Retire in Malta
Malta is the only English-speaking country in this World Economic Forum list of top places to retire in 2022.
See this https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/02/best-places-to-retire-list/
Remote Workers Welcome in Malta
Remote workers can work in Malta on a 6 months visa for 300 Euros,
and even get a one year residence permit. Malta is doors-open to remote
workers from around the world.
See full article at Times of Malta
Great Hikes in Malta - Golden Bay Watch Towers
Malta is ringed by watch towers that are in great condition, and well worth hiking up to.
This was a glorious hike. Two 500 year old Maltese watch towers overlooking fabulous bays in Malta.
The Final Tigne Point Tower
Ten years ago I remember walking through Tigne when it was a building
site. We looked at some apartments, but opted for Qui Si Sana. Then we
ended up getting a place in Tigne 4 years ago. It’s a great place to
live for families because its pedestrianized, right on top of the best mall in Malta and relatively free from development noise.
Finally, the last tower will go into place. (See news on Times of Malta). We’ve witnessed two towers go up while here,
and wondered what the final hole in the ground between Tigne and Fort
Cambridge would get filled with. Well, here it is. A 16 story tower,
just approved. Looks great. Finally the surrounding areas and walkways
will get finished.
Tigne Point is a great place to live. Also
Fort Cambridge, and the Qui SI Sana area. People also like St Julians,
but it can get a bit noisy, especially up by the Paceville area. Of
course, there are many other areas worth considering here, but these are
the ones we know and can recommend.
Malta Has Lots of Farmers, But They Need Your Support Now
…by they need your support now because farmers markets are no longer an option. See https://foemalta.org/maltafarmmap for a list of farmers, and please order direct to support them.
How’s Malta Doing?
Restaurants are shuttered, the airport is closing Saturday, and the
Government just put forth a 2 billion Euro aid package to help prop up
businesses. Layoffs abound and business is suffering, especially the
hospitality industry which Malta relies on, and was fairly obliterated
over the last few days.
Here’s the direct link to the WHO covid-19 case reporting for Malta.
We have 48 cases as of the 18th March with no deaths, thank God, and
thanks to the good Doctors, nurses and hospital staff of Malta.
Today is day 4 of our 14 days of mandatory quarantine after my trip to New York. Irena and our three daughters are A ok, and I have not a cough spluttered.
Crazy
days. But Malta is in a real position to be able to successfully
contain the virus and nix it. I think there’s a real pride in the
medical sector here, and Malta appears willing to take a real hit on one
sector to ensure the lives of its citizens.
Our civil liberties
and freedom of movement have been denied and I say, good. The cause is
good, and the reasoning makes sense. Friends are delivering food, and
we feel nothing but support.
There’s no waivering of
decision making here. Decisions got made, enforced, and I think many
lives will be saved as a consequence. We can really be proud of that, I
hope. Let’s see.
Where’s the best place to be to survive a pandemic?
Here’s the latest tracking of the Coronavirus outbreak according to Johns Hopkins. What’s the best spot on the planet in the event a pandemic hits? There’s really three aspects to this conundrum. Preparedness, isolation and resources. So let’s look at these aspects.
Preparedness
Overall, the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board warned that the world is not prepared for a large scale outbreak.
According to the Global Health Security Index, the best spots for
preparedness are North America, UK, France, Finland, Sweden, Thailand
and S.Korea. These countries are all rated
‘Most Prepared.’ See rankings here.
Malta doesn’t appear on this map, but we can probably infer from Italy,
and Southern Europe that Malta is in the
'More Prepared’ category. Meanwhile, most of neighboring Africa is in the
'Least Prepared’
category.
Isolation + Resources
The other aspect
is isolation and islands are really good at this. The problem is,
small islands lack resources. Especially Malta. But, we have boats
bringing us food, and that would probably keep up despite a pandemic. A
study from 2019 in the journal Risk Analysis titled “The Prioritization of Island Nations as Refuges from Extreme Pandemics”
provided rankings. Australia is tops. There’s massive oversupply of
food and energy. Australia is closely followed by New Zealand which
ranks 2nd, followed closely by Iceland in 3rd spot. Then Malta ranks
4th, but not a close 4th place. There’s quite a fall off after in their
scoring after Iceland. Japan comes in at 5th place.
So
overall, we’re somewhat sitting pretty in Malta, but it doesn’t help
nearby Italy got hit with the biggest outbreak of COVID-19 in Europe.
The efforts we see to contain the virus are most likely mainly useful to
slow the virus spread so hospitals can keep up, and widespread panic
doesn’t occur. But why panic anyway? Kids are largely unaffected and
roughly 3% of detected infected people die from the current coronavirus,
vs 10% of SARS. (This percentage is likely much lower as more people
are infected but don’t show considerable signs of illness.) This virus
travels more easily. The good news, the virus doesn’t survive long on
surfaces.
The best bet… ease up on your traveling, avoid close
contact with the public at large, and wash your hands for 20 seconds
multiple times a day. If you must rub your nose or eyes, get into the
habit of using the back of your hands rather than your fingers and
palms. Good luck!
Malta Has Been Discovered!
It took a while, but it seems Malta has finally been discovered. We came to Malta in 2009 when there were 2.9 million passenger journeys through the Malta International Airport (MIA). Now MIA is set to top 7.5 million passenger journeys in 2020! Growth has been led by visits from Germany and France.
The airport has been upgraded and is
actually easier to get through since we first arrived, and MIA is now
set to get a further 100 million Euro upgrade. This will buy 25 new
check-in desks and 15 new gates, along with a multistory car park.
The
summer, and August specifically are the busiest times, which is one of
the reasons we like to go away for the entire summer.
What I’m most looking forward to is the direct flight to New York, which is rumored to happen by latest 2024.
The Most Instagrammed Spots in Malta Are:
According to lecturer and data scientist Steve Agius:
1. Valletta
2. The Blue Lagoon
3. Mdina
4. Sliema
5. St. Julians
See full article at Lovin Malta
