So any folks here from Malta?

I ask because I am seriously considering moving there. Having moved around all my life I am far from naive when it comes to what looks like the ideal place to live. Every place has it's faults, those small things that no travel blog mentions and you actually have to live there to discover.

But what I would really love to know is...what is it really like living in Malta? From someone living in Malta.

In the course of my research on actually living in Malta, I have come across....

1) Roaches

2) Yearly flooding, flash floods.

3) Scorpians

4) Insane drivers

5) Over charging foreigners.

6) Insane storms.

7) Horrible humidity.

Don't get me wrong, every place has it's faults, What I see when I research Malta is a stunningly beautiful place. I simply want to go into it with my eyes open on what to expect, this time.

For instance, I live in Southern France. I fell in love with the quaint medieval villages, the beautiful countryside and the laid back style of life. Many people would give anything to live in Southern France. But the fact is that unless you live here....you don't know what it is REALLY like....to live here. We have horrendous weather (it goes from horrible heat to insane freezing cold in a week). Last year we had 8 months of winter, no joke. The bureaucracy is insane, the taxes are insane, the customer service is the most appaling I have ever seen and unless you can speak the language you ARE going to have a VERY hard time here and you will be taken advantage of. Not by everyone of course, but believe me you will.. Almost no one speaks english and if they do then it is barely comprehensible broken english. So while I do love living in France and I love France, I am not blind to it's faults and the difficulties involved in living here.

I moved to Bermuda some years back and lived there. Don't get me wrong I love Bermuda, I am actually one of very few people in this world entitled to live in Bermuda as I am half Bermudian. But the reality of living there is that it is super expensive (costs a cool million to buy a basic townhouse), it is overrun with ants (my god those things are everywhere, I don't think I sat in one place for any length of time during the years I lived there. lol), the roaches are HUGE (don't get me started on those), it is overrun with giant toads (that are dangerous to pets) at a certain time of the year, the humidity is killer in summer (walk out the door and you are literally wet. Although the winter is very pleasant, perfect even), there is often racist violence (I encountered racism towards myself as a white person). The place is stunningly beautiful but unless you know the downsides to living there then you are in for a shock, same goes for every place in the world. The romantic image many people have of living there is not a reality.

Tell that to your average Brit dreaming about retiring to the South of France and to pretty much everyone dreaming of Bermuda!

What I would also like to know is what would be your ideal place to live? What country/area etc... and why? Then is anyone else here that actually lives there? If you do what are the facts of day to day living there? The daily inconveniences and stresses.

Honestly, if I could I would move to the USA in a flash. Not to diss any other country, just that the standard of living in the USA is considerably higher then almost everywhere else. Take it from someone who has lived there previously and also in 19 other countries.

- Urban

- Fast Internet (and cannot be horribly asymmetric)

- not in a crime hotspot

- within a 10-mile radius of work (preferable sub-7 mile)

- In a country with favorable laws

- no infestation (bugs obviously are everywhere and I'm fine with that, but I wouldn't want to live in a place with a serious bug problem)

I don't really have any "OMG, That place is perfect" place. So long as it has those things it's good enough for me. I prefer grey to green scenery

Hmm, Malta, nice place but could be expensive to live there

Malta - the smallest economy in the euro zone - produces only about 20% of its food needs, has limited fresh water supplies, and has few domestic energy sources. Malta's geographic position between Europe and North Africa makes it a target for illegal immigration, which has strained Malta's political and economic resources.

http://www.indexmundi.com/malta/economy_profile.html

I have to have greenery. But unlike my family that grew up on Bermuda and are life long islanders, I don't need to see the sea. In my travels I have discovered that not speaking the local language is the biggest drawback from the outset. So for me an english speaking country is paramount. That is one of the biggest draws to Malta.

Living in a country where most ebayers and amazon doesn't deliver to...also a major drawback. Especially when you are stuck on an island with limited shopping. That is one of the biggest draw backs to Malta. lol

Thanks for the info. This Malta business all started when a friend took a holiday there and came back saying how cheap it was, how gorgeous it was and why are we all wasting our time living here in Southern France. The big thing that really has me concerned are the apparently annual floods in Malta, where streets literally become raging rivers.

Honestly? I really, really like it here in Finland. We've got nature if you want some quiet time for yourself, cities if you're looking actually want to see other people, generally good services everywhere you go, very calm weather overall.

Serious answer #1: My room. But only I can live there. You would have to be genetically engineered to survive the atmosphere in my room.

