Encounter Vacations

The taxi screeched to a halt in the middle of traffic. The back seat doors on each side flung open, and a couple jumped out. The woman struggled with the trunk latch for a moment while the man threw a large bill to the driver with a nod, and then proceeded to help the woman. 

They conquered the stubborn trunk latch, retrieved their bags and rushed through the throng of passengers waving goodbye and hugging friends and relatives, through the sliding entrance doors to the terminal, straight to the baggage drop. 

A quick verification of their identities and boarding passes, their suitcases were loaded onto the conveyor belt and subsequently disappeared into the belly of the airport baggage system.

The security check turned into a few tense minutes as airport security took their time checking everyone and by the time the couple made it through, they had only minutes to spare before the gate to their flight closed.

A quick glance at the departures screen revealed the gate they needed to go to and they both took off running, their suitcases trailing behind. They arrived just as the gate personnel was about to close the door and call it a day.

"Wait, wait, we need to get on that flight," the man shouted and waved their boarding passes above his head as they ran the last few yards.

The gate attendant smiled and held her hand out for the boarding passes. "You made it just in time, sir. Boarding passes and identification, please."

The attendant checked their ID's against the list of booked passenger and then scanned their boarding passed. "Welcome to the Encounter Flight, Mr. and Mrs. Tanner. Enjoy your adventure," she said with a smile and returned their ID's.

"Thank you," the man said and turned to his wife. "You ready, Sarah?"

Sarah looked at her husband, clasped his hand and giggled. "Walter, I've been ready for months."

Walter grinned, and they walked down the ramp to the plane hand in hand. They found their seats, fastened their seatbelts and graciously accepted drinks brought by the flight attendant.

"We made it," Sarah said with a grin. "I had my doubts there for a while."

"Yeah, tell me about it. Traffic was horrible. We should have stayed in the hotel at the airport like they suggested at the travel agency."

Sarah shrugged and flashed Walter a wide smile. "Doesn't matter now though, does it?"

"And where are you kids going?" came a high-pitched voice from across the aisle. An older couple, likely in their mid 70's, sat in the two seats next to them. The husband, seated by the window, had already drifted asleep but his wife was wide awake.

"Um," Walter started, "The same place as you are, I suspect."

"Which is?"

"Our destination? I don't have a clue."

The woman looked across the aisle at Walter over the rim of her glasses, her eyebrows raised. "You don't know where you're going?"

Walter looked at Sarah and then back at the woman. "Well, no, that's kind of the point with these vacations, isn't it? It's a surprise."

The woman huffed and looked over at her husband and then back to Walter and Sarah. "Surprise? That's why he wouldn't tell me where we're going?" She leaned across the aisle while she glanced over her shoulder at her husband. "Or do you think he didn't know?"

Walter shrugged. "I couldn't tell you what he knew or didn't know but the Encounter Vacations are meant to be a surprise. That's the whole point."

"I don't like surprises."

"Well, it doesn't have to be a bad thing."

"I wasn't there, you know. He did this all on his own. Our anniversary surprise. Now look at him, out cold, snoring and everything. I don't even know if I packed the right clothes."

"That's part of the adventure."

"Oh, is it now? Did he trick you into this too, miss?" the woman said, leaned forward, locked eyes with Sarah and wagged a finger at Walter. "I tell you, men are clueless at times, yes they are."

Sarah laughed. "Oh no, we've been planning this for a while."

"Surprise vacations?"

"Yes. We've already been everywhere we'd like to go so we figured it was time for something different."

"So you drew a name out of a hat?"

It was Walter's turn to laugh. "No, ma'am, not quite. We went to ETA for our vacation..."

"ETA?"

"Encounter Travel Agency. It's a new place. The guy behind it is some sort of computer genius. We told them about our prior vacations, what we like, what we hate, that kind of stuff."

"Then," Sarah continued, "They reviewed our social media accounts, photos we've posted, all the things we've made public. They fed all this stuff into some machine they had, and it gave us a vacation spot based on the profile the computer built about us."

"A machine?"

"Exactly," Walter said. "We then had to pick between safe, exciting or exotic. The choice we picked was combined with the information we provided, and the machine created a vacation recommendation."

"So what's the vacation?"

"Well, that's the best part. It's a complete secret."

"How do you know what to pack?"

"You don't need to. They company provides all the appropriate clothing for activities when you arrive, you only have to bring your own clothing if you want to. The flight destination is also a secret, as I'm sure you noticed."

"I still don't like going in blind," the woman said and elbowed her snoring husband. He grunted and shifted in his seat.

"It's the future of traveling and vacations, they told us. A guaranteed vacation that we'll love, yet it's a total surprise. Isn't that fantastic?"

The woman looked at them again and smiled. "I suppose. I just hope my dear husband picked something safe. I'm getting too old for exciting and definitely anything even remotely exotic."

They all laughed together and settled in as the flight attendants prepared for departure.