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Original poster

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

114 replies

Goingonagondola · 19/07/2019 22:30

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 posts:
ChikiTIKI · 20/07/2019 11:54

She knows you're going on the train though (or thinks you are) where abouts do you live, would it be feasible for her to think you might be getting the Eurostar to France?

Or could you tell her that a letter to do with the trip is going to her house so please can she bring her post to your house unopened. (Weird request I know... Some people would open all post in response to that but my husband would go along with this type of request without a second thought... depends if she is the suspicious type)

BarbaraofSeville · 20/07/2019 11:54

I don't think type 2 diabetes is a particularly worry for travel insurance.

We have a specialist annual policy for various sporting activities and adding on DPs type 2 diabetes was £18 on an annual policy and that was after we'd claimed for cancellation of a holiday that we couldn't go on because he couldn't do the activity that was a major part of the holiday.

Obviously with your DMs age and any other health conditions, it might not work the same, but I think the risk is reasonably low.

GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat · 20/07/2019 11:55

The EHIC come in an NHS envelope so she will assume it’s health related and not holiday related.

BarbaraofSeville · 20/07/2019 11:56

Re the EHIC card, tell her it's a Brexit precaution in that if we have a no deal Brexit, then existing cards will be honoured, but they won't issue any more, so as it's free, anyone who doesn't have an EHIC card should get one while they can.

You read it on Mumsnet so it must be true Wink.

ChikiTIKI · 20/07/2019 11:56

P.s. I book insurance as soon as the dates of the trip are set. So for me usually that's right after I book the flights but if you know which flights you're getting then you could book it now.

Freespirit24 · 20/07/2019 12:00

@Goingonagondola

I am doing something similar for my husbands birthday next year. I booked a surprise trip to Barcelona. I plan to tell him the day before with lots of balloons and a scavenger hunt for him to wake up too.

I would suggest telling your mum the day before over a nice meal in an Italian restaurant. You can get a travel guide for Venice and wrap it up or you can make her a nice card and reveal the surprise then. That way you can give her time to get some last-minute things sorted.

I also do not think its a very nice present to take her to Venice and say you are borrowing her euros. The trip should be paid for all by you as you cannot expect someone to pay you back for something they had no prior knowledge off. The trip she thinks she is going on is obviously going to require less spending money than Venice but this is just a thought.

Have a lovely time, when are you going?

Original poster
Goingonagondola · 20/07/2019 12:07

Haha @BarbaraofSeville that’s exactly what I told her!!! In fact I feel a bit bad that I might have to tell her her EHIC card may actually be useless shortly after our return!

OP posts:
Original poster
Goingonagondola · 20/07/2019 12:21

Thanks @Freespirit24 - she’s arriving with me the night before so by the time I see her she’ll be packed and travelling already.

I need to let her know that I organised Euros for her rather than that I’m just giving her money otherwise she won’t spend them. She’s already going to try to pay me back for the flights and accommodation (I won’t let her!) but it I literally give her money it’ll mean she spends three days saying ‘No I don’t fancy going on a gondola’ when she hears the price and not treating herself to anything in shops because she’d feel she had to be so frugal with ‘my’ money.

Mum has plenty of money (far more than me) but as she’s been single for a long time what she doesn’t have plenty of is people making her feel really special and people taking on the arrangements for things and (as I’m far away) time with her family. That - and the 1k on flights and accommodation - is the gift. The money is just making sure her own spending money is in the right currency.

OP posts:
ChikiTIKI · 20/07/2019 12:25

I get the spending money thing @Goingonagondola my parents are exactly the same.

I'm excited for you both! Hope you have a lovely time :)

Freespirit24 · 20/07/2019 12:25

I would suggest then that if your mum does not like accepting treats or would rather pay, that you pre-book tickets for all the attractions you want and then let her contribute a little bit when you get there.

It is actually cheaper to pre-book and you can do line skips as well.

WalkofShame · 20/07/2019 13:04

Free spirit - I don’t think OP is borrowing money from her mum, I think she is lending her the money in the short term as it makes it easier in terms of the need for euros. Perhaps I’ve misunderstood though?

Freespirit24 · 20/07/2019 13:54

I don’t think OP is borrowing money from her mum, I think she is lending her the money in the short term as it makes it easier in terms of the need for euros. Perhaps I’ve misunderstood though?

My original point is that a surprise trip should include everything including most spending money. But the OP has since said that her mum would feel uncomfortable not paying for things on the trip so I suggested she pre-book some excursions as an added gift and perhaps they deal with the rest on the weekend as it comes up.

WalkofShame · 20/07/2019 14:11

I also do not think its a very nice present to take her to Venice and say you are borrowing her euros

I don’t understand this then. not that it really matters or has anything to do with me

GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat · 20/07/2019 14:21

This confusion occurs when people don’t know how to correctly use the words ‘lending’ and ‘borrowing’.

taylorowmu · 20/07/2019 14:27

This thread has me baffled. You are taking her on holiday as a surprise, but only the destination is a surprise so why do you need to arrange all of these things and get her passport under false pretences? Surely she could arrange all these things as normal and bring her passport to the airport herself?

taylorowmu · 20/07/2019 14:28

*the exception being currency of course.

SavoyCabbage · 20/07/2019 14:30

Presumably Taylor, the mother assumes she is going somewhere in the UK.

taylorowmu · 20/07/2019 14:36

Presumably Taylor, the mother assumes she is going somewhere in the UK

Oh, never thought of that Grin

SavoyCabbage · 20/07/2019 15:01

😂 Too posh for your own good Taylor!

Original poster
Goingonagondola · 20/07/2019 15:10

Haha! Yes I just said a little weekend somewhere just the two of us. Shopping and things. Never explicitly said not abroad but she knows I haven’t been abroad in over a decade so I doubt she’d think it was overseas. She actually said ‘So we’re going somewhere near (insert name of sleepy tiny village I live)?’

OP posts:
EleanorReally · 20/07/2019 15:11

I don't think you need the actual ehic card as long as you know her NHS number, is what I heard

Skiingismylife · 20/07/2019 15:33

@graphista report away.

Original poster
Goingonagondola · 20/07/2019 16:43

@EleanorReally I must investigate that.

OP posts:
miaCara · 20/07/2019 16:47

What a great surprise for your lovely Mum. Im sure if you tell her everything is pre-arranged she wont worry too much about the details.
I agree with some Pps - she is not 'old' in the accepted sense these days. Many people are still working at 70- she sounds like a person who has had a hard life - but has lived it to the full.

When it comes to paying for joint ventures like gondola rides maybe have a kitty? I know when I go on outings with my relatives it is so much better to have a kitty and make joint decisions about activities. Somehow it doesn't seem like paying out real money when it comes to buying tickets etc. I know Ive done much more on trips out when Ive paid into a kitty than when left to pay out of my own pocket.

reluctantbrit · 20/07/2019 16:52

@EleanorReally no foreign doctor or hospital has access to NHS data. A number without proof that the number exist and it is your number is pointless.

Also, often hospitals in Europe may ask for a credit card as security that a bill will be paid or ask you to settle a bill and claim it back from your insurance before treating you.

Not everywhere can you just march into a surgery or hospital and be treated without paperwork.

Both times I used by ehic card I wasn’t even let into the waiting area before filling out forms.

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