Travelling Europe: Malta. And the mug story.

It all started a few years ago, when I moved in with my brother. We both needed a new appartment at that time and so we thought it would be practical (and fun) to move in together. We found a lovely appartment in Vienna and began our little adventure together. My brother is three years older than me and as long as I can remember - I have looked up to him.

One of the first things that my brother bought for this appartment was a coffee machine. Not just an ordinary machine. Oh no, he bought a Jura machine. Rumour has it, that this is the Rolls Royce when it comes to coffee machines. And it was the best investment EVER! We loved this coffee machine (he still does, it moved in with his girlfriend. WHO DOESN'T USE IT!!! She drinks coffee, but prefers her Nespresso machine. I really like that girl, but when it comes to this, I just don't understand that woman!) and it was used daily. A few times daily, actually. He worked at a newspaper at that time and was a really busy journalist and I used to study back then and thought that I would actually write my master thesis. (which I didn't. But that's a different story).

Anyway, lots of coffee drinking means lots of used coffee cups. We both practically just moved out of our parents house. We took some used mugs with us that my mother didn't need any more. Needless to say, that these weren't the prettiest cups in the world.

And then came Malta.

In 2010, my parents asked my brother and me if we wanted to travel to Malta with them. Our last full family holiday was ten years ago. Then came our complicated teenage years and we were way to embarrassed by our parents as to travel with them. But now we were grown up. A little more, at least. And so we were very excited, not only because that meant our parents would pay for everything but because we actually looked forward to travel with the whole family.

Now I've travelled a lot in the last years. I've been to France, to Spain, to Croatia, to Hungary, to the Czech Republic, I've visited Dublin and Paris and Greece and I've travelled around the world.
But this one week family holiday in Malta was probably one of the greatest holidays I've ever had. It was lovely, to spend so much time with my family. We did everything together and really had a lot of fun. In the following winter my mother got really sick and will stay sick for the rest of her life. So the memories of this holiday are even more precious with us, because she was still healthy and still says, that she is so thankful for this great holiday with her family, before our lives changed so drastically.

Here, have a look at some of the picture my very talented brother took at this Malta trip: I've been there a second time ever since and will definitely visit it again. Never again had a holiday destination such an impact on me. I can't really explain it. It's just such a happy and great feeling I get, whenever I think about this little island.

The "Hera", we took a round malta cruise with this beauty! 

the dingli cliffs, the highest cliffs in Malta

Comino, Blue Lagoon

The Azure Window

Hera, again

Golden Bay

View from our hotel pool

Me.

Beach in Sliema.

Beautiful, isn't it? And so it shouldn't come as a surprise, that I wanted to take a souvenir back home with me, to always have something to remember this special holiday.

I looked and looked, wandered through shops and markets, but somehow nothing seemed right. Everything was just junk or made for the tourists. Nothing special. Until one day, I strolled by a little shop. The woman there sold the most lovely ceramics. And that's where I spotted THE MUG!
A pretty, yellow-blue coffee mug. "It's perfect!" I shrieked. And it was.

And thus began my collection! Everytime my brother and I travelled, we brought home a coffee mug. This way we had something to remember our holidays, but not just another pretty object that sat in a corner and accumulated dust, but something that was loved and cherished and used everyday.

I present to you, the MUG with which it all began. My MALTA MUG:

It is one of my favourite mugs, until this day. Three years later, my brother and I moved out of our appartments. We divided our mug collection. Whoever bought the cup, took it back with him/her.

I now live with my man. We have a little used Nespresso machine (though I'm planning on surprising him with a Jura, as I saved a little money in the last few months) but we still love to drink our coffee. And I love to use my travel mugs. I plan to introduce them to you. One by one. Because every mug has a history behind it, tons of memories attached to it and with every sip I take out of it I can close my eyes and travel away for just a minute.