How to Give a Surprise Vacation Trip For The Holidays

Giving A Surprise Vacation Trip

I really love giving fun or slightly over-the-top gifts from time to time, and this year two of those gifts I am going to give at Christmas are surprise trips! I’m sure now my friends and family members who are reading this are wondering if they are the recipient of one of those gifts. Guess they’ll just have to wait and see. There’s plenty of research out there that an experience, such as travel, is more meaningful and remembered long after the excitement of a material possession wears off. There’s also no question that many of us have more than enough “stuff” in our houses, so giving a great gift without adding to the “stuff pile” is a definite win. Plus, let’s be honest, it’s also super fun to put together a travel surprise that someone might not do for themselves, and then go on the trip with them!

What You Need To Know When Giving A Surprise Vacation Trip

Giving a trip as a surprise can be a bit complicated, so that’s when you call your trusted travel adviser, Trasformativa Travel to help you plan your Surprise Vacation Trip.

1. Be 100% Certain They Will Love It

I would argue that if you can’t be 100% sure of whether or not recipient of the Surprise Vacation Trip will like the destination and be free to go, that you should probably not book the trip before telling them about it, as it just isn’t worth the risk and stress. You can still surprise them with the idea of the trip, but I would not make the actual bookings (or at least not any non-refundable portions) if you don’t know the recipient and their availability well enough to be pretty certain that they will be both jazzed and available to actually take their Surprise Vacation Trip.

2. Don’t Put Frequent Flyer Numbers in the Booking

The easiest way to have your secret plan spoiled is to have the trip specifics show up in the recipient’s email or frequent flyer account. This will almost always happen if you put their frequent flyer number in the reservation. This sounds like an easy step to skip, but be aware it can happen without you even intending for it to if you have booked a trip for them before and they are already a traveler in your airline account.

3. Don’t Use Their Points

This one should be a no brainer, but don’t use someones miles or points to book their surprise trip for various reasons, including they are likely to see the activity in their account or email inbox, same as using frequent flyer miles.

4. Consider Gift Certificates if You Aren’t 100%

One thing we have done for some extended family members in the past is give gift cards or gift certificates if we know they like to travel, but we aren’t in a position to know exactly when and where they want to head. We have found that this is an especially good gift for grandparents who have grandchildren spread across the country.

5. Wrap it Up in a Creative Way

The gift of travel is good enough that it doesn’t have to be dressed up in fancy wrapping paper and bows in order for it to be AWESOME, but if you are like me, it is fun to come up with a unique way for the recipient to find out about the gift. For example, give a trip to Italy in a box of cannolis, or a trip to Jamaica in a box of Jamaican chicken patties, or in our case a …… Can’t give the surprise away just yet. You can check our Trasformativa Facebook Page to find out what Suprise Vacation Trip I gave this year.

It isn’t totally necessary, but it sure builds up the fun and excitement for everyone in the room as you will see by our trip reveal to my husband on Christmas morning!

TRAVEL IN COLOR – NOT BLACK AND WHITE

ABOUT TRASFORMATIVA TRAVEL

Trasformativa is a US based travel company with offices located in Durham, NC and Clarksville, VA. We are focused exclusively on transformational travel. Our experienced and qualified travel agents offer many different types of transformational travel opportunities. We work with individuals and groups of many sizes to help them find a true difference. Most of the people who contact us are luxury travelers and leaders of groups who are traveling together. This includes, yoga or fitness instructors, health and wellness professionals, human resource directors, sales managers, CEO’s, church group leaders, corporate trainers, personal chefs, wedding planners, brides, corporate travel professionals, and also individuals looking to plan an exciting and out-of-the-way trip for a group of their friends.

Our transformational opportunities include Exotic Group Travel, Jamaica Travel, Caribbean Travel, Europe Travel, Retreat Group Travel, Culinary & Vineyard Group Travel, Wellness Travel Retreats, Incentive Travel Reward Programs, Destination Training Events, Corporate Wellness Retreats, Team Building Retreats, Fitness Retreats, Yoga & Meditation Retreats, Juice & Cleanse Retreats, Spirituality Retreats, and Autism Travel,