To be angry at dp for booking this holiday?

[Imengagedtoanidiot]

• [Message from MNHQ - just noting, this thread was started in July 2017 and has been resurrected FOR NO GOOD REASON - move along now, please there's nothing new to see here...]

So for ages I've been saying I wan to go to Paris I've never been and it's always been somewhere I want to go but money's right ATM.

Anyway I was talking about how much I want to go in front of my mum a few months and turns out she said to dp to book it for us, she'll have the DCs and pay for the trip for my birthday and keep it as a surprise.

I found out this trip was booked last week by accident and was obviously very excited although felt awful that my mum had given dp the money (£500)

I've just had a look at the details and he's booked it leaving on a Saturday afternoon (arriving late Saturday) and returning very early Monday morning. He booked the Monday off work for me and confirmed mum was having the dcs from Friday night and dropping them to childminder Monday (we collect at 6pm)

AIBU to be fuming that he's taken £500 for essentially 1 day?? I've looked and he could have got Friday evening/early Saturday flights and late Monday flight back for the exact same price so it's not a price issue - he said he just 'didn't think'. He's saying I'm so ungrateful and should be thankful for him (he didn't bloody pay for it)

I'm really upset and don't know if I am being ungrateful and a spoilt brat but I'm just pissed off and feel like my dream break and first holiday without dc is a fucking joke.

I've tried changing the flights and even cancelling but the charge is excessive.

Tequila, have you not noticed that this is not a present from OP's partner, it's from her mother. OP has never once suggested that she is ungrateful to her mother

So why didn't the mother book it herself then seeing as it was the mother providing the childcare and the OP providing the specifications of the weekend?
Instead of handing the cash over to the partner and expecting them to mind read.

This is a really long thread about a trip to Paris and I don't really get it.???
Either go or don't go.

tequila There is looking on the bright side and then there is putting up with any old shit.

tequila There is looking on the bright side and then there is putting up with any old shit.
Well, if you can see a trip to Paris being booked as any old shit that's up to you. I'd rather be happy though instead of looking for the worst.

I see it as Saturday evening /dinner in Paris and all day Sunday in Paris.
You could have a lovely dinner and walk and see the sights on the Saturday evening as everybody eats late there then have a lovely brunch on the Sunday followed by a cruise or a visit to the Louvre then maybe see one of the famous shows and dinner in the evening then a walk back to the hotel.
Leaving the next morning.
As long as the flight isn't too early then it's fine .

Thank God, was starting to lose faith in humanity and then avamiah turns up
Exactly! Still a lovely weekend. Why all the negativity and moaning?

I also try to look for the best in people/situations. But I don't look so hard that my brain falls out as I'm doing it.

Some people are lazy and useless. While it may be nice to pretend that isn't so, that is just the stark reality.

Travelling back and forth to airports within the space of 36 hours is just stressful. Trying to fit in seeing your entire dream city in, what, 18 hours, is just depressing.

He had the money to do something half-decent and he couldn't be arsed.

I mean, think about it the other way round. Would YOU do it to someone you loved? Or would you take the time to research the best way to take your wife out for a nice weekend in Paris? Because I know I would never make a half-arsed attempt with something that was special to my husband.

There's still a late afternoon, a full evening, a full day, and another full evening in Paris. Which is plenty time to see sights/have several meals at nice restaurants in a city you've always wanted to go.

Yes, why aim for great when you could have mediocre?

He stuffed up.

Unless you think he did it on purpose, or he is always a bit useless, then I think getting upset and into an argument about it is an over-reaction.

Hopefully you both manage to enjoy yourselves, but I think it sounds pretty awkward all round.

Let's be honest it's a mini break to Paris not a World Cruise.
Once you have visited the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower and had lunch/dinner in a little cafe on the Champs Elysee and walked along the Seine or taken a cruise then your done for that visit .
You can always visit again .

tequila It's not really to do with the length of time though. It's to do with the fact that he didn't put in any effort and has already spent all their money. At Paris prices, it won't be 'several meals at nice restaurants' so much as 'a shared McFlurry by the Seine'.

ava If you think that Paris is the Louvre (which anyway you could spend an entire weekend in), the Eiffel Tower, the Champs Elysee and the Seine, then you're missing out on a lot.

And it doesn't sound like they can easily visit again, since money is tight.

tequila It's not really to do with the length of time though.
That's not what's insinuated from some of the other posts though, where it does seem it's about the amount of time being spent there that's the most important.
Also
At Paris prices, it won't be 'several meals at nice restaurants' so much as 'a shared McFlurry by the Seine'.
wouldn't it be in that case make more sense to leave a little spending money for food etc if it's that expensive?

It is and it isn't the time. If they lived an hour from Paris, a day there would be acceptable. Having to spend half your 'break' travelling back and forth is not relaxing or fun.

Of course it makes sense to have spending money - so if I were the OP's partner, I would have saved up a little every week and gone when we actually had some money. As it is, it sounds like they're going to have 1 day without any spending money anyway.

BigYellowJumper,
I am lucky to have been to Paris a few times and have many great memories from visiting and have not missed out on anything.

I mean, if all you have seen is the cheesy tourist stuff, then you probably have missed out. The Seine and the Eiffel Tower in particular are massively over-rated.

BigYellowJumper,
Your really starting to piss me off with your fucking sarcastic comments but I think that's your intention isn't it.
Whatever turns you on.

Oh, sorry for pissing you off. I didn't mean to, but seem to have touched a wee nerve there.

so if I were the OP's partner, I would have saved up a little every week and gone when we actually had some money

The OPs mum actively overheard the conversation said in front of her though so said "here's £500, book a weekend in Paris." If it was tight money the dp did right keeping a little back for spending money once they were there. Not everyone has lots of spending money (obviously don't know if it's that the case and they've got lots of money for meals etc, but with money's tight at the moment being mentioned it's a reasonable leap)
Nice time away in Paris and meal/sightseeing to boot.

But other people found far better deals than he did for the same amount of money!!!

With a little thought it could have been so much more.

But other people found far better deals than he did for the same amount of money!!!

I'm shit at finding deals on the internet and wouldn't know what sites to visit to get the best one. If I booked my husband a couple of nights away in Paris as that's what he wanted, presumably had some money left over to go on meals/sightseeing, would I expect him to turn to the internet, call me an idiot, and only want people to agree I was a fool etc?