Once-in-a-lifetime experience packages, flight experiences, and packages for pilots who enjoy sports, getaways, and other great items are all available to everyone. It’s easy: Just go to the website and bid in this year’s AOPA Foundation online auction. The bidding is open now and will continue through Dec. 20. To see the thrilling lineup of items, simply go to this link and start bidding!
A few examples of items up for auction include a winter escape from snow and cold. The auction features three opportunities to do just that with getaways to a Key West, Florida spa; a “fly-in/fly-out” vacation home in nearby Summerland Key, or an amazing week away from home at a historic seventeenth century villa in San Miguel del Allende, Mexico.
The Key West Island Paradise and Spa Experience immerses you in relaxation during a four-day, three-night stay for two at the Hyatt Key West Resort and Spa, including a $300 Hyatt Gift Card for Spa Services. Key West’s Caribbean ambiance, balmy weather, and natural beauty provide the backdrop for adventures from sightseeing on land and underwater to water sports, art galleries, kayaking, and eco-tours. Visit local landmarks including Ernest Hemingway’s home, and the Audubon House and Tropical Gardens and adjacent gallery of John James Audubon’s fine art and prints.
Imagine flying your private aircraft into a private airstrip with easy access to a tropical house where you will reside during seven days and six nights of sunbathing with ocean views, and water access for swimming and boating—all just 20 minutes away from the endless possibilities for exploration and adventure in Key West. That’s what a stay at the Summerland Key “Fly-In” Tropical Villa, located on a flow-through, deep-water canal leading to the ocean, offers. The house has an open floor plan, a spacious kitchen, and seating for six or more at a granite island bar. Retire to the open living room and its wrap-around leather sofa to view your favorite movies on a 50-inch flat panel TV. The master bedroom features a large walk-in closet and a king-size bed with views of the outside porch and Jacuzzi. A guest bedroom has two spacious queen beds and a 42-inch flat panel TV. There is an airplane hangar on site, and ample parking for storage of RVs, boats, cars, and airplanes. The dock has two 6,500-pound motorized davits, a bumpered wall, and a swim platform.
“Unforgettable” best describes a one-week stay at the historic Casa Dragones in San Miguel del Allende, Mexico, named for the Dragones who launched Mexico’s 1810 war of independence from Spain. San Miguel de Allende, a pristine colonial town founded in the 1600s, nestles between two mountains in the heart of Mexico and was recently ranked by Conde Nast Traveler readers as its best city in the world. San Miguel de Allende also is home to Casa Dragones tequila, recognized as Mexico’s smoothest tequila—of which a tasting is included during your stay. The seventeenth century home, located one block from the center of the town, has four bedrooms and four and a half baths. A striking roof terrace provides a view of the many church steeples and historic buildings of Centro San Miguel. The living room and dining room, with seating for eight persons in what once were stable stalls, now open on a courtyard with a “crying wall” fountain for enjoying meals and visits with friends. A cook and chambermaid serve visitors’ every need. There also are laundry and drying facilities on the premises. The home has satellite TV service from the U.S., and free, unlimited long distance service.
Tempting? As if these packages were not enticement enough on their own, here’s a postscript that may move you to put in that early bid: As this was being written on a chilly weekday morning in the Northeast, it was sunny and 84 degrees in Key West.
Donations to the AOPA Foundation, including those made through the online auction, help the Air Safety Institute offer free safety and educational materials to pilots. These tax-deductible funds also support AOPA’s Regional Fly-Ins, the You Can Fly program to increase the pilot population, the Rusty Pilots program, the Reimagined 152 effort to get affordable aircraft into flying clubs, the AV8RS youth membership program, and efforts to promote airports.
AOPA ePublishing staff
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