I spent the last few days by the beach and pool. Did lots of swimming and finished reading Moondust. The basis of the book is that there are only nine people left alive who have walked on the moon and soon there will be none. The author tracks down all remaining nine and finds out about their experiences walking on the moon and how its impacted their lives since. I’d recommend it, even if you have no interest in astronauts, space or the moon.

I also found the best restaurant and I’ve been eating their the last few nights. Even if the food wasn’t great (it is) it would be worth it purely for the view and the sound of the waves hitting the rocks below. All the tables are along the edge of the cliff overlooking the beach and the town. I’ve been going at around 7pm, just as it’s going dark. I took the picture above from my table. It would be easy to spend all night sat there.

A bit cloudy today, but still warm. Decided to walk along the coast towards Playa de Las Americas. I always want to see what’s round the next bend and keep thinking, “I’ll just walk to the next bit then turn back”. This carried on for quite a while until I’d walked a lot further than I’d planned before turning around to come back. I was walking for a good four hours solid and was pretty tired by the time I got back to the hotel. It’s more hilly than I’d anticipated too, which didn’t help. Back in the hotel and I felt like just going to sleep, but forced myself to go and get something to eat or I knew I’d pay for it the following day. I’m getting old.

I also noticed a Kate Lawler lookalike staying in the hotel, but I’m not brave enough to ask if it’s really her.

Interesting Things Overheard By The Pool Today
“Hey this girl sounds like a Spanish version of Shakira” (while Shakira CD is being played in the pool bar).

My first full day in Adeja. It’s nice, I like it. The hotel is pretty swanky, I don’t think I realised just how much of a good deal I was getting at the time. I had a walk round this morning and then spent the rest of the day in the sunshine by the pool reading and people watching.

Whenever I travel anywhere, I always associate the trip with music. It always seems to happen that I’ll keep hearing a song while I’m away and it just seems to fit at the time, then there’s always some music which I’ll pick deliberately as I know where I am was meant to sound like the music. When I was in NYC I kept hearing Talk by Coldplay, walking down 5th Avenue listening to that song just seemed to fit. I also listened to Kanye West while riding the subway and pretended I was that cool. It may be a bit early to tell, but I think my Tenerife song is going to be Death Cab’s Soul Meets Body. It keeps shuffling on my iPod and it was playing during breakfast in the restaurant, it kind of sounds right I think. As for my deliberate music pick, I packed some Jose Gonzalez on to my playlist, Spanish guitars can’t sound any more at home than here.

I went to this small traditional Spanish restaurant for something to eat. It was all very nice and old fashioned. Well, it was until the waiter came to ask for my order and whipped out a PDA to take it on. He pressed something and I assume the order got zapped across to the chef. Flippin’ technology, you can’t ever get away from it. Hmmm, wonder if they thought about a little MQ Brokering to help make sure those orders are reliably transmitted.

The next few entries are going to be posted late (post-posted) as I don’t have an Internet connection here.

I arrived at the place I’m staying, Adeja Gran Hotel after a smooth flight to Tenerife this evening. Although it’s getting on for 11 at night, it’s still pretty warm (18C). The flight seemed pretty short compared to the last few I’ve been on. You can tell it’s a holiday (rather than business) crowd as it took ages for everyone to get onboard and sat in their seats. I couldn’t quite work out what the problem finding their seats was - they’re all numbered and lettered in a logical order. Anyway, once we were in the air, I relaxed.

I like travelling, but I do seem to find it more tiring than a lot of people (possibly because I get upset about things like the time taken to board an aircraft). So when I arrived in the hotel I was very tempted to go straight to bed. I’ve made that mistake before though, so forced myself to go and get something to eat. I knew I’d pay with a massive headache tomorrow morning if I didn’t. So I managed to find a sandwich and a donut from the supermarket. It was one of those Spanish donuts, that I haven’t had for years. I think I was introduced to donuts in Spain when I was about 6. They come in a yellow packet with brown bubble writing on. The design hasn’t changed since at least 1985. They’re the best donuts in the world. Ever!

Right, bed.

I’m sat in departures at London Gatwick waiting for my flight to board. I
know loads of people hate airports, maybe I don’t use them enough, but I
still find them exciting. You can sit there and watch everything and
everyone go by. You always get really unusual people and even the standard
shops like WH Smith and HMV feel different.

I also just founf the toilets here have the worlds most powerful hand
driers. I’m not even sat near the toilet now and I can hear them. They’re
strong enough to push all your skin across to one side of your hand. They
do work though.

I had some “take them or loose them” vacation days left, so I’m on holiday next week. I couldn’t decide what to do and thought I’d probably end up wasting the break at home. I was feeling in need of a bit of sunshine (we’ve had one of the darkest January’s for years) so I just fired up trusty old Firefox and had a look around ebookers and expedia to see where I could get a cheap flight/hotel tomorrow. It seemed more exciting to do it slightly on the spare of the moment.

You have to go really far South in Europe this time of year to get any kind of heat, so in the morning I’m off to Adeja in Tenerife. It wont be that hot, but it is level with the Sahara, so it should be in the low 20s C. I’ll be there for a few days and I’m hoping to do lots of swimming in the Atlantic and plenty of sitting in the sun reading a few books.

Right, I best go pack then.