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A British tourist in the Canary Islands has captured the chaos of her hotel’s sunbed wars, but she admits that rather than being annoyed, there’s one reason why she found the whole scene ‘funny’

A Brit staying in Tenerife was unimpressed by her fellow holidaymakers after she spotted sunbed wars erupting before the hotel had even opened up the breakfast bar.

Chenaiyah Bernard, 21, from Leeds captured the video of holidaymakers rushing early in the morning to snag their favourite sunbeds, even staking their claim on parasols in an attempt to get the best spot.

She was staying in the popular resort town of Playa de las Américas, and captured the scenes from her balcony last Friday (July 24).

The primary school play worker says she was relaxing on her balcony at 7.45am, and saw a group of people hanging around the pool area, looking to nab their loungers for the day before breakfast had even opened.

Chenaiyah’s video, set to the Mario Kart theme tune, shows Brits patiently waiting around for the cleaners to finish, standing next to parasols to stake out the area they want before they can grab sunbeds for the day, reports creatorzine.com.

Chenaiyah said: “I woke up early to stand outside of my hotel room balcony and witnessed a bunch of British people all stood around the cleaners waiting for them to finish so they could then occupy a sunbed and then head off to breakfast. I doubt they will all be wanting to sunbathe at 7.45am since it’s not that warm. People began to occupy parasols with their towels, which I found funny.”

Once the pool area is open, the Brits are shown taking sunbeds out and throwing their towels over them to mark their territory, before casually strolling away.

Chenaiyah was left bemused by the scenes, which ultimately proved pointless; she claims she had no trouble finding a poolside sunbed when she went down to relax later that morning, meaning the early birds’ rush may have been completely unnecessary.

She said: “I don’t care to wake up early for a sunbed but other people can do what they want.” She added that although it didn’t seem overtly “competitive or aggressive” adding that “it was just funny watching people wake up early just to claim a sunbed way earlier than they actually will need it, and I assume some people probably want to hog the sunbeds all day and not allow people who also want to sunbathe to use one.”

Chenaiyah said she doesn’t judge those taking part in the sunbed scramble, saying: “I don’t think it’s that serious in my opinion to go downstairs that early to claim a sunbed, to have your towel sat there when you aren’t always going to be with. Like, get out of the resort and explore, but people can honestly do what they want.”

But she pointed out there was plenty to do even if you don’t sit by the pool: “People who sleep in probably aren’t bothered about claiming a sunbed at the crack of dawn and feel they have better things to do, like exploring the area or going to the beach.”

Chenaiyah’s video has since been viewed over 160,000 times on TikTok with over 5,000 likes, and it’s safe to say most of the comments were on her side. One said: “Why oh why do people do this you are on holiday for god’s sake.”

Others claimed these kinds of videos influenced the kind of breaks they’d book in future. One said: “Why would you go on this type of holiday, that’s hell.”, while another joked: “all inclusive about as much fun as an MRI scan.”

Have a story you want to share? Email us at webtravel@reachplc.com

Protesters shut roads and ministries in Tripoli as a civil disobedience campaign over power cuts spreads to more areas.

Protesters in Libya’s capital, Tripoli, have shut down roads and public buildings across the city as a civil disobedience campaign, launched over prolonged power cuts and high electricity rates, spread to more districts.

Crowds blocked the coastal road in Janzour, west of Tripoli, late on Sunday, and gathered outside the West Tripoli power station, closing the local municipal council building in protest at the prolonged outages.

Videos posted online, verified by Al Jazeera shows, protesters burning tyres and closing down major roads elsewhere in the capital.

The footage also shows protesters unloading a truck loaded with dirt in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the district of Sater Turba in Tripoli to close it.

The mostly young protesters also shut the offices of state telecoms operator Libyana in the district of Souq Al-Jumaa, according to the DPA news agency, carrying banners criticising Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dabaiba.

The campaign was launched by the Souq Al-Jumaa Movement, which has opposed the Government of National Unity since May 2025. It said its aim was to “completely paralyse the government” rather than disrupt ordinary life.

It called for accountability over alleged corruption and for the dissolution of Libya’s existing political institutions, including the government, the House of Representatives, the State Council and the Presidential Council.

The unrest also spread to the district of Tajoura, where the Tajoura Families and Youth Movement said it would begin a full boycott of state institutions from Monday, rejecting both the unity government and the House of Representatives.

It said in a statement that the call was in protest against the deterioration of services, citing the decline in electricity, water, education and health services, alongside continuing fuel and liquidity crises and medicine shortages, while “officials are preoccupied with political conflicts”.

There was no immediate comment from the Government of National Unity.

Blackouts in Tripoli and other areas have reached up to ten hours a day, prompting the state-run General Electricity Company to reinstate load-shedding measures after two years of relative network stability.

The outages have compounded existing public frustration over inflation, currency instability, fuel and liquidity shortages, and Libya’s protracted political deadlock.

Separately, Massad Boulos, the White House adviser for African affairs, said he had held a “productive call” with Dabaiba on Sunday to discuss steps toward Libyan unification, including security cooperation between the country’s eastern and western factions.

“We also reviewed opportunities to further coordination and interoperability between Libyan forces and Africom,” Boulos said on X, adding that Washington remained committed to supporting Libya’s unification “in order to achieve durable peace, stability and prosperity”.

Jubilant fans leapt with joy in Buenos Aires after Argentina defeated England 2-1 in Wednesday’s World Cup semifinal match. The defending champions will take on Spain in Sunday’s final.

Fans erupted in celebration after Spain beat France 2-0 in the semifinals, securing their place in the 2026 FIFA World Cup final.

Belgium fans celebrate a dramatic 3-2 victory over Senegal in extra time after the Red Devils fought back from two goals down. Supporters describe the match as an emotional rollercoaster from despair to elation.