Experiences of 2015, #2: The Airplane Hitch over Malta

This is part of a series on my travel experiences of 2015, read #1 about Albania too! #2: The Airplane Hitch over Malta In 2015 I hitchhiked my first airplane over the Maltese islands, which was really cool in terms of getting things off my bucket list and having seen Malta from the sea, the land, and the sky. All from people’s hospitality and generosity! What’s really awesome is to go through security, not at the main entrance, but the back, at the private jet parking. I loved hanging out in the hangars with other plane-aficionados who are painting or otherwiseContinue reading

Sicily to Mainland Italy: Hitchhiking Cosa Nostra

This morning’s hitchhiking selfie from Taormina, Sicily. I slept outside in public for two days in a row now, but it seems like I’m not going to find a shower anytime soon. So I’m curious if people will still stop for me tomorrow. I already covered Catania (in Sicily) to Salerno (on mainland Italy) today. I’m probably headed to the Amalfi Coast to camp close to one of the hiking trails tonight. We’ll see about that. The smartest move of the day was asking around on the 3-kilometer ferry from Sicily to mainland Italy for a ride to Salerno. IContinue reading

Hitchhiking Failure of the Year: No Malta to Sicily

Philosopher Jagger once said “you can’t always get what you want” and that’s what happened last night. I couldn’t find a boat willing to take me to Sicily from Malta. It’s a hitchhiking failure! Therefore I was forced to use the extortionately priced ferry! After more than three weeks in Malta and almost one week at the marina, enough was enough. And I’m very sad about it. Mick Jagger also said, “but if you try sometimes, you might find, you get what you need!” Though it was frustrating, the people from La Marina Trattoria were so kind to feed meContinue reading

Airplane Hitchhiking over Malta

I guess this is the in-flight airplane hitchhiking selfie with the pilot you’ve been waiting for! “Johnny Bravo Yankee, prepare for landing..” listening to the radio stuff is quite entertaining, but I wouldn’t want to have the responsibility for an aircraft honestly, so I can scratch off becoming a pilot off my list of potential future jobs… and I’m back to just being a hitchhiker. It’s the more reasonable ambition. The pilot made the smoothest landing ever on Malta’s runway. And obviously I took many (shitty) photos and videos through the window. I love small airplanes! I love the number ofContinue reading

Malta: My First Time Hitchhiking an Airplane

I’ve seen Malta from the sea, explored most of it overland, and now I’ve seen it from the sky too… what did just happen? I can’t believe it yet either, but I think this was the first time hitchhiking an airplane. But is it hitchhiking if I landed at the same airport? Yes, I’m still in Malta. Let me know what you think by commenting: yay or nay? YAAAAAAY ANYWAY Photo snapped at Airport of Malta Edit from the Future About Hitchhiking an Airplane I took this photo of myself before the flight. Some things happened on that little airplane thatContinue reading

A Modern Odyssey: Sailing Theatre Company in Valetta, Malta

At the marina in Valetta, I met this Italian lady who is an actor with a theatre company. That wouldn’t be remarkable without the tidbit that they’re traveling by a huge sailing boat. They’re sailing all over Europe to perform and they even carry their own stage stuff around. Fittingly, they’re doing part of Homer’s Odyssey, right here at the marina. It’s giving me some flashbacks to Greek class in high school, which was basically all Illiad and Odyssey. They let me sleep in the dressing room, which they call a ‘loft’. The cooks of the ship are Dutch andContinue reading

Malta to Sicily: Another Boat to Hitch

Uh-oh, it’s the same old tale from a couple of weeks ago! But this time, I’m dockwalking to hitchhike a yacht from Malta to Sicily, mainland Italy, or France. I want to attend the HitchGathering in Saint-Laurent-du-Pape (yes, it’s a mouthful) in France this year. I’m using this cardboard hitchhiking sign to start conversations with people in the marina of Valetta where I arrived. To be honest, I’m not sure if I’m at the correct marina. Malta has a gazillion marinas and it’s impossible to visit all of them in person and walk around. Not all employees of marinas areContinue reading

Ultimate Hitchselfie on Gozo! (Malta)

I’ve always wanted to take a hashtag hitchselfie like this! This happened on the outskirts of Victoria on the island of Gozo in Malta. Yep, that red car stopped right when I was taking this picture. That’s why I look so distracted. I was also torn between talking to the driver first and picking up my camera first. I chose my camera and then made a run for the car. The guy made a nice drive around Marsalforn and invited me for some guitar playing at his house before dropping me at Ramla Bay to go swimming. I hope IContinue reading

The Blue Lagoon from Comino

Ain’t it pretty? I took this photo from the super small island of Comino here in Malta. What you see in the picture is the tiny islet of Cominotto (“little Comino”), which features a cool and fairly scary cave. One can swim the 100 meters across the narrow bit to Cominotto (which I did), but a fair warning for potential currents and jellyfish is needed. On my way to Cominotto, I had no problems. Though on the way back, the currents dragged me away quite a bit. Then at one point I could reach the seafloor with my feet, tookContinue reading