Lai's adventures =]

“When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Devil and Miss Prym

The last time when I wrote about my career path was when I was leaving my job and just beginning to embark on a 3 year training course in becoming a Counselling Psychologist.

It has been one year since then, and Year 1 has probably been one of the toughest years of my career yet. I endured challenges as well as embarked on new experiences but overall it has been rewarding and massively growth enhancing, both on a professional and personal level.

This isn't me complaining, not at all but it really has hit reality that I will be starting Year 2 in less than a weeks time. The feeling is scary yet exciting - even though I anticipate that it will be a tough, busy and hard working year, you can never quite prepare yourself for what is to come. With every challenge comes growth and learning and that is what is so satisfying and worthwhile.

I have worked incredibly hard this last year, although I must admit, I could have worked a little more but passing my first year has given me the motivation and platform to bounce off from for my second year. I am so relieved and happy to have passed my first year and I am definitely ready to take on the second year of this three year process.

Let it begin!

The fourth sister annual holiday and this year we decided to travel to Malta. For me, it has been a while since I have had a break and so I was particularly looking forward to a break.

Malta 2015

Thursday 6th August 2015
It is such a wonderful feeling just sitting on a plane and waiting for it to lift off. I have never feared planes and from my very first memory, I have loved them. I love that once it lands, you are able to truly relax and escape from the complexities of reality. That timeless feeling is something I appreciate and crave.

Our flight was departing around 16.50pm, however we left our house in a cab around 11.30am due to the tube strikes. They charged us £15 on top of the price because of this. This was extortion, surely! But other than that, there was no traffic and we arrived at Gatwick North terminal smoothly.

We arrived in Malta and we had transfers to pick us up. It was about a 30 minutes journey to our hotel. It was a beautiful looking hotel - Corinthia Marina, Beach Resort, St. Julians. We decided to check in, unpack and then go out to the town for a quick explore to get a feel of the area. We ended up eating McDonald's as it was getting late! My first impression was that it was a very lively area.

Town

Friday 7th August 2015
So last night we planned most of our days in Malta. Today we planned to walk to Valletta, which was a bit of a trek and we didn't plan to complete the full journey but we wanted to pass Seilma and just take in the views. It was a lovely stroll but perhaps a bit too hot with the sun blazing down. We ended up getting lost earlier on so we had wasted quite a bit of our energy which didn't help. We took a few pit stops, water breaks and just photo opportunities. It was nice. We decided that we didn't want to continue on so we took a bus to Valletta. Once we arrived, we had a coffee break, iced coffee which was really delicious. We continued to explore Valetta which is the morden city of Malta. It was really nice, a street filled with markets and quirky things. My sister and I decided to get a caricature for fun, I guess it was one of those spontaneous "f it, lets do it' moments. It was a really nice day out. A friendly town with a lovely waitress too.

Coffee pitstop!

Saturday 8th August 2015
We planned a trip to Gozo, what I loved about our hotel was the ease of booking day trips to places. We managed to book a day trip to Gozo where they came to pick us up from our hotel and would drop us back to our hotel. Although, we had to get up early, it was a comfortable ride to the ferry where we boarded and was met by our tour guide. Gozo was a lovely island and I learnt a lot about the culture and it's history. The tour guide was actually really engaging and it wasn't boring like many other tours that you sometimes find. I really enjoyed this relaxing time in Gozo, the free lunch that was provided wasn't spectacular, in fact perhaps quite disappointing (as salad was counted as the first course!). The ice cream was delicious though. It did give a nice opportunity to eat with other tourists and that was nice to just converse with them to see why they had travelled to Malta and that their plans were. It was lovely. Once we arrived back in Malta, we decided to try some traditional Maltese food. We headed to a nice little family run restaurant called Mamma Maltese and the service was excellent. The food was good too. Rabbit was one of their delicacies so we had to try that.
Day trip to Gozo for three cost 171 Euros and departure was at 8.30am.

Azure Window

Sunday 9th August 2015
It was another pre-booked day, this time it was to the island of Cominio to swim in this Blue Lagoon. I was really excited. It was 30 Euros each where a speed boat departed from our hotel to the island and then picked us up at 4.30pm. It was perfect for us. It gave us free time to do what we liked. We ended up swimming across to the other side which was amazing. The crystal clear water and the fun I had in that sea. It was such a lovely experience. I can't swim so I got an inflatable ring, it was so relaxing just to float on the sea. Such fun. My sister had a snorkelling set and it was just great fun. I would definitely say this is a must do. Luckily, we had arrived relatively early, as the deck chairs and the main island got very busy. Such a beautiful day. Before we was taken back to our hotel, the speed boat took us under some caves and we had a look at the caves, it was so nice to be on a speed boat. But I felt I had burnt a little after today. We ordered some takeaway food and had that for dinner as we just wanted to chill after a long day. I also got to try Malta's local soft drink known as Kinnie. I really liked it, and would compare it to root beer. Not a drink you want to have all the time, but occasionally it is a good choice!

