Barrakka lift. This lift is a direct entrance into the Upper Barrakka Gardens and subsequently the historical centre…very convenient (and something that was on my ‘to see’ list)…

Of course, it was also accessible…

As I mentioned previously, muggins decided to book this trip to coincide with the Easter holidays in the UK hence the main city sights such as the City Gate and Republic Square were overrun with crowds…not good for ones personal space…another lesson that!

What also comes with heaves of tourists? TAT! I think we came away from Valletta with around 5 leaflets, why on earth would you enjoy taking a walk when you are just bombarded with utter commercial rubbish every 5 minutes? Anyway, that’s my personal opinion and it didn’t take long to scrap the idea of following the tourist trail by taking the side streets…much better!

One of the attractions that I also wanted to visit was Fort St Elmo, one of the many forts scattered around Malta and the associated National War Museum which takes you through the various roles it played from its inception to the present day. It seemed as though the flocks of tourists seen in the centre do not venture out as we had the place nearly to ourselves. The majority of the place is accessible and, as its a fort, also provides views over the Mediterranean Sea and Valletta…

Valletta is very hilly by nature thus it takes some strength to push a manual wheelchair both up and downhill so it was decided that we would continue our jaunt back down to the harbour whilst seeking out a restaurant (with inside seating of course!) which certainly didn’t come to fruition whilst missing the turning in the process. Luckily, a local saw us and informed us to walk down an unassuming lane and an ominous back alley which took us to the harbour and the Sliema ferry.

To avoid faffing about with buses to the airport on Friday, our hotel is currently arranging an ‘accessible’ taxi (which I am slightly dubious about given the situation we had in Portugal), see how that pans out.

Tomorrow, the plan is to catch the bus and subsequent ferry over to Gozo!

Day 1 (Malta) – The Google Maps Faff

It is so that ones travels for 2023 have commenced! Now, for those that follow my globetrotting, you have gathered that I just love flying from London Heathrow. partly because I know that Superbunny is mostly safe with the baggage handlers…unless the piece of equipment that is needed is unavailable which is indeed what happened on this occasion at T4…nothing that a little manpower couldn’t resolve. One will therefore be shocked to learn that Malta is the only trip that I have planned this year which utilises LHR, what is going on!

Anyway, as mentioned above, we flew out of T4 which used to handle the majority of British Airways operations before the mighty T5 opened (fun fact for you right there), however, since BA vacated, it has somewhat become a little of a ghost terminal with only a handful of daily flights compared to the others. This suited us nicely as it meant a fluent journey to the plane…should use T4 more!

After a 2.5 flight high above Europe with a spectacular view of the Alps and Sicily, we touched down in Malta which Superbunny was quickly disembarked in one piece and was reunited on the scissor lift as airbridges are no where to be seen at said airport.

Taking Superbunny here was a last minute decision i.e. last week as I was in two minds whether it would be worth the faff considering the accessibility of Malta, but hey, why not give it a go! The issue is that I had pre-booked a conventional taxi (instead of an accessible taxi which are, as usual, quite scarce) on the pretense that Superbunny wouldn’t be joining and then by the time muggins changed his mind, said accessible taxis were booked meaning trusty public transport (bus) it was. Before coming to Malta, I researched the X2 bus route which brings you just minutes from our hotel (115 The Strand), however I decided to also put faith in Google Maps…not a wise idea! First, it took us on a scenic walk of the airport and the associated road network ending up in a petrol station followed by a bus which took us to a completely different area resulting in a 2km walk to the hotel.

In recent years, buses, particularly in Europe seem to have gained an universal design in terms of accessibility with either an electric or manual ramp accompanied by a wheelchair space hence one could have been traveling around Bristol…even asked a fellow buser to assist with clearing the area forgetting that they may not speak English.

The 2km walk to the hotel provided a great opportunity to assess the accessibility of the wider city area. I had previously read that the best way to get around in a wheelchair is straight down the road due to the narrow pavements, advice of which we used on many occasions…

Although the hotel was booked on the cheap (as usual!), it offers picturesque views over the water to Valletta, a perfect way to celebrate the end of a never ending journey…

Tomorrow, Superbunny will be confined to the hotel room whilst we hop over the water to explore hilly Valletta (apologies in advance to the PAs!)…

Day 4 (Riga) – The RIX Experience + Plans for 2023

…and the answer to that cliffhanger is that Superbunny did indeed return to Gatwick in one piece and fully alive, congratulations Riga!

