Valentine's getaways with a twist

Little Palm Island Resort and Spa (Little Torch Key, Fla.) - "The Ultimate Engagement Package"
Little Palm Island Resort & Spa in Little Torch Key, Fla., has the $35,000 Ultimate Engagement Package that offers the best of on-island proposals. The wedding coordinator, the island "Romance Angel" Mary, has been with the resort for nearly a dozen years and specializes in making these intimate moments unforgettable. The package includes:
— Charter air transfers to/from the Island from Miami International Airport
— 4 night's accommodations in the Island Grand Suite
— Appointment with resort's Diamond Concierge and $10,000 toward the ring of your choice!
— Welcome bottle of champagne with two crystal champagne flutes
— Romantic drawing/watercolor painting of the couple at Little Palm Island, done by a local artist in advance upon receiving a photo from the groom-to-be, displayed in the couple's bungalow upon check-in or presented upon the engagement
— $500 credit per person in SpaTerre to relax before the big moment
— Private sunset cruise to set the mood
— Three meals each day including a private Palapa Point Dinner for two with private server and harpist serenade
— Photographer to snap pictures throughout the night with souvenir photo album
— "All You Have To Do Is Ask" turndown service - anything you wish, including rose petals throughout the room and more
— Two plush bathrobes

If she says yes, a wedding ceremony on the Island will be free!

Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay
(www.ritzcarlton.com/resorts/half_moon_bay/)
Pillow Top Picnic
Tuesday, Feb. 13 through Thursday, Feb. 15. For couples desiring a more intimate and private dining experience, a three-course prix fixe dinner for two is delivered directly to the guests' room. Designed to be shared and eaten in bed, the Pillow Top Picnic menu includes rose petals, a box of gourmet truffles and specially-printed menu. $90 per person, exclusive of tax and gratuity. Twenty-four hour advance reservations and overnight stay required; please call 650-712-7657 for reservations.

Pillow Top Picnic Menu
Homemade Foie Gras Terrine with Toasted Brioche Mount Tam Cowgirl Creamery Cheese Seasonal Fruit Basket Shrimp Cocktail ~ Lobster Cannelloni with Black Truffles ~ Valentine Celebration Cheesecake

The Romance Blend — In-Room, Butler-Drawn Bath Set the stage for romance with an immersion in a luxurious bath filled with rose and lavender scented bubbles and fresh rose petals. The glow of candle light and romantic music will surely enhance this sensual soak. Candle and CD are complimentary. $65 per room. Chilled split of Champagne, $42, bottle, $58. Available to overnight guests only. Please call 650-712-7040 for reservations and further information.

Fire and Wine Package
Ideal for a romantic Winter getaway on the coast, this package includes Terrace Fire Pit Room accommodations; a bottle of wine; a s'mores kit for two, perfect for roasting in front of the patio fireplace; rose petal turndown; deluxe candle; resort fee; and overnight parking for one car. This package begins at $629, single or double occupancy, exclusive of tax and gratuities. For reservations, please call 800-241-3333.

Chocolate Ring Box
Why not give your engagement ring to your future fiancé in a handmade, chocolate ring box? Pastry Chef William Werner and his team have created a small ring box, made entirely of chocolate. Guests who wish to order the box are requested to do so at least 48 hours in advance, and each box costs $35.

A Sanctuary of Love — International House (New Orleans)
(www.ihhotel.com/)
This New Orleans boutique hotel serves as a gatekeeper between the spirits of love and more earthbound beings. International House invites lovers to perform their own special ceremony for the most personal of occasions: Valentine's Day or any day you desire, the hotel offers the opportunity to discover the power of a romantic guest experience, a Voodoo Sanctuary of Love, infused with loa, the divine spirits of Voodoo.

Lovers can find Voodoo to be a mysterious passageway through which they can invoke the cool and sweet spirits known as Rada. To assist in this bonding, International House has assembled ritual objects and recipes to secure the everlasting commitment and enhance the evening courtship. One of Voodoo's hallmarks for love and happiness is the orris root, a natural delicacy that is placed under the tongue while kissing so as to ensure the eternal joining of two souls. Other locally handmade offerings in the basket given to Sanctuary of Love guests on arrival include aromatic bath salts in a box tied with white lace ribbons, and massage oils in a bottle adorned with feathers, beads, rhinestones, and semi-precious stones. Incense and an essential oil candle in a glass votive holder are also tucked into the basket of Voodoo ritual items.

