What if there really was a paradise?

Getting there: Halcyon Air has direct flights from wherever you live, whenever you want. All seats are both aisle and window; none are over the wing. Each seat pocket contains Bose Acoustic Noise Canceling headphones, a chilled bottle of Dom Pérignon, and a recent copy of the Sun-Sentinel Travel section. The five-course in-flight meals are prepared on board by celebrity chefs. Flight attendants are former Ford models with Ph.D.s in aeronautical engineering who were lured away from brilliant careers in nursing. Fellow passengers are all witty conversationalists traveling without laptops. Your captain sounds like Garrison Keillor. (In fact, he's John Travolta.) The in-flight entertainment includes every classic film you've always wanted to see and all the current movies you've missed. Well-behaved children receive beagle pups. There is never any turbulence.

Getting around: Taxis appear whenever you need one. There are no meters inside because they are free. Drivers speak whatever language you do. They offer invaluable tips, tell jokes you haven't heard before, obey the speed limit, and praise the driving of the person in front of them. They are also very complimentary toward whoever is in power. They think the system works for them. They believe tipping is an insult.

If you like to mix it up with the locals, you can also ride the clean, comfortable, electric monorail which connects downtown to the historic district, the museum section, all the colorful ethnic neighborhoods, the convention center, the sports complex, the shopping emporium, the port, the beach, the rain forest, the ski resort, the five theme parks, the eight Nicklaus-designed golf courses, the four national parks, the nearby chain of tropical islands, the base camp on Mount Antaeus, and the area's 478 luxury spas.

Lodging: A wide choice of venerable hotels, many of them living monuments made famous by literary classics. All rooms have views and are under $100 a night. Those without fireplaces have ceiling fans. Carl Kasell does the wakeup calls. Everybody in the lobby bar knows your name. Receptionists, maids, bellmen, valets all shed tears when you check out.

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