First day in Tenerife

29th of August

First flight

After one of the best friends of my host, Sergio, had explained everything about running the house, I fell asleep. I had not understood what can be so tiring about flying as you actually don't have to do anything during that until I experienced it first hand. Still don't know the answer, but it is. Even though stewardesses were really kind and ready to make everyone feel comfortable on plane, there was something releasing that awkward boredom, you are not able to handle, into the air. From Hungary it was a five and a half hour flight to arrive in Tenerife by Wizz Air. Don't blame on the staff, we are psychologically programmed to feel bad when it comes to long attention span. Yes, you're gonna pay attention because it's your very first flight, man! :D I could not feel being nervous or anxious about it as I was so amazed by the landscape, yet my hands were sweaty I must admit.

Silence sometimes got broken when the captain adorably informed us about flying conditions. He said we were going to leave Africa, however, it was minus 52 Celsius outside flying at such high altitudes so "Let's do not go out without cap". I toyed with the idea of being a victim of plane crash. This is how the picture was taken.

on 30 of August

Waking up on the first day was the most exciting thing, everything happened so quickly the day before, I didn't even know which floor I was on or where is the way to the entry or to my prospective workplace in Santa Cruz. I had got a little headache making real that I'm on an island that goes hand in hand with being only surrounded by water, an ocean. It does make you so tiny and the nature become more majestic. I could hardly wait for seeing more *. *

Tram and bus pass

Sergio helped me to buy bus pass. He is evidently Spanish speaking his mother tongue properly yet cashiers at the bus station seemed very obtuse when he asked them about different kind of options I could take. I imagined what I should have suffered if I had been by myself speaking only English... and Hungarian but I guessed no one would have even been cared about the latter one. Knowing that one day walking in the streets of Santa Cruz, a drunk and quite arrogant guy notified that Hungary is absolutely the same with Russia, I was right about the significance of my first language :D Back to the topic, it turned out it didn't matter if I was a university student not even if I had International Student Identity Card (ISIC), I couldn't get any discount. They said University Student Ticket is available only for students of local universities (15 euros). So, I bought a Monthly Ticket for 45 euros, valid for tram and TITSA bus lines in

• Santa Cruz (capital city)
• La Laguna
• El Rosario
• Tequeste

After 'hola' I have already learnt another one of the most important words on the island, 'guagua' /ˈwa. wa/ that means 'bus'. You could never imagine how frequently this word is used, especially while making a complaint. I'm giving you the first practical information: buses are always late in Tenerife, if they are not, that's happening completely accidentally. You'd be better be ready 10-15 minutes before and also after schedule time. Taxies are expensive. Travelling by car is the best option. Unfortunately, I had no driving licence yet. But, no kind of disfavour would occur to me concerning using public transportation in Tenerife, waiting for a bus there was an honour (besides little annoying :P) because of the amazing environment.

It took a lot of time to figure out how buses work, where I can find different stations around the accommodation and which lines are better to reach certain destinations as many take a circle route.

Sergio told me about a useful application for mobile phones called GuaguaYA! This is when I understood the importance of number of bus stations (paradas de línea) and lines (línea), using those numbers in the app among others helps you knowing prospective time of arrival while you're waiting (tiempo restante).

After some searches, I also used Vía-Movil in which you can purchase your tickets, passes, moreover after successful transaction you don't need to have your ticket or pass in paper form, you can use the application to travel by scanning QR Code. The information label of this app is even better than GuaguaYA! If it wouldn't be enough, it's also cheaper, for the next month I purchased the same Monthly Ticket for 38 euros. The only problem that QR Codes on buses sometimes just don't work so you have to ask it from bus drivers. It can be inconvenient when you are trying to scan the code over and over again holding up the line behind you.

Company of buses is Titsa, on its website you can read about more information, I used it a lot to plan a journey.

First look at the capital city, Santa Cruz de Tenerife

To tell the truth, I was so happy and excited having my whole first day on the island walking without any plan that I actually didn't see much compared to those beautiful places I've been to later thanks to my brand new friends :) I would like to hint at the importance of WhatsApp, everyone uses it. And you know what? Facebook groups and Tinder are also great sources of making friends.

Yeah, I discovered Tenerife Walk of Fame as you can see on this picture. This is a good example for probable results of goalless journey taken alone... for the very first time :P

---

Photo gallery