Do you remember your first time?

Harry29

Harry29

Active Member
Hi All,

Long time viewer of the forum but only just started posting - criminal I know!

There may already be a thread for this but I'd love to know when everybody first visited the island, what made you fall in love with it, where you stayed and what went down!

I'll keep mine relatively short ( note, may make some mistakes on names etc here as my memory is crap! ):

I first visited the Island 2 days after my 18th birthday in 2008! Most groups of lads start off with Zante/Malia and work their way up to Ibiza, but not us. We were all obsessed with electronic music and had been planning this trip since we were about 14! We made the rookie mistake of booking ten days without realising just how much damage it would do to our wallets and our liver! Our flight was at 6 am and naively (as you do on your first lads holiday) we got picked up at 1 am..meaning we got to Gatwick several hours early and had to wait around in anticipation for our flight - most of us ended up sleeping throughout so no in-flight boozing!

We had booked our stay with a small local travel agent and had chosen to stay at " club Paraiso " in San Antonio after seeing videos of the madness around the pool during the day - exactly what we needed for our trip. As it happened, the hotel changed into Ibiza rocks prior to our arrival so we were among some of the first guests to sample it In it's new form - very different to what we see now - i seem to randomly remember bumping into the fratellis one day at the bar...

All I remember feeling is total excitement but also feeling somewhat out of our depth, ten guys, barely 18, hardly any cash between us, utter chaos around the pool and so many arguments over what DJ's we wanted to see and where - mixed in with just about everyone trying to sell us tickets and various other...things! But we loved it!

We spent a lot of time traveling around the island by whichever means we could afford, walking, water taxi, dodgy taxi etc and it was then that I really fell in love with the sheer beauty of the place. We spent time in small coves, on the rocks at mambo for sunset ( as we couldn't afford a drink inside if we wanted to get into a club!) On various beaches such as cala basa and cala comte ( Had an amazing burger at Ashram - not even sure it was called the same back then ) and ate pasta with aioli on our balcony. We had dinner at Kanya beach whilst above and beyond played and lied to groups of older girls about our age in an absolutely atrocious effort to pull! I also seem to remember we all dressed like we'd been the victim of a topman bomb!

The west end was where we started every evening due to the cheap booze and lots of bar options, I seem to remember it was still crazy there back then but not quite as chaotic as we see it nowadays - I haven't set foot there since 2012! and as often as we could we would head to a club. From memory we did:

Pure Pacha with Bassment Jaxx & Sander Kleinenberg ( I went crazy when he played " this is Ibiza " )
Tiesto at Privelige opening
Defected at Pacha ( My first experience of the legend that is DJ Pippi! )
Cream at Amnesia
Judgement Sundays at Amnesia ( I remember being so packed In we couldn't move! )

But of course, the one that really sealed my love for the club life in Ibiza, was our trip to we love at Space . I remember being absolutely fascinated with the size and scale of the club, wandering into a room I believe was called the red box and thinking " what is happening in here! " and bouncing around for hours on end to the likes of Steve lawler and James Zabiela, I also randomly remember coming home with a giant potato afterwards...no idea why, it got thrown off of the balcony...random detail I know.

Fast forward 12 years, and I've visited the island 11 times, got married there, and fallen more in love with the place ever since. My ultimate goal is to move there, it's my happy place.... my music taste has changed somewhat and my trance days are behind me, but one thing for sure - I'll always remember my first time!

I cut this short because I realized I am rambling on, but happy to go into more detail if people want to know more :) Just thought I'd share my experience and would love to read yours - especially if you went as a young naive 18-year-old like I was :)

Thanks

P.S Apologies again if there is already a thread of this type! Feel free to point me in that direction if there is!
 
Harry29 said:
Glad you enjoyed it mate - could go into lots more detail but would be here all day hahaha!
Click to expand...
Mine was 99, when trance was at it's peak with Paul Van Dyk, Paul Oakenfold and those type of dj's. Went with my then-girlfriend, just the 2 of us. Did Manumission which was mental back then, Sundissential @ Pacha (which at the time was controversial for Pacha as it was hard house, Lisa Lashes etc), Clockwork Orange @ Es Paradis with John Kelly...and finally Cream @ Amnesia, PVD and Seb Fontaine on our last night. They were filming Kevin and Perry go large that night and I have lived off that story ever since!

