holiday – Everything's a story.

Tenerife day 4 – Saying Goodbye

June 25, 2017June 26, 2017 giastark

There’s actually not that much more to say, but my adventure just didn’t feel complete without sharing this last chapter.

Sunday 11th of June

Another early start. You’d think I’d have gotten used to those by then but noooooope. I woke as tired as ever. Still shattered from the day before. And somewhat reluctant to leave that place of dreams.

We had planned to take a last dip in the pool before leaving but then decided that it’d be inconvenient (icky) to have wet bikinis packed in our bags so we didn’t go after all. Just did some last minute packing and had a quick breakfast. The mood was somewhat gloomy, although it was brightened considerably by the continuous sunshine.

We were picked up and taken to the airport by our Airbnb host and we had a nice chat about our time on the island and life in Tenerife in general on our way there.

Everything went smoothly at the airport. We did some shopping – sister bought the cutest little camel. And we boarded.

I don’t know if it’s Ryanair’s latest ploy to get people to pay to reserve seats or if it was a coincidence that I was sat in row 4 and my sister in row 31. I did our check in at the same time and usually it would’ve seated us together still. I would’ve believed it to be a coincidence a bit more if the situation hadn’t been exactly the same for 4 couples around me. In fact, I had the isle seat and next to me was a gentleman whose wife was sat 14 rows behind us when there was an empty seat under the window next to him! Tut tut Ryanair! Ok, rant over – at the end of the day it was a cheap flight that got us where we needed to be with no fuss and frills.

We were greeted by typical UK weather when we landed and an announcement that our train home had been cancelled. Great. More proof that we should’ve stayed on our holiday. Resourceful as I am I quickly planned us a different route home and were then picked up from the train station by my mother-in-law-to-be (thank you!).

At home I had planned a surprise birthday party for my sister and my SO had put it all together according to my plans (so it was obviously perfect).

After that it was bed and deep slumber.

The end.

My life

Tenerife day 3 – Stepping Out Of My Comfort Zone

June 25, 2017June 25, 2017 giastark

Yes, there’s still more to tell you. In fact, the most exciting parts of our holiday happened on day 3. I definitely stepped out of my comfort zone that day and it was amazing!

Saturday 10th of June

It was an early start for us on Saturday as we were going to be picked up to go on a sailing trip first thing in the morning. Quite uncharacteristically I hadn’t actually planned this weeks ahead. Instead, the day before our flight (on Wednesday) I sent an email asking if there’s any availability to go sailing on Friday or Saturday that week. And yay for us there was! It was only a small yacht to make it more personal (maximum 8 people) so we were actually very lucky. In fact, there was only one other couple on the boat in addition to us so it felt like we pretty much owned the thing. Can’t get much more VIP than that.

Anyway, I’m rushing ahead a bit there.

We were picked up by Ivan – our skipper – even though our apartment was outside of his usual pick up range and taken to the port where we got settled down in his yacht Vertigo. The other couple made their own way there and when all five of us were on board we set off.

Due to the light breeze we could actually kill the engine soon and get a proper sailing experience! It was amazing. My sister and I were sat at the front, enjoying it to the fullest.

Just when we thought this couldn’t get any better we spotted a large family of pilot whales. We got quite close to them, turned our engine off and the baby whales were just playing and having fun around our boat. It felt so unreal.

After that we spotted some dolphins! Now they were cheeky little things, getting SO close to our boat and just swimming along with us. I couldn’t stop smiling and giggling to myself stupidly. I could’ve touched them if I’d just leaned out a little bit. Amazing! Later on we spotted another species of dolphins as well but they were a bit more reserved and kept their distance.

We then went snorkelling for a little bit. I’d never done that before so I was a bit apprehensive, but I had the time of my life. I must admit I kept getting ocean water in my mouth, but I just couldn’t stop smiling and laughing (apparently that’s a nono when snorkelling unless you want to be swallowing some water). Snorkelling was followed by a little picnic provided by our lovely skipper Ivan. All in all it was perfect. I couldn’t have asked for a better sailing and sea life experience.

Usually I’d have called it a day there as it had already been very adventurous, but the day before I’d done something I’ve NEVER done before. You may remember I said we went to a beach near our apartment. Well, what I left out was that on our way to that said beach we went past a diving centre. (I think I didn’t tell you about this yet anyway.) If you know me then you know I can never just walk up to someone or walk in somewhere without doing a lot of research and planning what I’m going to say and all that. This time however I saw a poster outside and I just walked in (I still don’t know where I got the courage for it). I walked in and asked if me and my sister could go diving. They said yes. Holy fudge!!!

So after sailing we had a bit of time to grab a bite to eat and then we walked to the diving centre to go scuba diving for the first time in our lives! Our lovely instructor Anna went through some basics with us to begin with and then prepared our gear. I felt very safe and excited throughout the whole thing.

As the weather conditions were really poor for diving where we were, Anna and Pawel (me and my sis had an instructor each) drove us to a beach about 30 minutes away, to make sure that we get the best possible first experience with diving.

And we did. It was so exhilarating and I felt really comfortable throughout the whole experience. Anna and Pawel were amazing with us!

