I have never really been a Spain person.
There, I’ve said it.
Now, before anyone starts writing an angry comment, it’s not because I have anything against Spain. Far from it, I think that was probably the problem… I’d never really given it a fair chance.
Over the years, I’d somehow created this image in my head of what Spain was. The familiar holiday clichés, the British bars, fat blokes with their bellies covered by a vest and a hanky tied on their heads, menus only advertising food you could probably get at home, everything served with chips, even the chips, people travelling thousands of miles only to recreate the same experience they’d left behind, but with the added bonus of reading a copy of the Sun newspaper that is three days old.
And honestly, that has just never appealed to me, now, I know that a few people who have mentioned this too in the past have corrected me and plead their case, but still, I ignored them and kept my own mind. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that if that’s your thing of course. Everyone travels for different reasons. Some people want sunshine, a pool and somewhere familiar, and that’s brilliant.
For me though, if I’m travelling somewhere, I want to experience it. I want to find the little independent coffee shops,… even before I was a coffee nerd, I want to eat local food, I love to wander around streets that I have never seen before and come home feeling like I’ve actually been somewhere, seen things and experienced things.
So, Tenerife had never really been on my list, but it is funny how things work out, because this trip wasn’t really about Tenerife. It was about friendship.
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I first met Andy sometime around 2010 when I started working on the doors.
He gave me a chance, initially just the odd Friday and Saturday night here and there. It was only a hobby really, I had a well paid job and just wanted to do something different. Before long the weekend shifts came to include Thursdays too, then pretty much any night I wanted, across different venues, events and locations. At a point when I was made redundant, I was able to pick up more shifts as and when I needed, it worked. Somewhere along the way, our work relationship became a proper friendship.
Anyone who has worked in that environment will understand what I mean. You spend a lot of time with the same people, often in situations where you see the best and worst of people. You’re tired, you’re under pressure, you’re dealing with things that most people never see, and you quickly find out who people really are.
Andy was and still is, one of those people.
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Not long after we met, Andy and his wife Sam bought a place in Tenerife. Originally it was somewhere they could escape to, enjoy themselves and rent out when they weren’t there. Over the years, plenty of people we knew ended up visiting and staying there.
Then life changed.
One night, Sam had been working with us, but left when her shift finished, she was involved in a horrific accident caused by a drunk driver while she was on her way home. I remember Andy coming to find me and telling me what had happened. He needed to leave immediately to get to her, leaving me in charge.
It wasn’t good.
Thankfully, Sam pulled through. But surviving something like that doesn’t mean everything goes back to normal. Over ten years later, there have been countless operations, challenges and hurdles that most people will never fully understand. It is not my story to tell in detail, but, what matters is this. Andy and Sam have shown an incredible amount of resilience.
Tenerife became more than just a holiday destination. It became somewhere they could spend time away from the constant medical battles, somewhere they could focus on rebuilding and somewhere that gave them a different pace of life.
Andy eventually left the UK and bought a bar in Los Cristianos and they bought a bigger property that needed work, with the dream of one day making Tenerife their permanent home. But, again, for reasons, Sam is currently living in the UK but travels very regularly back to Tenerife.
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Fast forward to late 2025.
I met up with Sam when a friend of ours was visiting from Australia. We were chatting, catching up, and somewhere during the conversation she mentioned that Andy would be turning 50 the following year.
“You should come over for his birthday.”
I said yes, and I meant it. Although, if I’m honest, I suspect she thought it was one of those things people say, you know the types. “Yeah, we should definitely do that.” And then life gets in the way, they forget or just make excuses to themselves…
Except this time, it didn’t.
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Around the same sort of time, I went down to Nottingham, to see Kris and his family, we caught up, went for dinner with our families, what was only supposed to be a quick meeting ended up into being an all day affair.
I’d met Kris a few years after Andy gave me the job on the doors. We worked together quite a bit, often just the two of us on venues, and quickly became good friends. Then life took him somewhere completely different. He left, joined the army, moved to Germany, was stationed in Canada at some point and then suffered a serious injury while on tour. He broke his back. He couldn’t walk. Somehow, against all the odds, he walked again. Not only did he walk again, he went on to compete in the Invictus Games. Then, about a year ago, he was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer. He was given devastating news that no one wants to have, especially people with a young family, he was told that he had around twelve months to live and he was placed on palliative chemotherapy.
