Wednesday 19th September 2012
Whenever I have something important to get up for, albeit a taxi in this instance, I always sleep in my armchair. It lacks comfort, and as soon as the alarm goes off, 3:30am, it makes you want to get up. Not that the thought of going to Ibiza for the 16th time isn't enough of a reason. So, the journey begins. Get to Cardiff Airport by 4am, flight out at 7:25am, land a little earlier than expected at Ibiza around 10:30am. This is where my hobby of people watching comes into play. Due to baggage claim taking longer than usual I actually left the terminal at that awkward time of missing the number 9 bus at 10:45am. The next bus due at 12:15pm, and even though a line of taxis were waiting, I went back into the terminal for some breakfast, and people watching. Even though I felt I over-budgeted on this trip it was still no reason to take a 26euro taxi over a bus for 3euros. And, I enjoyed waiting; it always feels like the calm before the storm.
The number 9 bus to San Antonio arrives, and I join a throng of like minded cheap skates
for the journey. It's a pleasurable route; you get to see a little more of the Island than you would when being driven by Schumacher in a taxi, plus you get to meet fellow travellers and locals. I arrive at the San Antonio bus station, incidentally, heads and shoulders above Ibiza Town's effort (rant about that on Tuesday 25th) at about 12:45pm, and check in at the Orosol. Convenient hotel, situated right next to the bus station, I've used it six times now, and the fact that I get a hug and a kiss from the hotelier on arrival has no bearing on why I use it every trip. She and I have a laugh and joke about me returning every single year, but then I remind her of her other guest that has spent 42 years stopping there, so we both agree I'm just starting out. Reasons for repeated visits are quite simple, they look after me; every member of staff is extremely friendly and knowledgeable, the breakfast is great, particularly as I follow the caveman regimen:
...and the price and location is spot on. Get my door card, and up to one of the usual 7th floor rooms I always book, there is a great panoramic view across San Antonio, and the balcony is sunset facing as a bonus.
The beauty of this hotel is that you're never far from any bar in San Antonio, which is good, because whilst doing a spot of sunbathing on the balcony I receive a text from Rakesh saying that he, BOS, Atli, DaveAus and Jasmine (joined later) were at Mambos for a little drink, a Spotlight mini-meet if you like. At this point I understood it to be a little drink, but fortunately, knowing Mambos and having channelled Mystic Meg as I got showered/changed I ended up chucking a load of what I felt at the time was too many Euros into my pocket. And, I'm glad I did.
About 20mins later, I text Rakesh to say I'm inside Mambos at the bar, he phones me to say he's looking at me through the window
. So I head outside, introductions all round, and I think I can safely say that within that first few brief seconds of sitting down and assessing the company, I couldn't have asked for better company. I'm sipping on my Vodka and Soda, BOS and Atli have their cocktails, I forget what DaveAus and Rakesh were drinking, but one of them...I'll blame Rakesh, , decided on a bottle of vodka for the five of us, and to be fair, no-one argued. By this time, Jasmine had arrived, and wisely stuck to her strawberry cocktails.
The vodka was shared equally, and also went down fairly quickly, possibly too quickly. But we were having a great time. This is where things get a little hazy, but I'm fairly sure that the PDB'ers amongst us, plus BOS, had plans for the night so they had to leave, leaving Atli, myself, and a few others to enjoy Mambo by twilight. Because most of group had now split, the remainder decided to clear the tab for the table, and then start again. My God, it must have been the single biggest bar bill I've received, came in something like 325 euros? Possibly.
It's fortunate really, that for some reason I don't see the Euro as real money, it's a kind of funny toy money you throw about without thinking, so we just chucked in what we each owed and started drinking again. This time separately, Atli went back to his cocktails; I kept on the Vodkas, which looking back was a mistake. I believe it was around midnight that we called it a day at Mambos, Atli and I went to Subways, he ate, I didn't but probably should have, and the night ended there. I was tired, and drunk, and needed to get my head down so I went straight back to my hotel, avoiding the madness of the West End. I didn't mind going back early on this night, because the main event was Thursday, the next day, Paul van Dyk boat Party, Spotlight meet and Cream Closing...what a day that promised to be.
Oh, and the reason I regretted drinking so much Vodka. At around 3am I woke up feeling ill, and let's just say I saw the sunrise from the bathroom.
