Surprising someone with a holiday - at the airport! What to remember?

[Goingonagondola]

For my Mum's 70th I'm taking her to Venice.

I've told her I'm taking her on a trip, and she's coming to mine the day before we fly. Then in the morning I'm telling her we are going to the station but instead will go to the airport and surprise her with tickets. But I'm worried I'll forget something that will mess it up, due to the surprise element. Here's what I've done or thought of so far - have I forgotten anything?

• I've got her passport (under false pretences)
• I'm applying for an EHIC card for her
• I'll get Euros for her and lend her the money
• I'll put roaming on on my phone and pinch hers the night before to activate it on hers (but it can take 24 hours apparently so might be a gap before she has use of it)
• Booked someone to look after her dogs (and told her)
• Obviously have either booked or planned flights, accommodation and transport to/from airports.
• Will get an adaptor plug
• Will get money belts for us both due to pickpocket issue in Venice
• Will tell her at the airport and get her to shuffle any liquids from bag into her suitcase and anything from suitcase she'll need on the way into her hand bag.
• Maybe pressure socks (necessary for a 2.5 hour flight?) She is obviously nearly 70 and overweight, and diabetic (not sure if relevant)

OP ignore some of the rude posters here. I think it's a lovely idea. You know your mum best but yes make sure you sort the travel insurance ASAP and that it's all done properly.

In case you are crossing over any possible Brexit date, things like the EHIC card, or free roaming charges might not apply- who knows. And make sure there’s six months to spare on your passport.

Does she really need the EHIC card if you have travel insurance? I’ve never bothered to get one.

Yes! Your insurance often won't cover something which you paid for which would have been covered with an EHIC.

@Goingonagondola we went to Italy last year with my son who has a rare heart condition. We Used medicaltravelcompared.co.uk/ to find insurance and it wasn’t expensive at all.
Use skyscanner and jacks travel club to look for flights and you might find something brilliant
Have the BEST time. My 68 year old mum would LOVE THIS and you know your mum better than any of us could ever try to so if this is what you’ve decided to do it is undoubtedly something she’d love.

Get those flights booked OP and you’ll give yourself peace of mind.

It’ll be a wonderful trip with your Mum.

I just got back from my trip - there’s WiFi at the airport for free, just log in
Don’t pre book a taxi as they have a set price and there was also WiFi at restaurants
I pre booked the doges palace and basilica with a gondola ride included. Was about 5 hrs in total and included a free glass blowing demonstration and small free gift. Was about £85 from memory via easyJet but no queues, very informative and the gondola ride was brilliant (and about €80 euros if you booked your own just for the gondola so you’d want to share one anyway!)
Our hotel was in Mestre so a tram ride away but easy
Enjoy! Hot but a bit overcast last week

Unless brexit has happened and things have changed, currently in a European country you get a text when you arrive saying that your plan is valid where you are! If you are PAYG I'm not sure how it works but contacts just carry over.

Definitely get an EHIC card, my friend used one last year and it was a life saver

Does your mum live with anyone? Can they look for it? Make sure it's a free website and not the one that cons you out of money!

Bloody hell, she’s only 70! Reading some of these responses you’d think she was ancient. I have friends and relatives in their 70s and 80s all of whom would love this, are quite capable of walking across an airport and won’t die of shock because of a birthday surprise that they’re half expecting anyway.

I normally roll my eyes at people calling ageism on here but bloody hell, she’s 70 not 90 and on her last legs.

It’s more about personality than age. I’m decades younger than 70 but would hate a surprise holiday abroad. But the OP has said her mum will be fine with it.

Phone the EHIC people and ask them to you directly. They are very helpful.

Whilst I wouldn’t like this, she’s your mother and you know her best. You’ve put so much thought into it it sounds like it will be marvellous.

She's 70 not 90 odd!

