When Al and Susanne Sagrati got a message from Hideaways Pressident Mike Thiel on their answering machine telling them they had won a free trip to the Galapoagos Islands in the 2000 Great Getaway Giveaway contest, they never bothered to return the call. "I put it off because we get so many telemarketing calls like this," Al says, a bit sheepishly now.

It's a reaction Mike certainly understands, but both he and Al are glad they finally connected. "We thought it was one of the most relaxing, educational, and cultural vacations we've ever had," Al says of the ten-day trip he and Susanne took in August 2001 with Lindblad Expeditions' 80-passenger ship Polaris. "It's not one of the destinations people go to all the time. We're so very, very fortunate to have been chosen. We've been promoting it everywhere we go."

As fate would have it, Al was a prime candidate for a voyage such as this one. He had worked for the Shaklee Corporation for 25 years before he retired, and notes that the company is very sensitive to the environment. "I took some of that philosophy home with me," he says, adding that he and Susanne "watch a lot of the Discovery Channel and National Geographic."

Winter 2001