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Gran Canaria Season Finale

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Sevilla otra vez

Something happened back in October in Seville, but we didn't tell the story, yet. Insert dramatic pause here.

So after our stay there we went to the reception to pay and then just drove off the campground. We heard a sound from the roof as if something was sliding off. In the mirrors we couldn't see anything, still we hesitated for a short moment, and drove off anyway. A week later on Tenerife, totally unrelated, we could not find the second car key anymore. Strange, right? It took a few moments before we made the connection and when we finally did, we called the campground. Sure enough somebody found the key and left it with them. Happy ending.

Not really learned much though. On the last evening on Gran Canaria we accidentally left a pair of shoes on the roof. Next morning we drove merrily to the harbor while they have made it without sliding off this time. Pure luck.

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Gran Canaria IV

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Gran Canaria III

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Artenara dusk

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Tejeda dusk

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Gran Canaria II

Bonus:

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Gran Canaria

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Tenerife V

Bonus:

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October

More stats!

I have just checked the car, it's officially 8500 km since the beginning of the tour! 🤯

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Tenerife IV

Well, staying at the public campsites wasn't as easy as we thought. Although it does not cost anything, you at least have to register online before and surprise, surprise, all sites were booked out for the weekend. So another Airbnb instead at a Yoga and "breathing" instructor. Yes, we all do breathing anyway already without instructions, but it is more about the technique. Check out the crazy Dutch Wim Hof for an, well, interesting example. Also on offer was a 2 hour rebirthing experience. As you might have expected, we didn't opt into any of these. At least this time. :D

So then yesterday we went to one of those public campgrounds finally. Somewhere in the mountains, after a 10 minute drive on a gravel road, just half an hour before sunset. The assumption was, that there would be basic facilities, meaning toilets and at least a cold shower. And showering would have been great, because one of us did a run at the southern coast that day in the sun at 28 °C and didn't have a chance to do this before. And yes, you guessed it, there were no showers, not even cold. It was even hard to find toilets, but after running in circles we found them hidden in a convenient distance of about 500 m. No phone reception anywhere neither. So the one of us from earlier was a bit bummed out. It took a bit to let those slightly unreasonable expectations go, but all was good after dinner. So maybe just hangry after all. Anyways, it was a quiet night, a bit chilly, but not as cold as Austria back in September. No animals could be heard, granted, there aren't too many, just some birds in the morning. And then of course one of the camping neighbors leaving with their car 1.5 hours before sunrise. But really, it wasn't so bad, a real nice, quiet place in the woods. Would have been nice to stay a bit longer.

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Tenerife III

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Tenerife II

We've been driving over the island for a bit, but campgrounds are mostly only at the southern coast or up in the mountains. The problem with the coast are the strong winds. It is not like tourtuga and the tent will flip over but sleeping is uneasy then.

Not flipped over, yet, but if it happens, it will look like this.

In the mountains the campgrounds are managed by the parks agency and they are quite remote. Meaning, there's no Wi-Fi, no shopping anywhere near, and last but not least, also no co-working spaces within walking distance.

So this is just a long way to say that we'll stay a bit more in Airbnbs for a change. The island is small enough to be discoverable either way and there's no need to stay at a new place every 2 nights. We'll check out the mountain campgrounds nevertheless, probably already by the end of the week.

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Tenerife

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Ferry tales

We've made it to the Canaries, but the ride was a bit bumpy due to the storm West of Portugal at the time. The one of us descendent from fishermen and -women had no problem whatsoever, the one descendent of inland people needed a while to adapt.

MD: I tried to eat fresh ginger first, supposedly this should help, but as soon as we were out of the port and the bigger waves hit it was obvious that this was futile. Thanks to some expired motion sickness pills I got my sea legs back after a bit. There was a schedule for the meals, for visiting your pet, and even for visiting your car, not joking! Time was going slow but that was also freeing not having to do anything because everything was taken care of. So hanging around on deck in the sun, watching the sea and the other passengers, listening to podcasts, reading a book, and well, just slacking, drinking coffee, dreaming. And at the end of the day the ship rocked you to sleep and I actually miss that now.

MV: I saw dolphins & seabirds, want to become a captain now and my name shall be Marcoleen Polo.

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🇪🇸🚢🐤🏝️

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