Each element plays a vital role in Voodoo, and calligraphic descriptions and instructions are provided, as are instructions to assist in the private ceremony. Customarily performed outdoors, the details are only suggested, not dictated, allowing couples to create their own symbolic ritual.

For those seeking the exotic, International House brings to you (by 30-day advance appointment and at an additional cost of $250) the local matriarch of Mambo. The Voodoo priestess will restyle your guestroom with beautiful sacred objects and create for you a personal altar. Intimacy is reinforced with a delicate transitory design that captures the moment, and a "gris gris" bag, or lucky charm, is created for the couple during the ceremony.

International House offers a Sanctuary of Love experience for a value of $549 for the first evening and $319 for a second night (based on a two-night stay, double occupancy — tax and gratuity excluded). One need not wait for a wedding, anniversary, or birthday to celebrate love. There is always an occasion, especially when International House is itself a sanctuary filled with romance, timelessly beautiful design, soothing light, and colorful symbolism. Create and discover your own desires.

Mile High Atlanta
(www.milehighatlanta.com)
Located at West Georgia Regional Airport near Carrollton, a short drive from the metropolitan Atlanta area in rural Georgia, the company takes clients up to over 5,280 feet so they have the opportunity to join the "Mile High Club." For $299, the clients will have an hour flight in a Piper Cherokee Six. For Valentine's Day, the company offers a "romance" flight that includes a bottle of champagne and flowers during a sunset flight. At the flight's end, the clients get to keep the sheets as a souvenir of this special event.

This company can specially organize unique ways to propose while in flight. For example, corporate pilot Bill Smith helped a client orchestrate a really unusual proposal. The client bought about 40 bags of flour and spelled out "MARRY ME" behind his house. Bill flew the client and his fiancé over the house and, needless to say, she was really surprised. He then gave her the ring and, according to Bill, "As far as I know they have lived happily ever after."

Zero Gravity
(www.gozerog.com/home_full1.aspx)
$3,097.50 (includes tax)
Propose on Mars, the Moon, or way out in outer space! Board a plane at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. Fly, float and flip through the cabin.

The first stop is "Mars" for a taste of one-third gravity. Next, clients travel to the "Moon" and experience lunar gravity parabolas. In lunar gravity, a person weighs one-sixth what you do on Earth. Finally, clients arrive in "outer space" and an encounter with zero-gravity. You'll be bouncing uncontrollably about the cabin like human popcorn. Soon, you'll master the fine art of moving in zero-gravity and feel like an astronaut as you perform out of this world maneuvers.

Astronauts and cosmonauts prepare for space missions by training in a special aircraft designed to simulate the weightlessness of outer space. Pilots perform a series of parabolic flight maneuvers that counter the forces of gravity and allow the astronauts and cosmonauts to learn how to accomplish tasks with no gravity. NASA's KC-135 aircraft was used to film weightless scenes in the Tom Hanks movie Apollo 13. Incredible Adventures offers weightless flights alongside cosmonauts on Russia's IL-76 MDK.

Weightless flights are offered in cooperation with ZeroG Corp and take place aboard a specially-modified and FAA certified Boeing 727 christened GForce One. During take-off and landings, clients are safely strapped into standard airline seats and hear the standard airline flight safety briefings from the flight crew.

And finally, for the “losers” and “loners” out there...

Arawak Beach Inn (Anguilla) - "Me, Myself & I"
(http://www.arawakbeach.com/)
For those forced to spend the "Day of Love" solo, Arawak Beach Inn on the Caribbean island of Anguilla is offering a "Me, Myself & I" package, starting at $699 — single occupancy, of course. This includes three-night accommodations in an oceanfront room, daily breakfast, lobster dinner for one and roundtrip airport transfers.  Guests will enjoy the choice of spending the day solo on a nearby uninhabited island with packed lunch, or a Discovery Swim with the Dolphins at Dolphin Discovery.  Singles who have a little more than R&R on the agenda can consult Maria, the innkeeper and a single woman herself, who will provide a list of local hotspots ideal for island fun (twist her arm and she may come along!). 

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