My sister, Susan had two expensive tickets for a private bus tour through Southern California. It was the romantic kind of tour where couples would be taken from destination to destination on a large bus. And suddenly I was being pressured to go with her.
Let me explain: Our family has always been adventurous. Meaning, we traveled a lot, especially when Susan and I were young. Susan’s then-boyfriend was well aware of that fact, and he surprised her with tickets for a 3-day tour.
However, plans changed when Susan discovered that her boyfriend had been cheating on her. He begged for forgiveness, saying the secret relationship didn’t mean anything, but Susan wasn’t the forgiving type (especially when it came to cheating). He even gave Susan both tickets as a goodwill gesture.
Susan refused to take him back, but she didn’t want to waste the tickets either. Plus she was genuinely excited for the trip, which included fun outdoor activities and beautiful scenery. She couldn’t take any of her female friends because the tour was for couples only. And she couldn’t take any of her male friends since it would send mixed dating signals.
Our parents overheard Susan asking me to go, and they encouraged me to accept, even though I persistently refused. Our parents felt it would be good sibling bonding time since Susan and I rarely hung out.
So, I was offered another ticket, and I couldn’t refuse.
***
To get to the location, we took a short train ride, followed by a short cab ride. The meeting location was a small ranch with a lounging area for guests and a moderately sized parking lot. The ranch itself wasn’t part of the retreat. It was merely a gathering place to start the bus tour. It was hot and painfully early in the morning.
When we got out of the cab, I carried my stuff, and my sister pulled her luggage and carried some small bags.
We went inside the small ranch building and saw an elderly lady behind the receptionist desk.
“Good morning,” the lady said with a super friendly smile.
We both said hello to the lady and made small talk for a while. She was extremely polite and I could sense that the trip was going to be a lot of fun.
“You’re here for the tour retreat, I’m assuming,” the lady said.
Susan grabbed the tickets from her purse. “Yep, I’ve got the tickets right here. We’re very excited about it.”
“Are those things coming too?” the lady asked, looking at our pile of stuff.
“Of course, why?”
The lady had a confused look. “Well, I’m not sure why you’d be needing all that. Do you know what kind of tour this is?”
“A couple retreat, right?” my sister replied.
“Yes, but, what’s inside the luggage?”
My sister looked equally as confused. “My clothes obviously.”
“Oh dear,” the lady gasped with an awkward expression on her face. “This isn’t exactly the kind of retreat where clothes would be needed.”
My sister squinted her eyes. “Excuse me?”
“This is a nudist retreat, dear.”
Susan looked at the tickets, then she looked at the old lady, then she looked at the tickets again, before turning her attention back to the old lady.
“That’s not mentioned anywhere on the tickets, or the brochures we looked at. Are we in the right location?”
“We don’t advertise nudity for legal reasons,” the lady replied. “The laws can be very bizarre for this sort of thing. Only fellow nudists would know about a tour like this.”
“But, but, we’ve come all this way. The tickets are already paid for. Is there any way my bro…I mean…my boyfriend and I, can keep our clothes on?”
The lady gave a deeply sympathetic expression. “I’m so sorry dear. But this is purely a nudist retreat. And we don’t make exceptions, otherwise it would ruin the atmosphere.”
“Oh gosh,” Susan sighed.
The old lady reached across the desk and put her hands on Susan’s hands.
“It’s okay, dear. I’m sure you must be shocked. Believe me, you’re not the first couple who’s made this mistake.”
“What happened with the other couple?”
“They talked about it. Eventually, they decided to give things a try. Before long, they were hooked on the lifestyle.”
“That won’t be happening with us,” Susan said, shaking her head.
“I know it can be tough at first. But why not think it over? The tour bus won’t leave for another two hours. That’ll be plenty of time for you and your boyfriend to discuss things.”
The lady genuinely wanted us to experience the nudist trip. And by the look on my sister’s face, I could tell she was kind of interested.
***
Christina and I left the small office area and went outside.
“What are we supposed to do now?” I said when we reached the parking lot. “How come you didn’t know?”
We carried out stuff with us, and it was getting heavier by the minute. No one was around, so we were able to freely complain.
“Hey, you read the same tickets and brochure. None of this was listed. So don’t act like this is all my fault.”
“But still, this was your trip.”