I remember walking into Mambos on our first night, it was all lit up with blue UV lighting, cool vibes and straight away fell in love. All the blatant goings on by the wall that used to be between Mambos and Cafe Del Mar...it was a real eye-opener. The free-spirited nature of it all, then onto Bar M on the promenade...we sat there watching an electric storm in the distance and it just seemed like it was magic.

We were staying in the bay at the San Remo...all week we kept missing the sunset, either the boat across or took long getting ready. So on the last day we made sure we saw it. Booked a table a Savannah's, as the sun went down they played some big operatic number, perfectly in time with the sun going down...and a small tear went down my face (I blame the messiness of the week previous).

And a seed was sown, been back almost every year since.
 
Ibizapaul said:
Mine was 99, when trance was at it's peak with Paul Van Dyk, Paul Oakenfold and those type of dj's. Went with my then-girlfriend, just the 2 of us. Did Manumission which was mental back then, Sundissential @ Pacha (which at the time was controversial for Pacha as it was hard house, Lisa Lashes etc), Clockwork Orange @ Es Paradis with John Kelly...and finally Cream @ Amnesia, PVD and Seb Fontaine on our last night. They were filming Kevin and Perry go large that night and I have lived off that story ever since!

I remember walking into Mambos on our first night, it was all lit up with blue UV lighting, cool vibes and straight away fell in love. All the blatant goings on by the wall that used to be between Mambos and Cafe Del Mar...it was a real eye-opener. The free-spirited nature of it all, then onto Bar M on the promenade...we sat there watching an electric storm in the distance and it just seemed like it was magic.

We were staying in the bay at the San Remo...all week we kept missing the sunset, either the boat across or took long getting ready. So on the last day we made sure we saw it. Booked a table a Savannah's, as the sun went down they played some big operatic number, perfectly in time with the sun going down...and a small tear went down my face (I blame the messiness of the week previous).

And a seed was sown, been back almost every year since.
Click to expand...

Love this. 99 as well - final year of the 90s, I was just a bit too young for it back then haha...
 
Remember El Divino , dont remember the djs

Up yer Ronson , Bombay Pussy and so on
Manumission was something special
Some cheap clubs around , no money to go to a big one every night ...
These were the times

Happy Mondays in Ibz , 808 State , Blaxkbox , Acid , Adeva , Future Sound of L ,
Weeeeeed everywhere ,
 
18th of August 1994
When I first stepped on the tarmac at Ibiza Airport.
It was the end of the afternoon, my future wife, who had been there for a week with her mother (who luckily left for France a few hours later ), came to welcome me, we got into her Fiat Panda, and direction Portinatx.
I still remember the smells all along the road, we arrive at the apartment, and there, I immediately fall in love with the place.
This incredible view, the sound of cicadas and seagulls ...
Once the mother-in-law left (thank you my God), direction Ibiza town, we will have dinner at El Olivo, I discover, amazed, Dalt Vila, and all the local fauna that revolves here.
A magical dinner, but the time to join the Pacha is still far away.
It's time to go for a drink, or three, or five, at the Dôme, a legendary bar from that time.
An indescribable atmosphere, a mixture of incredible people and sublime music make me understand that I am far, very far from my natural environment.
Jean-Paul Gautier is seated at the table next door with his friends, the dealers are flying like flies around us, we will not catch empty pockets.
The rest is history.
Pacha for the first time, DJ Pippi on the turntables when we arrive, the dance floor is on fire, the excstasy makes its effects,
Indeed, the night will be long and beautiful ...
When at 8am or 9am we leave Pacha, the sun is already high.
Direction Space, a Sunday morning, where Elias will offer me that day one of the most beautiful sets that I have ever heard in my life.
We left the Space around 5pm,the road back to Portinatx was epic.
The rest, I keep for myself, but these 24 hours there were, I think, the most beautiful of my life.
 
In fact, the next five weeks that evening were probably the most intense and festive of my life ?
 
In 1998 my friend and I stayed in Portinax with my parents. It was a great holiday but we were too young to venture out on our own to find the nightlife of the South.

