Alright guys.
Not long back from my second visit to Ibiza after last years 'virgin' experience, so I've started writing a review. As much as I'm putting across my opinions and verdicts, hopefully people will be able to gain some information from it.
Anyway, I've decided to do it in instalments (3 or 4 maybe), mainly because I can't be bothered writing it all at once, but also bacause I'm conscious of the fact that I don't want to bore anyone with huge screed's of writing.
Sun 30th Aug.
So, here we go! We're on the 6am flight out of Glasgow, and I've already been up for 20 hours. Was planning on getting some sleep the night before, but due to excessive excitement levels, it never happened. Everything goes smoothly, attempt to get a bit of shut-eye on the plane, but I'm hopeless at sleeping on flights.
Really weird feeling when I get to Ibiza. So far, this'll be the only holiday destination that I've visited more than once. From the moment I step of the plane, the feeling of familiarity is strangely disconcerting! This is strengthened even further on the journey to San Antonio; "look, theres Km5", "look, there's the road to the Blue Marlin" etc. Airport transfers have always been surreal experiences, looking out the window at strange places wondering what direction we'll be taking next. In this case, I felt like I could have actually driven the bus to San Antonio, that's how fimiliar it all was. It's only my second time here, but it kind of already feels like a second home!
Check-in at the hotel, and we've got an excellent room. View out over the bay, 4th floor, and with the sun from about 3pm until it sets. Staying in the same hotel as last year (Hotel Hawaii next to Punta des Moli) and I recognise the receptionist. Without me even mentioning the fact we'd been here before, she asks if we'd like to hire a cool box like we did last year. Totally bizarre feeling, and excellent service!
View from our hotel balcony looking towards San Antonio Bay:
So, we had grand plans about what we were going to do during the afternoon, but lack of sleep caught up with us, and we crashed out until about 5pm. Wake-up and eventually start to un-pack. But first things first; I go the supermarket for beer, pick up the coolbox, then fix out the music! Sorted.
No particular plans for tonight. Head out to Mambo for the Sunset and a few drinks, then decide to give Coastline a shot for dinner. Went to this place last year and was extremely dissapointed with the service, even although the food was amazing. Said I'd never go back, but decided to give it another chance. Bit shocked when I walked round the corner to find it all boarded up, so we go to Kanya instead. I find out later (from our waiter at Kanya) that they'd never actually had the proper licence for playing music and were constantly getting fined, which eventually bankrupted them. At least, that's what he said!
Excellent meal at Kanya (as usual), and we stay there, working through their cocktail list, until about 1am.
Post-sunset drinks at Cafe Mambo:
Mon 31st Aug.
First clubbing night tonight, so attempt to get a long lie in bed. Up about 1pm and head out to the Bay Bar for a few drinks and a bit of lunch (club sandwich, really tasty). Just as nice as I remember it being from last year, really like this place and we'd eventually end up spending quite a few hours in here during the holiday.
After reading shane saintsfc's post, I'm really eager to find out about hiring a boat. Luckily, there's a guy almost right next to our hotel, 140 Euros for 4 1/2 hours. We book it for Wednesday, and arrange to have it from 4ish until sunset (about 8:30). Nice looking boats, and I'm really looking forward to it.
Don't really do much else during the day, except laze about. Yet again, we head out to Mambo for sunset and a few drinks, then go round to Villa Mercedes for a meal. At this point, I decide to start a bit of an experiment.
Generally when I eat out, I'll go for steak or a pasta dish. As much as I really like fish, I'll only ever eat it in the house, as I'm really paranoid about what I'm going to be presented with in restuarants. Well, Ibiza (like Scotland) is famous for it's seafood, so I decide to bite the bullet. I'm going to call it Steve's Seafood Experiment.
So, I order monkfish and it's absolutely amazing, comes in nice chunks of fish in a risotto type dish. So, a good start to the experiment then!
Head back to the hotel and on the way have a quick couple of shots on the Slingshot reverse bungee thing. Ever the sucker, I buy the DVD, although like last years, all it shows is me talking sh
te for 90 secs, but it's quite funny.