70 really isn't that old. My PILs are mid 70s and go away alone regularly. My parents and in their later 60s and again often go away and my dad's only recently retired. In fact almost all the people I know who around that age are pretty fit and healthy and not about to have a heart attack over a surprise!

You know your mum better than any posters on here OP so I'm sure you know she is able to cope with the surprise of this wonderful trip. Saga do some over 70s insurance such covers existing conditions and is very straightforward to buy online.

And if she is physically able, you don't need special assistance. My oider relations would be really embarrassed if that was arranged unnecessarily, she's only 70 after all! It might be worth paying for fast track security though, just to make that part of the journey more bearable by avoiding huge queues

Myself and others that have referred to op's mum's age have not ONLY gone on that but also on the info that she is overweight, has type 2 diabetes which is meds managed and is a "flapper" - has anxiety symptoms.

Some 70 year olds are indeed in good health, fit and of a personality type they could cope with the surprise.

None of what we know of this lady suggests this to be the case here.

Even the relatively fit and well 70+ year olds I know have complicated medical histories and are on medication of some kind if not regularly certainly several times a year.

Insurance companies will use ANY excuse you give them to get out of paying and taking ill abroad ESPECIALLY if you need repatriation is EXTREMELY expensive.

I believe also that the vast majority of insurers expect holders to have ehic cards and inc that in terms and conditions? If so not to have it could also invalidate the insurance.

Costs are not always predictable. I know a couple one has cancer (won't be cured but long term prognosis), the other has type 1 diabetes which they've managed well all their lives - but it's the diabetic who's travel insurance is more expensive! I have no idea why.

So those of us saying the op needs to rethink are not ageist or idiots!

I know 90 year olds that are relatively fit and well and 65 year olds that are barely hanging on, I am not going purely on age.

@cookit the EHIC card makes small things a lot easier. I had to use mine twice, once for an ear infection and the other for an A&E Trip incl. x-rays. No funding around with phoning an insurance company, just presenting the card and passport, filling out a form and that’s it.

OP please let your bank and credit card company know where you are going. Even if you don’t think you need to use it, for emergencies it is good to know that the cards won’t be blocked due to a foreign transaction.

Graphista - the OP has said numerous times that whilst mum is a flapper, this is more of an issue leading up to the event, mum knows there is a surprise afoot, although she has a medical condition its well managed and she is physically able to get about.

So the don’t do it she’s 70 and frail (paraphrasing here) she’ll have a heart attack, get assistance at the airport comments are this threads equivalent of cancel the cheque. And assumptions are being made based on mum’s age.

The OP has already said she's getting EHICs. Being overweight is very common nowadays, so isn't a particular concern surely. My FiL who had tablet controlled type 2 diabetes travelled without any issues well into his 80s and obtained issuance easily through Saga. As I said before, the OP knows her mum far better than anyone here and wouldn't be organising such a lovely trip if she didn't think it was the right thing to do.

Myself and others that have referred to op's mum's age have not ONLY gone on that but also on the info that she is overweight, has type 2 diabetes which is meds managed and is a "flapper" - has anxiety symptoms. Anxiety is a mental health condition, being a flapper is a personality trait.

Some 70 year olds are indeed in good health, fit and of a personality type they could cope with the surprise.

None of what we know of this lady suggests this to be the case here.

Lots of people are overweight unfortunately, and consequently lots of people also have type 2 diabetes. Nothing written about this woman suggests that she couldn't cope with a weekend trip to a European destination.

The ageism on here is disgusting.

On the roaming thing - it definitely doesn't take 24 hours and you don't have to activate anything. When you arrive at the airport you just switch your phone on and it picks up a local service. I usually get a text saying "welcome to X country!" and reminding me that within the EU my calls, data and texts carry on as usual.

Op the Cannaregio area is quiet and beautiful, with cheaper and more authentic restaurants. Venice at its best. October a great time to go. You’ll have a blast.

Thank you for all the replies - I'll try and answer some of the things. Sorry if I miss anything. I really do appreciate the help and concern (even from the people who think I'm nuts) and promise that I've thought this through.

