Preconceived Notions: Tenerife

Preconceived Notions is a feature I plan to do before traveling to a new place. I think it will be interesting to see how my impressions of a place change once I get to know it. Disclaimer: the whole point of this exercise is to expose my ignorance, please don’t @ me telling me how wrong I am. That is the point. Thank you.

When I first booked my Tenerife house-sitting gig, I was jazzed. I love the water, I love Spain, I love seaside cuisine (especially Spanish seaside cuisine). I didn’t really know all that much about the Canaries besides their location. I pictured little seaside towns, some tourist stuff, but mainly an idyllic island lifestyle, similar to the Balearics.

Originally, I was expecting something like this (Formentera, Spain)

Upon talking to folks and reading about it on the internet, however, a theme emerged. Tenerife is apparently a huge destination for British tourists. Not just any British tourists, but chavs. Clubs. Tank-top (or vest, to you Brits) sunburns. Anglicized culture. Pubs. Chips. The English language everywhere. This sort of scene is not usually what I travel for. It’s funny, when looking around the internet, I mainly saw a bunch of Brits railing on their Canary-visiting counterparts the way that only one who is truly embarrassed by their own family can.

Before I came, I asked for tips in a Facebook travel group, noting that I had already read about the main attractions, and a young lady suggested exactly the areas I was warned away from on Trip Advisor and other travel sites. I realized I didn’t quite explain exactly what I was looking for (I thought “off the beaten path” would have accomplished it). Then, I realized I’m kind of an asshole. Just because the type of travel she likes isn’t exactly what I’m looking for, doesn’t mean I should feel all superior about it, eh? I’m sure if I were a drunk, early-20s Brit, I would love that scene… just like I did when I was a drunk, early-20s American (yes, I know that America is a continent and not a country… but what would you call us? Statesers? Of the USA? I really want to know).

…but I think this may be more of what I will be getting.

I am still very jazzed. I will be by the sea. I will certainly find the little places that I enjoy. There is wonderful hiking, other islands to explore, summer festivals and parties that I can definitely get down with. I predict that a lot of my “tourism” will be nature-based. It seems like a lot of the towns that I’d really like to walk around are located on the north of the island, a few hour bus ride from where I will be staying (the tourist-saturated south), but I will get there.

And, on the bright side, any day where I am feeling lonely or fatigued, I’ll be able to walk out my door and find someone to chat with in my native tongue.

*Yes, I realize upon publishing this, that I have already been on Tenerife for a week. What you see above has been taken from previous notes and scribblings and I have worked very hard to not let any of what I KNOW about being here leak into the text. Stay tuned for my Week 1 Reflections.