Malta/Sicily Day 0: To Malta

As I have often done in the past, I am blogging our current vacation trip to Malta and Sicily. I will be posting daily installments over the next two weeks, offset by three weeks from our trip. The trip involves a short pre-trip tour in Malta, followed by a cruise around Sicily on the Sea Cloud II, a sailing ship. Once again, we are meeting our friends Dave and Jan on this trip, although they will not be joining our pre-trip tour because they are attending another event in Italy.

Friday-Saturday, June 12-13, 2026

Rather than a direct flight to Europe, this time we are taking an Air Canada flight to Toronto, connecting onward to Frankfurt, with a final flight to Malta on Lufthansa. Because our flight was early in the day, we decided to have our breakfast at the Maple Leaf Lounge at SFO, which was pleasant but very busy. It seems that airport lounges have become very popular recently, and are less peaceful than they once were. Once we found a table, the breakfast items were adequate but not extensive. We were a bit disappointed that the decaffeinated coffee wasn’t working.

When we arrived in Toronto, we were offered the use of the Air Canada Signature lounge during our layover. It was busy enough that we had to wait in line a few minutes to enter. The lounge was somewhat upscale from their Maple Leaf lounges, with table service. We had a light snack in consideration of the meal we would be getting on our next flight.

Our flight to Frankfurt was delayed, initially by a late incoming aircraft, and additionally by the time needed to tow the plane to our gate. We were concerned because we had a short connection in Frankfurt, and had heard stories that entry to the EU is slower than usual because of a new requirement to enroll in a biometric entry system. But we were reassured by the fact that there is a later flight to Malta if we missed the one we were booked on.

We managed to get some sleep on the overnight flight, but as usual never enough. On arrival at Frankfurt, our plane was as usual parked out on the field with buses to take us to the terminal, which again made us nervous considering our late arrival. We made our way as quickly as possible, passing through EU immigration without the biometric enrollment delay. Then we discovered that we needed to take yet another bus to get to our departure terminal, and there was a nervous wait for that bus to arrive.

Moving quickly through the departure terminal to our gate, we were much relieved to see that, despite the late arrival and bus delays, we made it in plenty of time for our flight. Following our 2.5-hour flight, our bags were thankfully promptly delivered.

We weren’t sure how to get to our hotel from the airport. Google Maps suggested the public bus as a good option. A public bus desk told us which bus to catch, and the bus was equipped with luggage storage and only cost 3 euros apiece. It was a short walk to our hotel, the Phoenicia Malta, where we checked in. While doing so, we met another couple that is on the same cruise.

As it is usually a good idea to spend time outside to counter jet lag, we took a walk through Valletta. We encountered a crowd carrying Albanian flags having a peaceful demonstration in the square next to the hotel. They were protesting the plan to put a resort by Jared Kushner on parkland in Albania, echoing large protests that have been occurring in Tirana.

The main street of Valletta has many cafes and souvenir shops. We stopped at a souvenir shop with a particularly friendly owner for a Maltese flag (for Jim) and pin (for Kenna). Upon returning to the hotel, we stopped by its cafe for a light dinner and then turned in for some much-needed sleep.

A couple of things surprised us about Malta, both probably the result of British influence: (1) They drive on the left side of the road. (2) The power outlets in the hotel are the British style outlets, not the continental style. I had brought the continental power adapters without checking, and we needed to borrow an adapter from the hotel.