From Snow to Sun: 20 Years of Gran Canaria
1 February 2006. Twenty years ago our adventure truly began.
While Holland was wrapped in snow and grey skies, we packed our lives into suitcases and turned our faces toward the sun. Gran Canaria was waiting — warm, bright, and full of promise. At the time, it felt like a leap into the unknown. Looking back now, it feels like the most natural decision we ever made.
Gran Canaria was never just a holiday destination for us. Yes, tourism was everywhere — hotels, bars, beaches filled with sunseekers — but beneath that glossy surface lived an island rich in culture, history, and stories that didn’t always make it into the brochures. We felt that almost immediately.
Learning the Island from the Inside
Like many newcomers, we started by working in bars. Long days, late nights, music, laughter, and conversations that crossed borders without effort. Behind the bar we met people from all over the world: travelers passing through, dreamers who stayed longer than planned, and residents who had their own reasons for calling the island home.
But it was our connection with the Canary people that truly shaped our journey. Through friendships, shared meals, and endless conversations, we began to understand the island beyond the tourist zones. We learned about history that wasn’t written on signs, about traditions quietly fading, and about forgotten places slowly being reclaimed by time. Every story led to another road, another village, another hidden corner of Gran Canaria.
Dreams Printed on Paper
Our love for the island pushed us to try something ambitious: sharing information in our own way.
We tried three times to publish a free tourism magazine — Playa del Inglés Info, GC Info, and Sol Magazin. Each attempt came with hope, long nights of writing and design, meetings, planning, and belief that there was room for something different. But reality hit hard. Printing costs, logistics, and unexpected expenses drained our savings faster than we could imagine.
We lost a lot of money.
It hurt — financially and emotionally — but those experiences also taught us resilience. They showed us how difficult it is to tell honest stories in a world driven by quick advertising and easy consumption. Even when those projects failed, the idea behind them never disappeared.
Watching the Island Change
Over the past twenty years, we’ve seen Gran Canaria transform.
Tourism evolved. Resorts expanded. Old places vanished, while new ones appeared almost overnight. Some changes brought opportunities, others brought loss. Traditions shifted, neighborhoods changed character, and familiar faces came and went. Through it all, the island remained alive — constantly adapting, constantly surprising.
And we changed too.
What started as an adventure slowly became a life.
A New Beginning in 2021
In 2021, we made a decision that felt both exciting and terrifying: we would finally share Gran Canaria with the world — but this time, on our own terms.
Social media and YouTube opened doors that print never could. That’s how ExploGC was born.
Not as a business plan, but as a passion.
It’s an expensive hobby, yes — time, equipment, travel, editing, and endless hours behind the scenes — but it allows us to tell the stories we believe deserve to be told. Not just beaches and sunsets, but abandoned places, forgotten history, quiet villages, and the raw contrasts that make the island what it truly is.
Through ExploGC, we don’t sell a dream — we share reality.
Together, Always
We’ve been together for over 22 and a half years, and living on Gran Canaria for 20 of those. That alone feels unreal when written down.
There have been highlights we’ll never forget, moments that still make us smile without warning, and challenges that tested everything. But the journey — shared, lived side by side — is what matters most.
As we often say:
Life is not boring.
On this island, there are new surprises every day, around every corner. A hidden path, an unexpected conversation, a story waiting to be rediscovered.
Twenty years after leaving Holland in the snow, Gran Canaria is no longer just a destination.
It is home.
And the adventure is far from over.
Mooi stukje !! Avonturiers!! Keep up the good work
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