Image designed on canva
I was at work on Thursday afternoon when my phone buzzed. I checked, and it was Sophia, my wife, calling.
"Hello, sweetheart, what's up?" I immediately answered the call.
"Babe, have you seen it already?" She hurriedly asked in an excited tone.
"Seen what? Please tell me," I replied with full hesitation.
"We're listed among the 10 people selected for the two-day trip to Dallas, Texas. Go and check the Twitter page and see for yourself," she broke the news with full excitement.
"Wo! Are you for real? Let me go and check." I ended the call and quickly logged in to Twitter, and lo and behold, our names were among them.
I screamed, "Thaaaank God!".
It was already 3:30 p.m., so I quickly finished what I was doing on my laptop, closed it, and drove off to my house. On my way home, I began to reminisce about the day Sophia forwarded the advertisement to me and how she convinced me to apply. "God bless Sophia for me"
It was an advert of a spa firm that was doing a free treatment to people that luck usually works on them
I got home, and we celebrated our wins with coffee and a series of intimate moments in the night that we barely slept.
When it was dawn, we forwarded our full details to the portal for proper registration, and we got feedback that contained the time for departure. We were in New Zealand while the vacation is in Dallas, Texas.
It's just a two-day spa, and we were told to come with clothes , and everything else will be taken care of.
On Friday evening, we arranged our stuff in a small, handy bag. "Did you put the camera in the bag?" I asked Sophia after we were done arranging.
"Oh no! I forgot," she responded.
"God saved you because you would have gone back when we arrived there to go bring her camera." I made the joke, and both of us laughed. We slept well that night.
On the trip day.
We woke up as early as 6:00 a.m., took our bath, dressed up in a matching outfit—a white Polo on a blue short with white sneakers—and headed to the airport.
There was no delay at the airport, so everything was smooth.
We landed at the Dallas Love Field airport and 8hrs on air, and a guy and lady dressed in black jeans and white t-shirts crested with a cup of coffee welcomed us.
"You're welcome, we are your hosts; please come this way," the lady among them said with a smile as she led the way to a lemuosine car with 'coffee & you' and cups filled with coffee, designed all over its body.
"Wow!" I and Sophia exclaimed out of surprise.
We entered and were welcomed by a female attendant in the car. She served us each with a cup of coffee, and we enjoyed ourselves sipping and having a little play of romance as the car was driving. The attendant looked away, as it was none of her business.
We arrived at the venue, a four-story hotel with the second floor painted brownish with drawings of a cup of coffee and 'coffee & you' boldly muralled on the wall.
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"Honey, this is a carnival," Sophia said in her awe state while I remained silent, still imagining the kind of heavenly treatment they would give us.
Still on the spot, fantasising about the mural on the structure, two ladies with the same dressing pattern as the ones that picked us up from the airport walked to us from the entrance. "You're specially welcome to 'coffee & you', may we go inside please?" one of them said, and we followed as they led the way.
We entered through the main entrance, walked to where the lifter is, entered, and got lifted to the second floor.
The floors were meticulously designed using 3D technology, incorporating stunning coffee-themed patterns and motifs. Every detail was carefully considered to create a captivating and immersive experience for anyone who stepped foot into the space.
The designers took inspiration from the world of coffee, with its rich culture, aromatic flavours, and intricate brewing processes. The patterns on the floor captured the essence of coffee, showcasing various elements.
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"Wait, is this second floor of the building owned by the organisers of this event? Because it's impossible to design a floor like this if it's not theirs." My wife asked, looking amazed, but the answer to her question was not with me, so I just smiled.
They took us to our room and served us a jug filled with 'Dallas-brewed' coffee as a way of fully welcoming us to Dallas, Texas.
We quickly dropped our bag, sat on the bed, took the jug, filled the cups to the brim, and had a sip.
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"This tastes better than what we've had so far in Wellington, New Zealand," I said immediately after the first sip. My wife could not say a word; she was already deep into the coffee. She only nodded her head in affirmation.
Just as we were enjoying the coffee, a masseur walked in, and it was time for my massage. I changed quickly, laid on the table, and the masseur did a perfect job on my whole system. I felt like I had gone to heaven.
After I was done, a masseuse came in and did the same magic on my wife's body. We ended the day with another round of coffee after a light meal.
The next day, it was more of coffee, as we met other people, snapped pictures, and called it a wrap. We flew back to New Zealand that Sunday evening.