Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think this is a complete waste of bloody money now?!

479 replies

TheScreams · 29/03/2023 16:09

For Christmas, DH booked us a weekend away. In reality, what that means is that at 10pm on Christmas Eve, DH realised he hadn’t bought me a bloody Christmas present and so booked an airbnb hut on a campsite for next weekend. He spoke to a relative we were staying with for Christmas and they agreed to have DS and DD for the weekend (booked from Saturday to Monday). I tried to be grateful at the time and not express that it was bloody obvious that he’d thrown it together at the last second and not given it a single second of actual thought.

He spoke to the relative a few weeks ago and they told him they can only look after DS and DD from 8pm Saturday until 8am Monday. So, we’ll get to the campsite from midnight on Saturday and will have to leave by 4am on Monday. He’s also not planned anything for the dogs so they’re coming too - so, on Sunday, our only day there, we can’t do anything that’s not dog friendly. But DH didn’t think to mention this until today.

I live in a bloody national park so I’m not sure why my Christmas present is travelling across the country, for “two nights” where I don’t get a decent night’s sleep on either and then get to have a dog walk and to sit in a pub for the day. I could bloody well do that two minutes from my house!

It’s bloody non-refundable. It feels like a complete and total waste of time and money to go on this trip. AIB a complete bitch to be completely ungrateful for this “gift” that actually just sounds like shit?

OP posts:
Chickenly · 31/03/2023 15:48

Boudicabooandbulldogs · 31/03/2023 15:27

Late to the thread, read all posts.
OP, hope you have decided not to go as that is really the only sensible choice.
@Chickenly thank you for your responses Robini, was going to try but was just too gobsmacked…
I truly don’t understand why op should be happy and make the best out of NO indoor plumbing and No electricity, with No sleep, just so the poor DH doesn’t have to be confronted by his lack of thought…

Thank you. It’s so frustrating when someone clearly doesn’t read the thread and then makes ridiculous comments and suggestions that have already been addressed…especially when they’re doing it with the sole aim of causing upset and trying to be cool.

ifIwerenotanandroid · 31/03/2023 15:49

Justkeepingplatesspinning · 31/03/2023 15:22

I'm someone who loves camping. This weekend gift would -usually- be up there with Best Gifts Ever. Not though if I'm arriving at midnight, getting one full night of sleep, then having to leave at 3am. Especially not if it's a 4 hour drive from home.
I hope you're staying at home OP and having a relaxed weekend to recharge your batteries and just have a rest. If your OH sulks so be it. He can always go on the road trip on his own if he wants to go so badly.

I don't think there's a full night's sleep, according to the OP's OP. I think they drop off the kids at 8pm on Saturday, arrive at the hut at midnight Sat-Sun, have Sunday at the hut & leave at 4am Monday. 28 hours got mentioned somewhere in the thread.

BiscuitsBiscuitsEverywhere · 31/03/2023 15:54

This thread is hilarious. Your sister, eh? Riiiiight.

dickiedavisthunderthighs · 31/03/2023 16:01

Nice to see MN's new sock-puppet detector is bang on point...

Allinadayswork80 · 31/03/2023 16:06

I can totally relate to this! A few years ago - my partner and I’s FIRST Xmas together - he blatantly done a similar thing, last minute panic booking for ONE ticket for a spa experience. It was for 4hrs on an afternoon/evening, 2hrs away! No overnight stay and no other ticket to ‘take a friend’. I said I wouldn’t want to drive 2hrs away and go for the experience on my own. He said “well you could take a friend/mum, but they’ll have to buy a ticket” !! It was over £100! How could I have asked someone to come with me but buy their own experience?! It was a last minute panic buy and completely thoughtless. I never ended up using it and was pissed off all Xmas. Plus he didn’t get me a card either! He’s since been much better…!

Clymene · 31/03/2023 16:25

AdobeWanKenobi · 31/03/2023 12:39

The new MN Feature of setting the username is certainly 'useful' isn't it? 😂

GrinGrinGrinGrinGrinGrinGrin

GrasstrackGirl · 31/03/2023 16:36

OP has been caught red handed.

Justkeepingplatesspinning · 31/03/2023 16:39

ifIwerenotanandroid · 31/03/2023 15:49

I don't think there's a full night's sleep, according to the OP's OP. I think they drop off the kids at 8pm on Saturday, arrive at the hut at midnight Sat-Sun, have Sunday at the hut & leave at 4am Monday. 28 hours got mentioned somewhere in the thread.

Show quote history

You're right. I was thinking there was a full night in there somewhere. Trying to find the hut, set up beds etc, find the toilet block, all with a head torch, nightmare!

pictoosh · 31/03/2023 16:57

Oh your SISTER was it?

Jeez people were on your side anyway…you didn’t even have to sock puppet you nob.

ReneBumsWombats · 31/03/2023 17:05

TheScreams · 31/03/2023 12:09

Don’t! 🙄I copy and pasted parts of other people’s posts and got help writing it from my sister who is more eloquent than I am and then didn’t stop/change/fix it. I asked MN to remove when I realised and hoped I could repost with no one noticing. Awful. Mortifying.😂

Show quote history

Makes perfect sense!

