Life in Tenerife


It was in 1998, at the end of the summer, when I first moved out to Tenerife to begin a new life in the sunshine. I had suffered from the now infamous S.A.D. syndrome (‘seasonally affected disorder’) for many years – even though I never knew it of course, but if truth be known, I also felt as if I had failed in the U.K. - and therefore needed to seek my fame and fortune elsewhere in the world. Scanning the national papers for employment overseas, I saw an advertisement for time-share representatives in the Canary Islands and so I duly sent off my C.V. to the recruitment agency, half expecting not to hear anything more from them. However, to my surprise I received a phone-call within a few weeks offering me a job in Lanzarote – without even having to go for an interview? After much deliberation I turned-down the offer, partially through fear of the unknown, but mainly because I had done my research on working and living conditions in Tenerife and this one seemed to be a rather more affluent island than the other six.


Two months later I received another call, only this time offering me what I had asked for - and so now I really couldn’t refuse, could I? Arriving in the early hours of the morning and following my instructions to the letter, I took a taxi to the address which I had been given and before long we were pulling-up at this fantastic holiday resort in Playa Fanabe, where I duly handed-in my documents to the receptionist as instructed, and waited patiently to receive my ‘welcome pack’ (which I naturally assumed would be a box of goodies, such as bread, milk, tea, coffee, sugar and the like). However, this turned out to be an envelope with a key inside it and an address written on the outside to show to another taxi-driver! It was then that I noticed another guy, who had been standing at the other end of the counter, who had also been given a similar envelope (with the same address on) and so we shared a taxi together to the ‘Pensions Cassandra’ Hostel in Buzanada, (or ‘Beirut’, as we immediately dubbed it when we saw how far out in the sticks the place was!) This fellow Welshman, who had actually flown in to Tenerife on the same flight as me, would remain a great friend of mine to this day.



So now I was a student in the lucrative world of ‘holiday ownership’ (as it was now affectionately known) and within the next month I would be taught the greatest selling skills one could ever learn. Along with this I would have to absorb a vast amount of knowledge about the thousands of hotels and holiday resorts contained within, or affiliated to the time-share spectrum and I was also given a great insight into the hundreds of countries which are dotted around this world. The studying was great for me because I was enthralled about travelling and so being able to sell holidays and dreams to other people was something I revelled in. Also listening to the clients tales of the many places they had visited over the years and enjoying the hundreds of stories I had heard along the way, about their strange encounters in ‘unheard of’ places – and the ‘even stranger’ people whom they had met on their travels, only added fuel to the mind and soul of a man who was bursting to get back out on the road, to see what the planet really did have to offer?


Like all new apprentices I began by sharing a rented apartment with at least one other rep’, before being able to afford to live on my own in a basement studio some months later - and rented cars were normally shared between four students as we all struggled to survive on the £400 (minimum requirement) which most of us had come out here with to live on – well £384 in my case! After a year I progressed to owning my own car, but I would stay living in my studio apartment for another three years, as most of my salary was used up paying for the children to come out and stay with me at least three times a year. Leaving Liam, Carl and Hayley was certainly the hardest part of living in Tenerife, but being able to keep my promise to them by taking them all around America was a dream come true and made all the waiting worthwhile. The weather in Tenerife was certainly all that it was cracked-up to be, as I enjoyed spending my January’s swimming in the Atlantic Ocean, my February’s splashing about in the hotel swimming pool and many, many hours sun-bathing on my balcony in March – the three months I had spent wishing my life away for so many years in the U.K.



In 2001 I met Sally, a client of mine and for the first time in my life I broke all the rules of professionalism, by mixing ‘business with pleasure’ and together we ran off around the seven Canary Islands, taking our ‘four’ children (Liam, Carl and Hayley on my side and Sally’s 13 year-old son ‘Jim’) with us as our new ‘family’ was born. Just like that wonderful movie ‘Shirley Valentine’, our relationship would cause uproar in the woman’s family and to the world she left behind this man was no-more than “A time-share salesman for Gods sake”, but ‘love conquers all’ they say and so here we are, still together today, having already endured more than most people would ever encounter in a life-time, let alone in only seven years. We first tried our hand at buying property to live-in and one to rent, but we got ‘gazumped’ at the last minute, and so I tried buying a house direct from a small builder, but after eight months of waiting, he ended up cancelling our ‘verbal’ contract and again we were sent back to the drawing board?


Our stress levels were on an all-time high and I ended-up being hospitalized, but thanks to the amazing treatment from a Shiatsu practitioner on the island, I was soon on the mend (and to this day I have never had to take another tablet!) On October 10th 2003 Sally and I moved into our first house together, after going to a major builder and buying the property on a ‘pre-construction’ basis. For several years Sally and I have enjoyed driving around the island, visiting wonderful places such as Mount Teidi (the highest mountain in Spain) Vila Flor (the highest village in Spain) Puerto-De-La-Cruz, the beautiful city on the north of the Island, and Santa Cruz, the island’s Capital City. Also, now that we get on so well together, we enjoy taking our families around to these places too. In 2004 I won the award for the number ‘1’ salesman in Europe and was duly awarded promotion to Sales Manager of my own resort in Cyprus, which was a great honour, but little did I know then that my troubles had only just begun!