So when we met up, I suggested surprising Andy for his 50th birthday, there was one fairly obvious problem.
Getting Kris to Tenerife wasn’t exactly the easiest plan, In fact, it was probably closer to impossible and if the predicted was to happen, then… well… you know how that goes.
But sometimes life gives you opportunities that you don’t expect.
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In June 2026, Kris had some positive news. There were signs that chemotherapy had actually done some really good things. Doctors were now considering further investigations, exploratory procedures and even possible surgery to remove bits. Things that previously weren’t even an option. But, it was progress, real progress. Again, it isn’t my story to tell, he is not out of the woods and will be having the first bout of surgery a couple of weeks after us getting back from Tenerife.
But, after the news, I dropped the question in again. “Fancy going to Tenerife?” Within minutes, the flights and accommodation were booked and nobody knew, not Andy, not Sam, not friends or family, nobody, it was a secret tighter than Colonel Sanders’ chicken recipe.
I decided that I had best tell Sam what our plans were, the week before, just incase, well, he wasn’t going to be there or something equally as horrific… it turned out that she was flying out on the same day, from the same airport, to the same airport, but… not on the same flight, and, would be a good couple of hours later than us… as Andy was collecting her from the airport, it was a lucky escape, as we didn’t want to do the surprise there and then.
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Now, this is where the EDC part comes in.
Not because this is some perfectly curated travel load out blog, because it really isn’t. But because I suppose that’s what I’ve always loved about everyday carry, It’s not really about the objects, It’s about being prepared for moments, sometimes that means having the right tool, sometimes it means having something that helps someone else, sometimes it’s just carrying something that reminds you of a story.
Standing in the queue to board the flight at Manchester Airport, a group in front of us realised they needed something sharp to open a packet containing a nicotine patch.
“Anyone got anything sharp?”
Kris immediately replied, “No.”
I was already reaching into my bag.
Out came my Victorinox Nail Care Swiss Card. I could have pulled out the Jetsetter @ work, but, well, that may have created a few more questions.
The tiny scissors did the job perfectly, the looks on their faces were brilliant, not because I had it, Kris expected that I would really, the surprise was that it had actually made it through airport security. Later, when Kris was telling Andy and Sam the story, Andy immediately asked the obvious question. “How many lumens is your torch?” He thought I was joking when I told him I actually had two with me, then he remembered who he was talking to, of course I did.
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The travel itself was an adventure. We were flying Jet2 from Manchester and, as luck would have it, we were delayed by two hours, which is not ideal when you’re trying to secretly arrive at the destination airport around the same time as someone you’re surprising will also be at the same airport.
The flight itself was actually pretty enjoyable though… Only because I had downloaded the film F1 onto my iPad and really enjoyed it. My AirPods Max also earned their place in my bellroy lite travel bag, doing an excellent job of blocking out the… noise. I would say rabble, but I don’t think you’re allowed to call fellow passengers that. We landed, got through the new border checks, grabbed an Uber and made our escape from the airport before Sam arrived.
Normally I’m not the biggest fan of Uber, but on this occasion it was a tactical operation.
We had a mission to complete.
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The next morning, we had a loose plan.
And whenever someone says “we have a loose plan”, that usually means something is about to go wrong. The idea was simple, Sam would get Andy to take her to Siam Mall, Kris and I would be waiting in Starbucks. Perfect. Except we hadn’t planned for the mall being absolutely packed, the car park was full, security were turning people away, our carefully organised surprise was falling apart. Sam found us sat in Starbucks and explained that the plan might need changing, he had dropped her at the door whilst he was going to see if he could park elsewhere, then Andy called, he couldn’t get parked, the plan was off and it was back to the drawing board. Except, to be honest, we didn’t really have a drawing board not the time.
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Eventually, we ended up sitting on these ridiculously low concrete bollards in the car park, with some parked cars for cover, we could see Sam and she signalled when Andy came into her view. He pulled into the taxi collection area, Sam distracted him, stood at the opposite side of the car, talking to him through the lowered window.
