Letters from the Lighthouse: Travel Edition: I mean, seriously . . .

Staying at the Montage Laguna Beach has been pure luxury. I have never been so spoiled in all my life. Travel will never be the same.

Kim has a membership to Exclusive Resorts, so she is the reason we are here. Thank you Kim! Our personal concierge, Erica, made a whole bunch of arrangements for us before we ever even got here. She scheduled our pedicures, massages, facials, and meal reservations. Anytime we needed anything, Kim would just call Erica and she would take care of it. We had food in our little fridge and an assortment of crackers and bread and fruit and veggies waiting for us.

The central sitting room. We hang out here every night and watch movies.

Every day at the pool we do absolutely nothing. Lovely "pool personnel" came to us to take food and drink orders and open, close, and move our umbrellas. We only had to get up to go swim or to the restroom. Everything else was taken care of. And all the guys at the pool were so nice, and handsome, with "perfect teeth."

One time all three of us wanted to be in the shade of the umbrella but it wasn't happening, so one of the guys brought over two additional umbrellas (heavy to move) and made sure we all had shade. Twenty minutes later we were ready for the sun again, so he came back over and put the umbrellas down. We never had to move. We were brought menus, water, drinks, and the food we ordered. We could charge it to the room or pay for it at the time. If we wanted a certain salad but didn't like all the ingredients and wanted different ingredients, it was never a problem.

Poolside!

Lobster salad with baby greens, mango and grapefruit wedges.

Avocado and sun-dried tomatoes were replaced with fresh tomatoes and cucumbers.

Enjoyed it with a virgin watermelon-agave margarita.

Every day someone would come to the room and check the mini bar and fridge to make sure we have plenty of what we wanted. Every day housekeeping came and took away dirty dishes, made up the rooms, straightened our stuff in the bathrooms, and even folded our clothes that were thrown about, including pajamas. Then, in the evening, housekeeping would come by for "turn down" service, meaning leaving little rugs next to our bed, with slippers, and chocolates on the nightstand. I couldn't sleep the first night because a pad on the bed was causing the bed to be too hot and me to sweat. I took it off the next night and it was never put back on. Very observant housekeeping.

This is mine and Jody's room.

Right now, and as we have every night, we are sitting around the TV watching a movie or two with the fire going. We've had room service for dinner a couple of times, and they bring a little vase with flowers with our dinner. They set up dinner on our coffee table with napkins and silverware, condiments, and water with lemon. We move the furniture around for good seating and leave it that way. Housekeeping always puts it back where it belongs.

We have a rental car but we would never have to use it if we didn't want to. The Montage has a car service that will pick you up at the resort, take you anyplace in town, and then pick you up again to bring you back. Ramone took me to Spa Josephine for a facial today and Adam picked me up and brought me back. Both guys were so nice and chatty. It was a big black gas guzzler vehicle and it was just me, but that didn't seem to matter.

Doesn't everyone have a driver?

Today was a pretty normal day for us. Jody got up earlier than Kim and I and went to "reserve" some prime location chairs by the pool. We can reserve them as long as we are there by noon. Jody went to her massage appointment and Kim and I were at the pool by 11:30 a.m.

I borrowed a hate from Kim to keep the sun off my face because

I had a facial appointment today.

Kim, making plans for the next exclusive resort vacation!

Jody got back to the pool just as I was leaving for my facial - at Spa Josephine - and shampoo & blow dry. The facial was great - very calming to my skin. And it was a treat to have somebody wash and blow dry my hair. I have become so spoiled.

Tonight, for dinner, we went with Erica's recommendation of an Italian restaurant called Alessa. She said it was her favorite. Handmade, homemade pastas and sauces, etc. So, of course, Erica made our reservations and off we went. We got there a little early, so we walked into a cute little shop and saw the funnest little hats. We were having a good time trying on the hats when one of us, maybe Kim's purse, caught one of the displays of clothes and fell down, knocking down a mannequin in the window, which crashed into the window and scared a woman on the street. We were all startled but couldn't help but laugh. We left while the man in the store was still trying to pick everything up. Very funny.