Posted on February 17, 2014

The topic of this post is going to be – you guessed wisely – “adventure”!

My fiance and I are usually on the look-out for an “experience”. In early December 2013, we decided, on one of the biggest of whims as whims go, to go to Tenerife. Flights were cheap, we needed a bit of winter sunshine, and it beat sitting around waiting for the chaos of Christmas to fall upon us once again. Simple. In theory. But adventure is precisely something with which, in reality, we both considerably struggle…

I rock (hehehe see what I did there?)

Trekkie…

We went on a trek on the first day, which was fun, however we found ourselves at a bit of a loss on the second day. We weren’t quite sure what to do with the rest of our time there. Then, our precarious planning was scattered to the wind – literally – when on the third day, we were hit by the worst weather that Tenerife had seen in a long time. We were then stranded in what had turned out to be a bit of a ghost town for another couple of days, over which time we developed severe cabin fever and outstayed our welcome in the hotel spa, where the same three songs being played on repeat would haunt our memory for some time to come. Seriously, if I never hear the song “Sail Away”, instrumental pan flute style, again I’ll not exactly complain…

Me in what looks every inch a ghost town

We only had a couple of days left when we were able to move to our next location, in a more populated area by the coast with a far more pleasant climate. On one of those days, my SO set himself the challenge of attempting to climb Teide by bike.

‘Mon then!

He still has unfinished business there, which may prompt another visit in the future, but as far as I’m concerned, unless one or both of us is able to drive, or there is a very good cycling / public transport network in a place, we are going to continue having difficulties going anywhere else, and with the general reality of Adventure.

We do try – and we do succeed, on occasion. Snatches of the trip here and there are filled with good memories of having at least tried something; going for wanders in the area, venturing into an obscure taverna with no menu where we were served an original meal by a really nice guy. Indeed, when we’ve gone to other places on a whim, we’ve had a far better time than I would have expected at such short notice.

It seems to be all about striking a balance between spontaneity and planning. This is our collective weakness, but hopefully we’ll get the balance one day!