A quick change of clothes, and it's back out to Kanya for the free bus. Heading out to Privilege for Tiesto, and I'm really looking forward to it, first proper night of the holiday and all that. Not a good start though, as the bus journey is a bit of a nightmare. Front half of the bus (where we are) is fine, but the back half is full of bare-chested west-end arholes banging the roof of the bus constantly shouting "TIESTO, TIESTO, TIESTO" for 20 mins. Get talking to a group from Brighton and an extremely attractve female that looks like Sarah Cox, so that keeps my mind off what's going on, and keeps me reasonably calm.
Tiesto @ Privilege
So, where do I start! I really like Tiesto, and I've had many good nights with him DJ-ing but I now feel like he's maybe dissapeared up his own arse. I really feel like he's now let the hype go to his head. Don't get me wrong, when he was actually DJ-ing, it was really good, but it was all the other little things that really got my wick!
For a start, the warm-up DJ has now been demoted to the lighting guys booth (god forbid that he should set foot on Tiesto's hallowed ground and twiddle with his knobs!!), and the main dance floor is kept shut until Tiesto see's fit to grace us with his prescence. The place was feckin' mobbed, and there's an area half the size of a football pitch shut off until about half 2! What's that all about? None of that happened last year.
When Tiesto eventually comes on, I'll admit he plays really good music and I have a good time. However, from what I can see, he seems to spend about 70% of the time with his hands in the air giving it the big 'I am'. And annoyingly, most of the crowd spend about 95% of the time facing him shouting 'TIESTO'. DJ worship at it's very worst!
Anyway, we spend our time off to the side listening to the music and doing our thing.
Tiesto pretending to be God:
Funny incident: I'm wearing a t-shirt with Popeye on it (it's not quite that simple though, you'd need to see it). We decide to head outside for a wee chill-out and I go to the bar. There's 2 barmaids, and the first one says "Hola Popeye" and the second one says "we can be your, how you say.......Olivio". That made me smile!!
Anyway, I asked for a Red Bull and vodka, and jokingly asked her not to be shy with the vodka. She then filled the glass about 3/4 full with vodka, and when I said "holy ****", told me to be quiet in case her manager heard. So, I think I'll have to be wearing that t-shirt more often!!
End up calling it a day at about 5am, and get a taxi back to the hotel. In conclusion, a good night but ruined by all these little 'Tiesto is God' type moments.
Second instalment soon (hopefully).
Not long back from my second visit to Ibiza after last years 'virgin' experience, so I've started writing a review. As much as I'm putting across my opinions and verdicts, hopefully people will be able to gain some information from it.
Anyway, I've decided to do it in instalments (3 or 4 maybe), mainly because I can't be bothered writing it all at once, but also bacause I'm conscious of the fact that I don't want to bore anyone with huge screed's of writing.
Sun 30th Aug.
So, here we go! We're on the 6am flight out of Glasgow, and I've already been up for 20 hours. Was planning on getting some sleep the night before, but due to excessive excitement levels, it never happened. Everything goes smoothly, attempt to get a bit of shut-eye on the plane, but I'm hopeless at sleeping on flights.
Really weird feeling when I get to Ibiza. So far, this'll be the only holiday destination that I've visited more than once. From the moment I step of the plane, the feeling of familiarity is strangely disconcerting! This is strengthened even further on the journey to San Antonio; "look, theres Km5", "look, there's the road to the Blue Marlin" etc. Airport transfers have always been surreal experiences, looking out the window at strange places wondering what direction we'll be taking next. In this case, I felt like I could have actually driven the bus to San Antonio, that's how fimiliar it all was. It's only my second time here, but it kind of already feels like a second home!
Check-in at the hotel, and we've got an excellent room. View out over the bay, 4th floor, and with the sun from about 3pm until it sets. Staying in the same hotel as last year (Hotel Hawaii next to Punta des Moli) and I recognise the receptionist. Without me even mentioning the fact we'd been here before, she asks if we'd like to hire a cool box like we did last year. Totally bizarre feeling, and excellent service!
View from our hotel balcony looking towards San Antonio Bay:
So, we had grand plans about what we were going to do during the afternoon, but lack of sleep caught up with us, and we crashed out until about 5pm. Wake-up and eventually start to un-pack. But first things first; I go the supermarket for beer, pick up the coolbox, then fix out the music! Sorted.
