On the 8th September 2017 me and my boyfriend decided to book a Holiday abroad to Tenerife. Last year, that sounded like an amazing idea at the time. Until the realisation kicked in that I have never been on holiday without my parents (unless it was a school trip. Don't really call them a holiday!) let alone abroad before! So once the whole getting the passport sorted was over, the real nerves kicked in. Although I was excited, the nerves didn't go until the second day of holiday.
On the 1st May, we flew out to Tenerife. Turns out, I'm not scared of flying! I mean, would be a bit screwed as it is a 4 hour flight! (I didn't realise this until we booked the holiday) Although. I did cry. When people tell you to suck a sweet, or chew something when taking off/landing, LISTEN TO THEM. Because I got no pain in my ears when we took off, but the landing. oh.my.god. I genially had to ask my boyfriend if my ear was bleeding. It was such a horrible and strong pain, it did make me cry. Thankfully after 10 mins, it was gone. But my golly that was an experience in itself. (the over-dramatic side of my brain was saying "well this is it, you're not going on the plane again, time to make a new life in Tenerife")
The Apartments we were staying at were thankfully only about a 20 min drive away. I really don't think we could have booked a better place to stay for my first ever "proper" holiday. We stayed at a place called Granda Park. It is build up of all different apartments, so it was like having a little holiday flat. It was lovely, because you couldn't hear your neighbours. ( I mean it probably helped that it was an elderly couple next to us) So once you were done for the day, you could go back and just chill in your own flat away from people!
I mean LOOK HOW BEAUTIFUL this place is. Normally there is 2 adult pools and one kids, but because its still "off season" or just started the season, they were doing work to improve one of the pools. This was no problem, because the place was pretty quite, I would say there was only about 100 people staying. It was a varied age from kids to the elderly, so it was a nice chilled environment to be in.
We went for all inclusive so we didn't need to worry about food, but turns out the apartments actually had kitchens in them anyway! The food there was really good for all inclusive. It was such a variety of different foods you could have, with a few changes every day. lots of different types of rice, pasta, different ways they cooked meet e.g. pork steaks, lamb stew etc. There was never a day where you would go hungry, because there wasn't something you liked.
What grabbed me about Tenerife was Siam Park and Loro Parque. Both have won awards for no.1 water park and zoo in the world. They defiently live up to that.
Siam Park and Loro Parque
It's 37€ for one ticket or 64€ for both Siam and Loro Parque. For what you get, this is a very decent price.
I am a very anxious person. I was fully expecting myself to get anxious and stressed with the amount of people in both parks. Thankfully the time of year we went, it was pretty quiet. This is great, not only because it wasn't as stressful, but it meant that at the water park, you didn't have to wait more that 5 mins for a slide and at the zoo, there wasn't a wait to get in and take a picture of the animals. I mean you still had to barge your way in cause there is always that one person who hogs all the room, but it wasn't a crushed up situation.
I am a very anxious person. I was fully expecting myself to get anxious and stressed with the amount of people in both parks. Thankfully the time of year we went, it was pretty quiet. This is great, not only because it wasn't as stressful, but it meant that at the water park, you didn't have to wait more that 5 mins for a slide and at the zoo, there wasn't a wait to get in and take a picture of the animals. I mean you still had to barge your way in cause there is always that one person who hogs all the room, but it wasn't a crushed up situation.
Both parks are huge and very well laid out, with plenty of maps/ signs showing what was where.
Although I had to best time at loro parque, I will admit I was worried about going to Siam Park. I am not a big water person, so was very worried about the rides. I done one called " the dragon" it wasn't until afterwards, we saw that Siam park rate their rides "easy, medium, hard" the dragon was hard. It was safe to say after that ride, I stuck with the lazy river and the man made beach they have.
Both have such a beautiful Thailand theme. So even if you do go to the water park, don't like the slides there are plenty of statues, plants and scenery to take pictures off.
Loro Parque is the first place I have ever seen a Orca and a Dolphin in real life, let alone watching them perform. It is an experience I will never forget.
Aqualand
On the last day we thought we would go to another water park called Aqualand. We read some really mixed reviews on this place, but had euros left over so thought for 28€ each, we would give it ago.
I was VERY anxious that day. I don't know if it was because I hadn't been taken my meds, the fear from The Dragon at Siam Park, home sickness or just a mixture of it all. Firstly, I didn't find the lifeguards as friendly. Siam and Loro staff did speak a bit of english, which made it easier. But it seemed some of the staff at Aqua didn't. It wasn't very well laid out either. There were 2 different type of dingys, but one stairway up to 4 different slides. It was hard to work out what dingy for what slide, and because it seemed their English wasn't great, it was hard to work out what they were trying to say to us. I mean, we're in a Spanish speaking country, so I don't see this as a big issue really.
The first slide we went on, I hit my butt on the bottom of the slide. On the their lazy river, my boyfriend moved to the left to get out, my dyspraxia kicked in and instead of going opposite way, I followed him and ended up falling out. Turns out the bottom of their river is made from gravel. That hurts when you smack your knees on it with some force.
After this, and how I already felt with my anxiety I didn't want to do anymore. So my boyfriend did the rest of the rides. One of them he had to go front first, and because it was almost a sudden stop slide, he did hurt his stomach and explained it as being punched in the gut. Another slide he hurt his back on, and was very red after. (maybe not enough water?)
So the day wasn't too good. Apart from their Jacuzzi/spa. We spent 90% of the day in that. One of the best parts is when you enter, they take your photo with couple of parrots, and its only 8€ for the picture. This is really the only place we saw that you could have your photo taken for free with animals, then decide to pay. I don't remember being asked if I wanted my photo taken with animals at Loro or Siam .
My favourite part of the holiday though was the cats and lizards. To begin with, I didn't think I would see any lizards. But turns out I just wasn't looking close enough. By the end of the week, you could spot them so easily. Its safe to say, I did try and be friends, to encourage one to come onto my hand. One look at my hand and then almost gave me a look that said "pft, yeah you've got to be kidding me" and ran into whole in the wall.
But I did get to see 3 cats. One was so bloody friendly that I don't think it was a stray. It walked up to us and went straight onto its back exposing its belly for belly rubs! The second cat I saw, let me pet him on the head, but from an arms length and only one finger. The first cat stayed in the bush and watched me from a distance looking like a muppet trying to get its attention!
Overall I am so glad I plucked the courage up and decided to go holiday. Although I don't think I would do it again in a hurry, it has defiently got me in the mood to travel and I am looking forward to the possibility to more exploring in the future!
Until next time
x
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