Readers weigh in on travel surprise
You sure did come through! I asked you to surprise me with your response to last week’s column. Boy, did you ever.
For those who might’ve missed last week, I shared how I asked Husband to use his miles and points superpowers to plan a surprise trip for us in honor of my big birthday in January.
He instantly pulled the whole thing together, only to have second thoughts.
Not about going, rather, about the surprise part.
He confessed that he might need my help in planning some of the details, as it’s usually my travel job to research and plan all the “do” stuff.
And so, the dilemma became, “Do I ruin the surprise for the sake of a better trip?”
Man, you sure are a diverse group!
About half you Dear Readers who wrote in said no way should I ruin the surprise. The other half insisted that I should.
Interestingly, the biggest reason for no surprise, “You need to know what to pack.”
This made me realize I left out a few key details. One, Husband will be telling me if we are heading to a hot or cold climate.
The other is something that might make you more uncomfortable than the surprise. Husband has a steadfast rule: We can only travel with carry-on bags. It’s all about being most nimble and available to take advantage of last-second opportunities.
For example, once we were making our way back from Oman to Milan. Some last-second seats opened up, allowing us to jump on a first-class Lufthansa flight out of Dubai. We wouldn’t have been able to do that if we had the ball and chain of checked bags.
The rule has been in effect ever since our checked luggage didn’t make it on a trip to Argentina. We had to spend the first two days of the trip just trying to buy underwear and shoes.
Two weeks on the road? Going all the way around the world? Doesn’t matter. All I get is one small roller suitcase and my backpack. Husband understands this means my “cute” factor lowers considerably.
And it checks off the problem of “How will you know what to pack?”
The options are limited, Dear Reader. I pretty much have a warm climate travel uniform and a cold weather one.
A week later, I still know just about nothing about the trip. “I’m committed to the surprise,” I told Husband as I was sharing some of your responses.
“Me, too,” he agreed. “Looks like I might be just as surprised.”
This was the moment he shared he might blow up the current itinerary and start over. “Something better might come up,” he repeated his travel mantra.
Could you do it? Wait until January to learn of all the possible trips? What if it meant carry-on only? Keep your surprise responses coming at Daryn@darynkagan. com.