Midnight at the Oasis - but do the Camels know the words?.....

[Pushka]

Before there were camels, there was Malta. And before Morocco had a chance to dazzle us, confuse us, or possibly rearrange our luggage and expectations, there was Lisbon, where we are now, sitting in a hotel so beautiful it has already earned its own paragraph. I love reading back over old travel reports, not because they are polished pieces of literature, but because they catch the little things I would otherwise forget: the first impressions, the wrong turns, the hotel breakfasts, the views from a window, the moments that seemed ordinary at the time and then became the trip. So this is where the Morocco story begins, so not in Morocco at all, but with a preliminary wander through Malta and Lisbon, before the desert, before the oasis, and well before we discover whether the camels know any of the words.

 

[RooFlyer]

Forget your glasses @Pushka ?

 

[Pushka]

Forget your glasses @Pushka ?

I pasted in a hurry. But. I no longer need glasses. Better now?

 

[Pushka]

Preliminary – Malta
The plan to meet up with our son, daughter-in-law and her parents was actually hatched about two years ago. Someone looked at a map, declared that Malta was “roughly halfway” between Australia and the UK, and from that moment it somehow became the obvious choice.

Then the world started interfering.

The tensions with Iran had airlines changing routes, cancelling flights and generally making everyone wonder whether we’d actually get there. In the end it all sorted itself out, although not before we’d spent far too much time checking airline apps instead of packing.

The hotel changed. Then it changed again.

Somewhere along the way we also discovered a slightly unusual airfare trick. By booking through Bali we managed to get remarkably cheap business class all the way to Europe. There was, of course, a catch. It meant starting the whole adventure with a budget Jetstar hop from Adelaide to Bali, and finishing exactly the same way on the trip home.

Nothing says “you’ve arrived” quite like champagne in business class… immediately after squeezing your carry-on into a Jetstar overhead locker.

Still, the numbers stacked up, so that became the plan. A rather odd itinerary perhaps, but one that got us all to the same tiny island in the middle of the Mediterranean, which was the whole point in the first place.

 

[Pushka]

And then Lisbon appeared

So Malta was sorted.

But two years earlier we’d gone to Portugal to catch up with the same family members and realised we had travelled all that way for one week. It really didn’t cut the mustard. Lovely, yes. Sensible, no.

So we needed more.

MrP happened to mention Morocco. Within a day we had booked what is a 12-day land trip with Luxury Escapes. As you do.

That left a gap.

We first thought cruise, but after being so sick in Honolulu on the Hawaiian cruise, that idea lost its shine fairly quickly. So the next question was: what’s between Malta and Morocco?

Lisbon, apparently.

Thank God we didn’t pick France, because they are having the heatwave. So Lisbon it was.

We’d never been there, had often wanted to go to Portugal, and I like Portuguese tarts. Well, that's not true. We were in Portugal two years ago as mentioned but stayed in a gated community in an air bnb and its location meant we saw zero.zero of the country. We literally did - no sightseeing.

That was it. Done.

 

[Pushka]

The alarm went off at 3.00 am.

There really isn’t a dignified way to be awake at that hour, but Jetstar waited for no one, so off we went. Fortunately everything ran on time, which is all you can ask when the day starts in the middle of the night.

By lunchtime we were in Bali and, more importantly, at the Padma.

We’d booked club access and were reminded very quickly why we like it. The staff are lovely, the atmosphere is calm, and after a very early start it felt like exactly the right place to begin a long holiday rather than just another flight connection.

The weather was warm and sunny, so there wasn’t much debate about what to do next. Into the pool we went.

Later it was up to the Club Lounge for a couple of drinks and something to eat while watching everyone else drift in after their day.

Not a bad way to start what was shaping up to be a rather unusual holiday.

First day done. Four countries to go.

Next day as is often the case with Bali is rinse and repeat. Only four nights here so short stay.

