Hello and welcome back to Mortgage Advisor on FIRE. It’s been a while. I hope you are well, and thank you for checking back in. I’m sorry this post is later than planned. We’ve had a guest fly into the UK to stay with us on Saturday, and much of my time has been spent entertaining with Oana.
The last few weeks have been eventful. I had my 40th birthday, and a holiday to Malta. I felt it was the right time to return to this blog, but I don’t think it will be a weekly thing. I’ll see how I feel, but I think I’ll probably do a couple of posts a month and take it from there.
Malta
I love Malta. It has a rich history, and it’s a small island republic in the Mediterranean Sea. Over the years Oana and I have become increasingly attached to the place, and on our latest trip, we travelled with my Dad who has never been to Malta before. So it was a great experience seeing it through someone else’s eyes. We also took a special guest along for the trip, and you will see them making appearances in several of the photos included in this post.
Our trip started early; 02:20 in the morning early. We were picked up by a Spanish driver who took a relaxed approach to road signs and markings as he drove us to Manchester Airport. Somehow we arrived at the airport in one piece and were heartened to find it not as busy as we’d feared. Our last journey to Malta in 2022, on the same flight, was chaotic. The airport was rammed with people and it took an age to get through security. This time we were through with plenty of time to spare, so we had breakfast at Giraffe. I used to love their take on huevos rancheros, and it was something of a tradition that if I was in an airport for a morning flight, I’d try and track down this classic Mexican breakfast. A short while ago Giraffe changed their menu, and instead of huevos rancheros, they have a Mexican breakfast tostada. It’s the same thing, more or less, and I smashed through my food quickly, before moving to what was left on Oana’s plate (she had ordered the same).
When Oana and I travel for a week we can normally get by with one large suitcase, and a smaller carry-on case, and a backpack each. We’ve travelled this way for years with no problem. This time we had an agent who was quite militant and insisted our carry-on was too big, and as a result, we left that interaction £48 lighter. It’s blatant profiteering. The carry-on easily fits in the overhead cabins and requires absolutely no adjustments or extra work. It’s just charging people for the sake of it; but that’s what you get with budget airlines.
The flight was fairly smooth and uneventful. We were concerned about bad weather as we approached Malta as all the forecasts were predicting storms for our first day. However, the forecast was updated every few minutes so that, by the time we boarded the plane, we were expecting sun and clear skies.
I like Luqa airport; it’s small, clean, and easy to navigate. We were through security quickly and had our luggage within twenty minutes of leaving the plane. There’s a taxi desk in arrivals where you pay a set fee depending on which part of the island you are going to. We had a few hours until we could check in to the hotel, so the plan was to drop our cases at the hotel and then head to Valletta for lunch.
Our hotel was in Sliema, a city across the harbour from the capital, Valletta. Normally you can get a ferry across the harbour for a nominal fare, but the seas were extremely rough and the ferry service had been suspended. In all the times I’ve been to Malta, this is the first time I’d known the ferry to be stopped due to the weather. Our backup plan was to get the bus.
The buses were absolutely heaving due to a combination of factors. The weather was the obvious one. With the ferry having been suspended, it put more pressure on the buses to get people from Sliema to Valletta. Also, we had landed right at the start of a Pride event in Malta, meaning there were probably more tourists than normal. Whilst we waited for a bus, there was some middle-aged woman standing behind us who, I’m convinced was either drunk, drugged up, or in some other way mentally compromised. She opened up a bottle of coke which exploded all over me; my leg, and my new trainers, were soaked.
I wasn’t too bothered by this because things happen. It was the fact that this woman kept trying to talk to us and apologise. The first time she apologised, I said it was fine and not to worry. I turned away to wait in the queue with Oana and my Dad, but she kept trying to get our attention for the next ten minutes, and at one point was tapping us on the shoulder. I think we were all about to lose our temper and tell her to just leave us alone, as a bus finally arrived that would allow us to board.
Valletta is an impressive city. As you get off the bus at the city gates you can see the large Triton fountain, and the bridge through the huge stone walls into the city itself. We enjoyed our walk around the city, despite all running on almost no sleep. We stopped for lunch at one of our favourite local restaurants, La Pira Maltese Kitchen. We spent a bit more time walking around the city before getting a cab back to Sliema to check in to the hotel.