No particular plans for tonight. Head out to Mambo for the Sunset and a few drinks, then decide to give Coastline a shot for dinner. Went to this place last year and was extremely dissapointed with the service, even although the food was amazing. Said I'd never go back, but decided to give it another chance. Bit shocked when I walked round the corner to find it all boarded up, so we go to Kanya instead. I find out later (from our waiter at Kanya) that they'd never actually had the proper licence for playing music and were constantly getting fined, which eventually bankrupted them. At least, that's what he said!
Excellent meal at Kanya (as usual), and we stay there, working through their cocktail list, until about 1am.
Post-sunset drinks at Cafe Mambo:
Mon 31st Aug.
First clubbing night tonight, so attempt to get a long lie in bed. Up about 1pm and head out to the Bay Bar for a few drinks and a bit of lunch (club sandwich, really tasty). Just as nice as I remember it being from last year, really like this place and we'd eventually end up spending quite a few hours in here during the holiday.
After reading shane saintsfc's post, I'm really eager to find out about hiring a boat. Luckily, there's a guy almost right next to our hotel, 140 Euros for 4 1/2 hours. We book it for Wednesday, and arrange to have it from 4ish until sunset (about 8:30). Nice looking boats, and I'm really looking forward to it.
Don't really do much else during the day, except laze about. Yet again, we head out to Mambo for sunset and a few drinks, then go round to Villa Mercedes for a meal. At this point, I decide to start a bit of an experiment.
Generally when I eat out, I'll go for steak or a pasta dish. As much as I really like fish, I'll only ever eat it in the house, as I'm really paranoid about what I'm going to be presented with in restuarants. Well, Ibiza (like Scotland) is famous for it's seafood, so I decide to bite the bullet. I'm going to call it Steve's Seafood Experiment.
So, I order monkfish and it's absolutely amazing, comes in nice chunks of fish in a risotto type dish. So, a good start to the experiment then!
Head back to the hotel and on the way have a quick couple of shots on the Slingshot reverse bungee thing. Ever the sucker, I buy the DVD, although like last years, all it shows is me talking sh
te for 90 secs, but it's quite funny.A quick change of clothes, and it's back out to Kanya for the free bus. Heading out to Privilege for Tiesto, and I'm really looking forward to it, first proper night of the holiday and all that. Not a good start though, as the bus journey is a bit of a nightmare. Front half of the bus (where we are) is fine, but the back half is full of bare-chested west-end ar
holes banging the roof of the bus constantly shouting "TIESTO, TIESTO, TIESTO" for 20 mins. Get talking to a group from Brighton and an extremely attractve female that looks like Sarah Cox, so that keeps my mind off what's going on, and keeps me reasonably calm.Tiesto @ Privilege
So, where do I start! I really like Tiesto, and I've had many good nights with him DJ-ing but I now feel like he's maybe dissapeared up his own arse. I really feel like he's now let the hype go to his head. Don't get me wrong, when he was actually DJ-ing, it was really good, but it was all the other little things that really got my wick!
For a start, the warm-up DJ has now been demoted to the lighting guys booth (god forbid that he should set foot on Tiesto's hallowed ground and twiddle with his knobs!!), and the main dance floor is kept shut until Tiesto see's fit to grace us with his prescence. The place was feckin' mobbed, and there's an area half the size of a football pitch shut off until about half 2! What's that all about? None of that happened last year.
When Tiesto eventually comes on, I'll admit he plays really good music and I have a good time. However, from what I can see, he seems to spend about 70% of the time with his hands in the air giving it the big 'I am'. And annoyingly, most of the crowd spend about 95% of the time facing him shouting 'TIESTO'. DJ worship at it's very worst!
Anyway, we spend our time off to the side listening to the music and doing our thing.
Tiesto pretending to be God:
Funny incident: I'm wearing a t-shirt with Popeye on it (it's not quite that simple though, you'd need to see it). We decide to head outside for a wee chill-out and I go to the bar. There's 2 barmaids, and the first one says "Hola Popeye" and the second one says "we can be your, how you say.......Olivio". That made me smile!!
Anyway, I asked for a Red Bull and vodka, and jokingly asked her not to be shy with the vodka. She then filled the glass about 3/4 full with vodka, and when I said "holy ****", told me to be quiet in case her manager heard. So, I think I'll have to be wearing that t-shirt more often!!
End up calling it a day at about 5am, and get a taxi back to the hotel. In conclusion, a good night but ruined by all these little 'Tiesto is God' type moments.
Second instalment soon (hopefully).
Last edited by a moderator:
