How I Pulled It Off….
I have always loved the suspense and excitement in planning and executing surprises. During my daughters’ school years, very often I would surprise them with a date request. They would unexpectedly get a note in their lunch box, or would find it tucked inside their assignment pad or hand delivered by their friends. Sometimes it would be a simple outing for ice cream, or a visit to a fun-filled outdoor event. Occasionally I surprised them with a trip to the mall with a gift card included, or an apple-picking excursion or a movie and dinner date.
At one time I even sent them on a scavenger hunt where one clue led to another and after traipsing all over town collecting clues, they ended up at a spa for a much-appreciated spa day.
When my older daughter left for college, the younger one got busy with high school and stressful college applications. She was so over whelmed and exhausted that I wanted to surprise her with something different, something she would never guess. It required detailed planning on my part because this daughter was the curious child who kept her eyes and ears open and it required great effort to be able to pull the wool over her eyes.
After all the research and finalizing was done, I put the plan to work. One morning when she woke up and went to the bathroom, there was a note waiting for her.
The note invited her for a mother/daughter date the next Monday at 2pm. She was immediately intrigued and started snooping and prying, trying hard to guess.
Monday rolled around and I was all ‘ready’. In fact I was more excited and anxious about executing this perfectly and keeping it a surprise, than I was about the actual ‘reveal’!
I pretended to treat this day like any other and proceeded to go about the day as I would ‘normally’. Around noontime she too was just hanging around but she did tell me that after our date was over, she had a fun outing planned with her friends that evening and then a sleepover later. She was idling away on her laptop and I was puttering about.
I was pretending to be nonchalant while I waited for the witching hour of 2pm when I could begin to implement my carefully orchestrated plan. I was panicking on the inside because the timing had to be executed like clockwork.
Suddenly she started to scream loudly and jump up and down gesticulating wildly. Amidst the pandemonium I finally got it out of her that her college housing details had just been released online and she was just getting to find out the details of her dorm room for her freshman year at college.
That brought about a flurry of activity and excitement. She got busy calling friends to find out their dorm selections while frantically looking up the pros and cons of her own dorm. This went on for quite a while and even though I was outwardly giving her my attention and showing a reasonable amount of interest, I was actually getting quite anxious because we were getting slowly past the designated time to ‘begin’ the surprise. If I had insisted that we leave right away because our date was starting at 2:00pm, she might have become suspicious of my intentions. I feigned indifference and even mentioned that we could postpone our date to another day if she really wanted to spend more time investigating on her dorm room. Of course I did not let it show that there was no way I could actually postpone the event and I was just using reverse psychology on her. Phew, it worked! After a little more dawdling, we finally got in the car and started to drive.
On the way I tried to keep her busy and occupied her by talking about the dorm room information she had gathered. I didn’t want her to pay attention to our drive because the success of my surprise also depended on her staying distracted and not focused on deducing where we were going.
We kept driving for almost an hour. Recognizing some of the exit signs on the highway, she smiled and claimed that she knew what the surprise was since this was the way to the city. She concluded smugly that was where we were heading. I stayed non-committal and kept driving. Once we drove past the exit, she sat up straighter in her seat visibly attentive and intrigued, and started to guess the possible destinations.
Going over the bridge she surmised we were heading to our cousin’s house and she seemed excited about that. When we passed by that exit too, she began to get feverishly excited since almost all her guesses were turning out futile.
After driving around for a little while with her frantically craning her neck to recognize the area, we finally pulled off the exit and drove around in a somewhat sketchy neighborhood. I was busy following the directions on the GPS while she looked around in confusion and concern. By then she was at a loss for words and was just blatantly asking me over and over again, “ So where are we going?” “What is this area?” “What’s going on?”
The more agitated she got, the more exhilarated I became. I kept reminding her to sit tight and the surprise would soon be revealed. Following the GPS I finally pulled into a run-down parking lot of a small hotel. As I pulled into a parking spot, she looked around in amazement wondering what exactly were we going to do at this location. I had not expected the area to be so decrepit and taking that opportunity, I apologized to her about the condition of this hotel claiming that the photographs on the Internet had been gravely misleading. She stared at me, perplexed as to why I had chosen this location to organize a hotel stay.
Getting out of the car, I went into the tiny parking lot office for a few minutes to do the paperwork. Uneasily she waited to follow me to the entrance of the hotel but I threw her off guard when I gestured to her to get into the shuttle van idling nearby. I loved seeing the confusion on her face and even though she kept up her barrage of questions, I just ignored her and calmly walked up to the trunk of my car, opened it and pulled out the two carry-on bags in there. She just stood there with her mouth open and I had to nudge her to get one of the bags and get on the van.
I could almost hear the wheels turning furiously as she tried to guess what was happening. I could almost read the expressions on her face as she realized that we had taken similar shuttle vans in the past to get us from parking lots to the airport. She even leaned forward and naively asked the driver where we were going because she was too flabbergasted to believe the conclusion she was coming to. The driver just stared at her in the rear view mirror puzzling over this redundant question from a passenger in his shuttle.