I’ve talked before about the awful service with Virgin Money for the credit card I use when travelling. I’d closed that card down and opened one with a different bank. The card was active and should have worked fine. However, seeing as though no company can seemingly do simple things correctly, I should not have been surprised when the card was declined at the hotel as we attempted to pay for our rooms. I called the bank and entered all my details into the automated menu, and shouldn’t have been surprised when the agent asked me for all those details again. I mean, seriously, what is the fucking point in having automated menus asking customers for information if that information goes nowhere?
Eventually, they were able to resolve the issue with the card and I paid for the rooms. Once the bill is cleared for this holiday, the card will be closed.
I left Oana to unpack whilst I went out to the supermarket for water and other bits. When I got back, Oana was not happy. The shower in our room was small. Extremely small. It was a shower cubicle, with two sliding doors that join in a corner. Now, I’m a big guy, but not unusually so. I could not fit inside the shower without scraping my body on the door edges. Inside the shower, I couldn’t stand without some part of my body touching a wall or door. There was not a chance I would have been able to shower and not a chance we’d be able to stay in that room for a week. Fortunately, once we explained the issue to the hotel, they upgraded us to a bigger room with a much bigger bathroom. Not better, just bigger.
For dinner, we stayed in Sliema and ate at Impasta, a restaurant serving fresh pasta. Then, we walked along the seafront to go and see the cats. Somewhere about halfway between Sliema and St Julian’s there is a park in which a number of stray cats live. The local people make sure they are fed, and there are many cat beds, little cat houses, toys, scratching posts, and whatnot all supplied by the locals and visitors. Some of these cats we recognised from previous trips, and many of them are friendly.
The following day, after breakfast, we tried to get the ferry across to Valletta again, but this time we were stopped because the card payment system wasn’t working properly and they were only accepting cash. As we had no cash on us, we took another cab into the city. From the Upper Barrakka Gardens we saw a huge cruise ship in the Grand Harbour, and we couldn’t resist the opportunity to go and have a look. The ship was the Norwegian Breakaway on a cruise around Italy and Greece, with a brief stop in Malta. After having a look around the harbour we took the lift back up to the Barrakka Gardens. I may have been something of an asshole on the journey, but I’ll let you decide:
We watched the firing of the cannon at midday and then paid a visit to the Lascaris War Rooms under the Barrakka Gardens. I’d visited the museum in 2018 when I travelled to Malta alone, but I thought Oana and my Dad would find it interesting, and they did. The Lascaris War Rooms were an important part of Malta’s WWII history. It was from this base that the Allied invasion of Sicily was planned, and the War Rooms played an important role in coordinating the defence of Malta as the island was relentlessly bombed by the Germans and Italians. At one point in the war, Malta was the most heavily bombed place on Earth. The islands took an absolute beating but held out under immense pressure.
We decided to have a relaxed evening, as we watched the sunset from the rocks on the seafront in Sliema. We had a kebab from a Turkish place we like and just enjoyed the sea air.
The following day was Sunday, and not much was open, we planned to have a chilled day. We’d spotted a new restaurant on the seafront that looked decent, so we gave it a try. I had a burger and it was not good. Generally, I prefer my burgers well done, but I don’t mind them cooked medium so long as they’ve had time to rest. As soon as I picked up this burger, all sorts of bloody juices fell out of the burger onto my plate, leaving my salad and fries in a puddle of unpleasant liquid. There were issues with the other meals brought out, and overall it was a disappointing meal.
The food that evening was the complete opposite though. I took Oana and my Dad to Hammet’s, a restaurant I’d visited alone in 2018. The menu has changed, and was now an Asian fusion style. I know this food is right up my street, but I was worried I’d be the only one who enjoyed it. I needn’t have worried as we all very much enjoyed our meal.
Monday 11th September
My 40th birthday. How am I 40? It doesn’t feel right. I don’t feel 40. According to Google, I’m middle-aged. Well, Google can fuck off. I’m not middle-aged.
