For our fourth vacation day we wanted to do something special. Something big. A real road trip! But not just any road trip, we were planning to drive around the whole Tenerife island and make at least four stops on our way: Puerto de la Cruz, Mirador la Tarta, San Cristobal de la Laguna and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Spoiler alert, it didn’t go as planned.
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I thought it would be nice to have one day when we don’t need to drive anywhere. A day-off for my husband since he is the only driver in our family. Yep, I am 30+ and I still don’t have a driving licence. Why not? Well, first of all, driving schools are extremely expensive in Finland, and secondly, I work in Helsinki center and it’s much easier to come there by public transport than by car. Although I admit, sometimes driving license can be really handy during our travels.
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I woke up early in the morning but kept my eyes shut as long as I could. The surreal feeling hasn’t left me, and I was almost sure that all our yesterday’s adventures were just a wonderful dream. But as soon as I opened my eyes and looked around, I breathed a sigh of relief. The dream was actually a reality. Good morning, magical Tenerife! And good morning, beautiful ocean view!
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My eyes saw the ocean scenery, saw the mountains, palms and cactuses, yet my brain was still in trance and couldn’t process the information. It refused to believe that I was on the Canary Islands. And no wonder! I haven’t had much time to prepare myself emotionally for this vacation. That’s why looking at the Tenerife landscape I felt like I was in a dream, a beautiful magical dream. It felt surreal. And I was afraid that if I close my eyes even for a moment it will all be gone.
I wanted to make sure, so I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, counted till ten and opened them again. To my surprise, it was not an illusion, it was real. I was in Paradise!
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Usually when we are planning our holiday, we go through the hotel and apartment options given to us by the ebookers.com. And before ordering accommodation we always check reviews on TripAdvisor to avoid unpleasant surprises. Lesson learned, London, lesson learned! Anyways, if reviews are good or average, we book the place. I call it travel accommodation hunting. And just like any other hunting it is time-consuming, and it takes a lot of patience. Now, when you are buying a last-minute holiday package like we did on aurinkomatkat.fi, there is not much to choose from, and you just take what is offered. Sometimes it’s like buying a pig in a poke, or cat in a sack, if you will. And in our case, it was Vigilia Park Apartment hotel, located in Los Gigantes.
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I think it’s best if I first explain what the 22-hours cruise is and what’s the point of going on one. It’s basically a party event that is hold on-board of the MS Silja Europa ship, where passengers are buying reasonably cheap booze, having lots of alcohol to drink the first evening and dealing with consequences – a slow hangover – the next day. I see it as a Finnish version of a mini spring break of some sort, that goes on and on.
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Should I spend my vacation at home? If so, what would I do? Eat potatoes and sign every time I look at the grey depressing landscape through the window? Day after day… Or should I waste all the money I have left on a trip? A little getaway that my soul, mind and body are desperately craving for? Although, I most likely will have to eat potatoes there as well. But it’s not a big deal. I think. In any case it’s better to eat potatoes with the ocean view than at home in front of the TV. Yes, as long as there are three holiday essentials – sun, palms and the sea – I don’t really care. I should definitely go. I must go. I need to go!
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