When we got back home we promised each other that we would return next year ‘to do it properly’.

It feels like I spent everyday from August 1998 until July 1999 reading and watching anything I could about Ibiza.
About 3 or 4 years prior to this I had fallen in love with DJing and here was an island that worshipped music and dancing. There was a set of decks in every bar actually playing and selecting music rather than just putting on any old radio station. It was my literal idea of heaven.

As the months passed I think the main thing that kept us going was the infamous Ibiza Uncovered TV program. We watched it so much that we knew the words.

I couldn’t wait to go to all the places and experience all of the extravagance.

There are two stand out memories of that holiday which I think are behind the reason why I’m here on this forum today.

The first is a short and sweet visit to Es Paradis. It was my first experience of an Ibiza night club.
My friend and I were on our way home after exploring San Antonio town for the first time. Spotting all the bars and some of the people we’d seen on TV. As we walked past Es Paradis (Colours), we joked to each other that we should try and blag our way in, we did and it worked!

We entered Es Paradis and was immediately blown away. It was a whole new world. The white marble, the plants and the maze like layout.

As we made our way over to the sunken dance floor Moloko’s - Sing it back played.

Here we were, the moment that we had be dreaming of had finally come true.

I will never forget that moment. We Just looked at each other and smiled. That was me hooked.

The second moment came a few days later. It was Thursday. Cream at Amnesia.

Thinking about this now still gives me tingles. This was my first experience of what I would describe as clubbing. Completely naive and not a pill in sight but this night would light the fire for another 18 years worth of visiting and playing at clubs across Europe.

The track which did it was Mauro Picotto - The Lizard.

Not only had I never heard music like this in a club before, I had never experienced the emotions that come from a dance floor which is under the spell of the music.

The intense kick drum that leads you through the track into the rushy breakdown. Then that huge build up coupled with amnesia’s smoke machine.

The energy in Cream was unbelievable.

Needless to say I went back to Ibiza every year (except 2006 I think?) up until 2007 when I decided I want to move out there for the summer.

I worked again in 2008 and I think I have been back 4 times since, including an occasion where I proposed to my now wife.

These days I have a love/hate relationship with the island but the memories mentioned above plus many, many more refuse to let me stop thinking about her.

I’m pretty sure I will end up there.

 
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Bring back the days with this uplifting music . House Pianos are cool.

Nothing against a good Tech Set , but sometimes ...
Alfredo definitely brought this together. The rest is history .

Also remember : Primal Scream , Cabaret Voltaire ( really ) , DM , Where love lives , MAW with India , Blue Monday and so on.

The Island was real wild , people were loaded ( Primal Scream ) , less aggressive morons ... most tourists never touched this.
Suddenly some of them were not a tourist anymore , you was part of the island and his vibe.
 
Looking back I probably wouldn't have had a great time if it wasn't Ibiza. It was my first holiday so naturally ended up overspending doing too much drugs, fell out with friends (who I haven't spoken to since) and missed two flights on the way home.

I got to visit Space twice the year it closed which was really special. I had ever experienced anything like it. Visiting superclubs every night, it was unbelievable. Looking back there was a few suspect parties in there but the memories are incredible. When I came home, I remember feeling awful, couldn't wait to return. I knew where I had just been was somewhere magical. I did loads of research on the island, joined the forum etc. I couldn't believe such a place existed. One thing for sure was that I knew I would always be back every year to chase that Ibiza dragon.....
 
absolutely, this will be our tenth year the first time we went it was July we stayed at Mar Amantis 2 on the bay I remember the first time walking the board walk down to the main square and thinking to my self yep im sold. this is somewhere I am going to be coming for the rest of my life! I felt an instant connection with the whole vibe. we mootched about a bit and my wife who had been before took me right up towards pikes and shown me Mambo's and the sunset strip area too where we stayed till it set, we lost track of time a bit and hadn't even unpacked yet so we took a water taxi back to the hotel and got ready for the night ahead over in Bdb where we had tickets for We Love Space and it was my first time seeing Jeff Mills which i was buzzing like an old fridge about. we took the disco bus where we met a couple who where heading to space aswell who we have stayed in touch with ever since we have been to Belfast to visit them and they came to our wedding in fact we have made many friends for life on the Island another couple we met a few years later are now a massive part of our lives we see them alot they came on our stag and hen do's and helped us out on our big day massively so it really is an island that just keeps on giving. I had been warned about the high prices in the superclubs but I remember feeling in a f*** it mood and ordered 2 double vodka redbulls to start off and the round up hit me to the realisation that damn people weren't lying aha my lass infact spilt half her drink shortly after walking away from the bar and I died a little inside ? drinking around Teeside you can pick up a pint for less than 2 quid not the best practice in the lead up to a week on the sauce in Ibiza but that is something that you except over the years. your absolutely right Ibiza never leaves you may sound cheesy but I owe so much the island I really do we have never missed a year since and we never intend on doing hopefully one day we will own property out there
 