Oana outdid herself in arranging my 40th birthday celebrations. She organised a birthday brunch before we went to Malta, which saw both my parents join us. Since Oana and I got together in 2007, this is the first time the four of us have done something together.
In Malta, Oana had organised a birthday cake to be delivered to the hotel on the morning of my birthday. The cake was fantastic; designed and decorated with skill, and the lemon and poppy seed filling was great.
The three of us then took a trip to Malta’s old capital, Mdina; also known as the Silent City, and famously used as a stand-in for King’s Landing in the first season of Game of Thrones. Mdina is a spectacular walled city. It is so well preserved and is like stepping back in time. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant atop the city walls and it was a complete clusterfuck. The service was poor, flies everywhere, we were given the wrong drinks, and the food was inedible. I ordered a pizza that tasted like a frozen pizza warmed up. The entire pizza, except for one bite, was uneaten and untouched. The caprese salads Oana and my Dad ordered were an insult to food. We called a waiter over and explained that we were not happy with the food. He reacted badly. He started shouting that the food was fresh and that we were wrong, and kept interrupting any attempt we made to explain what was wrong. He simply kept shouting and shouting. If you listen carefully, you may still hear him now, like a fell voice in the air.
We stood up and went to pay at the counter, and he followed us still shouting. Even now, I half expect to wake up with him shouting at me from the bottom of my bed. Eventually, I’d had enough. I told Oana and my Dad to wait outside. I turned to the waiter and told him I did not want to speak to him, and that he should leave me alone. As I was getting my card out to pay the bill, he shouted that he would call the police if we didn’t pay. I told him to fuck off. At this point, he seemed to get the concept.
I’m not generally one for confrontation in this way, but this guy was deliberately trying to cause a scene. I can’t think of any other explanation for why he acted the way he did. We showed a huge amount of patience, despite the waiter becoming increasingly aggressive throughout the whole interaction. We were all feeling angry and frustrated but we tried not to let it ruin the rest of the day. We bought tickets to see the Mdina Cathedral and the Cathedral Museum, and after some more time spent in and around the city, we got a cab back to Sliema.
For my birthday dinner we had booked a table at Sciacca in Valletta; my favourite restaurant on the island. It’s a steak restaurant where you are brought to the meat counter and talked through the various options available. You then choose the cut you want, and how you want it cooked. It ended up being a fantastic meal which my Dad kindly paid for. Afterwards, we went back to the Upper Barrakka Gardens to see the Grand Harbour at night, and then a cab back to Sliema.
On Tuesday we went to Gozo, the second largest of the Maltese islands. We took the fast ferry from Valletta and arrived in Gozo mid-morning. We bought tickets for the hop-on, hop-off bus, which is our favourite thing to do in Gozo. Sitting on the open top deck, with the sun shining down, the breeze blowing over you, and the stunning views of the sea… there’s nothing else like it.
We would have liked to stop at more places in Gozo, but the bus schedule meant we had to be very picky about where to stop. We decided to stop briefly at Ta’Pinu which is just a stunning building even to an atheist like me.
Whilst in Gozo we also visited the Citadel, where our esteemed special guest took in the stunning views:
We enjoyed the open-top bus ride so much that we did the same thing the following day in Malta. We toured the southern half of Malta which took us back to a small fishing village called Marsaxlokk, which Oana and I visited a few years ago, finding an amazing restaurant in the process that was run by an older married couple. We were determined to find the restaurant again despite not remembering what it was called. Our efforts were successful and we had another incredible meal. I had a carpaccio of tuna, salmon, and swordfish to start, with a lobster ravioli for main. Oana had a pasta with a rich beef and mushroom ragu. My Dad had a great chicken dish, and all three of us were extremely happy with the meal.
Once we’d eaten we tracked down a local man with a small boat who agreed to take us on a ride around the coast to see some of the bays and coves. It was so peaceful and relaxing sitting in the boat with our hands in the sea. Marsaxlokk is a small place but it has the second biggest port on the island. As we were on our little boat ride we passed some huge cargo ships, which had anchors bigger than the whole boat we were on. I love being on the water and in another life I would have loved to have worked at sea.
