Ibiza...

As Roman Payne once said, “Who’s to say what a ‘literary life’ is? As long as you are writing often, and writing well, you don’t need to be hanging out in libraries all the time. Nightclubs are great literary research centers. So is Ibiza!” As a curious kid, ever since I heard “We are going to Ibiza” by Vengaboys, the pictures and the serene beaches I looked up online caught my fancy. It was this early fascination of a young teenage girl, for whom beaches had only meant sandcastles up until then, that the all new possibilities of white sands amongst scenic greenery with water transparent enough to reflect the bottom mingled with unlimited partying sounded like a paradise which belittled the notion of “you can’t have it all” to which Ibiza’s answer is “why not?”. I was inspired to include it as a ‘must go’ place on my Europe backpacking trip. We managed to get some cheap flight tickets from Ryan air, an even cheaper hotel deal and HELLO IBIZA…

To set some context, Ibiza is one of the most beautiful islands in Mediterranean which is known as the official party capital of the world. It is known for its crazy parties that run into the morning and into the afternoon till the next day’s party begins. It is the place where the music literally never stops. It is also the place known for the seclusion of the roads, where one can sleep on the beach all day leaving your world back home. It is the perfect example of seclusion within commercialization. Ibiza is a place where you leave all your inhibitions at the arrival gate and make what you want of your holiday: Party, play or reclusive relaxation. So there we were, we took an early morning flight from Milan’s Malpensa Airport (more on Milan dopo). We were going in the off season so there was not much we were expecting in terms of crowd. We had a booking in a hotel but due to a delay in the opening, they transferred us to a Hotel Al-Garb.

So there we were, in Ibiza, something that I had day dreamt about all my college life. On the way from the airport to the hotel, it appeared as if there was a zombie attack and people had evacuated the island, the shops were closed, roads were empty, hotels were shut, something of an odd feeling in a place which is known all round the world for its crazy parties. We arrived at the hotel; the staff apologised for the inconvenience due to the last minute transfer and made up for it by making all meals complimentary for us. They also provided two bottles of champagnes daily in our rooms. We had arrived. We were hard pressed for time and by the looks of it, the town was pretty much dead during the day so we had two nights to make the most of it.

We planned to have the first night at the most hyped club of the party capital; Pacha’s. Luckily for us, it had opened that very night and was hosting the first party of the season. We got ready and came down for the cab and what I witnessed caused a complete paradigm shift in my perception of the deadness of ‘off season Ibiza’. Contrary to the morning, it was a perfect scene from vampire diaries where all the vampires just appeared in the night from nowhere and all of them seemed to be going to the same place, to meet the Volturi. From our hotel, at least 300 people were waiting for the cabs all headed to Pacha’s, bottles in hands, talking to anyone and everyone. It was at that moment that all the doubts that had started creeping in about the hype of Ibiza vanished. At one moment, since the cabs weren’t ample in number, people started walking and dancing on the road.

It was a picture straight out of a multinational carnival (nowhere else can one see people from at least 15 countries having fun together) in the middle of nowhere in a place which looked like Detroit of 2009-10. They weren’t Italians or Americans or Japanese anymore; they had left their ethnicities behind and were simply partygoers looking for a wild night. Pacha’s was crowded. This would be the understatement of the century. It was flocked with masses and masses of people. And not regular people, but people gone wild! The process of staying with our friends, finding-loosing-finding along with buying the tickets took us about 30 minutes. We were told about the obnoxiously high prices for drinks inside so we took advantage of the free champagne and went inside with our heads already spinning. It was undoubtedly the most awesome club I had ever experienced, you can literally feel the beat in your body due to the volume (trust me even ear plugs won’t help) and dance to your heart’s content without paying the price of temporary ear damage! But the amazing treat to the eyes and the sheer thrill more than makes up for it.

Go on the roof deck for some peace and quiet if you need a break., which people seldom seem to want there. It was the only club I had been to where all the seating area was completely empty. Confetti showers, dry ice cannons, strobes, crazy light show, go-go dancers, your occasional celebrity sightings and the organisers did amazingly well not to disappoint us. You could stand on the pier and in one moment when the strobe lights come out, you could see at least 2500 people dancing their heart out. There were people with interesting costumes. Anyone could be anyone they wanted. We had our free drinks (one free drink with the entry fee), had couple of more and danced like we had never danced before. It was only later in the night that it struck us just how quickly those few hours slipped us by. We were awakened by the sound of the air (as odd as it may sound) in the morning.

Apart from free meals and free booze, we had been compensated with an ocean view room on the highest floor of the hotel where the air was so strong that we could hear it from inside. It took us a long time to shut the balcony sliding door when we started to feel the morning chill. During the day, we decided to explore the place, we zeroed in on two beaches Cala Tarida and Cala D’Hort beach after asking the localites, to economise on our time. We arrived at Cala Tarida where the weather seemed to be undecided as to what it should be. On the on hand, it was so sunny that the rays hit your body sharply enough to burn holes (figure of speech) and on the other, the water contrastingly freezing that made one shiver even by the thought of setting foot in it.

We had lunch at a fancy and the only open restaurant at the beach and I savoured the most amazing chicken breasts of my life. The chicken was tender, the mint leaves were fresh, the mustard was crispy. We left the place for the other beach Cala D’Hort. We arrived at the hotel in the evening, dead tired. We were told that no nightclub was open that night so we decided to stay in and enjoy the in-hotel party in the lobby. Unlike the rest of my friends, who chose to drink in the room, I decided to go out and meet people. I particularly liked the Russian I met who taught me the Russian ‘squat’ dance where the dancers squats down with arms folded and kick. We also met some Belgian women who thought Indians and red Indians were the same. While dancing, the only thing going on in my mind was that there I was, Ibiza, Europe, living my dream, crossing off an item off of my bucket list…

I always cherished meeting new people, eating new food, travelling to places but this sir, was a different experience altogether. So keep Ibiza in your plans on your Europe trip. Get a cheap flight on a weekday from any low cost airlines (look up jetcost.it or skyscanner.it) from any city in Italy or Spain. Inter city travel is reasonable by cab but book in advance to avoid the fighting for cab fiasco we witnessed. Another alternative is to use your Indian driver’s license as well and rent a car (as cheap as 60 euros a day). Places are far so have a well-planned itinerary after narrowing down your must sees. The beaches there are not commercialized enough during the off season so if you are travelling, carry a water bottle so to fight the sun. Try the Paella, drink Sangrias! Party, see the beaches, explore the historic areas and soak in all the culture, relaxation and fun all in one place.

So don’t be a bus driver all your life, pack your bags and leave your towns, grab a flight! (#Vengaboys)