“My ex-boyfriend’s trip,” she clarified. “He was the one that bought these tickets, not me.”
I calmed down for a second. Susan was right. There was no way she could have known, especially since the nudist thing wasn’t listed on the ticket or brochure.
“You’re right,” I acknowledged. “I mean, it’s not like you’ve done this sort of thing before.”
Just then, Susan gave a shy little smile and a half shrug. It sort of implied that she had some level of experience with this stuff.
“You’ve done this before?” I asked.
“Sort of,” she reluctantly admitted. “A few months ago.”
“And you never mentioned this earlier?”
“Like I said, the nudity thing wasn’t listed on the tickets or brochure.”
I gave a soft sigh. “So now what?”
Susan thought for a moment. The look on her face wasn’t very serious. She wasn’t upset about the dilemma that we were in, at least not as much as I was. She seemed a lot more carefree about it.
“Well, we’re already here,” she said. “We made the trip this far. The tickets are already paid for. And we’re not expected back home for a few more days.”
There was an expression on her face which showed that she was up for anything. As always, when Susan made up her mind, there was no changing it. She was always a very stubborn person. She was someone who always got her way.
“So you actually want to go through with this?”
“Yeah, why not?” she shrugged.
“It’s a nudist trip. Remember? They won’t make an exception for us.”
Susan gave me a condescending look. “Have you ever seen a naked woman before? Have you?”
“Sure I have.”
“More than one?”
“Yeah.”
“Sex?” she asked with an eyebrow raised.
It was getting uncomfortable, but I could see where she was headed with her questions.
“That’s usually part of it.”
“I thought so,” she replied. “And these women you’ve fucked, were they college aged, athletic, and pretty- like me?”
“Damn right,” I proudly replied.
“Then it’s settled. You have no problems with female nudity. So the question then becomes, do you have a problem with male nudity?”
“I’ve seen plenty of that in the gym.”
“It looks like you’re all out of excuses,” she said in a conclusory manner.
“Yeah, but you’re my sister.”
“You’ve never wanted to see me naked?”
Her question caught me totally off-guard. I felt like a huge pervert and I couldn’t admit that I wanted to. But by the look on her face, she already knew the answer.
“That’s not important.”
“Of course it’s important,” she replied. “Think about it like this: You finally get to see me naked. Plus, you get to see a bunch of other women naked. Plus, we get to do a whole bunch of fun outdoor activities. Best of all, everything is already paid for by my asshole ex-boyfriend.”
She had a point. As impulsive as Susan could be, it was hard to argue with her on this. While I was thinking, she added one more thing to make my decision easier:
“No one will ever know,” she said. “It’s better that way. Not our friends. Especially not our parents. No one, except us.”
That was it. The deal was too good to pass. I agreed, and Susan flashed a big smile and gave me a suffocating hug.
***
Next came the hard part. Susan and I were allowed inside the ranch area, towards a small locker room where the guests could get naked and store their clothes.
On the way to the room, we saw the other nudists from a short distance away. It was a surreal sight for me. Although I don’t think my sister seemed to mind. The other nudists were simply hanging out, enjoying some drinks, having conversations, and getting to know each other. They were absolutely unabashed with their naked body parts. It seemed like the most natural thing in the world for them. And in many ways, I kind of admired that freedom.
They waved at us when we passed by. And we waved back. They seemed like really friendly people. What made things a bit awkward (more than it already was) was that they were mostly seniors in their 60’s. Susan and I were both in our early 20’s. By decades, we were the youngest of the group.
The casualness of everything helped to ease my fear that I might accidentally have an erection, which was the worst case scenario for me.
However, when we went to the locker room, we encountered another problem. The lockers were too small to store our luggage. Obviously lockers are meant to be small, but my sister and I hadn’t considered where we would put our stuff.
“Great, now what?” I asked.
“We’ll just have to take our stuff with us on the tour bus.”
Unfortunately, we couldn’t leave our big luggage at the ranch because they didn’t want to assume responsibility for it. At least that’s what the lady at the front desk had told us.
“Okay, now onto the next obvious problem,” I said, addressing the big thing that was lingering over us.
“My tits are a problem?” she playfully replied to lighten the mood.
“Not necessarily. I’m sure they’re great.”
She shrugged jokingly. “I like them.”