In the West travelers from the UK have a rather bad reputation when on holiday, and unfortunately this is often for the large part justified. While there are those of us who break the mold, unfortunately the vast majority of us simply don’t travel well (like some beers) and don’t make the most of our holidays at all.
By Nick Ball.
The problem is that so many of us have such busy and hectic schedules during the day with work and looking after families, that when we get on holiday all we want to do is lie there.
It’s fair enough and surely we have all earned our rest when we get to our holidays – and of course it’s up to you how you travel. But the shame is that we end up spending so much time lying around the pool and not doing anything that we never get to experience what the country has to offer.
This is unfortunately particularly true with somewhere like Lanzarote which caters so well to tourists with resorts and with great clubs and restaurants that people never really see the need to go outside their comfort zone and see a little of what else the island has to offer.
This then means that while you’re lying around the pool and not traveling outside you could probably be anywhere in the world – and anywhere much cheaper and easier to get to. If you’re going to travel all the way to an island just off the coast of Africa then you really should take the opportunity to explore and to soak in a bit of the culture.
Spanish Cuisine
First of all this means eating the local food. There are plenty of restaurants on the island that can provide you with traditional Spanish meals such as paella that will be incredibly tasty but also a great opportunity to sample a bit of the local culture.
Move away from the tourist strips and see if you can’t find anything more interesting and more traditional elsewhere on the island.
Explore the Island
You should also take the time to explore Lanzarote and that means looking around more than just the beaches. Lanzarote has a huge amount to offer and if you take the time to look around you’ll likely be amazed by it all.
Not only does Lanzarote have incredible volcanic landscape covering most of its surface for instance, but it also has its own desert, its own mountains and even caves. How many other places are there in the world where you can go to a beach, a cave, a mountain and beach all on one holiday? And you were going to stay in the hotel…
Ben Kepka, Founder of CulturedKiwi.com, put together the top 18 things to do when visiting Lanzarote.
Mingle with the Locals
You should also take the time to mingle and to meet some of the locals. This might just mean talking to people in bars and chatting to the waiters and bar staff, but the more you talk and interact the more you’ll get a feel for the place and more genuine experience of the country.
They might even be able to recommend you some good places to go and visit on the island. Shopping in local supermarkets and going to some of the suburban areas can also give you a more genuine insight into life in Lanzarote.
If you are struggling to do all this while still feeling relaxed then the solution is to try splitting your holiday into parts – do your adventuring and traveling at the start and then leave the last few days to relax and recover around the pool. Relaxing will feel all the more rewarding when you’ve actually been out there earning it too.
Nick Ball is a writer and blogger whose latest publication is a Lanzarote Guidebook. The book also contains lists of places where you can rent a car in Lanzarote.