Sure enough we pull into the airport and as we circled the terminals, she asked over and over again if we were actually going to get on a plane. I loved seeing the flagrant confusion on her face and let her rant away with her breathless questions.
Upon arrival at the terminal, we walked inside and I approached an airline representative and whispered some thing to her while my daughter leaned in conspicuously trying to eavesdrop. She demanded to know about the papers I was clutching in my hands and could those possibly be boarding cards?
“ Is our date a trip?” “Are we going on a trip?” “ How is that even possible?” “ Tell me, tell me, tell me!” She went on and on and I just smiled enjoying every single moment of this as I shepherded her towards the line for security.
By then she declared that we simply HAD to be going on a trip and there could be no other explanation. And yet as soon as she proclaimed that, she kept shaking her head that it just could not be possible.
As the line shuffled along slowly, the people around us were thoroughly intrigued by the drama that was unfolding as she vociferously clamored to know if we were actually traveling to some place or was this just an evil joke. People were amused by the volley of questions she aimed at me. They were fascinated that there was this seemingly mature young adult on a security line at the airport who did not know whether she was going on a trip or not. She didn’t look like a first time traveler but how was it even feasible that she didn’t know what was going on.
We cleared security and thankfully she behaved herself and did not draw too much attention to herself. I did not want to be the subject of the TSA scrutiny if they suspected I was abducting or manipulating her without her consent.
She followed me in a daze repeating over and over again, “Are we going somewhere?”
“ Where are we going?”
“But how can we be going because I have dinner and sleepover plans with my friends tonight. What am I supposed to tell them? They will never believe me!”
I tuned her out as I continued walking ahead with her following on my heels dazed and confused.
Finally we reach our gate and she looks thoroughly perplexed. “Frankfurt?” “ We are going to Frankfurt?”
Even if she had somehow convinced herself to believe that she was indeed going on a trip, she had not imagined it to be an international destination and she had certainly not expected Frankfurt. She almost looked a little disappointed. Even if it seemed so ludicrous that we just might be going on a trip, she had never imagined that this surprise would end up in Frankfurt.
As soon as they announced boarding and the throng of passengers rushed to the gate, she looked at me with wide eyes realizing that this was going to be the moment when she would know once and for all if we were indeed boarding a plane and leaving the country, or it was all a very elaborate and diabolical trick. I got up from my seat enthusiastically and indulgently smiled at her. “So are you ready to head out on our date?”
Speechless she followed me into the aircraft looking around her in bemused amazement and just not willing to believe that this was actually happening. While we settled down in our seats, she began to initiate a conference call with her friends because she knew she did not have the energy or patience to explain to each and every one of them why she would not be able to meet them for the dinner and sleepover that night. I enjoyed watching her trying to convince her friends that she was actually on board a plane. I could hear her frantically trying to assure them that she had no idea that this was going to happen and judging by her reaction I knew her friends were having a hard time believing her.
It wasn’t until the plane began to taxi and get ready for take off, that she finally took a deep breath in and her shoulders sagged as she exhaled away the bizarre developments of the day. Even though she had the boarding card in her hand that clearly showed Frankfurt, she still could not believe or understand how all this could have been planned without her even getting a whiff of a hint.
“So, THIS is the surprise?” she asked again staring at me stupefied.
“Don’t get me wrong – I am very excited but I am confused why you chose Frankfurt. I am happy to see Frankfurt of course but we had always spent time planning a trip to cities like Paris, Venice or Budapest so I am quite taken aback you chose Frankfurt.”
I confessed that this was just the first part of the surprise. I elaborated that we were actually going to rent a car in Frankfurt and drive to Munich. Her eyes widened in surprise and excitement. She liked the sound of that and somehow that made more sense to her and she finally settled down to an exhausted sleep.
Upon arrival at Frankfurt, we were amazed at how big and crowded the airport seemed compared to the last time we had transited through. We set off following the many signs and paths leading to the exit and other terminals. She followed me as we navigated through the congestion using the overhead directions. We continued to traverse the vast halls glamorized by the brightly lit stores and restaurants. It seemed like we were walking through a small self-sufficient city at the airport.
Worn out with the extensive walking, my daughter suddenly observed, “ It seems we have been walking around for a while. Does it really take that long to exit the terminal?”
“You know, you are absolutely right!” I answered. “ I too am fed up of walking around trying to find our way out. And it makes no sense to go through all this effort just to be able to drive to Munich? Lets just forget it!!” and with that I just stopped dead in my tracks.
She practically collided with me as I stopped short. She was rooted to the spot and just gaped at me as if I had lost it.
“What do you mean, lets forget it? Forget going to Munich?”
She looked at me stupefied and with her eyes glued to me for an answer. I nodded solemnly. She just continued to stare at me not knowing how to react.
Suddenly I reacted. “Wait, I have a brilliant idea. Lets just be spontaneous. Lets forget the plan for Munich and just go somewhere else.”
“But where can we just go?” she asked incredulously.
“Wherever our heart desires!” I replied in a conspiratorial tone.
