The other day my husband told me about his dream about our adventure at a lush tropical paradise we were fortunate enough to visit. 

Did I mention this was a dream? Maybe something to do with Valentine’s Day? Or not…..

Ben said we drove for a few hours and arrived at the gates of a huge fortress, sort of like a castle.  He stopped and blew the horn several times until the gates swung open, and we entered into a large area where we were stopped by guards and had to show our ID’s to go any further. They saw our names on some sort of list and told us to drive on.

At that point we drove further up to the gates of a large castle-like structure where we were greeted by a tuxedo-clad flamingo with a pink clipboard who checked off our names on his list, then parked our car for us, and directed us to enter the building.

As we entered, the entire setting turned into a tropical paradise, with a sign saying “Welcome to Flamingo Paradise”! 

And we didn’t even wonder about how it could be possible. It was a dream, after all!

Everyone who worked there was a flamingo who could actually talk! And we understood them perfectly. Why not? This was a magical place, after all!

We headed to the reception desk and checked in to our suite. Another flamingo sent our luggage to our room, and when we got there a blonde haired flamingo was unpacking our bags for us. (Remember, it IS a dream, after all.) She told us if we needed anything to just call the front desk and they’d take care of it. 

And she left an itinerary of activities for the weekend. Which began with cocktails and lunch on the terrace, which was a meet and greet for other couples who’d signed up for the weekend. 

“When did you sign up for this?” I asked my husband. Who replied he didn’t remember anything about it, so we should just enjoy it! I didn’t dare ask the cost! He probably didn’t know, anyway!

It was HIS dream, after all, so that’s what we decided to do.

Lunch was a luxurious seafood buffet on a beautiful terrace filled with huge pots of colorful flowers, and more tuxedo-clad flamingo waiters serving wine and tropical drinks. 

We were seated at tables of four, and introduced to other couples who’d supposedly signed up for the weekend as well. Funny thing…they didn’t remember signing up for it either. But we were determined to make the most of an amazing situation!

After all, how lucky could we be to be in a tropical resort with talking flamingos waiting on us hand and foot? 

Could this be an updated dream version of my favorite song “Hotel California?” 

Maybe this was “Hotel Flamingo”? 

After lunch we were directed to enjoy several saltwater pools around the flamingo estate. There were cabana-boy flamingos offering us towels and more drinks, books and magazines, sunscreen, and plates of food. A person could gain 50 pounds here during a weekend, but the flamingos assured us that wouldn’t happen! You don’t gain weight in a dream! Or get sunburned. Or intoxicated either, based on the amount of drinks we were consuming!

After a relaxing afternoon we returned to our room to find an engraved invitation to a special formal dinner that evening. Of course we didn’t think we’d brought formal clothes, but as we finished reading the invitation there was a knock on the door, and two flamingos walked in carrying a tuxedo for Ben and a beautiful cocktail gown for me, decorated with sparkling teal jewels, along with matching shoes! It was amazing! And both the tux and the dress and shoes fit perfectly! The dream flamingos thought of everything.

And what a night to remember! Champagne and hors d’oeuvres on the terrace followed by an amazing dinner served by the flamingos, followed by dancing to an all-flamingo band who played music by our favorite older groups from the Beatles to the Four Seasons to the Eagles and Chicago and more!

As I’ve said, it’s a dream, so anything can happen!

The next morning we were treated to a room service gourmet breakfast served on our balcony by another flamingo, who also gave us our itinerary for the day. I looked over it and immediately worried that I wouldn’t enjoy any of it.

“Trust us,” he said, “ you’ll enjoy it all. We’ve never had an unsatisfied guest!”

The activities planned for the morning included scuba diving and parasailing. I knew Ben couldn’t do the scuba diving because of his breathing issues, and I had no desire to try. However, it was his dream, so I had to go along with it. 

And since it was a dream, when we got to the boat we both put on the scuba gear as instructed by our flamingo guide, and went into the water. It was actually easy, and we enjoyed swimming into schools of brightly colored fish and seeing lots of coral reefs, as well as remains of sunken ships. The flamingo instructor was our underwater guide, and he did a great job. Plus Ben had no breathing issues, and I had no problems under water, even though I can’t swim. But obviously in dreams, anything is possible!

Then it was parasailing with another flamingo. I don’t like heights, but because it was a dream I enjoyed it, and so did Ben. Flamingos know how to have a good time!

We ended our day on a beach where the flamingos were sunbathing along with other guests at the resort. Of course there were flamingo cabana boys in t-shirts and shorts bringing drinks all around. We were all talking with the sunbathing flamingos, who obviously had the day off from their duties at the resort.

At the end of the afternoon we all headed back to the hotel to prepare to leave. What an incredible two days it had been! And like at the end of every vacation, we found ourselves not really wanting to leave, at least not right away.

Obviously other guests felt the same way, as we discovered while we were checking out. The flamingos assured us it would be ok, and that everyone feels that way at the end of such a magical stay at such a romantic resort.

And then….what do you think happened? Of course, like with all dreams, Ben woke up and shared his story with me so he wouldn’t forget it.

But how would you write the ending? Because I’m not sharing what his was, at least not right now.