A vacation rep working in Ibiza in the 90s tells The Sun what those years were like in an interview in which he recounts tales of that time and also some events that had an impact on him. It is about Julian Cobby, aged 57, who now runs a bar in Sant Antoni.
Cobby began working in Club 18-30 after traveling to lbiza in 1989. Club 18-30 was a company that provided vacations to 18-30 year olds in holiday destinations, which in 1998 was acquired by Thomas Cook.
Julian Cobby was in charge of picking up British tourists at the airport and guiding them to the best nightspots on the island. He was used to seeing them “drunk and lusty.” and he recalls that in those years “everything was a lot of fun”.
Ibiza nightclubs between 1980 and 2000: look for yourself in our photos Several authors
But there were also hard times. One of his most shocking memories, just a few weeks after he started working, was the death of a tourist who fell from a balcony. “It was an accident, he fell and he wasn’t drunk,” he laments.
Cobby recalls that tourists would get so drunk that they would disappear for dayswhile others would go crazy and do strange things.
“Our job was to pick up clients at the airport, take them to their hotels and give them information about the resort,” Cobby explains. “We would sell them packages with excursions that were usually barbecues, beach parties, a cabaret, that sort of thing.”
“A lot of silly incidents happened, because when you have 500 young people on a beach, these things happen,” notes the former vacation rep.
From Ibiza to Valencia
“The funniest thing I remember is that a guy who was staying at the Hostal Valencia in Sant Antoni was “very pissed off”. He went down to the port of Vila and kept telling the fishermen ‘hostal Valencia’, so they took him by boat to Valencia. “It took him three days to get back,” Cobby relates amused.
“Another guy brought his skis with him on vacation and tried to ski the streets of the West End“, Cobby explains to The Sun.
He also recalls that within half an hour of arriving, “a couple started having sexual intercourse behind some bushes” on a day trip.
Julian Cobby worked as a manager in Ibiza for three summers while working at a ski resort during the winter, but then settled down as a bar owner in Sant Antoni before having his two children.
Es Paradis in the 1990s. DI
“I have fabulous memories, I wouldn’t trade it for anything“The reps then were like the crews you find on luxury yachts and the clients were a bit like the crews on luxury yachts [las celebridades en] Love Island.”
“People are a little different now, there weren’t as many photos or Instagram or social media, so hiding was a little easier,” Cobby assures.
“Being a rep was a lot of fun, I think the people who do it now don’t engage with the guests as much as they used to. We used to be with them from breakfast at the hotel until we we would make sure they came back to the facility in the morning“, recalls the former 18-30 Club worker.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.