jimmiz said:
18th of August 1994
When I first stepped on the tarmac at Ibiza Airport.
It was the end of the afternoon, my future wife, who had been there for a week with her mother (who luckily left for France a few hours later ), came to welcome me, we got into her Fiat Panda, and direction Portinatx.
I still remember the smells all along the road, we arrive at the apartment, and there, I immediately fall in love with the place.
This incredible view, the sound of cicadas and seagulls ...
Once the mother-in-law left (thank you my God), direction Ibiza town, we will have dinner at El Olivo, I discover, amazed, Dalt Vila, and all the local fauna that revolves here.
A magical dinner, but the time to join the Pacha is still far away.
It's time to go for a drink, or three, or five, at the Dôme, a legendary bar from that time.
An indescribable atmosphere, a mixture of incredible people and sublime music make me understand that I am far, very far from my natural environment.
Jean-Paul Gautier is seated at the table next door with his friends, the dealers are flying like flies around us, we will not catch empty pockets.
The rest is history.
Pacha for the first time, DJ Pippi on the turntables when we arrive, the dance floor is on fire, the excstasy makes its effects,
Indeed, the night will be long and beautiful ...
When at 8am or 9am we leave Pacha, the sun is already high.
Direction Space, a Sunday morning, where Elias will offer me that day one of the most beautiful sets that I have ever heard in my life.
We left the Space around 5pm,the road back to Portinatx was epic.
The rest, I keep for myself, but these 24 hours there were, I think, the most beautiful of my life.
Click to expand...
Love this post!! Captures everything special about the place... I was 4 at the time of your first visit but I often watch videos of Ibiza back in the 90s and think that is a time I wish I’d lived My adult life through!
 
PP said:
In 1998 my friend and I stayed in Portinax with my parents. It was a great holiday but we were too young to venture out on our own to find the nightlife of the South.

When we got back home we promised each other that we would return next year ‘to do it properly’.

It feels like I spent everyday from August 1998 until July 1999 reading and watching anything I could about Ibiza.
About 3 or 4 years prior to this I had fallen in love with DJing and here was an island that worshipped music and dancing. There was a set of decks in every bar actually playing and selecting music rather than just putting on any old radio station. It was my literal idea of heaven.

As the months passed I think the main thing that kept us going was the infamous Ibiza Uncovered TV program. We watched it so much that we knew the words.

I couldn’t wait to go to all the places and experience all of the extravagance.

There are two stand out memories of that holiday which I think are behind the reason why I’m here on this forum today.

The first is a short and sweet visit to Es Paradis. It was my first experience of an Ibiza night club.
My friend and I were on our way home after exploring San Antonio town for the first time. Spotting all the bars and some of the people we’d seen on TV. As we walked past Es Paradis (Colours), we joked to each other that we should try and blag our way in, we did and it worked!

We entered Es Paradis and was immediately blown away. It was a whole new world. The white marble, the plants and the maze like layout.

As we made our way over to the sunken dance floor Moloko’s - Sing it back played.

Here we were, the moment that we had be dreaming of had finally come true.

I will never forget that moment. We Just looked at each other and smiled. That was me hooked.

The second moment came a few days later. It was Thursday. Cream at Amnesia.

Thinking about this now still gives me tingles. This was my first experience of what I would describe as clubbing. Completely naive and not a pill in sight but this night would light the fire for another 18 years worth of visiting and playing at clubs across Europe.