Crystal clear waters

Monday 10th August 2015
After finding out that 'beach resort' doesn't necessary mean sandy beach, in fact our hotel had some rocks then a ladder down to the sea, which I did not realise, that also could be known as a beach resort, I really wanted to find some sand. We did some research and there was some really nice sandy beaches in Malta but was just a bit far out. It was a 1 hour bus journey but had seemed easy enough. We set out after breakfast to the bus stop and waited. We realised that the bus had come every 30 minutes and when the bus arrived, it travelled straight pass us because it was overpacked. It was a single decker bus too and so we decided to get a cab. Cab wasn't too bad, it was comfortable and just under 30 Euro's each, we felt it was worth the uncomfortable bus journey. We arrived and just spent time at the beach. It was a lovely beach - Ghadira Bay, Melieha. Was lovely golden sand and swimming in the sea was great fun, as always. On the way back, it was another story. It was the worse journey ever back. We left the beach about 5.30pm, and the buses were extremely full. We ended up walking a few stops earlier and what was worse, it had started to rain. We was hardly covered and had to take our towels out for sheltering. A number of buses passed us without stopping and we just could not get on. By 8.30/9pm, we was still waiting in the rain like three hopeless girls. We had to make our own entertainment by dancing, laughing and joking but it had started to get dark. We decided that any bus would do but even so, the buses that were heading to random places were not stopping. When we finally got on a bus towards our destination, we got off hoping the bus we needed would be easier to get on. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Despite, being half way closer to our hotel, the bus we intended to get did not stop as it was still full of people. We couldn't wait for the next bus as it was an hour wait. It was a random town, quiet and dark. We decided to head towards a hotel and ask for directions to a cab. Thankfully, I turned around just at the right time and it just happened to be a taxi. I flagged it down like a crazy woman because we was desperate and tired. We finally arrived back at the hotel, we went out to town and headed to Burger King to get some take out. We enjoyed that food and cleaned up after as we had not really eaten a real meal since breakfast.

Ghadira Bay, Melieha

Tuesday 11th August 2015
After an exhausting night, and the weather was predicted for thunderstorms, we decided to spend the day in the sister hotel and use the Spa facilities. We booked a massage too which was really soothing. I had all my muscles on my back loosen and it was just really nice to enjoy that moment. We used the indoor pool, sauna and the Jacuzzi. Lovely relaxing day. We had a laughing fit when we was in the sauna and i found it so difficult not to laugh. There was nothing funny but I made obvious sounds but really had to try to compose myself. I couldn't help it. It was a really nice day. We ended up going to a restaurant which was about 3 minutes away from the hotel. We had a lovely meal and because we stayed at the neighbouring hotel, we got a discount. The food was really good, the atmosphere too. I really enjoyed it.

Apollo Spa

Wednesday 12th August 2015
It was our last full day in Malta, our last night. We planned to do some shopping and also hire out a pedalo boat. It was extremely exiting yet scary! I thought on many occasions it was going to topple over and I was not prepared for such thing. The waves and wind were particularly stronger too and was told not to go out too far. It was a nice experience. We packed and then decided to have sushi. The sushi restaurant was called Buddahman. It has to be said, it is definitely one of the best sushi places I have eaten at however the biggest disappointment was the service. We had to wait over an hour between starters and main. We didn't even order that much for the main, just one platter. It was such a bad experience that brought down the overall experience. I was extremely angry and frustrated because the food and staff were really nice. The time of the food was just appalling. It was our last night, so it was sad that it had to end with such a disappointing end but it had been overall a good holiday. It was much needed. I really enjoy sitting outside the balcony and listening to the 90's hits that blared out from across the water. Definitely a nice place, but probably not a place I would be back in a hurry, particularly because of the previous places I have been too.

Boat on sea

Thursday 13th August 2015
The last hoorah. Our flight was not until the evening so we had quite a lot of time to kill. We decided to stay within the hotel and they had a really nice area with turf and sofa seats. We took a nap, had some desserts in the hotel cafe and just took it easy. My last opportunity to soak in last minute sun.