Anotherturnipforthebooks · 31/03/2023 17:10

AdobeWanKenobi · 31/03/2023 12:39

The new MN Feature of setting the username is certainly 'useful' isn't it? 😂

What feature is this?

AdobeWanKenobi · 31/03/2023 17:14

Anotherturnipforthebooks · 31/03/2023 17:10

What feature is this?

Show quote history

The username you first use on a thread is the default one in the reply box. If you want to change names mid thread you need to remember to update the name in the box.
It's caused a few slips 😂

ReneBumsWombats · 31/03/2023 17:14

Anotherturnipforthebooks · 31/03/2023 17:10

What feature is this?

Show quote history

If you try to name change during a thread now, MN won't let you. You're stuck using the same name that you started with.

Ask OP how she knows.

Anotherturnipforthebooks · 31/03/2023 17:19

Well, that's awkward...

ReneBumsWombats · 31/03/2023 17:21

This one hadn't set off any alarm bells for me. I completely believed it.

Need to learn to quit while you're ahead, OP.

Snippit · 31/03/2023 17:23

Why not do what my husband and myself do. We’ve stopped buying each other Xmas gifts, then there’s no more disappointment, simples.

it’s so much easier, no more fuming at the lack of thought that’s gone into the gift. He doesn’t do it on a purpose, it’s just isn’t in his DNA. If we want anything we just get it for ourselves. It’s so much better, Xmas is very over over rated and sets people up for a big fall with much disappointment, why put yourself through it. I believe Xmas is a time of year for the kids to enjoy, not the grown ups.

Redglitter · 31/03/2023 17:24

TheScreams · 31/03/2023 12:09

Don’t! 🙄I copy and pasted parts of other people’s posts and got help writing it from my sister who is more eloquent than I am and then didn’t stop/change/fix it. I asked MN to remove when I realised and hoped I could repost with no one noticing. Awful. Mortifying.😂

Show quote history

And with that, having being busted for sockpuppeting the reporter mysteriously disappeared from the thread 😂😂

Bamboux · 31/03/2023 17:28

ReneBumsWombats · 31/03/2023 17:21

This one hadn't set off any alarm bells for me. I completely believed it.

Need to learn to quit while you're ahead, OP.

Ditto. Interesting.

Robinni · 31/03/2023 17:30

Chickenly · 31/03/2023 15:48

Thank you. It’s so frustrating when someone clearly doesn’t read the thread and then makes ridiculous comments and suggestions that have already been addressed…especially when they’re doing it with the sole aim of causing upset and trying to be cool.

Show quote history

@Chickenly your manner of communication is exhausting.

I had no sole aim of anything. I read the posts of a woman complaining about being bought a holiday - which is a really nice gift - that has been complicated last min by childcare problems etc. And I thought it was all a bit of a storm in a teacup. If the issues can’t be resolved, don’t go and chalk it up to experience, do better next time DH, he clearly fucked up.

I would personally like to see where this place is, what the facilities are and how much of a hell hole it is.

And there’s someone on here who can’t get a spa treatment on their own. What?!

Seriously, so privileged.

From the dubious posts may well be a journo, so well done all of us for falling for it.

PriamFarrl · 31/03/2023 17:54

Some people on this thread are making shocking sexist assumptions based on the men they have known.

Just because a few men in your life can’t forward plan doesn’t mean that all men are incapable of it.

pinkyredrose · 31/03/2023 18:12

I had no sole aim of anything. I read the posts of a woman complaining about being bought a holiday - which is a really nice gift - that has been complicated last min by childcare problems etc.

You have a strange idea of a holiday!

Pixiedust1234 · 31/03/2023 18:16

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Robinni · 31/03/2023 18:42

pinkyredrose · 31/03/2023 18:12

I had no sole aim of anything. I read the posts of a woman complaining about being bought a holiday - which is a really nice gift - that has been complicated last min by childcare problems etc.

You have a strange idea of a holiday!

@pinkyredrose not really - if logistics of kids and pets were resolved - two nights in a pod on a campsite sounds nice.

Or are we going to start telling everyone who goes to campsites, caravan parks, glamping etc that their holidays are crap..

CosyToess · 31/03/2023 18:43

determinedtomakethiswork · 29/03/2023 22:10

Look up sunk cost fallacy and tell him you're not going. It's just not worth it. It's not a treat, it's more like a punishment.

This

A typical thoughtless 'present', reminds of my (thankfully) ex husband

Definitely do not go, the pumping situation alone is reason enough, never mind the rest of it!

ellyeth · 31/03/2023 19:00

It might have been a nice idea if all the issues had been properly sorted out - the dogs, the children, etc, etc.

I would be inclined to tell him that it will be exhausting and expensive, and a present such as this is supposed to be relaxing. You would prefer to stay at home. He might be relieved but put on a show of being offended.