Starting from this episode, I will write about my experience of a 15-day in-depth tour to Malta and Sicily from May 28 to June 11, 2024.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began to subside in the second half of last year, I have started to have the idea of traveling abroad again.

Due to the pandemic, I haven't traveled abroad since 2019. Before 2019, I would go to one or two countries in Europe for in-depth travel every year.

In 2019, I traveled extensively abroad. In March and April, I went on a round-the-island tour of Kyushu, Japan, in October, I went for an in-depth tour of Switzerland and Germany, and in November, I went on a vacation trip to Phuket, Thailand.

It has been four years since I last traveled due to the pandemic, so in December 2023, I started thinking about how to begin traveling abroad in 2024.

After New Year's Day in 2024, I began to consider which country would be best to visit after several years, as I had been traveling to European countries for in-depth tours every year since 2013, so this time the goal was still set on Europe.

The way of traveling is still customized tours, and the travelers are still those friends and family members who have been traveling together for years.

Manager Li from the travel agency, who has been accompanying us on our trips, switched to working in insurance during the pandemic due to the impact on the tourism industry. Since 2023, her travel business has been gradually recovering. So we contacted her and wanted her to help us with the travel arrangements for our trip abroad.

Manager Li has been working with us on our trips abroad for over ten years. She knows our needs and the standards for our arrangements for food, accommodation, and transportation very well.

When I communicated with her, she was particularly happy to learn that we were going to Europe again.

I am the advocate and organizer of this trip abroad, so I started planning the trip with Manager Li.

Before deciding where to travel abroad, we consulted with our experienced team leader, Teacher Li. Although she is now too old to travel with us, she provided us with ideal routes and suggestions.

She suggested that we should go to Sicily in southern Italy and add a visit to the nearby Republic of Malta.

This way, the travel time of about 15 days is quite suitable, and it won't be too tiring.

Based on Teacher Li's suggestions, Manager Li from the travel agency began to design the itinerary and travel routes.

My friends and family who usually travel with me are all looking forward to this news and waiting for the specific routes and countries for our trip abroad to be confirmed.

We have never been to Sicily and Malta before; we have traveled extensively in many other European countries, so we are also looking forward to the itinerary in Sicily and Malta.

Among these friends, some used to travel with us as singles, but now both partners are retired and hope to travel abroad together. However, some want to visit northern Italy, such as Tuscany, Venice, Milan, Florence, and others want to go to Spain and Portugal.

In response to this situation, I discussed with Manager Li from the travel agency to design two additional routes beyond the Malta and Sicily itinerary: one for northern Italy and one for Portugal and Spain, for everyone to choose from.

The routes to Sicily and Malta are a must, and for those in our group who have never been to northern Italy and Portugal or Spain, there are two additional routes for them to choose from.

Then they can first visit the places they have never been to and finally join us to travel to Sicily and Malta.

After the Spring Festival, Manager Li from the travel agency designed all three routes and sent the plans to my friends and family in the WeChat group. After repeated discussions, we finally decided to choose the Portugal and Spain route from the two alternative routes, which is a 10-day trip. Some people will first travel to Portugal and Spain and then fly directly to Malta to meet my group after 10 days, starting our journey in Malta and Sicily together.

Once the routes were confirmed, the number of participants for the Portugal and Spain trip began to be finalized and registrations were made, while the numbers for Malta and Sicily were also being confirmed and registered.

As a side note, Manager Li from the travel agency took her child to Europe for travel during the Spring Festival, and she communicated with local people from the travel agency, which laid a foundation for our trip.

At the same time, Manager Li provided feedback that due to the pandemic, hotel prices, transportation, and costs in various European countries have risen, and our travel expenses this time will be much higher than before the pandemic in 2019 and earlier.

We finally confirmed that the departure date for the Spain and Portugal trip is May 18, with 12 people from 6 families. The trip to Malta and Sicily will have 11 participants, departing from Beijing on May 28.

The two groups will meet in Valletta, the capital of Malta, on May 28.

After confirming these matters after the Spring Festival this year, we began the intense process of applying for visas and purchasing tickets, while Manager Li from the travel agency started booking local hotels, contacting car rentals and local guides, and finalizing these arrangements.

The first preparations were for Spain and Portugal, as they would be traveling first. Their visa is for entering Spain and then departing for Malta from Portugal. Their visa is an EU visa, starting with Spain. The Spanish visa process went smoothly, but after obtaining the visa, we encountered a new problem: the direct flight from Beijing to Spain with Air China started to increase in price significantly, and it was necessary to book tickets immediately; otherwise, the ticket prices would continue to rise.

This was an unexpected situation. Manager Li and all the people going to Spain and Portugal initially planned for tickets around 10,000 yuan, but the price rose to over 14,000 yuan for round-trip tickets, and they were non-refundable.

To ensure a smooth trip, those friends heading to Spain had no choice but to purchase the higher-priced round-trip tickets with Air China.

The first group was all set and ready to depart, while our second group encountered issues with the visa application.

Since we needed visas for Malta and Italy, we could only apply for the visa in Italy.

Since the beginning of this year, obtaining a tourist visa to Italy from China has been particularly difficult, and the Italian consulate in China has issued very few visa appointments. Our group of 11 had to queue in three batches several times before finally obtaining the Italian visas.

By early May, several batches of Italian visas were finally issued, but we also encountered problems with our tickets. Since there are no direct flights from China to Malta, the ticket prices for Air China continued to rise, and it was difficult to secure seats.

Ultimately, we decided to switch to Emirates Airlines for round-trip flights, but this would add an extra eight hours to our travel time, as we would have to transfer in Dubai, UAE.

It seems that traveling abroad is no longer as convenient as before. After much effort, our second group finally completed all the visa and ticket procedures in early May.

Our long-awaited trip to Europe is about to begin.

（To be continued）