But, on a happier note, here's us all sober(ish):
Whenever I have something important to get up for, albeit a taxi in this instance, I always sleep in my armchair. It lacks comfort, and as soon as the alarm goes off, 3:30am, it makes you want to get up. Not that the thought of going to Ibiza for the 16th time isn't enough of a reason. So, the journey begins. Get to Cardiff Airport by 4am, flight out at 7:25am, land a little earlier than expected at Ibiza around 10:30am. This is where my hobby of people watching comes into play. Due to baggage claim taking longer than usual I actually left the terminal at that awkward time of missing the number 9 bus at 10:45am. The next bus due at 12:15pm, and even though a line of taxis were waiting, I went back into the terminal for some breakfast, and people watching. Even though I felt I over-budgeted on this trip it was still no reason to take a 26euro taxi over a bus for 3euros. And, I enjoyed waiting; it always feels like the calm before the storm.
The number 9 bus to San Antonio arrives, and I join a throng of like minded cheap skates
for the journey. It's a pleasurable route; you get to see a little more of the Island than you would when being driven by Schumacher in a taxi, plus you get to meet fellow travellers and locals. I arrive at the San Antonio bus station, incidentally, heads and shoulders above Ibiza Town's effort (rant about that on Tuesday 25th) at about 12:45pm, and check in at the Orosol. Convenient hotel, situated right next to the bus station, I've used it six times now, and the fact that I get a hug and a kiss from the hotelier on arrival has no bearing on why I use it every trip. She and I have a laugh and joke about me returning every single year, but then I remind her of her other guest that has spent 42 years stopping there, so we both agree I'm just starting out. Reasons for repeated visits are quite simple, they look after me; every member of staff is extremely friendly and knowledgeable, the breakfast is great, particularly as I follow the caveman regimen:
...and the price and location is spot on. Get my door card, and up to one of the usual 7th floor rooms I always book, there is a great panoramic view across San Antonio, and the balcony is sunset facing as a bonus.
The beauty of this hotel is that you're never far from any bar in San Antonio, which is good, because whilst doing a spot of sunbathing on the balcony I receive a text from Rakesh saying that he, BOS, Atli, DaveAus and Jasmine (joined later) were at Mambos for a little drink, a Spotlight mini-meet if you like. At this point I understood it to be a little drink, but fortunately, knowing Mambos and having channelled Mystic Meg as I got showered/changed I ended up chucking a load of what I felt at the time was too many Euros into my pocket. And, I'm glad I did.
About 20mins later, I text Rakesh to say I'm inside Mambos at the bar, he phones me to say he's looking at me through the window
. So I head outside, introductions all round, and I think I can safely say that within that first few brief seconds of sitting down and assessing the company, I couldn't have asked for better company. I'm sipping on my Vodka and Soda, BOS and Atli have their cocktails, I forget what DaveAus and Rakesh were drinking, but one of them...I'll blame Rakesh, , decided on a bottle of vodka for the five of us, and to be fair, no-one argued. By this time, Jasmine had arrived, and wisely stuck to her strawberry cocktails.
The vodka was shared equally, and also went down fairly quickly, possibly too quickly. But we were having a great time. This is where things get a little hazy, but I'm fairly sure that the PDB'ers amongst us, plus BOS, had plans for the night so they had to leave, leaving Atli, myself, and a few others to enjoy Mambo by twilight. Because most of group had now split, the remainder decided to clear the tab for the table, and then start again. My God, it must have been the single biggest bar bill I've received, came in something like 325 euros? Possibly.
It's fortunate really, that for some reason I don't see the Euro as real money, it's a kind of funny toy money you throw about without thinking, so we just chucked in what we each owed and started drinking again. This time separately, Atli went back to his cocktails; I kept on the Vodkas, which looking back was a mistake. I believe it was around midnight that we called it a day at Mambos, Atli and I went to Subways, he ate, I didn't but probably should have, and the night ended there. I was tired, and drunk, and needed to get my head down so I went straight back to my hotel, avoiding the madness of the West End. I didn't mind going back early on this night, because the main event was Thursday, the next day, Paul van Dyk boat Party, Spotlight meet and Cream Closing...what a day that promised to be.
Oh, and the reason I regretted drinking so much Vodka. At around 3am I woke up feeling ill, and let's just say I saw the sunrise from the bathroom.
But, on a happier note, here's us all sober(ish):
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, to say I'm back, and get to sleep for a couple of hours.
