7/3 I was up at 4am to get ready for the MonBus to the airport. I was in the bathroom (I always kept all of the windows open for the breeze)taking care of business when I saw a rat (or field mouse; it was definitely not a Houston-sized rat) peek it's head in the window right next to me as if it wanted to come in! When it saw me it hightailed it out of there but it was a little disconcerting. I wasn't really in a position to get away from it at the time and I also thought about the fact that it may have already been in since the windows were always open. My room was on the second floor so I never considered a critter coming in but there were trees right next to the building. The incident certainly woke me up in a hurry!

I was really looking forward to seeing my UCLA friends Tim and Paul at the Ibiza airport . They were going to be leaving for Barcelona on the same plane that I would be flying in on! I totally screwed up with my planning though. I thought my flight arrived at 10:55 am so we'd have time to visit before their flight left at 12:40 pm. When I went to check-in online I realized that my flight left Barcelona at 10:55 am. Ugh. It wasn't scheduled to arrive in Ibiza until 11:50 am so trying to visit was going to be tough. In Europe they start boarding the planes 40 minutes in advance and cut you off about 20 minutes before departure time.

I arrived at the Barcelona airport very early partly because of the MonBus schedule. Of course security took only 5 minutes compared to the hour plus that it took when I was trying to track down my backpack. The flight was fine but no snack or drinks. I had hoped that I could see Tim and Paul when I got off my flight while they were waiting to board (like at most US airports). In Ibiza (and most European airports) you enter a secured area to get your luggage and never see people waiting to catch planes .

I had tried to leave the secured area so I could see Tim and Paul (and would just come back in a little bit to get my backpack) but security said I couldn't do that. Fortunately I was one of the first to get my luggage. I went around as fast as I could to figure out where Tim and Paul's gate was. There were solid glass barriers between the secured area for departing passengers and the unsecured area with shops and eateries but I could still see the gate information. I found the gate and then saw Tim and Paul hard at work. Tim was on his laptop and Paul on his Blackberry.

I started pounding on the glass to get their attention but the glass was so thick I wasn't making enough noise. I resorted to waving and finally Tim looked up and saw me. They ran over and we waved and laughed through this solid glass barrier. We couldn't hear each other but tried to lipread. It was just awful that we were in Ibiza, Spain at the same time and couldn't even talk to each other! Tim and Paul live in LA and I hadn't seen them in several years and was so looking forward to even a brief visit . Paul was enjoying the irony of the situation and took a picture with Tim and I side by side but separated by the damn glass barrier.

They didn't have much time before boarding would start but Tim thought maybe we could actually talk at the security checkpoint. We rushed over there and I tried to go through security but that was quickly stopped. Then I tried to talk to Tim over the security rope but they wouldn't allow that either. The Ibiza airport had a suspicious package (supposedly from a Basque separatist) that had to be exploded just several days before that actually closed the airport for a couple of hours so security was supersensitive (the package was harmless). They finally allowed Tim and I to talk to each other but we had to stay 10 meters apart!

Tim and I got to talk for all of 5 minutes! It was nice just seeing Tim and Paul though. They haven't aged a day since I last saw them which was miraculous considering they had been out dancing at Ibiza's famous clubs until 7 am two nights in a row! Tim and I could only laugh at our situation but talked real fast trying to get updates from each other . Then Tim was off to board the flight to Barcelona and I was off to see Ibiza.

As background, Ibiza is one of the Balearic Islands along with Mallorca (home of Rafael Nadal) and Minorca. Eivissa is the island's official name, but most English speakers refer to it as Ibiza. The main city on Ibiza is Ibiza Town but usually people just consider it Ibiza as well. Though Catalan is the official language of the Balearic Islands, and all sign posts etc are in Catalan, Castilian is the main language of the island, with most natives speaking either English or German as well.

Ibiza is a very popular tourist destination, especially due to its legendary and at times riotous nightlife. The most famous clubs include Privilege (the largest club in the world), Eden (the busiest nightclub in Sant Antoni), Es Paradís (noted for its water parties), Amnesia (known for foam parties), Space (an afterparty club), Pacha, and DC10. These clubs have become the center of the worldwide electronic music movement . During the summer, world class DJs perform at the various clubs on weekly schedules, in between touring to other international destinations. Since the clubs charged admission anywhere from $40-$75 I did not check them out (most also required a car or taxi) but will take Tim and Paul's word that they are fun.

Now back to my travels. I took a bus to Plaza Figueretes from the airport where I had only a two block walk to my hotel. My hotel had a great location since it was only 1 block from the beach, cybercafes and a grocery store. It was also just two blocks from two different decent gyms. That extra block made a big difference though and I just never made it to the gym.

I tossed my large backpack in the hotel room and went to see the beach. It was pretty small and quite crowded. I rented a beach chair for 5€ and plopped down to read my book. After my rest I walked in to old town Ibiza which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. From the old town I could see the city of Ibiza and was surprised by how large it appeared . It is much bigger than Sitges and is built more like a large city with grid streets and little green space. The steps in the old town were incredibly steep and I only ventured up a couple since the old town seemed to be mainly residential.

It was hot and I was tired so I walked back to the hotel to enjoy my room with AC, a TV and my own bathroom! I put the AC on full blast and watched CNN World which had the same old stuff. The room itself was tiny but I didn't care since at least I would be cool.

When I put Ibiza on my itinerary I was interested in just seeing what all the fuss was about. Since I'm not a party person I questioned whether I should go or not knowing I was unlikely to go out. I still was able to get a sense of the place from listening to everyone on the beach. I certainly noticed that most of the tourists in Ibiza were about half my age and seemed to have rich parents and be very good-looking (or both).

I continued to get up at my normal time and would hear people coming in from their all-night clubbing . My problem was that I'd be up and out of the hotel hours before anything opened. Most stores opened at 10 am or later so I'd sit by the beach and enjoy what I felt was the nicest time of the day. It was cool and there was always a breeze plus it was relatively quiet.

There isn't much to do on Ibiza except club and beach activities. Since I don't party my activities were restricted to the beach where I did finish a couple of books (finding books in English that I want to read is proving to be a challenge). One nice thing at all of the beaches I've visited on this entire trip has been the lounge chairs for rent. My back has certainly appreciated that and it makes it much easier for me to read.

The top beaches on Ibiza all required a car, taxi or ferry to reach. On my last day I took the 12€ taxi ferry to Playa Des Cavalett which Rick Steve's had recommended. Playa Des Cavalett is a really pretty beach with a nice set-up. There are chairs to rent and a large restaurant overlooking the water that played very good music . I had taken the first taxi ferry at 10:30am and the beach was relatively empty. In the afternoon they totally ran out of lounge chairs! Most everyone there was young and gorgeous.

The water was pretty rough and it was difficult getting in the water due to a sharp drop-off but I wanted to go for a swim. I managed to get in and the water felt so good. I was out swimming around when I started noticing jellyfish! I remembered reading an article about how the eastern beaches in Spain had had a problem with an explosion in the jellyfish population. The jellyfish were smaller than the US variety and I wondered if their sting would amount to much but after seeing more and more of them I decided not to find out.

My visit to Ibiza was enjoyable and now I can say I've been. The beaches were nice but Ibiza really belongs to the young, party crowd. There isn't much for old people who get up early like myself. I was up at 3:30am on 7/7 to catch my flight for Milan and leave Iberia behind.