Evening Star
Active Member
July 18[SUP]th[/SUP] – July 19[SUP]th[/SUP]
At first I had an idea to write just about my second trip to Ibiza but it would be like starting to write a book from middle. So I guess I will go back to July 18[SUP]th[/SUP], 2012 when my fiancé Steve and I left Kabul where we both live and work, to spend a week in the White Isle.
Our trip there was… adventurous… For starters, I woke up in the middle of the night the day when we had to leave with an episode from a cartoon “Finding Nemo†in my head where fishes are trying to escape from the fish-tank by sabotaging the filter. The morning the Dentist (who owns the fishes) is supposed to take them out from the fish-tank to clean it and that would give them time to escape, it turns out that he has installed a new filter over the night and “The tank is cleanâ€â€¦ I couldn't fall asleep for the rest of the night and my last day in the ministry where I worked seems a lit blurry but at that point I didn't care.
So I leave the ministry around 2pm to pick up Steve, we get to the airport and things are looking more or less ok. After waiting for god knows however long we get in the plane and I immediately pass out as I've had maybe 3 hours of sleep in last two days. I wake up after an hour+ to realize that we are still on the ground… apparently some other plane almost crash-landed and they were still clearing the runway. Suddenly the theme song from “Finding Nemo†was in my head again and it felt like someone's trying to play a bad joke on us. We tried to stay calm as we had 5hour layover planned in Dubai but those 5 hours were rapidly melting. Finally, we take off to make it to Dubai in the very last moment. We landed at 11pm and our flight out to Doha was at midnight. Personnel at the transfer desk in Dubai helped us out and transferred our bags, and got us through the line so we would make it to our next flight. We safely landed in Doha from where we went to Barcelona and further down to Ibiza. 26+ hours and 4 legs of flights and we arrive in Ibiza tired and dirty but in every other way happy to have actually made it.
We take a cab to PDB, drop our bags and go for an afternoon swim. It is hard to describe the feeling I got when running around the beach in my swimsuit but then again I did spend my last year in Kabul… it's like escaping high security prison. When I get in the water my first reaction was – OMG, I could never drown here! /Here I must explain that I'm from Baltic's and the warmest water I've experienced during the hottest time in our summers is maybe +19C./ So after a refreshing swim we get back to our apartment to take a nap before Cream later on that night.
After few hours of napping we wake up to realize that Steve is running a fever. It took us a while to realize what was happened till we came to conclusion that he's seriously dehydrated. Water and wet towels and a bit more napping for him and he was in a more or less acceptable state to go to Amnesia.
This was my first time in Ibiza and even though I have traveled around the world and I was more or less familiar with club life, this was something completely different and something I could've never imagined. Amnesia is packed and I spend my first half our there just exploring the club. Eddie Halliwell is playing on Terrace (I liked it a lot) but we spent most of our time in the main room. The thing with my first time in Ibiza was that I didn't care much for who was playing or what was going on. After being locked away from the world and society for so long, I was just insanely happy to be there and I tried to capture everything that I could whether it was a sight or a sound or just a feeling. Between having several Vodka/Fantas, I remember drifting around the club just enjoying the night. I don't remember anymore what time did we get home but at some point the sun woke us up…
July 20[SUP]th[/SUP]
So we wake up, Steve's feeling slightly better and we spend the morning on the beach. Sunbathing, swimming, and then back to our apartment for a nap and I wake up to realize he's still massively ill and I leave him to nap a bit more. I see a beautiful sunset as I leave our apartment to take a walk, hoping to kill time somehow. I remember that I totally lack clothes… all I have is what I have to wear in Kabul that is long-sleeved shirts, long skirts or pants etc. A tiny store “Ibiza Factory†attracts my eye and "voila"– after half an hour I come out looking like a different person. Today when I look back at it, it may have been the sluttiest outfit I've ever had but then again – it is Ibiza and I felt the need to compensate the way I have to dress every day in Kabul. I also got a lovely henna tattoo and I am headed back to apartment to find Steve still hibernating. We had an idea to go to Festa Del Agua but since he still was not feeling all that well, we settled with drinks at Bora Bora followed by Beat & Raw in Space. I haven't had much to eat (I think around that time I had an ice cream within last 48 hours) so Mai Thai is hitting in pretty fast. When we leave Bora Bora I am slightly inebriated but feeling very good and happy. The night in space starts out well; I cannot for the life of me remember who was playing but the opening act in the main room was good and had us going but then… well… even in my level of inebriation I couldn't miss the horror. A shrieking noise and someone trying to overcome it by sorta singing/moaning in a metallic voice… awhh… we decided to daze our minds with a bit more booze and that is where the trait of the night slowly gets blurry. At some point we get tired and after a short walk home we blissfully pass out.
