Dad and I managed to take a short trip to Ibiza to catch a bit of summer sun and a much-needed break for him, his first real time-out since the pandemic began.
I can’t quite believe that this was our first few days away together since 2014.
We travelled from London City Airport, a first for me, and an extremely positive experience.
The airport felt very safe, queues were very short which made the check-in process a dream and the shorter journey to the airport in the morning meant that I slept well, despite my excitement, knowing we didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn.
We arrived early afternoon, changed clothes, and jumped straight into a taxi to Las Salinas Beach and after suitably protecting ourselves from the sun, it was time to get dad a beer and myself a piña colada and assume relaxation mode on the beach.
Fortunately, we did not need to quarantine upon arrival and only needed to take a lateral flow test 24 hours before departure.
We stayed at the Hotel Simbad, in the resort of Talamanca, with beautiful views over the bay and Ibiza Town. We made the most of our trip by travelling around the island and visiting different locations each day.
The hotel was very reasonably priced, on the beach and in the centre of the resort, close to some super little restaurants and fortunately no noisy clubs/ bars.
The resort of Talamanca is very understated and a brilliant location to spend a few days exploring, especially if you have limited time or it's your first visit to the island. It’s very convenient for getting ferries to Formentera or to other beaches around the island.
Some highlights of our trip included dinner at Experimental Beach on my final night overlooking the sunset at Sant Josep de Sa Talaia and dinner at a La Bodega in Ibiza Old Town, a famous tapas restaurant where the waitress had such positive energy and made our meal even more delightful.
Anyone who may be heading to Ibiza this summer, I would also recommend a visit to the beach at Cala Longa and book lunch at Aiyanna, which is very reasonable and has a very cool vibe.
Dad insisted on going back to some of his favourite places - El Chiringuito, Casa Jondal and the colourful Sa Punta - all of which were lovely but I am pleased that he was picking up the bill and not me.
The only other Covid-related process we had to complete was to fill a locator form before arrival in Spain and before departure back to the UK and then I had to complete my five day quarantine in the UK with an early release from a negative PCR test.
My five-day quarantine was definitely worthwhile for the time spent away and we both thoroughly enjoyed our long overdue trip.
