2734 Miles

We made it! We’re finally in Tenerife and we’ve settled into our little apartment on a hill. Getting down here wasn’t all that easy, especially considering all of the equipment we had to bring along, but we’re gonna tell you everything about our 2734 mile road (and boat) trip today!

After finishing up some demos in Vienna, we finally started packing and loading all of our gear into Emil’s Aunt’s car (Thank you T.M.). It’s a small Skoda that’s been through a lot and we certainly didn’t go easy on it weight-wise lol. The car was filled to the brim with guitars, amps (Louis’ new one is MASSIVE), recording stuff, speakers and a surfboard – we even had our bicycles strapped to the rear (unnecessary af, we haven’t used them a single time so far). Honestly, we weren’t expecting this aging four-wheeled demon to make it all the way down to Spain. Since we didn’t get a chance to pack early in the day, we left Vienna on a cold winter night and drove a few short hours to Emil’s parent’s place in the Austrian Alps to get some sleep, an early start the next morning, and also to say some final goodbyes. We were fed some stellar gulasch, a Hungarian dish, and drank copious amounts of water from the nearby glacier. 

All of a sudden it was the next morning and still delirious from being underslept we crept over into Germany, taking some slightly snow-y roads on the way. Our trusty Skoda made it over every hill and snow patch effortlessly. I don’t really remember crossing Germany, probably because Louis was driving, and also there might not be that much to remember. We’d switch every 5 hours or so to stay focused and energized. At one of our stops at some lovely gas station we were having canned tuna which Emil managed to spill all over the roof of our car (smelled delicious <3).  After many hours on the road we hit France and finally turned south towards Montpellier. Once we made it down there, we turned West once again to take some back roads towards a tiny village close to the Spanish border called Caunes. We spent a suuper relaxed evening there with a friend of Louis’ family, who kindly fed us the most incredible French cheeses and let us stay in his newly renovated, authentic village house. Imagine this: you wake up in a huge, comfy and soft bed (next to an Austrian man!), surrounded by old paintings and renaissance furniture, you walk down stairs and there are FRESH CROISSANTS on the dining board. What a dream! We took a short walk around the village center, got back in the car and drove onward to Spain. Siii!

The next stretch of driving was rather uneventful, but late that night we arrived safely in a small town called Chiclana and met with Emil’s friend, who kindly let us sleep over. Chiclana was quiet and relaxed, and with no tourists around the place felt slightly deserted but super cozy. We had planned to stay there for a few nights so we could catch our breath before getting on the ferry to the Canaries, and that’s exactly what we did. Dozens of hours of sleep later we hit the road again and drove up North to the port of Huelva. Even though we got there a few hours early, some retired caravan people managed to get ahead of us in line, they’re just too good at queueing, vicious! To be honest, there may have been another slight hold-up just before we got in line.. we were sniffed out by the cutest police dog we’ve ever seen, it must have caught a whiff of something in our car, which led to our poor Skoda being surrounded by cops and Emil having to empty his pockets. Nothing was found though (because nothing was there lol ;)) and we could finally get back to waiting aggressively. At this point we still weren’t sure if we were going to meet the max height requirement, but we did and were admitted to one of the ferrie’s decks. 

We got on the ship close to midnight, so we quickly started looking for a quiet spot where we could catch some ZzZs. A tight spot between 2 benches seemed like a good choice (we had our own window with sea view 🥰), so we put down our yoga mats and sleeping bags, brushed our teeth in a very public wash area and got to sleep! Unfortunately, all the spots between the benches had metal rails running across them, which made it significantly less comfortable than we had expected. In addition, there was a strange sort of low, resonant noise going through the ship’s floor (probably coming from the huge engine), so we didn’t get the best rest possible. The next morning, we had our homemade breakfast and got to laying out in the sun on the ferry’s deck, which was outfitted with daybeds that none of the other guests dared to touch. After we made the first move everybody else also started using them, copycats! The sun was way stronger than back home but we couldn’t feel it due to the strong winds, so obviously we ended up with really bad sunburns. Whatever! Later we watched some La Liga futbol and drank overpriced ferry-beers. Those daybeds wouldn’t leave our minds though and so we spent the following night outside on the deck with our mats and sleeping bags on two of them. Felt pretty adventurous and apart from some noise from people smoking outside, we rested well and woke up to a nice view of Gran Canaria’s harbour. This wasn’t our final stop, but after a few more hours of boating we arrived in Santa Cruz, Tenerife. 

We got off the ship and drove to our apartment via the steepest motorway we’ve ever been on, followed by a long and winding countryside road, offering stunning views over the La Laguna area and the ocean. The weather was warm and humid, making us feel like we had entered a different world. Tenerife has been treating us nicely and we’ll write more about our experience here soon. Take care and happy new year!!

Don’t forget to slide the slide show down below ⬇⬇⬇