Best Vacation Ever

How was your vacation? A little disappointing at first, but you know what they say, it not how you start that counts, it's how you finish, and even though the start was a little rocky the finish was worth any discomfort experienced at the beginning.

I grew up in the Midwest and now live in the mountains of Colorado, I always wanted to visit a tropical paradise, so having reached a place in life where I had the time and the means, I decided to plan a trip to the Caribbean. After examining my finances, I decided that if I were careful, I could afford a nice stay at the place of my dreams without breaking the bank. I went online to find a "bargain" vacation package.

I lucked out, I found a package that included the plane fare, a suite in a luxury hotel, meals, and a tour, all for a price that would fit my budget, leave enough to buy souvenirs, and still have some coins left. Not bad for a "bargain" vacation. One thing that would make it better would be to find and befriend a native islander who would be willing to show me "their island home." the part that tourists don't see.

The day came for me to leave, I drove myself to the airport in Denver CO, and left my car in long-term parking so that I wouldn't inconvenience anyone by asking them to drive me to the airport to catch the red-eye flight to my Caribbean Island destination. I arrived at the airport in plenty of time and amused myself by "people watching" while I waited for my flight to be called.

I am one of the last passengers to board and soon discover that the plane does not appear to be full, so I hope that I can have a row of seats by myself for this 7-hour flight. After getting situated, I settle in a seat to wait for the rest of the passengers to board. Soon enough, everyone is on board, and we are ready to enjoy our trip. Before the doors close, the last passenger boards the plane and makes his way down the aisle to where I am sitting smiles at me and says, "I believe that's my seat", indicating the window seat where I happen to be sitting, before I can apologize or move, he says, "no problem I can sit somewhere else," and he proceeds to sit in the aisle seat right next to me.

Under normal circumstances, I might have been annoyed because plenty of other seats are available for either one of us to move to. But, I am not mad because this dude is a certifiable, card-carrying Hunk with a capital H, first of all, he has blue-green eyes that you can get lost in, he has the face of a cherub, and his smile lights the whole place, he has on jeans and a shirt that shows every muscle that he owns, he is about 6" 2, and he smells good, this man is the definition of eye candy, no I am not mad at all.

As he is getting settled, the stewardess comes rushing down the aisle, calls him by name, and starts to inform him that his seat is upfront in the first-class section, he gives both of us a sheepish smile and says, " I'm good, I like the company here, I'll stay where I am if it's okay with both of you" The stewardess looks at me, smiles, and walks away. I find out later that there were two or three male passengers in first-class, but this dude wanted female company during the flight.

After the plane takes off, and we're underway, he turns to me, introduces himself, and asks for my name, I tell him, and he at once asks if he can call me the by the Italian word for my name, Speranza which means Hope, yes on top of everything else he's Italian. It turns out that he has a personality to match his good looks, he was easy to talk to, he never made me feel intimidated or less than his equal in fact, he made me feel as if I were the most important person in the world at that moment. I did not want the flight to end, I enjoyed the good company and the stimulating conversation.

All too soon, we arrived at the airport on the island, I said goodbye to my new friend and disembarked from the plane, the hotel had informed me that they would send a car for me, I looked around until I spotted a man holding up a sign with my name on it, he confirmed that he was there to take me to the hotel. I collected my luggage and was off to begin my dream vacation.

My story is far from over, when I arrived at check-in at the hotel I was informed that, because of a small fire in the hotel, some rooms had to be closed and guests reassigned, the suite that had been reserved for me was occupied, so they placed me in a larger two-bedroom suite, at no extra cost, but I would have to share it with another person. Okay, so this is not good, a larger suite is wonderful, but not so wonderful is having to share it with a complete stranger.

What to do, at this point, my options were limited, there were no more rooms available in this hotel, I could not go to another hotel because this hotel was part of my bargain vacation package, if I left to find another hotel it would be too costly to find one to match this one. I decided to stay and deal with the situation, after all, the suite had two-bedrooms, at least I wouldn't have to sleep in the same room with a stranger, we would share the suite, not the bedroom, who knows if it works out, I could leave with a new friend.

I finished checking in and went up to the suite fully prepared to meet my suitemate and find out if we would be compatible, when I arrived the suite was empty, the doors to both rooms were open, so I peeked into one room to find a suitcase on the bed, but no person, I went to the empty room, unpacked, showered and took a nap. I awoke to the sound of my stomach grumbling, my suitemate still had not put in an appearance, so I decided to find someplace to have dinner.

I soon found a place on the beach not far from the hotel, a small intimate restaurant that was about half full when I arrived, I was seated at a table for two and offered a drink, I ordered water to start with. As I was examining the menu to decide what I could afford, I saw a shadow fall across the table, and across my menu, I looked up into the blue-green eyes of the hunk from the plane, this time in a custom-made suit, tailored to fit his incredible body. "May I join you?" he asked, I was more than happy to have him join me.

He sat down, it seemed as though we never parted, we took up from where we left off on the plane. Discovering that he had been to this place before, I asked him what was good on the menu, he made a recommendation and informed me that he would be picking up the tab, so as his guest, I should order whatever I wanted, I wasn't entirely comfortable with this, but I let it go, I thought that when the time came we could discuss who would pay, In the meantime, I settled back to enjoy his company.

Dinner was great, when the waiter asked if I wanted dessert, I was too full so said no, this is significant for something that happened later. We had such a good time talking and sharing our lives with each other that we did not notice the time passing, before we knew it the closing time had arrived and the restaurant was almost empty. I had to get back to the hotel, with it being dark outside, I was a little anxious to walk back to the hotel alone, my friend, sensing my anxiety, offered to walk with me.

But before he could leave, he had to take care of something in the restaurant, he then explained to me that he owned the restaurant and had told his general manager that he would close that night, I realized at that moment that the waiter had not brought a check for our meal, now I realized why, I was having dinner with the owner, that's why he called me his guest. He made me promise that I would not leave before he returned because he wanted to walk with me to the hotel, I promised and stayed where I was until he returned.

As we walked to the hotel, he told me that he was staying at the same hotel, while he took care of business on the island. He also stated that he owned a suite at the hotel for such occasions as this. He reminded me of something that I had said on the plane, that I wanted to meet a native islander who would be willing to show me his/her home.

Then he said, "I am not a native islander but I come here often enough that I know the island well, I would like to show you the island that tourists don't get to see." I agreed that I would like that, He asked for my phone, and entered his contact information, then called his phone so that he would have my number. We agreed that he would call me the next morning to make arrangements for me to see the island.

When we arrived at the hotel, he insisted on seeing me to my room, we arrived at the room, before I opened the door he handed me the bag and said, "this is for you", I opened the bag to find the dessert that I had refused at the restaurant, "I thought you might like to have it for later." Overcome with gratitude, I kissed him on his cheek, and said, "thank you," he smiled and walked away.

I walked into the suite and realized that my suitemate had not returned, the other room was the same as I had left it earlier, I was a little concerned because of the late hour, being a light sleeper, I hoped she would not wake me when she returned to the suite. I placed the dessert' into the refrigerator and was headed to my room to prepare for bed when I heard a key at the door I turned to find the Italian hunk entering the suite, he gave a sheepish smile and said, "it seems we are suitemates." We stared at each other for a minute then burst out laughing.

It turned out to be the "Best Vacation Ever."