As we approached our final day in Malta we decided to have as relaxing a day as possible. Oana and my Dad wanted to go into the sea a little. I wanted to have a walk, and I was trying to track down some gifts for people. I wanted to get some coffee from a local coffee roaster in Malta for a friend who’d had some good news. I also wanted to track down some mugs or fridge magnets for a couple of other people. So, I stuck my headphones in and started walking to St Julian’s. I got to the coffee place, and they didn’t have what I needed. The wind was well and truly taken from my sails.
By the time I got back to Sliema, the only other place I could try was closed, and so I returned home without the gifts I wanted.
On our last evening, we had dinner at Sciacca again, and the food was amazing once again. We had spotted in a shop window a Monopoly Malta set, and we were eager to buy it. Having been years since I last bought a board game I had no idea how much it would cost. Before we went in, I asked Oana how much she was willing to pay. We both thought about the same; 25ish Euros. It cost over 50. We didn’t buy it.
Our flight home was early, but not unreasonably so. We met in the hotel lobby at 8am and got a cab to the airport. Fortunately, our flight was on time, and it was a relatively simple process of going through security and boarding. The flight was a little bumpier than normal, but I’m a fairly relaxed flyer. Oana, is not. There were a couple of things that concerned me on the flight though.
My first concern was that there were significant periods of time when there was only one person in the cockpit. I thought it was a law that there had to be two people in the cockpit at all times, following the incident a few years back where a pilot crashed his plane into a mountain. I’ve done some reading on this, and it appears that it’s not a law. It was guidance that some airlines no longer follow in Europe. I think it’s a different situation in the US though.
My second concern related to a medical emergency on board. The cabin crew were having to dash up and down the aircraft with various bits of equipment. I don’t know what happened, but it was a worry that someone on board was having difficulty. I don’t know how they are now, or if they survived, or even if it was life-threatening. When we landed in Manchester the paramedics boarded the plane shortly after we arrived at the gate. I did wonder, during the flight, if we’d be forced to land somewhere en-route. The fact we didn’t suggest one of two things; either the incident was not so serious as to require a diversion, or the passenger passed away. Whoever it was, I hope it was nothing serious and they’re ok.
All in all it was a great holiday, and it was so nice to be able to show my Dad Malta for the first time, and see it through his eyes. Oana and I didn’t have the best first trip to Malta when we went back in 2015, I think it was, so to have a second chance to see it from a fresh perspective was great.
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2023 Goals
Click here to see my 2023 progress (opens a new tab).
Financial Update
Total Assets: £517,976.06 (+£4,199.50).
Total Debts: £280,440.89 (no change).
Total Wealth: £237,535.17 (+£4,199.50).
Investment Income in 2023: £6,260.26 (target £8,500).
The financial side of things is going quite well, with my investments increasing in value. Also, there have been some bits of investment income dropping in over the last few weeks.
It’s going to be an interesting year or so ahead of the next general election. I can see both Labour and the Tory party making promises regarding income tax, CGT, possibly the ISA allowance, and maybe even IHT. With the general election needing to take place no later than January 2025 (I think?) it’s as good a time as any to take stock and start planning your financial affairs for 2024.
It seems like every year I have the same mental battle; max out my ISA allowance as soon as it opens in April, or drip feed money into my ISA throughout the year. For the last few years I’ve maxed out my ISA as soon as the year opens (this year I had to draw funds back out of my ISA which was pretty annoying). This year I genuinely think I’ll just drip feed money in each month and keep my Fuck It Fund and Premium Bonds until I’m (hopefully) able to secure another BTL property.
I had a nice boost when I checked this month’s income from an investment fund I hold, which had produced an almost 50% increase in income. In combination with my rental income, I might, might, just sneak over the £8,500 line for investment income by the end of 2023. On the subject of investment income, my total for 2022 was £5,685.20, and I’ve now passed that figure in 2023 with three full months still to go. So, I’m still moving in the right direction.
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Welcome back, great to see you enjoyed your travels and your FIRE plans are ticking along. Keep up the good work and keep blogging, your readers missed you 😊
Good to see your “spoons” back
Happy belated 40th birthday!
Thank you!