Catching Up in the Canary Islands

Each year on my RTW trip, I try to pick a stop in Europe where I won’t freeze to death in January. Some years I’m more successful than others.

This year I think I did pretty well, though I continue to stretch the boundaries on the definition of Europe.

For my brief visit to the European continent this year (or rather, nearby it), I chose the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off the coast of Morocco. The Canaries are actually one of Spain’s 17 autonomous communities and operate mostly independently from continental Spain.

Since I’d been to Morocco on RTW #3 and it was pretty warm in January, I was confident the Canary Islands would be a solid choice.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. If you choose to book through these links, I receive a small commission, which I will undoubtedly blow on more flights (it’s a vicious cycle).  All of this internet voodoo takes place at no additional cost to you. 

But Which Island?

The Canary Islands are made up of 13 islands, the largest and most visited of which are Tenerife, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and La Palma.

Tip: It’s easy to ferry between islands and the best site for booking ferries in Spain is FerryHopper.com.

I chose Gran Canaria because the Salobre Golf Resort & Spa was by far the best value for a fancy resort and I didn’t really have a preference on islands.

Because the resort was a bit far from the airport, I decided to rent a car for my brief two-day stay so I’d have the freedom to get out and see some of the island on my own.

Arrival in Gran Canaria

I land a little before 10:00am after a long but relatively comfortable flight with Air Europa from Buenos Aires with a connection in Madrid. Within 30 minutes I have my wheels and I’m ready to hit the open road.

Since it’s still so early and some of the best beach resort areas are between the airport and the hotel, I decide to take the scenic route on the way to the hotel.

The resort town of Playa del Ingles is crowded with hotels and buzzing with activity even at this early hour. I’m immediately glad I’m staying somewhere more remote as this town reminds me of every other typical crowded beach resort area and I’m looking for a little more peace and quiet.

I arrive at the hotel a little before noon and score an upgrade to a beautiful suite with panoramic views of the golf course, mountains and sea in the distance. I don’t have ambitious tourist plans for the rest of the day, in fact, I have some work to catch up on.

I’ve been largely without good internet access for the first two weeks of this round-the-world trip and I’ve been saving up a lot of work stuff for a better internet connection.

By the time I catch up on emails, it’s 5:00pm and the whole day is gone.

Determined to do something touristy before bed, I head into the nearby town of Maspalomas for dinner and later catch a spectacular sunset from the hotel’s rooftop infinity pool.

A Day at  the “Office” in Gran Canaria

I wake up the next morning feeling a little more rested after a decent night’s sleep and get straight to work. I’ve put it off long enough; it’s time to finish the Antarctica post from last month’s adventures.

Though my deadline is entirely self-imposed (the folks at Quark are terrific and gave me no deadline whatsoever), I wanted to write about the experience while it was still fresh in my mind.

And, of course, since the Patagonia trip was also sponsored, I need to get that one done, too (though explora hasn’t given me a deadline either – I really do work with the greatest companies).

I order room service for breakfast and get to work.

Unfortunately, I have tons of photos and videos to upload for the Antarctica post and the hotel’s wifi simply isn’t up to the challenge. What should have taken 2-3 hours to finish took 8 hours!

Once the writing part is done, I take a break and head up to the pool for some lunch while the upload process continues.

It was literally an all-day event and unfortunately it robbed me of the chance to get out and see more of Gran Canaria.

Originally, I would have had most of the next day to see the island. But I had to switch to the 7:00am flight back to Madrid recently, thanks to a mistake I made planning the Victoria Falls stop (more on that in the Victoria Falls post).

So I’m sad to say I didn’t see much of the lovely Canary Islands.

Though I will say, wifi issue notwithstanding, the resort really was architecturally stunning and gave me a terrific view from my “office” while I worked.

But those are the breaks now that I’m working more and more on each trip. And honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Next stop, Victoria Falls!