The track which did it was Mauro Picotto - The Lizard.

Not only had I never heard music like this in a club before, I had never experienced the emotions that come from a dance floor which is under the spell of the music.

The intense kick drum that leads you through the track into the rushy breakdown. Then that huge build up coupled with amnesia’s smoke machine.

The energy in Cream was unbelievable.

Needless to say I went back to Ibiza every year (except 2006 I think?) up until 2007 when I decided I want to move out there for the summer.

I worked again in 2008 and I think I have been back 4 times since, including an occasion where I proposed to my now wife.

These days I have a love/hate relationship with the island but the memories mentioned above plus many, many more refuse to let me stop thinking about her.

I’m pretty sure I will end up there.

Click to expand...
Love the part about watching and reading everything you could! My friends and I did tbat ourselves - even down to watching the old re runs of Ibiza uncovered... and of course repeatedly listening to the Kevin and Perth soundtrack haha! Interested to know why you have a love/hate relationship witj the island?
 
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DCAmbrose said:
Looking back I probably wouldn't have had a great time if it wasn't Ibiza. It was my first holiday so naturally ended up overspending doing too much drugs, fell out with friends (who I haven't spoken to since) and missed two flights on the way home.

I got to visit Space twice the year it closed which was really special. I had ever experienced anything like it. Visiting superclubs every night, it was unbelievable. Looking back there was a few suspect parties in there but the memories are incredible. When I came home, I remember feeling awful, couldn't wait to return. I knew where I had just been was somewhere magical. I did loads of research on the island, joined the forum etc. I couldn't believe such a place existed. One thing for sure was that I knew I would always be back every year to chase that Ibiza dragon.....
Click to expand...
The Ibiza clues are easily one of the worst feelings... and there’s simply only one cure hahaha!
 
chez said:
absolutely, this will be our tenth year the first time we went it was July we stayed at Mar Amantis 2 on the bay I remember the first time walking the board walk down to the main square and thinking to my self yep im sold. this is somewhere I am going to be coming for the rest of my life! I felt an instant connection with the whole vibe. we mootched about a bit and my wife who had been before took me right up towards pikes and shown me Mambo's and the sunset strip area too where we stayed till it set, we lost track of time a bit and hadn't even unpacked yet so we took a water taxi back to the hotel and got ready for the night ahead over in Bdb where we had tickets for We Love Space and it was my first time seeing Jeff Mills which i was buzzing like an old fridge about. we took the disco bus where we met a couple who where heading to space aswell who we have stayed in touch with ever since we have been to Belfast to visit them and they came to our wedding in fact we have made many friends for life on the Island another couple we met a few years later are now a massive part of our lives we see them alot they came on our stag and hen do's and helped us out on our big day massively so it really is an island that just keeps on giving. I had been warned about the high prices in the superclubs but I remember feeling in a f*** it mood and ordered 2 double vodka redbulls to start off and the round up hit me to the realisation that damn people weren't lying aha my lass infact spilt half her drink shortly after walking away from the bar and I died a little inside ? drinking around Teeside you can pick up a pint for less than 2 quid not the best practice in the lead up to a week on the sauce in Ibiza but that is something that you except over the years. your absolutely right Ibiza never leaves you may sound cheesy but I owe so much the island I really do we have never missed a year since and we never intend on doing hopefully one day we will own property out there
Click to expand...
So spot on about meeting people- I’ve made friends for life on trips to the island. I don’t know what it is but you just seem to run into great people... maybe because everyone is in a better mood you attract others! Either way, it’s something else I love about the place!
 
Harry29 said:
So spot on about meeting people- I’ve made friends for life on trips to the island. I don’t know what it is but you just seem to run into great people... maybe because everyone is in a better mood you attract others! Either way, it’s something else I love about the place!
Click to expand...
could well be mate, attracts like minded people and everyone is just on a mega high ..holiday mode brings out the best in us
 
Harry29 said:
Interested to know why you have a love/hate relationship witj the island?
Click to expand...


I think it’s just the classic “not like it used to be”.

No doubt the previous generation would feel something similar towards my days on the island.

Working/living there opens your eyes up to things you possibly don’t notice as a holiday maker too.

It’s mostly just me getting old and caring more I think!
 
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