“I’d imagined this moment so many times, but I never expected . . .” Yet, here I was – spending my summer vacation on Mars! Sipping my “morning” cup of coffee, contemplating the slate of today’s activities, and looking out the observation deck window at the red-streaked landscape.

The Mars Retreat and Spa package includes excursions to various craters and dry river beds; a Martian mud detox; various spa services; lectures, seminars, workshops about all aspects of Mars, like geography. Tonight, I’m going to check out the super-Imax 4-D flics and the immersive Mars shows.

Gotta love the event horizon evening cocktail parties, with DJ’s; a Ziggy Stardust tribute band; and music superstars. Not gonna repeat last night; I had a few too many “take me to your leader” shooters at the arrival meet and greet.

I decide to make today totally spa: Martian mud bath; ray gun facial; galactic total body massage; healthy drinks and snacks while floating in the infinity pool. Ahhh . . .

My last space excursion, an all-inclusive week at the Bezos Blue Moon Entertainment Center was a disappointment; so far, my time at the Musk Maritain Pleasure Pod Palace is shaping up much better.

I accept a refill from the Nespresso coffee droid. Easing back in my Astro-chair, I “flip” through the Google Space-time cruises on my I-phone 365. Maybe next year . . .

I used two great prompts from Fandango for this: #FFFC , Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge #127 – the feature image of this post and #FSS, Fandango’s Story Starter #3 – to use the phrase, “I’d imagined this moment so many times, but I never expected…” as inspiration, or somewhere within the story. I chose to use it as the opening sentence.