Décollage

“Décollage comes from the French word décoller (take off, unstick). In art, we refer to décollage as a technique based on the appearance of advertisements ripped from billboards. The result leaves fragments of papers and the layering of previous posters. Décollage in French also means “take off” during airplane travel.”

Last month, I had an international trip with Gloria and several friends from college. We decided to enjoy a week in Ibiza in honor of the World Cup 2014, as Brazil might have been too crazy. It was hard to get good photos. I brought my camera along, but didn’t feel comfortable bringing it near the water, into clubs, and other potentially unsafe places for it, so I ended up resorting to using my phone for some photos. From Houston, we were to fly to Dallas, then Madrid, then to Ibiza Island from there. Unfortunately, the American Airlines flight was delayed for hours. We were luckily transferred to KLM which would fly to Amsterdam, and then Ibiza directly. Finally, we were off!

Credit to Gloria for the sleeping picture:

The Amsterdam airport had some cool stuff:

American Airlines failed to transfer our luggage properly, and our clothes were lost for the first 3 nights of the trip. I’m glad I keep back up clothes in my carry-on. I’m not going to spoil this post, but because of the struggle getting there and back, I will avoid flying with American Airlines in the future if possible. Anyways, we stayed at Ibiza Royal Beach. It was a very fancy spot with a nice view, the beach right behind, and a very good pool area. Since there was a large group of us, the cost was down and it was nice having the whole group in the same place, but next trip I will definitely get my own hotel and space like usual.

Immediately after a bit of enjoying some duty-free drinks and exploring some food options, it was time to enjoy the night life. Many people on the streets try to sell tickets on the streets, and get got a “deal” for one of the biggest clubs on the Island, Amnesia. At the door, tickets were 60 Euros, but we got group package of 43 Euros each (still $57.91 just to enter a club).

It was definitely full of energy and nonstop music though. I wasn’t ready for the different party style. Here, we often go out from 11-2, and maybe hang around or get food to go back home around 3 in the morning. Over there, we didn’t get to Amnesia until about 1:30, and didn’t get home until the sun was starting to rise around 6 A.M.

After some much needed rest, we ended up getting lunch at Bio Beach next to the hotel, and befriended the bartender, Eider. I was also able to get a decent shot of the pool area of the hotel.

I ended up getting the Bio Beach turkey club and fries, and it was a solid sandwich. Everything is a bit different overseas.

For the entire trip, it seemed like there was an endless amount of sangria.

After food, drinks, and relaxing, Gloria and I decided to walk along the shore towards the inner city area. Her former roommate and our friend, Tatiana, moved back to Prague last summer, and she was able to make the trip to Ibiza to see us. We decided to walk from our hotel to hers.

Almost there…

It made me really happy to see Gloria and Tatiana re-united. The parting last year was good but quite sad.
July 2013 Goodbyes:

July 2014 Ibiza Reunion (blurry):

Tatiana ended up needing a place to stay for the remainder of the trip, so the next day we made the journey back to pick her up along with her stuff. We found a very nice local restaurant along the way, and also found Rodney sitting and relaxing there after breaking away from the larger group. We ended up sitting down, ordering tapas, and having a very nice lunch.

After our meal, we went back to the hotel area and joined up with most of the rest of the group, eating at Le Bar next to the hotel.

Gloria, Tatiana, and I ended up going to the pool for a bit, before Uchenna, Chisom, Jackson and I went to watch the world cup match of Netherlands vs. Mexico. It was a very good game enjoyed with San Miguel, the local beer there, and several foreigners from various countries.

Ice cream (thanks Chisom for this shot):

Me and Jackson:

After a long power nap, Gloria and I convinced the entire group to try the restaurant that we had discovered with Rodney earlier, as well as venturing into the city to find local shops. The owners and cooks were happy to see us again, and after dinner, talking, and more World Cup viewing, gave us all free shots. All of us were able to eat and get full here for a total of about 90 euros.

Thanks to Christie for this shot:

After picking up some chocolate, souvenirs, and a small bottle of absinthe to try (yikes), we made our way back to the hotel for some simple card games and to try the absinthe. It really burned, and had a ridiculously high ABV of 89.9%.

The next morning, Gloria and I jumped through all of the red tape and all of the airlines giving us the run around and were finally able to retrieve our luggage. It turns out it was sitting in the Air Europa storage area baggage claim desk, and they failed to call us -___-.

Instead of taking a taxi back, we decided to ride the local bus around for a bit to get to see the area, and it was only 2 euros, much cheaper than the taxi.

After a quick beer and drink stop, Gloria, Uchenna, Tatiana, and I decided to take the boat taxi to Old Ibiza town to check out the city. This might have been my favorite day of the trip.

Upon arrival at the Ibiza City Center, we found another nice restaurant to eat.

After a bit of exploring, Uchenna had to head back to make it to the David Guetta performance with the rest of the group while Gloria, Tatiana, and I stayed in the city.

Tatiana had some work to take care of, so Gloria and I decided to climb to the top of the castle we saw earlier. It was a long and hot journey, but we made it!

After the castle climb, Gloria and I stopped at a local restaurant to catch the Nigeria vs. France game, and for some food.

Meeting back up with Tatiana, we decided to walk into the shopping center where I had a caricature made.

We traveled back to the hotel area to rest and catch the Germany vs. Algeria World Cup game, and to rest after the long day of walking.
With our final full vacation day, we decided it was time to find the modern art museum like we always do with every trip. Rodney and Uchenna joined us. We walked quite a distance all over the place trying to find it. We did find a nice place to eat, and they had paella that Gloria, Uchenna, and I split.

The chef. I completed enough Duolingo (which has a beautiful Android app and UI) to remember enough Spanish to get by, but I’m very glad both Gloria and Tatiana are fluent. It really helped throughout the trip.

Rodney’s plate

We walked another great distance to find the museum, and found some cool street art along the way.

The museum itself was not very large, but had some nice pieces of artwork. We’ve visited a modern art museum in San Francisco, Shreveport, Seattle, so Spain (Ibiza) wouldn’t be any different.

To finish the last night off, we travelled to the other side of the island to catch the sunset, and to watch the intense USA vs. Belgium World Cup game.

We found a Brazilian restaurant just down the street that wasn’t packed, so we all were able to sit, eat, drink, and enjoy the last night together. The food was delicious, and this was one of my most enjoyed meals of the whole trip. We ordered several small empanadas before the main course came out. It was also a very intense game that unfortunately the USA lost.

Group photo. Unfortunately Gloria stepped out prior to buy some souvenirs.

Just like that, the trip was over. We gathered our things together to prepare to the early flight back from Ibiza to Barcelona to London to Houston (the flight plan got messed up due to American Airlines…). One more sunrise and another goodbye for now to international friends.

The vacation was much needed. It was good to step back and recharge. I had been working very hard at work and home, so it was good to take a breather. Next on my schedule is Rome. Bonus: during the layover in London, I found there are multiple flavors of Ribena that I never knew of. If you ever get the chance to try Ribena, definitely take it. I’ve seen London when I was younger, but that’s also a place I want to go back to now that I am an adult.

Next post: summer recap, and summer weddings. Onward we go:

Photo inspiration thanks to Murad Osmann (and his actual Instagram)