Midnight in Malta
(Reproduced from Tuke International Consulting blog, 2012
“Did you hear they declared Marshall Law in the States?”
It was midnight in Malta, a tiny island off southern Italy, and Denise and I have just landed here, awaiting transport to the even smaller island of Gozo, after a 10 hour flight from Cairo. We are, in a way, on the run.
I learned the news of Marshall Law from the lady behind the counter at the Malta ferry terminal, who upon hearing I was American, wants desperately to share this latest news bulletin with me.
Her startling information comes on the heels of a series of unwelcome news, starting with the warnings of imminent terrorist attacks to the small, quiet village on the Red Sea in the Sinai for which we had just purchased tickets but 24 hours earlier. Not to be deterred, we sought to go to other, less targeted regions of Egypt’s Red Sea for some rest and relaxation, only to be told that most rooms were now taken for upcoming Eid festivities this weekend. Except for one. Yet it had one minor downside; we would need to be ever mindful of possible unexploded land mines scattered about the beach.
While we knew the chances of such encounters was slim, it was the final warning that an armed guard would be needed to transport us from this chosen remote Red Sea village to our reserved Nile boat departure in Luxor some 100 miles away, coupled with Denise’s lack of sleep for the past 7 days, that had us decide to fold our cards for now, and head to any nearby location that didn’t require artillery protection.
We thought we had found it in Malta, an island but 2 hours from Cairo, and site of historical constructs that predated the pyramids. But now, with news of Marshall Law being declared in the States, I was thinking we might be here for little longer than the 8 planned days.
The Maltese vendor grabbed her laptop from behind the kitchen curtain and clicked on the YouTube video, entitled “Marshall Law coming to US. I felt some sense of
“Did you hear they declared Marshall Law in the States?”
It was midnight in Malta, a tiny island off southern Italy, and Denise and I have just landed here, awaiting transport to the even smaller island of Gozo, after a 10 hour flight from Cairo. We are, in a way, on the run.
I learned the news of Marshall Law from the lady behind the counter at the Malta ferry terminal, who upon hearing I was American, wants desperately to share this latest news bulletin with me.
Her startling information comes on the heels of a series of unwelcome news, starting with the warnings of imminent terrorist attacks to the small, quiet village on the Red Sea in the Sinai for which we had just purchased tickets but 24 hours earlier. Not to be deterred, we sought to go to other, less targeted regions of Egypt’s Red Sea for some rest and relaxation, only to be told that most rooms were now taken for upcoming Eid festivities this weekend. Except for one. Yet it had one minor downside; we would need to be ever mindful of possible unexploded land mines scattered about the beach.
While we knew the chances of such encounters was slim, it was the final warning that an armed guard would be needed to transport us from this chosen remote Red Sea village to our reserved Nile boat departure in Luxor some 100 miles away, coupled with Denise’s lack of sleep for the past 7 days, that had us decide to fold our cards for now, and head to any nearby location that didn’t require artillery protection.
We thought we had found it in Malta, an island but 2 hours from Cairo, and site of historical constructs that predated the pyramids. But now, with news of Marshall Law being declared in the States, I was thinking we might be here for little longer than the 8 planned days.
The Maltese vendor grabbed her laptop from behind the kitchen curtain and clicked on the YouTube video, entitled “Marshall Law coming to US. I felt some sense of