When Matthew Hirtes told his then work colleagues as they lunched looking outside at another grey Isleworth day, of his impending relocation to Gran Canaria, they predicted a life along the lines of a video of Wham's Club Tropicana on repeat. However, Matthew has been too busy to sip cocktails by the pool, writing on everything from learning Spanish to taking surf lessons to covering lucha canaria (Canarian wrestling) fights for the likes of A Place in the Sun, Conde Nast Traveller, and The Independent. Writing about hiking in the mountains, for example, re-emphasized for him how the island offers a true surf-and-turf experience with the possibility of sunning yourself on the beach in the morning and trekking in the afternoon.