To feel a bit pissed off at being given concert tickets?

[Zoeylee]

I know it sounds mad, and I hate myself for thinking this. However, my brother and SIL have given me concert tickets for my birthday, (2 tickets actually, so me and DH can go.) It's for someone I do like (and have done for years.)

Problem is, we are very rural. We are literally 45 to 50 minutes drive from a train station, and the city where the concert is, is another HOUR and a QUARTER journey on the train. (Including having to change trains half way.)

So we are talking about starting out a MINIMUM of 3 hours before the concert starts, as it says on the tickets that the doors open at 6.00pm and it's advisable to get there early. The concert starts with a support act at 7pm... To enable ourselves to get the last train back would involve leaving the concert at 9pm. The main act will probably only just be starting then.

Either that or we stay in a travelodge or premier inn. I have already looked at the date, and because it's a Friday, the cheapest room is £85! This would be on top of the train fares that will cost £70 for the two! So with food and extra bits and bobs, we could be looking at £200.

Driving would be a PITA too, as that would take the best part of two and a half to three hours (five to six hour round-trip,) and would be a ballache, with driving in and around a major city, and car parking and suchlike.

WIBU to sell the tickets on and buy something else? Should I pretend we went to the concert and fake a few photos? Or should I be honest? I feel like such a cow, but these 'free tickets' are going to end up costing us a bleeding fortune! And the thought of all the hassle involved in travelling to this concert, and back (even though I like the act,) is giving me a headache. My brother and SIL meant well, but I don't think they thought it through.

@RhiannonOHara

The OP said right at the start she felt 'like a cow' for not wanting to go. She posted partly for views/help on how to turn the tickets down without being hurtful.

If she's been snippy on occasion, I can't say I blame her, in the face of people piling on to snark about her living rurally, give 'helpful' suggestions about making a weekend of it when she's said she doesn't want to, tell us all proudly how their daily commute is longer, regale us with heroic stories of when they spent a week and a million pounds to go to a concert, etc etc.

This ^ Brilliant.

There have been some really unpleasant and nasty comments on here, from some very goady posters. Some of the comments have ranged from laughable to spiteful, (like make a weekend of it, why don't you drive, how old are you, you're boring, you're ungrateful, you're miserable, and you must have a horrible life living rural.) As you said, the OP said quite clearly that she didn't want to go, and as I said in a post earlier, why is she meant to be 'grateful' for these tickets that she didn't even ask for? (That are going to cost her £200 to £250 to use?!)

I bet the naysayers and baiters on this thread would pat themselves on the back for buying concert tickets for their friend or relative, (that they hadn't asked for!) and not even THINK how much hassle it's going to be for them travelling a 5 hour round trip, and costing them £200-£250 in train fares and hotel bills and food etc. Because they would quite happily travel to Australia on a raft to see a band they like. And then if said relative said she couldn't go because it was going to cause her a lot of hassle and expense, they would disown her for being an ungrateful twat.

Someone made a comment earlier about how she should make the effort as concerts are great and she will enjoy the smell and the atmosphere. But she had already said that she had been to about 20 concerts! Along with the continual barrage of daft and spiteful comments suggesting how she can (and should!) go to the concert, even though she said she didn't want to go, it looks like certain posters didn't take any notice of this bit either! Some posters on here are being deliberately, (and continually) obtuse, goady, and very rude.

And as a few people have said, I would choose rural life in the sticks over a life in the smoke any day. Some people choose the 'arse end of nowhere' to get away from pollution, heavy traffic, crowds, sink estates, and the concrete jungle, (and to get away from people who are like some people on this thread.) Some people on here obviously live in a town or city, near a train station, and are incredibly ignorant about how difficult it can be to get to things in major cities. As for the few posters who also live quite rural and claim that they would travel for 12 hours each way to see their fave band, that doesn't mean the OP has to if she doesn't want to.

The OP wasn't complaining about not being able to get to the venue easily anyway, she was complaining about tickets being bought for her that she didn't ask for, that was going to cost her 3 times the value of the tickets to use, and she was asking how best to deal with it, because she does not want to go.