When we went to the beach at Playa Los Cristianos, we had the perfect plan for a chill day by the sea. The day before, we’d already tested the waters, the sun wasn’t too strong, I put on a tiny bit of sunscreen on my face, and everything was fine. Naturally, I thought I had it all figured out. The next day, I completely forgot about sunscreen and didn’t even think twice about it. Little did I know, the sun had other plans… like turning me into a full on barbecue.
After wandering through the market with fake bags, accessories, and clothes, we grabbed a nice lunch and headed to the beach. There were clouds covering the sun, so I didn’t even remember to protect my skin. Spoiler alert: HUGE MISTAKE! The second the sun peeked out, I grabbed tanning oil instead of sunscreen, because obviously my main goal in Tenerife was to come back with a perfect tan. Priorities, right?
The sun was shining for only about 30 minutes, but what I didn’t realize was that the UV index was a solid 9. At first, I felt a little burning, but honestly, I kind of loved it. It felt like an early summer moment, and I was fully enjoying the glow up process, thinking about how my friends in Slovenia are gonna be jealous when I come back. In reality, I was just slowly grilling myself under the sun.
By the time I got home and looked in the mirror, I had officially transformed into a tomato. Not a cute, slightly rosy glow but a full, bright red situation. I had never been that red in my life. So yeah, maybe I didn’t get the golden tan I imagined… but red was definitely a new look. Lowkey, I kind of liked it. I felt unique, even though my skin was radiating heat like a mini radiator and starting to peel.
But don’t worry, this story actually has a happy ending. By the end of the week, my disaster turned into a surprisingly nice caramel tan. So maybe sometimes a terrible beach day can turn into the best kind of experience. Will I learn my lesson? Probably not. I might even do it again. But at least when I get back to Slovenia, I’ll be walking in with a tan that looks like I just came off a magazine cover!