Anyway, after a morning of catching up on work emails and prepping ones lecture for the forthcoming day, we ventured out to catch the route 22 bus to the airport. Unlike the casual 12am wander to the hotel on Monday night, the bus stop was located on the same side of the road as us eliminating the need to use said underpass and, more importantly, the requirement to see Doris! Like the majority of buses in Riga, the 22 was equipped with an automatic ramp enabling Superbunny to roll on and off, definitely the best transportation method as the trams are a mix mash of Soviet and modern rolling stock meaning that you never know what will turn up!

It seems that catching the 22 in the daytime as opposed to the 12am journey is a whole different experience taking the scenic route around various Latvian housing estates before ending its voyage at Riga airport (RIX). Although said airport is deemed to be the busiest airport within the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), it is pretty quiet meaning that AirBaltic could take their time to work out how to handle Superbunny. This also meant for a rather pleasant experience through to boarding the scissor lift (if not a little trek past empty gates) and subsequently the plane. Now, I never understand why major airports in the UK such as Gatwick and Heathrow are reluctant to bring either wheelchair up to the gate rather send them to oversized baggage, would be so much easier but there you go!

Well, that is that then, every country in Northern and Central Europe (not counting the self-governing states or Serbia, the latter being a bone of contention by many) has been rolled around by moi coinciding with the end of 2022 (and the start of the busy work season!)! So where to in 2023…Southern Europe of course. I thought that I would take the opportunity whilst the world is coming to the end of the COVID pandemic (apparently ‘the end is in sight’ for all countries according to WHO) to explore more of the Southern end as, let’s face it, only Spain and Portugal has been rolled around. The plan for next year is to make ones way west to east along the top of the Mediterranean (kind of!) starting in Malta sometime in April (with a day trip over to Sicily in Southern Italy via catamaran) then onto Athens in Greece (with a day trip over to the Greek island of Crete (bucket list time!) via plane), back to Milan in Northern Italy (with a day trip down to Florence utilising the high speed train network…should be no DEATH trains in sight?) finishing the year off by visiting somewhere east of Greece (torn between several ideas but will most likely be in the ‘crossroad’ section between Europe and Western Asia). Now, if you have been to places in Southern Europe (Especially Malta and some parts of Greece), you will know that it isn’t the most accessible places in the world so I suspect Superbunny will be confined to the hotel room at times but hey, that is the fun of traveling with a disability?

Until then, let’s enjoy a ‘pondering’ photo of one marveling at the architecture of Riga…

Day 3 (Riga) – The Lack of Latvian Health and Safety!

Today has been much warmer than yesterday (although I have just been told that it’s raining…fantastic) making perfect walking conditions for the short walk to the Latvian Academy of Sciences within which an observations deck can be found. On the way, we passed the same woman that was in the lift on Monday night (who a PA has aptly named Doris)…she did not look happy with us!

Anyway, the tower soon loomed over us and we followed the wheelchair signs around, around and around…until we reached an ominous fire exit door equipped with a concrete slab acting as a ramp…

As we entered said door. we were greeted by a series of steps with a precarious stair climber lift to one side. As we had entered into a basement area, there was no one to assist us thus we simply operated it ourselves, getting onto the thing was difficult enough due to a tight turning circle. In the UK, these kind of lifts have some kind of barrier to prevent you from falling off said platform, not in Latvia! What is worse was that there is a ramp connecting said lift and the top of the steps to navigate also. In the middle of said lift journey, a mechanic appeared and precariously we navigated the obstacles (only one scary part to be seen)…

I really think that this mechanic guy thought that we were students as he sent us to a floor that can only be described as a hospital, even had the smell! Realising that this was the wrong floor, we headed up to the top floor where we were greeted with two doors; one presumably leading to some seminar rooms and one sign posted with ‘Panoramic Riga’ on leading to a series of steps. After deciding which PA would have the pleasure of walking up numerous steps, we video chatted to marvel at the views…

(Note the lack of safety netting etc!)

