So our friend Bobo, most of you know him as Carlos [the guy that married us], recommended we meet up with a friend of his in Madrid, Ursula. We emailed her and unfortunately she was not going to be in Madrid because she was going to Ibiza … we were sad … but only for a second. We looked into flights to Ibiza with our British Airways miles and found two round trip tickets for 18,000 miles and $76 in taxes! We’re going to Ibiza!!!
Finding a last-minute flight to Ibiza was definitely an adrenaline rush. “We’re going to Ibiza,” we sang to our selves. We left late Friday night and our flight was delayed over an hour, so we arrived around 1 am. We picked up the rental car and thank goodness happy guy knows how to drive a stick shift! Loaded up in our black Fiat Panda, we hit the two road highway and headed to San Antoni (15 minutes away) where our hotel was located. We knew this was the British tourist area of the island, but we found a reasonable hotel there and it was only 15-20 minutes from Ibiza city. We were surprised to see that we didn’t really understand the signs along the roads, even though we speak Spanish. We later found out they were in Catalan, or more specifically, Ibizqueño, the dialect of Ibiza. It took us a while to figure out Eivissa is Ibiza and Platja is playa.
Ibiza is a mix between beautiful beaches and the best House music in the world. The first day there we drove to the north point of the island and found a beautiful beach called Aguas Blancas followed by meeting up with Ursula at Ushuaia [the hippest club in Ibiza at the moment] to party with Defected in the House and REA! The beats were great and the ambiance full of energy. There were dance performers, fire blowers, huge stage, and great lighting.
Unfortunately, that was the only night we actually partied. We opted for the beautiful beaches Ibiza has to offer. The water is not too salty, the sand is almost white, the water with its myriad shades of blue, and the weather just right. On Monday, we had the option to go to Tiesto or visit an island 2 hours south of Ibiza called Formentera. We thought Tiesto was too expensive [as every other club] .. 50 euros per person and our daily budget is of $100! Hence, we left to Formentera. On Tuesday morning we check our emails and find out that Ursula had found free tickets to Tiesto and we were hating ourselves for not checking email earlier and having a phone. That minute is when we decided we need to unlock an iPhone to have a local phone number!
Ibiza is def. not for the budget traveler. Parties at 50+ euros a night, drinks for 20 euros, water for 10 euros, etc. We managed to find a decent hostel and ate groceries food mostly, but it was def. worth it!