Should I stay or should I go?

It’s a dilemma that faces many island residents in August as the idea of ‘getting off the island’ can seem appealing in the face of so many extra tourists, extra traffic, queues, parking problems, intense heat… you get the gist. At the same time, however… Ibiza really puts on a show in August. The parties hosted this month really are the best parties of the season, with the best DJ line-ups, the best atmosphere and often the best people. Which leads me back to my dilemma. So there I was, thinking about what to pack to wear to a festival in a much colder climate and trying to work out whether I could possibly work remotely from the comfort of a yurt, when out of the corner of my eye – you know, that corner that’s always on Facebook when the rest of you is working wholeheartedly on another project – I spotted a little advertisement that threw me into a spin. This Sunday, my all-time favourite DJ, is playing at my relatively newfound favourite party. It was as simple as that. WooMoon made an announcement that Luciano is to headline their full moon party and all of a sudden I felt a desperate pang to stay in Ibiza (combined with slight guilt at the thought of abandoning the best made plans). Forget the flights, the yurt, the new experiences… This is my dream event. On the ONE SUNDAY of the summer that I’m not in Ibiza.

For some islanders, it’s a no brainer. Pack up the kids, rent out the villa and get outta town (or the campo), to return just in time for what is arguably the very best month of the whole year: September. For other residents, whose jobs and responsibilities may not permit them to take the month of August off, it’s more a matter of a few strategically timed trips over long weekends that keeps them going amidst the chaos; be it for a culture fix in a city or even a beach break on a different coastline. I get it, I do. And I applaud you for it. But then there are the people like me. Presuming I’m not the only one of course. We like the idea of getting off the island. Really we do. We do find the heat a little oppressive and we do fancy a little break from peak summer workloads. We do like the idea of getting planes, trains and automobiles in other countries rather than sitting on the Santa Eulalia highway wondering who the heck is responsible for Ibiza’s poor town planning. We’d like to go shopping somewhere other than Ibiza’s high street and taste some food that’s not strictly Mediterranean for a few days. Meeting some new people could be on the agenda too.

But when it comes down to it, we just can’t bear to leave. For as much as we (and when I say we, let’s be clear I mean me) often tell our friends that Ibiza never changes and you’re not missing much if you’re not here, WE KNOW THE TRUTH. Every weekend – no really, every damn day – holds new adventures, new surprises, new friends and new discoveries. I know that if I’m not on the island, I’m spending my holiday time wondering what’s happening on the island. FOMO is real, and FOMO is guaranteed. Call me crazy (you wouldn’t be the first) but for me, there’s no place like home… even in the height and humidity of August. If it hadn’t have been Luciano at WooMoon, it would have been one of countless other reasons that had made me cancel my trip at the last minute (Pete Tong’s Ibiza Classics, Richie Hawtin at Blue Marlin, a last-minute photoshoot, a deadline, an interview, the fact my kitten might have a growth spurt while I was gone). The truth is, I should have known myself better. After all these years, and all these summers, I could have predicted this long before forking out the money for flights to somewhere that wasn’t Ibiza. Perhaps I’ll know better next year…