Club breakfast. Wonderful.




Lovely garden area.


Adults pool. Chair rules strictly enforced. No saving.


Surfs up.




The beach at sunset.





Evening canapés.

 

[Pushka]

Bali to Europe
The next few days in Bali were pretty much rinse and repeat.

Sleep in a little. Breakfast. Pool. Club Lounge. A few drinks. Decide what to eat. Repeat.

Exactly what we wanted before the long haul.

Our flight to Europe wasn’t until late, so there was no rush. We made the most of another lazy day before heading back to the airport.

From there it was Turkish Airlines via Istanbul in business class.

The food was very good. The service was perfectly adequate without being especially memorable. The seats were comfortable, which, on an overnight flight, is probably the most important thing.

No complaints.

Europe was getting closer.

 

[Pushka]

Our connection in Istanbul turned into a six-hour stop thanks to a two-hour delay to Paris. Fortunately, the Turkish Airlines lounge is enormous, because it needed to be. It was absolutely packed when we arrived, but there was no shortage of food or drinks, so we settled in and made the best of it.

There were showers available, but after weighing up the queue against how hot Paris was apparently going to be anyway, I didn’t bother. As the afternoon wore on the lounge slowly emptied out and became much more pleasant.

Eventually our flight was called. The aircraft was a Neo with a really odd business class layout. There seemed to be a huge gap between the seats. I’m sure there was a reason for it, but it looked strange.

We landed in Paris late in the afternoon to discover the heatwave was very real. It hit us as soon as we stepped outside. We enjoyed excellent and immediate Karma with the family of three who rudely pushed past everyone on their way to get off the plane quickly only to find the exit was not the immediate front but the end of Business. Thanks Karma. Even more surprising was arriving in France with what felt like no customs at all. We scanned our passports, walked through, and suddenly we were in France.

Next job was working out the train into the city and on to our Novotel. That part wasn’t nearly as glamorous. The trains were packed, stiflingly hot and standing room only in places. Welcome to Paris.

 

[Pushka]

The Novotel, unfortunately, was expensive rubbish.

Our first room greeted us with a toilet that didn’t work properly and lights that flickered on and off. Back down to reception we went for a room change.

The second room fixed those problems but introduced a new one. Every door creaked so loudly it would have woken the dead. The one redeeming feature was that it was nice and cool, which, given the Paris heatwave, counted for a lot.

At about 2.30 pm we wandered downstairs thinking we’d have a quiet drink at the bar. No such luck. The bar didn’t open until 4.00 pm. Honestly…

So we decided to head back to Charles de Gaulle Airport instead. We had an early flight the next morning, so we thought we’d work out exactly where we needed to be, then find somewhere for a drink there instead.

By the end of the day we’d clocked up over 11,000 steps without really seeing anything except airports, train stations and hotel corridors. To be fair, the hotel restaurant was excellent. Good food, good service and probably the highlight of our very glamorous day in Paris. Sleep then a shorter flight to Malta and seeing our son after 2 years. But no tea before sleep because apparently Novotel doesn't provide milk, in any form. It's not the norm according to front desk. Ok. Sure. No. Wrong. And a common complaint in their online reviews.

 

[Pushka]

The next morning it was back to the airport. First stop, of course, the lounge, which was excellent and made the early start much more civilised.

Our flight with KM Malta was good too. No complaints at all. Mind you, by then we were getting a bit over flying. We’d done a lot of airports, lounges and aircraft in a very short space of time, and another boarding pass wasn’t quite as exciting as it had been a week earlier.

But this flight had something the others didn’t.

Our son was arriving from London on British Airways at almost exactly the same time. We walked into the arrivals area wondering if we’d have to wait around, but there he was. Perfect timing.

After all the planning, flights and delays, it was lovely to finally all be in the same place. Malta could officially begin.

Interesting. IST.

The flight magazine was actually worth reading on KM Malta and noted things to see.