To blog or not to blog? that is the question. I am not sure I know the answer but it saves us writing postcards and we don't do Facebook. The beauty of a blog is that only those who want to read it do so and they can do so at a time that is convenient to them. It has also surprised me how attached I have become to the three blogs I wrote on our last three big trips, Tanzania in 2013, China in 2015 and Malawi in 2016. The last two were posted on a site called Travelpod which was easy to use and did not require a good internet connection. About 3 months ago I received an email saying the site was about close, it seems Tripadvisor had bought the site, were somehow going to use the content but then shut it down!
I don't begin to understand the logic of this but was very surprised at my reaction, I became very protective of my random musings and wanted them saved. It seems I was not alone and the nice people at Travelark quickly put together a programme which allowed users to save all their blogs before the site shut down. I then discovered that blog.com, the site I used way back in 2013, no longer exists taking my first masterpiece with it - bastards. So last Sunday, as it was raining, I recreated my first blog on Travelark from my diary so unfortunately missing most of the local observations but fortunately also leaving out the bad jokes.
Now I have that off my chest what is the plan for this years holiday? I don't know! Neither of us have been to the Canary Islands which is a good starting point, several people have said they are worth visiting, another plus, the weather is supposed to be warm and the Easyjet flights are very cheap, what a wonderful combination, what could possibly go wrong? Nothing I hope.
We have flown to Tenerife with the first two nights booked into a very touristy hotel on a beach and have hired a car. The only other booking is our flight home from Gran Canaria in three weeks time. How we get to Gran Canaria and whether we visit other islands remains to be seen.
On arrival at the hotel, which is huge (picture above 400 rooms plus), at 10.30pm we expected to dump our bags and have a nightcap in the bar, after all this is "Spain" or at least Spanish, they stay up late. Oh no they don't, this area is "Little Britain" where you could spend a fortnights holiday and not have to rub shoulders with Johnny Foreigner or eat his strange food. The hotel bar was shut and all the elderly Brits in bed but fortunately St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland has established a bar for deserving souls down the road so we had a couple of pints of Guinness to start the holiday off.
The average age of tourists in this part of Tenerife seems to be over 60, the biggest business is not hiring motor bikes, wind surfers or surf boards, it is mobility scooters!
Tomorrow we head off to what we hope will be more interesting towns and villages on the island, watch this space for more exciting adventures.