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How Badly Do You Need to Spa?
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Canada - British Columbia - Galiano Girlfriend Getaway - How Badly Do You Need to Spa?
"The Galiano Island forest fire is raging. Residents are being evacuated. Regular ferry service is suspended. Ferries are reserved for emergency use only," the radio announcer reads his lines as if he's reading a grocery list.
Apparently, he is unaware that my girlfriend, Karen and I are booked at the Madrona del Mar spa at the Galiano Inn, and for us, it is an emergency.
There are certain things good friends know. One is that a woman should regularly run away from home; leaving kids, cats, commutes and husbands (whether in-house or exes). But most importantly, once a trip is booked, it is imperative you actually get there.
"Good Morning, Harbour Air...yes...we can fly you in," with those magic words the Harbour Air receptionist morphs into our fairy godmother.
So...while others flee. We fly in...
Twenty minutes after leaving the South Terminal at Vancouver's airport, and feeling rather celebrity-like, we take our pilot's hand and step down from our float plane onto the Montague Harbour dock. I call Conny Nordin - who, along with her husband Mel Gibb, owns the Galiano Inn - to tell her we've arrived. "I'll be right there to pick you up," she says.
Pulling through the large wrought iron gates into the courtyard of the Galiano Inn feels like we've arrived on the Mediterranean. Walking through the log posts of the entry places us back on the West Coast as we come face to face with a gigantic native carved cedar killer whale.
That night, sipping very dry martinis at the Galiano Inn's oceanfront restaurant, we raise our glasses to our pilot and to this couple for taking what had been a derelict motel site and replacing it with a Pacific paradise. The wood, stone, ironwork and native art decor of the Artevida Restaurant creates an Old World meets West Coast ambience.
In between bites Karen slips her feet out of her sandals, so I can once again admire her freshly pedicured feet. Is there anyone more content than a woman with pampered pinkies?
Like so many days in the Gulf Islands, the morning is a blue-skied dream.
Karen takes her book to the nearest chaise lounge. I'm about to have an in-room massage. Kerri, my masseuse, clicks on two buttons and with a soft swoosh the wall transforms to a pull-down sturdy massage table complete with a thickly padded top. I'll confess right now I can be a tough customer.
I've had those lackluster spa experiences where smoothing nice smells on my skin passes for a massage. But, I have a hunch this might be good. Over an hour later my intuition has been confirmed. My muscles have melted into the table under her tension-seeking fingers.
"The best thing is," she whispers as she places the soft weight of the eye pillow on my heavy lids, "you don't have to get up and leave. You're already in your room."
Actually, she's wrong. The best thing is that we headed in to Galiano while everyone else headed out.
Go against the crowd and getaway as often as you can.
Fly to the Galiano Inn & Spa.
Book it: www.galianoinn.com www.harbourair.com
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