After that thrilling experience, we headed through the Central Market, crossed a few roads and took a riverside walk…

The fun didn’t stop there though, after a while, it was decided that we would hop on to a bridge and circle back through town. I knew beforehand that said bridge had a lift connecting the footpath at the bottom to the bridge deck. What I didn’t realise was that the platform was corroding away with just a plank of plywood to catch you if it fell to imminent death…ahh well, such is life!

Tomorrow, we catch the 22 bus route back to the airport and then back to old Gatwick…better be nice to Superbunny this time!

Day 2 (Riga) – An Old Town Wander

It is always nice to wander around a city that is quite compact rather than spread out like London and NYC, especially if you only have 48ish hours! This is true for Riga as the main sights are all within a 25 minute walking radius of the hotel and it is so that we began our exploration of the Old Town in the heart of the city.

Having wandered around Tallinn and Vilnius, I knew that I was letting myself in for a bumpy ride throughout the historic city with Superbunny due to the cobbly streets. Despite this, we marveled at the main sights (braving the freezing wind!) such as the Town Hall, Riga Castle and the Freedom Monument…

Wandering around Riga (outside of the Old Town), it seems that Latvias interpretation of accessibility is rather mixed. We have already discussed said underpasses (some of which have been retrofitted with ramps instead of steps), drop kerbs are of plenty and mostly in the correct places, however, as usual for Europe, the majority of shops and restaurants have one or two steps to enter the place. By now, we have learnt to simply seek a shopping centre for said arrangements. Our hotel is in a perfect position for this as it backs onto TWO shopping centres plus the train station (of course!).

Whilst we are discussing hotels etc, let’s talk about ones room within the Mecure Riga Centre. Being an international chain, I chose the safer option as I was unsure what Latvias legislation regarding disability is like. It’s a pretty standard room bar the single beds which is rather annoying if you like to spread out…

The shower seat situation is rather odd, however, as the dials are directly behind meaning that you have the handle sticking in your back throughout…

Tomorrow, we head in the opposite direction to the Old Town to a TOWER located within the Latvian Academy of Sciences and then where the lighter winds take us…

Day 1 (Riga) – Oh, Gatwick, you had to break Superbunnys new companion!

Here we are at the end of the first year of constantly exiting and re-entering the country after old COVID and what a way to finish than visiting the last country in Northern and Central Europe that one hasn’t explored yet, Latvia!

As I mentioned in my previous post, Riga took a little more planning due to the accessibility of said country which almost went to plan (come on, something always has to throw a spanner in the works!). For the first time this year, we entered the airside section of London Gatwick with oodles of time and even had time for a sit down meal…I know!

Now, LGW has a different approach to assistance than Heathrow where you are required to ‘check in’ at the Special Assistance point akin to Bristol (but not as bossy!) and then the baggage handler (ish) comes up to the gate to discuss how to disengage Superbunnys batteries etc which is a nice touch…if only LGW do what I say! By coincidence, our seats looked directly onto the baggage belt, unlike Heathrow, Gatwick uses solely manpower to heave wheelchairs onto the belt for which the brand new manual wheelchair (that BA paid for) experienced a near fall going up and then who knows what happened. Annoyingly, Superbunny was pushed around the back so one couldn’t see what it enjourged until the other side.

We are flying with AirBaltic who utilise one of the newest Airbus’s claiming to be the most greenest plane in the sky etc…very odd experience indeed! Instead of the cabin crew making announcements, you are treated to a screen above your head that plays jingles during the flight to tell you to ‘have a snack from the trolly’…and then in Latvian!