July 21[SUP]st[/SUP]
I wake up. That is good. I step on the ground and my first reaction is Aaauuu!!! WTF! I look at my foot and my toe on my left foot is covered in blood and a bit blue. My “WTF†attracts Steve's attention and for a while we just stare at my foot. I wash it and I don't see any cuts but I realize my finger is broken. According to Steve – fingers, toes, and ribs don't count – so I find my flip-flops that are the only shoes I can wear at the moment and we are on our way to Formentera. Somehow we both forgot our driver's licenses at home so we ended up renting bikes to get around the island. Formentera still counts as one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. We get lost on our way to the beach but that leads us through absolute none tourist routes that are too beautiful to describe. We finally set out to find Cala Saona where we spend a blissfully peaceful day sunbathing and snorkeling. It was a perfect day despite discomfort of my broken toe and around 6pm we set out to go back home to PDB to have dinner and “get sorted out†for the night. We pick up a few purple stars and somehow it seemed like a good idea to take a short nap… we woke up at 2am to realize how late it is but since there was nothing specific that we wanted to see, we decided to rest.
July 22[SUP]nd[/SUP]
We wake up early, fresh, and in a need (and mood) for a proper party night. We went snorkeling near Old Pirate tower in PDB for 3 or 4 hours, a bit of day drinking, nap and around 1am we are on our way to the foam party. My finger still hurts but luckily I have very comfortable shoes that are soft enough to let me walk but still closed so my feet are protected from being cut.
Steve had told me about his last year's experience in the foam party and I was over excited just by thinking about it. We get to Amnesia (buy tickets at the door) and in a moment we are in the club again and the night can begin. The music was good (house DJ's) and it didn't really matter that it was commercial – the crowd was loving it and that alone was enough to catch the “vibeâ€. Steve pops in half of the purple stars and I'm still standing there sipping my Vodka/something. We dance a while and have fun and some 30 min later he takes another whole one. More dancing and more fun, and I see him taking another one. I think I asked will it not be too much and he said he's barely feeling anything after more than 1.5hrs and offered me to try one. Now here's to be explained – I had never tried anything like that before and actually wasn't planning on doing that now but… I blame Kabul. When you live in a war zone country for so long, it pushes your limits of “extremeâ€... so I decide – hell with it! I'm in Ibiza and when else if not now - one purple star for me and more fun and dancing to be had. Time goes by and I end up asking Steve – how am I supposed to feel? “You'll know†is his answer and more dancing and fun… Now, this happens several times and after (I think it may have been 4[SUP]th[/SUP] time I asked it) I finally got it… OMG! All the weariness was gone, my vision was crystal clear and it seemed like I have all the energy in the world. I remember jumping around in excitement telling him (yelling out loud actually) – I HAVE NO WEIGHT!!! Then I look at him and he's on the floor (no wonder after 2.5) but I felt too energized stay put so I gave him a kiss, made sure he has enough water and on to the dance floor with me! My memory is a bit hazy but I remember lot's of guys trying to hit on me (may have had something to do with the fact that my shirt had unbuttoned and I was basically dancing in a black mini skirt and a bra). At some point I managed to seduce a girl in a green bikini (to be honest I think she was one of the dancers on holiday cause I think I recognize her in videos they show at the foam party). I sorta remember her offering me a free massage and then a guy appeared that offered us both to go back to his place and that seemed like a good idea to move to another location. Steve was back on his feet and we danced our asses off later that night. It was a porn star night but I can't say that would impress me. Still when the foam hit in, it was better than I expected! Jumping around (now completely shirtless) covered in foam, bare foot… it was insane fun! At some point they rinsed it all off and it felt like someone hit the lights when they actually just opened the doors. It was daylight outside. We got to the bus together with other half naked and wet people but with ton of energy still to burn we didn't went directly home but to the beach for a nice morning swim. After the swim we found ourselves back in our apartment dancing (still too much energy) and I even though I don't think the music was too loud, I remember someone screaming “NOISE!â€â€¦
After several tries to tuck ourselves in, we finally fell asleep…
Nowadays - Foam party is on our “never to miss†list.
