>>David,
>>
>>Frankly, I'd give Malta a miss and go for Greece!
>
>Mark,
>
>Did I mention I am looking to vacation in the islands of Greece? With the idea that I may want to have contract in hand and live and develop in the Aegean / Mediterranean. Can I do this without the wealth of a midEast potentate?
>
>David

David,

You certainly can! Most of the Mediterranean countries, well, North Med countries are very cheap to live in providing that you're not fussy about maintaining the same standards are you are used to in the States. I say this because you wouldn't belive the problems we have with tourists who can't seem to understand that Malta or Greece or Spain or Italy or any other country round here isn't like their home country. The British are really bad at this. And because it isn't their home country they tend to treat it like a third world country and that's very irritating.

Yes, the standards are different here, some are better, some are worse, but they are different.

We currently live in a 2 bedroomed flat in a reasonable part of Malta for the grand sum of Lm80 per month, that's about US$200! It's on the third floor but has a balcony at either end, one of which has a reasonable view. Local produce is cheap if you can put up with the variable (questionable) quality as I mentioned in my previous post and clothing is okay. It's cheaper than the UK but better to go to Sicilly for a day trip (Lm33 return flight to Catania or about US$ 82.5) and buy Italian clothes at very good prices and quality. Ditto food if you want good quality every so often.

You can eat out, there are MacDonnalds here as well as Burger King, Pizza Hut and even TGI Fridays! Again reasonable prices compared to the UK. We have other type of restaurants here as well and some are very good indeed especially the oriental ones. Superb!

The Internet access here is fine although we are limited to 256k lines into Malta for the time being, but most of the ISPs have a bandwidth of at least 1M, that is four 256k lines.

We have a several cimema complexes and the latest releases get here about the same time as the rest of Europe.

The main advantage that Malta has over the rest of the Med is that English is widely spoken rather than being a second or third language. But, as with any country, get in with the locals, learn a few words of the language, 'please' and 'thank you' as a minimum and you'll find that you go from 'Tourist' to pretty ok person, i.e. dont' rip them off, fairly quickly.

Greece & Turkey, I'm told are the same but the language is more of a problem. Still, if you don't mind learning you'll get on fine.

Oh, by the way, it gets hot! In August temperatures here can reach 40 Celcius (104 F) with humidity up to 95%, not at the same time usually, thank goodness, but it can be very sticky & hot. This is the reason for that wonderful Mediterranean custon, the Siesta. Don't even try to work after 12 noon, sleep until 4 or 5pm and then get up until midnight and then sleep from 12 midnight to 5am. Then it's up again until noon. It works, everyone does it and you avoid the worst of the heat. You'll find this sort of life in the Summer in most Med countries.

One thing to avoid like the plague is becomming an 'Ex Pat' and ,again, the British are the worst. They try to recreate a bit of Britain abroad, socialise together exclusively, talk down to the locals and generally get up everyone's nose! The locals detest them and in my opinion, with good reason!

In Malta there is a fairly unenforceable law that any work done in Malta as remote work is subject to VAT (Value Added Tax) at 15%. How the Government expect to be able to check on that one I have no idea, but it's worth mentioning as it would theoretically apply to you. This might be the case in other EC countries, you'd have to check.

One final thing worth mentioning is that you can come to Malta as a US Citizen, I believe, on a tourist visa which lasts 3 months, however, the good thing is that a day trip to Sicilly gives you a new 3 month visa on your return!

Regards,


Mark