Anyway, we arrived in Riga around 22:30 local time (I hate flying forward in time!) and were immediately greeted by the old scissor lift and a fussy woman who reminded me of an old friend in looks and personality. She reassured us that both wheelchairs were onboard and swiftly arrived with the manual wheelchair…must be one of the quickest turnarounds on record! As usual, we were escorted through passport control only to be presented with Superbunny sitting on top of the oversized baggage belt with no way down! Luckily the two PAs this time were able to lift it off the end to avoid a nosedive. However, when attempting to turn on said wheelchair, nada! Realising that it was approaching 23:30 and the prospect of missing the last bus into town thus becoming stuck at the airport until 5am, we turned it to manual after trying a few cables (to no avail) and pressed on through the car park to the bus stop. On the way, we also noticed that the wheels on the manual wheelchair have been bent by the straps…GATWICK!!

As per my research, bus route 22 is fully accessible with the vehicle being equipped with the usual ramp and TWO wheelchair spaces! It takes approximately 30 minutes to reach our stop after which we disembarked and found our way to the notorious underpass that I was banging on about in my previous post. Luckily both lifts were operational at 12am, however, when we called the second lit, we were greeted by a woman slumped on the floor, it was immediately obvious that she was either heavily intoxicated or on some kind of crack as she fell straight into the lift door several times attempting to stumble out, oopsies, welcome to Latvia!

Reaching the room at past 12am, we took Superbunny apart to find that the power cable from the battery had been either disconnected (which would have taken some knowledge to know where it is!) or been knocked out, all dandy now!

Tomorrow, we simply plan to be common tourists and meander around the Old Town area…

Day 4 (Oslo) – The Airport Experience + Where Next?

Before I start rambling on about our final day in Oslo, I omitted information regarding the accessibility of the other means of public transportation in the city from yesterdays post, clearly the T-Bane was just too exciting! Asides from the metro, Oslo is also home to a tram and bus network. As in many European cities, the former comprises of old and new rolling stock with only the new having low floor access so you may be waiting for a while for one to come. In contrast, every single bus is accessible, this seems to be a recurring theme across Europe. Anyway, back to today…

As our flight back to Heathrow wasn’t until 5pm, the morning was spent catching up on work emails etc before being kicked out the rooms at 12pm. As per before, we utilised the Flytoget train link between Central station and the airport for which I booked assistance for a certain train. Despite pre-booking, it seems that Norwegian train guards aren’t phased to simply assist regardless.

Now it’s time for the fun bit, THE AIRPORT! Apparently I didn’t register Superbunny onto the BA system which I did but there you go! Once we had faffed about resolving said issue, we were informed that the airports protocol to leave electric wheelchairs at oversized baggage to be collected by the forklifts onto the plane and only manual wheelchairs are allowed up to the gate. Oversized baggage was rather confused by this, however, it turns out that it is only BA’s protocol as they are required to put Superbunny in its own container to avoid any damage…kudos needed here for British Airways!!

Anyway, everything was dandy and we arrived at LHR slightly ahead of schedule for once, however, the answer to yesterdays cliff hanger is ‘kind of’! Although we parked at a remote stand and the lift was waiting to take us to T3, the piece of equipment needed to transfer Superbunny off the container was over at T5 which is at the other side of the vast airfield thus taking approximately 15 minutes to reach us…Heathrow needs forklifts!

So, where is next for me? Of course, Latvia as it is the only remaining country in Northern and Central Europe to roll around unless we are counting the self-governing states (or Romania/Serbia which some class as Central Europe, surely they are located in South East Europe?) which could take a while! Whilst in Latvia, we are staying in and exploring the capital, Riga. Unlike Oslo which is pretty easy to wander around in an electric wheelchair, Riga has taken a little more planning due to the scarceness of accessible taxis and general accessibility. Although the historic centre of Riga is pretty conventional in terms of drop curbs and pedestrian crossings, once you step outside the centre, you are faced with a concept that seemed to be popular to construct within the former USSR countries and indeed China in previous years. We all know that the USSR enjoyed constructing VERY wide roads hence instead of having a series of pedestrian crossings over ground, said architects decided to build huge underpasses with multiple exits which, in theory is good as it helps traffic flow etc, however, the majority of exits have steps rather than ramps making it near impossible to cross even in a manual wheelchair. I have noted that Riga have installed lifts at a few major exits but nonetheless I have booked a hotel which is near an over ground crossing and on the airport bus route hence everything should work (in theory!). We shall see on the 3rd October!

In the meantime, here is another photo of the stunning T-Bane…

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