One of the most difficult parts was getting into the wet suit haha! And when they helped me get my air reserves on my back I felt like a horse being saddled up, but it just made me laugh and enjoy the whole thing even more. The second most difficult part for me was actually stepping into the water (we had to take a long step off the pier straight into deep water). My heart was racing and my thoughts kept going ‘But your gear is so heavy! There’s no way you’re not going to drown! And what if you swallow sea water again and drown!’ That’s just me though and this was way out of my comfort zone but I did it! And I needn’t have worried about any of those things as everything went perfectly. I managed to adjust my pressure, breathe absolutely fine and even let water out of my goggles without a hitch.

To be honest I can’t even remember what we did after that. These two experiences were so brilliant and I felt SO proud of myself for going ahead and doing them. Thank you Ivan, Anna and Pawel for making our holiday unforgettable!

To be continued…

My life

Tenerife day 2 – Soooooo Relaxed

June 15, 2017June 16, 2017 giastark

As promised, here’s what happened on day 2. Also, believe it or not I’ve been writing this post for 3 days now. So I hadn’t forgotten, just struggling to find the energy and time to write.

Friday 9th of June

The day started with me and my sister still finding it hard to believe where we were. It felt too good to be true. Once we’d established that we haven’t gone collectively mad and that we are indeed on a holiday, we went out to get breakfast. We found this cute little pub next to where we were staying and we both had full English breakfasts with fresh orange juice. Yes, we were in Tenerife having a full English. How boring! (It was lovely though so no regrets)

After breakfast we took a stroll down to the beach – it was only a few minute walk and it was soooooo beautiful. We both went for a dip in the ocean. I’d forgotten how salty ocean water is compared to the sea water! (I know it depends on the sea and stuff but I grew up near the Baltic sea which is nowhere near as salty)

Then I decided I wanted more pictures from this holiday. If you know me then you know I absolutely haaaaaaate having my picture taken, but recently with everything that’s been going on I think I’ve lost my mind a little and it’s like I’ve got at least a couple of personalities in me, giving me different thoughts and feelings. (I’m not crazy though, honest!) The part of me that said ‘You’re going to want to remember this!’ won that time and we had a little photo shoot by the hill. The wall I’m sat on was very knobbly and painful but you’d never guess that from the picture would you?

When we got back to our apartment we thought that we may as well make the most of the sunshine and spent a good few hours by the pool and in it. There was nobody else there so we felt like we owned the place and I can definitely see the perks of having a ton of money and a big house with a pool now. I think I’ll do that soon. I mean, if you set yourself a goal and then make every decision about getting closer to that goal – that’s how it works, right? Making dreams come true and all that?

Afterwards we went for a meal at this little restaurant near our apartment. I think it was called El Botijo? I’m sorry if that’s not what it’s called and I wrote something rude there instead. They had the nicest cocktails and gorgeous food. I got a couple of cocktail ideas for my wedding and it was just so nice and relaxed.

When we got back to the apartment I realised (to my horror) that I’d missed a few spots when putting sun cream on. As a result I had burnt patches. Like… even now I have tanned spots and pale areas around them. My sister actually said that my back looks like world map. Exactly the look I was going for! My sister was a lovely cooked lobster shade herself though so she couldn’t really laugh at me too much.

After that it was late so we just chilled on the balcony, enjoying the view and the weather before calling it a day.

To be continued…

My life

Tenerife day 1 – All The Travelling

June 12, 2017June 14, 2017 giastark

Soooooo I’ve got a LOT of catching up to do with my posts. I’ve been dealing with some stuff during the past couple of weeks (I’m sure I could be more vague if I tried… well, if I tried REALLY hard) and now I’ve been on a bit of a long weekend holiday thing. To Tenerife. Yeah, apparently you can just go there for a few days, enjoy it to the fullest and poof you’ve been on a holiday! Who knew?

Thursday 8th of June

My sister flew in for a week long holiday on Thursday. She landed in Manchester just after noon and then it was up to me to get there as soon as my legs would carry me. Well, as soon as I finished work actually. I had to go to work still because apparently you can only take as many holiday days as you’re given. Like, what’s up with that? I reckon they should change the system so you can take as many holiday days as you need. Anyway, I needed to finish work for the day, then I whooshed home, got my bag, did some last minute panicking (as you do) and then left for the train station. I was early as always and got to wait a little but then I got on the train and met my sister at the airport.

The security check was surprisingly quick and once we were through we killed some time shopping (I got a couple of puzzle books! I love them. Some of the puzzles there have already made me feel all smart. We also managed to find a bottle of coke with our destination on it. So, naturally, we had to get it.) and then we got ready to board. Only to be told that there’s a ‘technical fault’ with our plane and that the flight’s been delayed.

I was preparing for the worst, but after only about an hour they’d added all the extra phalanges to the plane and we were off! This meant that our flight which was already due in the middle of the night, only got to Tenerife at about 2.30am or so. Needless to say we were both shattered.

At Tenerife airport we were met by our Airbnb host who gave us some information about where we’re staying and what’s around the area, etc (I even remembered some of it the next day so he must’ve done something right to get it through to me).

Once we got to our apartment, we were in awe of our surroundings. Holy smokes. The apartment itself was beaaauuuuuutiful plus there was a gorgeous outdoor pool and it was just amazing (I’ve added a photo from one of our balconies from when we arrived).

After admiring it all for a little while we got some sleep. (By this point my sister had been travelling for just over 24h by the way so a big shout out to her for still being mostly coherent and humanoid).

To be continued…