Ibiza – Part 1

First up, big victory. GOT TO IBIZA.

This might sound a bit silly, but I was genuinely bricking it at a few points. Imagining the worst case scenario is never far away at the moment, and I’d already checked that it was possible to fly back pretty much straight away, albeit to another UK airport. But amazingly, got bumped to be in row 1 so had loads of legroom and was literally first off the plane. Straight through passport control and collected luggage OK, but getting the hire car wasn’t so easy though. It was hired through Jet2, and with Dollar. And there was no Dollar desk visible. The Jet2 staff said they didn’t have any presence there, but they might be in the car park. We searched, found nothing. T phoned them. No answer. After half an hour we kind of gave up and decided to go back in and hire a car from someone else…. and on heading back into the terminal, found the dollar desk (which was also Hertz and Thrifty). The signs are only on one wall, and you can’t see them on the way out!

Anyway, got ‘upgraded’ to a much bigger car – instead of a fiat 500, got a focus estate. No need, and a bit big to get out of the car park, but away we went to the hotel, which was as expected, a bit like the one in Tenerife – an older place that has had a makeover. Views from the balcony were fantastic at night:

Walked to a dodgy supermarket/fleecing station to get some food as it was way beyond dinner, and back to the room for a bit of food and then a sleep. Of sorts as this is of course Ibiza and people were coming back to their rooms drunk, at high volume, at 5am. But still managed to sleep OK-ish.

Breakfast was good! Got food and my ‘megacomplan’ sorted a bit later – this is what we’ve come up with to get enough calories in each day – complan made with milk, with the addition of some fruit (a banana and blueberries) and a spoon of peanut butter. Whizzed up with a hand blender we brought with us. This usually tides me over for a few hours, and so it was today.

Took a drive across the island. Reason being that firstly we have a car, secondly it’s the kind of thing we do, and thirdly on Mark’s stag week I spent a fair bit of time during the days doing this while everyone else was asleep. Went to a lovely little town in the centre of the island, and then eventually to Portinatx for lunch, taken overlooking the crystal-clear waters of the bay.

Heading back, decided to take a visit to Casa Molina, where we stayed on Mark’s stag week. Main reason for the visit was because Iain told us one night that it was only a 10 minute walk into Ibiza town (and we couldn’t get a taxi).

IT TOOK TWO HOURS. What’s worse is that there was apparently nothing going on, so half of us went home in a taxi after a drink. It transpired that just round the corner there was a lot going on which we missed out on… but we’ve never let Iain forget his lack of understanding of distance or the geography of the island.

Back to the hotel for a sleep. I’ve been feeling more tired over the last couple of weeks, and there’s no point in fighting it, so I had an hour asleep. Pacha doesn’t open until 11pm, so it’s was dinner and then another rest. before heading out to Anjunadeep.

One thing I’ve found really makes a big difference to me is drinking coffee. It doesn’t just make me feel more awake (although it does this, for sure), it also takes away the ‘wonky’ feeling that I’ve had in my legs and body for the last couple of months. I can’t describe it well, I just don’t feel 100% a lot of the time, and feel weak. But I found out the other week that if I drink a coffee (OK, two) in the evening then not only do I get to stay awake a couple of hours longer but I also feel much more normal. This isn’t something that I plan on abusing each day as I’m sure it will wear off, but on nights like this it’s good to know that I can feel better and last a bit longer. So a couple of strong coffees later, we headed out… in the nice position that I was driving so we’d be able to get back without the usual bunfight for taxis outside the club.

We got there about half 11 and it was still pretty quiet as you would expect:

We were straight in – cursory check of tickets and no ID needed, and took the obligatory pictures to show we’d been there (we were not alone in doing this, for the record, and not the oldest doing so either!)

A few years ago, Pacha was getting a bit long in the tooth. It was still a place you needed to say you’d been to (like watching the sun set at Cafe Mambo), but it wasn’t up there, sound and lights wise. But it had a refurb a few years ago, and now it sounds incredible, and it looks fantastic. This makes the whole experience so much better. Video link is below to give you an idea if you’ve never been here (or indeed never been to a decent club!):

https://share.icloud.com/photos/03eqGI5XJINWiclciL3m5hNiQ

We had a great time – dancing together and just enjoying being a couple who are still in love and still enjoy dancing. I particularly enjoy dancing with T as she’s such a great dancer without being a massive show off. It wasn’t super-busy which works really well – there’s enough people there for an atmosphere, but you can dance without being crammed in or constantly fighting for space. I lasted until nearly 2am, which was way longer than I expected to do. It was time to quit while I was still ‘ahead’. I was just starting to feel the physical effects of having been out and dancing for all this time (with a few breaks outside) – the pain in my right side was just starting to be felt – but it’s a long game and no good doing myself in completely for the sake of an extra half an hour, no matter how good it was. I would have loved to stay longer, but that’s a recurring micro and macro theme.

It’s funny, both of us have said that coming here has been harder than we thought it would be in some ways. Because we’ve been before a few times, and because we love it, there’s an expectation. But it’s also highlighting what is happening, and why we’re here now rather than later in the year – we would have been here for one night in September on the cruise we booked when I was in hospital before the January diagnosis. I had a few moments on the dance floor when the situation would hit me hard, and it’s difficult to get back into just being in the moment and enjoying what’s going on, rather than cycling over the ‘this is the last time you will do this’ which can creep in anywhere, any time. I’m glad I’ve spent a fair bit of time over the last few years doing meditation, because it’s all about experiencing the moment, rather than getting caught up in thoughts that are going on which would have been mega-destructive. But having a hug with T always helps bring me back to the here and now, and that worked wonders.

Today, we’re taking it easy. I’m writing this by the pool (but in the shade, one of the things of chemo is that I can’t take the sun like I used to), and going to have a light lunch in the room. We’ve got a nice dinner booked to watch the sunset later at La Torre Hostal. Tears will be guaranteed, but worth it.