Yes, it might be rainy/floods (it's mid October so unlikely to have started according to our apartment hosts, but they also lend wellies if needed). I'll keep an eye on the weather and have promised mum a weather forecast for our 'destination' before we pack.

Not crossing over the Brexit deadline so that's ok. Thank you for the info about phones - I'm delighted as I thought I'd have to nick her phone and put roaming on!

Re the surprise element - there are a few things that make me sure this is ok.

• She has actively chosen to keep it a surprise (I agree I wouldn't like this - but she does!)
• She knows she can change her mind at any time and have me tell her where we're going
• Knowing her, if she knew it would not increase the pleasure just make her worry about arrangements. This takes that away from her.
• If she knew, she'd try to persuade me to let her help pay, or to go somewhere cheaper, because she wouldn't feel I should spend so much money on her. She deserves to be totally spoiled with it being too late to worry about that!
• She knows it's a trip just not abroad, so the only tricky thing is going on a plane not a train and things like liquids going into hand luggage.
• She may well suspect anyway because I had to tell her I was taking her on a surprise trip AND fake a ruse to get her passport in the same week when I saw her recently...

Health stuff - we are very close (probably partly because she's been single for a long time) and I know every twinge, never mind health condition, that she's ever had. I feel confident I can relay her medical history and medications accurately for insurance. But also - remember that I can easily tell her I'm taking out travel insurance without telling her it's abroad, so if I get stuck I'll just ask her the questions I need to know.

The medication she takes (and the different one that I take) doesn't have to have a letter with it. I know she doesn't use a pill box so will bring the packaging as she does on our other holidays. She has T2 diabetes which is treated differently to T1 (and is very borderline T2). By the way, she's under 12 stone, for those worrying about her weight, so yes technically overweight but not in any way that should affect travel. I'm not far off her weight myself!

I can't think of what else - oh I'm going to call the EHIC people today (now in fact) so thanks for that too.

It's genuinely helpful to have people questioning me so I can make sure I've asked myself all the right questions and done all the right prep. But I agree that 70 isn't at all old (certainly not for her!) and not yet time to worry about heart attacks in the airport over a wonderful surprise of going on a 2 hour flight to somewhere she's always dreamed of going.

God some people are dramatic- it's a few days in Venice not a crocodile infested white water rapid ride.

@Skiingismylife - I had to look that insult up! Reported btw - absolutely no call for that!

Op I'm glad you're looking properly into insurance etc. I've known too many come a cropper because eg they didn't think they needed to mention they had a history of asthma as they'd not had an attack in years, but develop and unrelated chest infection while on holiday and the insurance company use it to avoid paying.

I'm genuinely thinking of your and your mums needs. And I based my previous posts on the info I had at that point.

Personally while I know my parents very well, and certainly know of current medical issues, I really wouldn't feel completely confident in completing insurance info for them as there's stuff they haven't thought to mention or that happened before my time - eg I'm 47 mum's 72 and I only recently learned she had her tonsils out as a child!

70 years is a long time on the planet - I struggle to remember all MY medical shit sometimes and I'm "only" 47

I relatively recently had a change to medication and just before the dr was going to prescribe one type they saw I'd had an adverse reaction to a similar one in my 20's (minor reaction but apparently meant the one they were going to prescribe could have caused a major one) I didn't even remember taking that medication!

@Greyhound22 That made me laugh!

I’ve done a ‘dummy’ insurance application a while ago and could answer all the questions so I think it’ll be ok but also I can just ask her.

BUT I think the bloody EHIC is going to bugger this up because the lady on the phone said it has to be sent to her home address. I live 300 miles from her so won’t see her before we go so can’t nick it and nobody else in the house that can so my options are to tell her to bring it and blow the ‘abroad’ bit of the surprise, hope she tucks it in her wallet and say nothing and risk going without it.