I had a significant birthday last year and a friend gave me a gift voucher for a boat trip that departs from a little harbour about a three hour drive from my home. It was the very end of the trip company's season – they shut for six months of the year – and I put it away and forgot about it.
In late June I remembered it but for various reasons – our own holidays, guests staying with us, poor weather when we were available, sick dog, elderly parents – we just haven't managed to get around to using it over the summer. I've tried booking several times but haven't been able to get a suitable time slot. On one occasion earlier this month I booked but the sailing was cancelled because of a gale.
The friend who gave me the voucher knows it's due to expire in a few weeks and has been asking when we're going because she wants pictures of us having a good time. I've just tried booking for Thursday but the only time available is the earliest sailing, which would require us to travel down the night before and stay somewhere.
I've reserved places for next week but they're weather dependant and when I mentioned this to my friend she told me off for not using the voucher earlier in the year. She wanted to know why my partner and I weren't prepared to stay overnight in the village near the harbour so that we could catch the early boat this Thursday and I had to bite my tongue. Why should we travel for six hours and spend £100+ on a hotel so that we can use the voucher she gave us (which is worth £36) for a trip we didn't choose? And it'll be ruddy cold out at sea at 10am at this time of year.
The whole thing is getting out of hand. Surely when you give someone a gift it's up to them what they do with it and you don't badger them? I'm beginning to think vouchers are a very bad idea.