July 23d
We woke up some time during the day fairly well rested but with a piece of glass in my foot. No idea how it got there (they use plastic glasses in Amnesia) but after a bit of a torture executed by myself and Steve (it is really hard to get something out of your foot) we got it out and got ready for ASOT in the Privilege. I think we ate and got “sorted out†again with a bit more of purple stars and some other stuff that was needed to suppress one undesired side effect…
Our tasks are done and we are on our way to Privilege. We arrive almost precisely at midnight and we are one of the first ones in. I can tell that ASOT is an even which you want to experience from the very beginning to the very end. I had no idea what to expect but it was a fantastic show and Ibiza experience. Later on our second trip (this review will take longer to write) I started analyzing how Armin is building the show and I am impressed still. This was the night he was not playing but it didn't matter as the structure of the performance and the quality of the music was outstanding. Act was opened by Jochen Miller that was a great for introduction; people kept coming and everyone cought the same vibe with the ones already there. Quick tour around the place, a purple star and Cosmic Gate is on. We danced and I enjoyed how the night is building around us and the introduction is made for Marcus Schulz. Great act; aggressive enough and fun at the same time. I could feel a bit of tiredness from last night but I decided to stay just on one star as the music was electric enough to get me going. Final act – Dash Berlin.
If Marcus Schulz seamed aggressive at the first moment than Dash Berlin completely took over the crowd. Amazing set! My tiredness was gone and we danced till the end and I wouldn't have minded if he had played for few more hours.
We got home around 8am and, thanks to some previously procured supplements, we have no problem with exercising our extra energy and falling asleep afterwards.
July 24[SUP]th[/SUP]
Our last day in Ibiza was lazy… we were tired after two wild nights out and we had an early flight out so we decided on lazy day at the beach during the day and sunset drinks in San An. Steve wanted to find Kumaras (which we failed to do) but we found Miramare Sunset cocktail bar. It was a great chill night, beautiful sunset, and once again a different side of Ibiza.
We got home after midnight to catch up on some sleep as we had a morning flight to Riga that was followed by almost 4 weeks long road trip all over Europe and finally led to us going back to Ibiza in September for 17 days. That was a different kind of a trip and experience that I hope to share some time later. After all, we are back in Kabul and remembering and writing this all down has been a lot of fun for me.
At first I had an idea to write just about my second trip to Ibiza but it would be like starting to write a book from middle. So I guess I will go back to July 18[SUP]th[/SUP], 2012 when my fiancé Steve and I left Kabul where we both live and work, to spend a week in the White Isle.
Our trip there was… adventurous… For starters, I woke up in the middle of the night the day when we had to leave with an episode from a cartoon “Finding Nemo†in my head where fishes are trying to escape from the fish-tank by sabotaging the filter. The morning the Dentist (who owns the fishes) is supposed to take them out from the fish-tank to clean it and that would give them time to escape, it turns out that he has installed a new filter over the night and “The tank is cleanâ€â€¦ I couldn't fall asleep for the rest of the night and my last day in the ministry where I worked seems a lit blurry but at that point I didn't care.
So I leave the ministry around 2pm to pick up Steve, we get to the airport and things are looking more or less ok. After waiting for god knows however long we get in the plane and I immediately pass out as I've had maybe 3 hours of sleep in last two days. I wake up after an hour+ to realize that we are still on the ground… apparently some other plane almost crash-landed and they were still clearing the runway. Suddenly the theme song from “Finding Nemo†was in my head again and it felt like someone's trying to play a bad joke on us. We tried to stay calm as we had 5hour layover planned in Dubai but those 5 hours were rapidly melting. Finally, we take off to make it to Dubai in the very last moment. We landed at 11pm and our flight out to Doha was at midnight. Personnel at the transfer desk in Dubai helped us out and transferred our bags, and got us through the line so we would make it to our next flight. We safely landed in Doha from where we went to Barcelona and further down to Ibiza. 26+ hours and 4 legs of flights and we arrive in Ibiza tired and dirty but in every other way happy to have actually made it.
We take a cab to PDB, drop our bags and go for an afternoon swim. It is hard to describe the feeling I got when running around the beach in my swimsuit but then again I did spend my last year in Kabul… it's like escaping high security prison. When I get in the water my first reaction was – OMG, I could never drown here! /Here I must explain that I'm from Baltic's and the warmest water I've experienced during the hottest time in our summers is maybe +19C./ So after a refreshing swim we get back to our apartment to take a nap before Cream later on that night.
