“How should I address you,” the young woman asked me. “Ms. Petri? Ms. Alexandra?”
I was floored. “No – Allie is fine. You can just call me Allie.”
She smiled.
I’d never had my own personal butler before, but there is a first time for everything I guess. I stood there in my beautiful ocean view suite – the turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean vast and calm before me, local fishermen paddling through the waters for daily catch – in my tattered backpacking clothes. This is luxury on a new level, I thought to myself. I tried to mask my giddy, childlike smile, but I couldn’t help it. I was just overcome with excitement.