Days in the Canaries
I did not know what to expect prior to landing in Lanzarote. I was immensely curious. I expected a similar experience as in Cyprus, thus I rented a car. This time, I phoned the car rental company separately to book a GPS device.
The phone conversation was amusing. The guy took a long time to find my reservation. Once he did, I told him I wanted a GPS. He said, "How many would you like?" I said, quite firmly and loudly, "One is enough." Then he said, "For one day?" I said, "For the entire length of my car rental." I could imagine myself renting one car with 100 GPS devices; one day for the GPS, and four days for the car.
Arriving at the airport, I went to pick up my car. The guy helping me was either new to his job, or was permanently on training. After I got my car, I programmed the GPS to take me to my hotel in Arrecife.
I was told that there would not be much parking at my hotel as it was in the city center. That was the same challenge I had in Cyprus. Next time, I shall find an accommodation in a cave, if I were to rent a car.
After an unfriendly interaction with my GPS, I arrived at the hotel, then randomly found a space to drop my car off. All traffic signs were in Spanish. So if they said no parking or parking valid at certain times or for certain individuals, I would not know. I would photograph the sign, and asked hotel concierge.
Throughout the few days on the island, I managed to maneuver around with a handicapped GPS and language barrier. The Spanish is like the French. They speak only one language. The guy at the concierge asked me what was my room number, in Spanish. I said, "Three O three". He asked me three times, I answered him three times. Then he took out a piece of paper and a pen for me, and I wrote 303 on it.
There was one local who surprised me with his English. He worked at La Casa Amarilla, an exhibition centre that just opened a month ago. I was able to carry on a conversation with him, and learned a bit more about the island. It wasn't his English proficiency that I enjoyed speaking with him, it was his very gentle and relaxed tone.
One unusual thing that happened on the island puzzled me. I used the toilet on the ferry from Lanzarote to La Graciosa. The toilet was clean. However, I could not find the button to flush it. I looked around the entire washroom, up down left right front back, but could not find a way to flush it. I found a button, but it was for the lights. Naturally, I would have questions in my head. But due to the language barrier, I didn't ask anyone.
The rest of the trip went well, except for the GPS, which I already started out with very low expectation, because of my experience in Dubai. In Dubai, I stayed near The Palms, with roads constantly under construction, which meant the GPS would not have the most updated map to direct me. So I directed myself, in a chaotic and gigantic neighborhood. In Lanzarote, the GPS demonstrated the following disabilities:
1) told me to go left on the roundabout when it was a right-hand drive country,
2) counted the number of exits in the roundabout differently than me;
3) told me to turn left when it's a no-left-turn junction;
4) took me to road closures;
5) told me to turn into one-way street, the wrong way;
6) told me to turn right when there was nothing on the right except the wall of a bridge;
7) took me to a destination that I did not pick;
8) told me to turn left when I knew it was right;
9) did not recognize many of the attraction sites I wanted to go to;
10)kept telling me that the route I chose had unpaved roads, when it's all paved; and
11)did not have the option to shut up.
On my last few hours in Lanzarote, I turned off the GPS. I could do without it, considering the fact that I navigated around Cyprus, an island ten times bigger than Lanzarote, without one.
I enjoyed Lanzarote very much. It was an island unlike any other that I had visited. It was a good introduction for me to ecotourism.
The phone conversation was amusing. The guy took a long time to find my reservation. Once he did, I told him I wanted a GPS. He said, "How many would you like?" I said, quite firmly and loudly, "One is enough." Then he said, "For one day?" I said, "For the entire length of my car rental." I could imagine myself renting one car with 100 GPS devices; one day for the GPS, and four days for the car.
Arriving at the airport, I went to pick up my car. The guy helping me was either new to his job, or was permanently on training. After I got my car, I programmed the GPS to take me to my hotel in Arrecife.
I was told that there would not be much parking at my hotel as it was in the city center. That was the same challenge I had in Cyprus. Next time, I shall find an accommodation in a cave, if I were to rent a car.
After an unfriendly interaction with my GPS, I arrived at the hotel, then randomly found a space to drop my car off. All traffic signs were in Spanish. So if they said no parking or parking valid at certain times or for certain individuals, I would not know. I would photograph the sign, and asked hotel concierge.
Throughout the few days on the island, I managed to maneuver around with a handicapped GPS and language barrier. The Spanish is like the French. They speak only one language. The guy at the concierge asked me what was my room number, in Spanish. I said, "Three O three". He asked me three times, I answered him three times. Then he took out a piece of paper and a pen for me, and I wrote 303 on it.
There was one local who surprised me with his English. He worked at La Casa Amarilla, an exhibition centre that just opened a month ago. I was able to carry on a conversation with him, and learned a bit more about the island. It wasn't his English proficiency that I enjoyed speaking with him, it was his very gentle and relaxed tone.
One unusual thing that happened on the island puzzled me. I used the toilet on the ferry from Lanzarote to La Graciosa. The toilet was clean. However, I could not find the button to flush it. I looked around the entire washroom, up down left right front back, but could not find a way to flush it. I found a button, but it was for the lights. Naturally, I would have questions in my head. But due to the language barrier, I didn't ask anyone.
The rest of the trip went well, except for the GPS, which I already started out with very low expectation, because of my experience in Dubai. In Dubai, I stayed near The Palms, with roads constantly under construction, which meant the GPS would not have the most updated map to direct me. So I directed myself, in a chaotic and gigantic neighborhood. In Lanzarote, the GPS demonstrated the following disabilities:
1) told me to go left on the roundabout when it was a right-hand drive country,
2) counted the number of exits in the roundabout differently than me;
3) told me to turn left when it's a no-left-turn junction;
4) took me to road closures;
5) told me to turn into one-way street, the wrong way;
6) told me to turn right when there was nothing on the right except the wall of a bridge;
7) took me to a destination that I did not pick;
8) told me to turn left when I knew it was right;
9) did not recognize many of the attraction sites I wanted to go to;
10)kept telling me that the route I chose had unpaved roads, when it's all paved; and
11)did not have the option to shut up.
On my last few hours in Lanzarote, I turned off the GPS. I could do without it, considering the fact that I navigated around Cyprus, an island ten times bigger than Lanzarote, without one.
I enjoyed Lanzarote very much. It was an island unlike any other that I had visited. It was a good introduction for me to ecotourism.
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