After few hours of napping we wake up to realize that Steve is running a fever. It took us a while to realize what was happened till we came to conclusion that he's seriously dehydrated. Water and wet towels and a bit more napping for him and he was in a more or less acceptable state to go to Amnesia.
This was my first time in Ibiza and even though I have traveled around the world and I was more or less familiar with club life, this was something completely different and something I could've never imagined. Amnesia is packed and I spend my first half our there just exploring the club. Eddie Halliwell is playing on Terrace (I liked it a lot) but we spent most of our time in the main room. The thing with my first time in Ibiza was that I didn't care much for who was playing or what was going on. After being locked away from the world and society for so long, I was just insanely happy to be there and I tried to capture everything that I could whether it was a sight or a sound or just a feeling. Between having several Vodka/Fantas, I remember drifting around the club just enjoying the night. I don't remember anymore what time did we get home but at some point the sun woke us up…
July 20[SUP]th[/SUP]
So we wake up, Steve's feeling slightly better and we spend the morning on the beach. Sunbathing, swimming, and then back to our apartment for a nap and I wake up to realize he's still massively ill and I leave him to nap a bit more. I see a beautiful sunset as I leave our apartment to take a walk, hoping to kill time somehow. I remember that I totally lack clothes… all I have is what I have to wear in Kabul that is long-sleeved shirts, long skirts or pants etc. A tiny store “Ibiza Factory†attracts my eye and "voila"– after half an hour I come out looking like a different person. Today when I look back at it, it may have been the sluttiest outfit I've ever had but then again – it is Ibiza and I felt the need to compensate the way I have to dress every day in Kabul. I also got a lovely henna tattoo and I am headed back to apartment to find Steve still hibernating. We had an idea to go to Festa Del Agua but since he still was not feeling all that well, we settled with drinks at Bora Bora followed by Beat & Raw in Space. I haven't had much to eat (I think around that time I had an ice cream within last 48 hours) so Mai Thai is hitting in pretty fast. When we leave Bora Bora I am slightly inebriated but feeling very good and happy. The night in space starts out well; I cannot for the life of me remember who was playing but the opening act in the main room was good and had us going but then… well… even in my level of inebriation I couldn't miss the horror. A shrieking noise and someone trying to overcome it by sorta singing/moaning in a metallic voice… awhh… we decided to daze our minds with a bit more booze and that is where the trait of the night slowly gets blurry. At some point we get tired and after a short walk home we blissfully pass out.
July 21[SUP]st[/SUP]
I wake up. That is good. I step on the ground and my first reaction is Aaauuu!!! WTF! I look at my foot and my toe on my left foot is covered in blood and a bit blue. My “WTF†attracts Steve's attention and for a while we just stare at my foot. I wash it and I don't see any cuts but I realize my finger is broken. According to Steve – fingers, toes, and ribs don't count – so I find my flip-flops that are the only shoes I can wear at the moment and we are on our way to Formentera. Somehow we both forgot our driver's licenses at home so we ended up renting bikes to get around the island. Formentera still counts as one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. We get lost on our way to the beach but that leads us through absolute none tourist routes that are too beautiful to describe. We finally set out to find Cala Saona where we spend a blissfully peaceful day sunbathing and snorkeling. It was a perfect day despite discomfort of my broken toe and around 6pm we set out to go back home to PDB to have dinner and “get sorted out†for the night. We pick up a few purple stars and somehow it seemed like a good idea to take a short nap… we woke up at 2am to realize how late it is but since there was nothing specific that we wanted to see, we decided to rest.
July 22[SUP]nd[/SUP]
We wake up early, fresh, and in a need (and mood) for a proper party night. We went snorkeling near Old Pirate tower in PDB for 3 or 4 hours, a bit of day drinking, nap and around 1am we are on our way to the foam party. My finger still hurts but luckily I have very comfortable shoes that are soft enough to let me walk but still closed so my feet are protected from being cut.
