My first exposure to the small Spanish island of Ibiza was probably when I was 12 years old and the creative genius that was the Vengaboys came out with the song “We’re Going to Ibiza.” I couldn’t remember exactly how it went so as I began to write this post, I youtubed it and was taken back to my youth. I was not, however, taken back to Ibiza because there is no way any semi-decent club there would actually play this terrible, cringeworthy song. It sounds like it should be background music for a television commercial for a blowout sale on Hawaiian print shirts.
In actuality, Ibiza is a stunning destination that lives up to its party-hardy reputation while providing a gorgeous seaside backdrop for the daytime spent necessarily resting up for another allnighter.
Many major European cities will offer cheap flights to Ibiza, especially during the offseason. It is a hot and crazy weekend destination for many vacationers and those two days are often enough.
There are two main areas you can stay in Ibiza as a young traveller – out by the nightclubs or closer to the beaches. My group opted for a hostel within walking distance of several beaches and we couldn’t have been happier. The area – called San Antonio – faced out towards the ocean. It was a stone’s throw from the infamous Café del Mar although we found ourselves returning to another live music haunt, Villa Mercedes, even killing time there before our departure flight at 2 a.m.
Our days were spent at various beaches and climbing over rocks and into coves to get to them. There is often nothing more gratifying than having a local recommend a destination to you that turns out to be a hidden heaven on earth. That was Cala Salada, a beach no more than 20 minutes from our hostel (girls took a cab, boys went on an "adventure walk" to get there). I know this is not a romantic way to say it, but the water was such a perfect shade of turquoise it honestly looked digitally enhanced. We soon learned it was pretty to look at, but swimming was another story as the annual infestation of jellyfish was underway. Super.
Our big night out was spent at Pacha nightclub, an insane venue that maxes out at 3,000 people and has enough strobe lights and smoke machines that it should carry the same warnings for people as getting a X-ray does.
The sign of a great night, and in this case a great weekend, I believe, is still being up with the sunrise. And you can’t really beat an Ibiza beach to witness something like that.
And now, I will leave you with my favourite verse of the song that introduced me to this lovely place.
I don’t wanna be a bus driver All my life Im gonna pack my bags and leave this town Grab a flight Fly away on venga airways* Fly me high Ibiza sky
My recent perusals of various travel sections have taken me to the high-seas, where luxury can sometimes literally bathe in a sea of money. I caught my first glimpse of marine excess when I spent that summer in Nice. For anyone that’s travelled to Monaco as a commoner, it’s a must-do to walk around the marina and gawk at people who are sunbathing on outdoor beds next their infinity pool which is flowing gently to the deck below where another boat – flanked by two jet skis – sits for recreational fun. There is something fascinating about the world’s elite, who insist a red carpet be rolled out before they debark at the next port, if they even get off the boat.
The Globe and Mail recently featured a creature of a boat, the interior of which was designed by French fashion house Hermès. The project was a joint venture with Monaco-based yacht builder Wally Construct and it honestly looks like some sort of futuristic, non-Earthling that trolls around the ocean.
At 58-metres, this doozy of a watercraft measures 30,000 square feet of living space, a 25-metre pool and a “beach” (why don’t you just drive to an actual beach?) that stretches for nearly 40 metres across the back. Something about this boat makes me think that if it had a voice, it would sound like Darth Vader. But it’s stunning nonetheless and a friend to the environment, using solar energy and running on a diesel-electric engine.
Another noteworthy cruiser that’s now out there is that of Russian yacht-fanatic and billionaire, Roman Abramovich. Abramovich is so concerned with getting too much attention that he has equipped his subtle yacht, Eclipse, with a lasers that can destroy camera shots and possibly the lives of the photographers whose livelihood depended on getting the shot.
The lasers work by detecting CCDs (charge-coupled devices) which are found in most photoelectric sensors. The idea is that anytime one of Abramovich’s security guys (or gals) spot a possible camera, all they have to do is point and shoot the laser. Any photos on the camera in question will subsequently be destroyed. Seems a little extreme but I guess a 557-foot yacht is too.
At 58-metres, this doozy of a watercraft measures 30,000 square feet of living space, a 25-metre pool and a “beach” (why don’t you just drive to an actual beach?) that stretches for nearly 40 metres across the back. Something about this boat makes me think that if it had a voice, it would sound like Darth Vader. But it’s stunning nonetheless and a friend to the environment, using solar energy and running on a diesel-electric engine.
The lasers work by detecting CCDs (charge-coupled devices) which are found in most photoelectric sensors. The idea is that anytime one of Abramovich’s security guys (or gals) spot a possible camera, all they have to do is point and shoot the laser. Any photos on the camera in question will subsequently be destroyed. Seems a little extreme but I guess a 557-foot yacht is too.
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