Then Kris and I made our move, leaping into action and heading straight for the drivers side window, which was nearest to us, “Sorry mate, you can’t park there.” The look on Andy’s face was priceless, for a few seconds, he genuinely had no idea what was happening, then it clicked.
Mission Tenerife was complete.
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Later that afternoon, Andy booked us a taxi back to the apartment so we could shower, get changed and head back to the bar in time for the England vs Norway game, easy enough. Getting there was straightforward, getting back… not so much.
Andy had told me I’d need to ring the taxi company when we were ready, so I confidently picked up the phone.
“Hola… habla inglés?” I asked.
The reply came back, “No… a little.”
Good enough, “Un taxi, por favor…”
So far, so good, then came the address.
I absolutely butchered it, I stumbled through my best attempt at Spanish before giving up and saying the name of the apartment building instead, Immediately she replied, “Five minutes.”
Perfect, we stood outside, five minutes came and went as did ten minutes, then fifteen and of course, twenty. No taxi.
So I rang again.
“Hola… habla inglés?”
A different lady answered.
“No… a little.”
We then proceeded to have almost exactly the same conversation all over again. “Un taxi, por favor…” followed by me once again completely massacring the pronunciation of the address before eventually saying the apartment name.
“Five minutes.”
I hung up, turned to Kris and laughed… he said he was impressed with my Spanish, soooo
Anyway, I said, “I’ve no idea if we’re actually getting a taxi.” Then, literally seconds later, one pulled up next to us. Whether it was the first taxi finally arriving, the second one arriving incredibly quickly, or they’d simply taken pity on my terrible Spanish, I’ll never know.
Either way, we made it back to Andy’s just in time.
Mission accomplished… again.
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The rest of the trip was exactly what I hoped it would be.
Old friends, war stories, lots of laughter. We watched sport in Andy’s bar, caught up and just spent time together. A sports bar probably isn’t my natural habitat, but sitting there with Kris and Andy felt like no time had passed, and that was something I think that was quite special, some friendships don’t need constant maintenance. You can go years without seeing someone and then, within minutes, it’s like you’ve just carried on where you left off.
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We also managed to get some proper Tenerife experiences in, a couple of good breakfast places, walking through markets, a day by the pool. I even managed to sit down and do my daily drawing, which has become such a big part of my routine over the last few months. There was something quite nice about sitting in the sunshine, sketchbook out, knowing that the drawing would always remind me of that exact moment. Not just Tenerife, that day, those people, that feeling.
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Before we left, I printed a photograph. It was a picture of me, Kris, Andy and his daughter in the pool the day before. It was one simple photo, capturing one moment, showcasing one memory. I put it inside a plastic baseballcard wallet, placed it in an envelope and handed it to Andy as our taxi arrived. As we drove away, Andy was talking to the driver in Spanish , he speaks fluently, for all the Time I have known him, not just because he lives there. Then we saw it, a tear in his eye, the taxi driver noticed too.
When we tried to pay for the taxi, he refused, he said that if someone meant that much to Andy, and if Andy was the kind of person who inspired people to travel across Europe just to surprise him, then the taxi was on him.
A complete stranger understood something important.
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Would I go back to Tenerife? You know what? I would. Not because Tenerife suddenly became somewhere completely different, because I finally experienced it properly. I’d spent years judging somewhere I’d never really seen and I was wrong, the food was great, the weather certainly helped, even though it was hotter at home, the people were welcoming.
But the reason I’ll remember Tenerife isn’t because of the island, it is because of the memories made there.
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A few days before travelling, I noticed there was actually a Cooperator just around the corner from Los Cristianos, in Playa de las Américas. I reached out, but unfortunately our paths only crossed somewhere above Europe rather than on the ground, what a meeting that would have been. Maybe next time.
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I suppose that’s the thing about everyday carry, people often think it’s about what’s in your pockets, and sometimes it is. I love a well made tool, a beautifully designed knife, a pen that feels right in your hand, a bag that has been properly thought about. But, ultimately, it’s about being ready, ready to help, ready to create, ready to capture a moment, ready to make a memory. This trip started with a conversation, a promise and a ridiculous surprise plan. It ended with laughter, old friendships and a story I’ll be telling for years, and sometimes, that’s the most important thing you can carry.
Mission Tenerife: accomplished.
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