Steve had told me about his last year's experience in the foam party and I was over excited just by thinking about it. We get to Amnesia (buy tickets at the door) and in a moment we are in the club again and the night can begin. The music was good (house DJ's) and it didn't really matter that it was commercial – the crowd was loving it and that alone was enough to catch the “vibeâ€. Steve pops in half of the purple stars and I'm still standing there sipping my Vodka/something. We dance a while and have fun and some 30 min later he takes another whole one. More dancing and more fun, and I see him taking another one. I think I asked will it not be too much and he said he's barely feeling anything after more than 1.5hrs and offered me to try one. Now here's to be explained – I had never tried anything like that before and actually wasn't planning on doing that now but… I blame Kabul. When you live in a war zone country for so long, it pushes your limits of “extremeâ€... so I decide – hell with it! I'm in Ibiza and when else if not now - one purple star for me and more fun and dancing to be had. Time goes by and I end up asking Steve – how am I supposed to feel? “You'll know†is his answer and more dancing and fun… Now, this happens several times and after (I think it may have been 4[SUP]th[/SUP] time I asked it) I finally got it… OMG! All the weariness was gone, my vision was crystal clear and it seemed like I have all the energy in the world. I remember jumping around in excitement telling him (yelling out loud actually) – I HAVE NO WEIGHT!!! Then I look at him and he's on the floor (no wonder after 2.5) but I felt too energized stay put so I gave him a kiss, made sure he has enough water and on to the dance floor with me! My memory is a bit hazy but I remember lot's of guys trying to hit on me (may have had something to do with the fact that my shirt had unbuttoned and I was basically dancing in a black mini skirt and a bra). At some point I managed to seduce a girl in a green bikini (to be honest I think she was one of the dancers on holiday cause I think I recognize her in videos they show at the foam party). I sorta remember her offering me a free massage and then a guy appeared that offered us both to go back to his place and that seemed like a good idea to move to another location. Steve was back on his feet and we danced our asses off later that night. It was a porn star night but I can't say that would impress me. Still when the foam hit in, it was better than I expected! Jumping around (now completely shirtless) covered in foam, bare foot… it was insane fun! At some point they rinsed it all off and it felt like someone hit the lights when they actually just opened the doors. It was daylight outside. We got to the bus together with other half naked and wet people but with ton of energy still to burn we didn't went directly home but to the beach for a nice morning swim. After the swim we found ourselves back in our apartment dancing (still too much energy) and I even though I don't think the music was too loud, I remember someone screaming “NOISE!â€â€¦
After several tries to tuck ourselves in, we finally fell asleep…
Nowadays - Foam party is on our “never to miss†list.
July 23d
We woke up some time during the day fairly well rested but with a piece of glass in my foot. No idea how it got there (they use plastic glasses in Amnesia) but after a bit of a torture executed by myself and Steve (it is really hard to get something out of your foot) we got it out and got ready for ASOT in the Privilege. I think we ate and got “sorted out†again with a bit more of purple stars and some other stuff that was needed to suppress one undesired side effect…
Our tasks are done and we are on our way to Privilege. We arrive almost precisely at midnight and we are one of the first ones in. I can tell that ASOT is an even which you want to experience from the very beginning to the very end. I had no idea what to expect but it was a fantastic show and Ibiza experience. Later on our second trip (this review will take longer to write) I started analyzing how Armin is building the show and I am impressed still. This was the night he was not playing but it didn't matter as the structure of the performance and the quality of the music was outstanding. Act was opened by Jochen Miller that was a great for introduction; people kept coming and everyone cought the same vibe with the ones already there. Quick tour around the place, a purple star and Cosmic Gate is on. We danced and I enjoyed how the night is building around us and the introduction is made for Marcus Schulz. Great act; aggressive enough and fun at the same time. I could feel a bit of tiredness from last night but I decided to stay just on one star as the music was electric enough to get me going. Final act – Dash Berlin.
If Marcus Schulz seamed aggressive at the first moment than Dash Berlin completely took over the crowd. Amazing set! My tiredness was gone and we danced till the end and I wouldn't have minded if he had played for few more hours.
We got home around 8am and, thanks to some previously procured supplements, we have no problem with exercising our extra energy and falling asleep afterwards.
July 24[SUP]th[/SUP]
Our last day in Ibiza was lazy… we were tired after two wild nights out and we had an early flight out so we decided on lazy day at the beach during the day and sunset drinks in San An. Steve wanted to find Kumaras (which we failed to do) but we found Miramare Sunset cocktail bar. It was a great chill night, beautiful sunset, and once again a different side of Ibiza.
We got home after midnight to catch up on some sleep as we had a morning flight to Riga that was followed by almost 4 weeks long road trip all over Europe and finally led to us going back to Ibiza in September for 17 days. That was a different kind of a trip and experience that I hope to share some time later. After all, we are back in Kabul and remembering and writing this all down has been a lot of fun for me.