Serious answer #2: I've only been to greece, and I don't wont to live there.

New Zealand seems like a nice place to live, but then I'd have to say goodbye to beautiful winters and snow.

Better the devil you know, so I would stay in Australia, in either southern qld or northern nsw. I just want enough acres to make my own little self-sufficient "nation", that's my dream. Farm and hunt my own meat, grow my own food, brew my own beer, build my own house out of materials on the property (wood, clay, stone), build other cool stuff out of materials on the property (wood burning ovens and barbeques, a sauna, a pub) and etc etc.

I'd like a balcony with a view, lots of wildlife on my property (specifically feral deer, feral pigs, feral goats, hare, kangaroos, wallabies, bandicoots, feral dogs to make things interesting, foxes), and I'd want a permanent creek or river running through it with fish, I'd like cattle and chickens and geese, I'd want the terrain of my land to vary a bit, some jungle, some woodlands, and lots of open plains with just the odd giant tree.

What country I live in actually wouldn't matter ALL that much, because my goal is to get off the grid and basically no longer be a part of the society. I could also see myself living in england (in many ways more beautiful and ideal country-side IMO) but don't think they'd have the space for me.

New Zealand doesn't snow or have winters? That's ALL it has. That and bungee jumping, but who wants that?

Yeah, i already live in paradise

Well, that's exaggeration. Of course this country has it's problems too Still, i'm happy to be born, living and dying here

Isn't finland freezing? and full of europeans?

Hardly paradise.

Freezing in the winter, yeah. But we don't have hurricanes or earthquakes or poisonous insects trying to kill us all the time!

I do quite a bit of traveling, and I'm yet to find a place I'd rather live than where I currently live (Chicago...in the city). That's not to say that I haven't been to lots of places that are nicer in some ways and lots of fun to visit...I just wouldn't necessarily want to live in those places. There are lots of down-sides to living here, but at this point in my life I really enjoy living in a vibrant city that's full of interesting people and things to experience, and the other two big U.S. cities (New York and L.A.) aren't as appealing to me for a variety of reasons.

A house a little ways out of town, where I can hunt and fire weapons and such and still have a good internet connection.

Also preferably somewhere that doesn't have a lot of Ticks.

Somewhere in the northern part of England.

Where i live, only half a year. The other half it's scorching. And full of Russians

But really, this is wealthy, high-technology first world country, with extensive social systems and democracy. It doesn't get much better than this

ugh... russians, it gets worse...

Scorching really? What does a finnish person call scorching?

Above 25^oC. Like last summer I'm not sad that it's soon about to get -25^oC

Can I live in Vault 69 you know the one with 999 women and me the only guy, chances are there's quite a few good looking ones in there. HM No ah well then I guess I'm fine in Alaska.

Wouldn't probbably live too long, but very happily

Disappointing 999 women every day for an eternity is not my idea of fun.

Hehehe I very confident I won't, that said I still probably won't live long since there's bound to be a few jealous types among them.

lol, winter days are routinely 25 degrees C here. I dig holes and chop down trees out in the sun in 35 degrees. At 40 I'll usually find some shade and rest.

Ofcourse you could equally laugh about what I consider cold. 15 degrees is bitter IMO.

Of all the places I've been, for me it's Croatia seaside: Brela, Makarska, Bra?...

Here you go, from a loving Maltese:

Pros:

- A beautiful 40 degree celcius sun.

- You can get anywhere in about 20 or so minutes. We're a really small country.

- Beaches.

- Hot foreign women coming to "learn English" in the Summer.

- Incredibly rich culture. Summer is full of feasts (though they're mostly religious).

- Lots of historical sites, cities, etc... The capital city is one big fortress. You can still see the walls and everything. We have anything from neolithic temples to post-WW2 wonders.

- Clubs open for most of the week.

- We have some hilarious local sports. See first picture of this http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2401919/Feast-St-Julian-Contestants-grapple-crazy-game-religious-festival-Malta.html.

- Local food is great.

Cons:

- A beautiful 40 degree celcius sun.

- We're a very very political country.

- Harsh language to get used to. It's mostly Arabic with some Italian, but we of the can into the speaking england.

- Worse bus service on the planet, but it seems we might replace it soon.

- Traffic cause of said bus service.

- We can't drive. If you want to test your bravery try driving on a Maltese road.

- Annual flood. We look forward to it every year cause some crazy stuff tends to happen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rwWqrXEQT4.

I'm sure there are more but I blanked out. Now I feel really homesick.