She didn’t move but just continued to gawk at me as if I had suddenly sprouted another head. She tried to speak but in her desperate confusion, words just tumbled out of her mouth in a babbling garble. She tried again, slowly this time, trying to somehow comprehend the absurdity of my suggestion but gave up and just stood there simply shaking her head.
“Seriously”, I continued. “ Lets just go to whichever city speaks to us.”
“And how are we going to determine that?” she asked warily.
“Okay, here’s what we will do. Just a few steps away are departure gates leading to cities and towns all over Europe and perhaps even further. Lets just walk from one gate to the next and whichever destination appeals to us, we’ll just go there!”
I looked so confident as I blurted out this outlandish proposal, that she shrugged her shoulders and stated matter-of-factly, “Yeah, why not? This surprise date has been extraordinary right from the very beginning so why should this be any different? Nothing is going to astound me any more, so yeah, why not? Lets do as you say – wander from gate to gate and choose our destination.”
I could see in her quizzical eyes the many questions racing through her mind. We needed to buy a ticket to a destination, we needed to obtain a boarding card, and of course we couldn’t just choose a destination at the gate! But she was too overwhelmed to rationalize the facts any more and grinning broadly took my hand and we headed off towards the nearest departure gate.
The first gate had a flight leaving for Bremen. She looked at me warily waiting for my reaction and I declared that I did not want to go to Bremen. Grabbing my bag I started walking to the next gate rolling it behind me and she followed suit. The next gate had a plane heading to Odense. We both looked at each other and unanimously declared that we did not want to go there. She was beginning to get enthusiastic about this harebrained idea and cheerily marched up to the next gate where the destination showed Lublin. We glanced at the sign and back at each other and simultaneously started shaking our heads and giggling uncontrollably. We continued to walk up to the next gate, which showed Bern. “We have already been there” she claimed not even pausing for a moment while she briskly walked to the next gate and paused, staring at the destination sign. “Ostrava?” She looked at me questioningly and I shrugged and sheepishly replied that I didn’t know where this city was located. Gleefully we walked to the next gate and saw Amsterdam. She stopped short and turned around to look at me wide eyed. “Amsterdam”, she repeated slowly articulating out the syllables and liking how it sounded on her tongue. “Could we go to Amsterdam?” she whispered breathlessly.
I stared at the sign solemnly for a few seconds, glanced around at the waiting passengers as if making up my mind and looking back at her replied with a deadpan expression, “Ye-ah, we should go to Amsterdam!”
Her eyes got wider with wonder and disbelief. “ WE SHOULD?” she asked again. In response to that I just walked up to the staff at the gate desk and started talking to them. She just stood there where I had left her not daring to breathe or move a muscle. After a few minutes I turned back to her and she watched in wonder as I beckoned to her with boarding cards clutched in my hand. She walked up to me as if in a trance and asked incredulously, "Are we really going to Amsterdam?”
“That’s where you wanted to go to, right? So come on then, they should be starting to board any minute now.”
She clutched my hand and squeezed it tight and stared at me with utter astonishment and delight. “But how…?” she started to question but I pulled her to me and hugged her tight. Hand in hand we practically skipped to the plane smiling at everyone around us and almost wanting to shout out from the rooftops the incredible journey we had just physically and emotionally undertaken.
Settling down in our seats and looking around with relief and unbridled joy she turned to me and mouthed a huge thank you to me silently.
I felt that I had been holding my breath all this while and I finally let go with a gush of jubilant relief and declared that we had five days in lovely Amsterdam to explore and enjoy.
“Surprised?” I asked her indulgently.
“Totally!!” she replied shaking her head in awe and admiration.
“Yay, I did it!” I silently applauded myself in glee.
The best part was that this was just the beginning of the trip that I had planned but already we had experienced so much together that it almost felt that the trip had started a long time ago.
It was only much later that I would tell her all the planning and plotting I had done to organize this trip.
I would tell her how I did not get a good fare for a direct flight to Amsterdam so I chose one via Frankfurt.
I would tell her how I had secretly packed both our bags and hid them in the trunk waiting for us when we would head out on our date.
I would tell her that getting her to Frankfurt was one part of the surprise and just when she thought the game was up, I would spring Amsterdam upon her and surprise her even further.
I would tell her that the bizarre idea of choosing departure gates just came to me simply out of the blue while we were standing in Frankfurt airport. I had surreptitiously checked the departure gate for Amsterdam and I was heading in that direction with her in tow. Just a few gates away from where we had to be, this idea suddenly materialized in my head and before I knew what was happening, the words simply came out of my mouth on their own accord.
I would tell her in wonder and awe, that on that day the gods of good fortune (and the gods of surprises) were smiling down on me. It was sheer luck that each and every destination we came across at each gate was unappealing to her.
I would tell her how freakishly fortunate I was because the first destination that genuinely interested her was Amsterdam!
I would tell her that I already had the boarding cards from Frankfurt to Amsterdam and I was merely pretending to amaze her and ‘book’ our seats at the departure gate.
I had a lot to tell her but I also had a lot of new memories to create with her and I was so eager to get started.
But at that moment I had to stop and silently congratulate myself.
I had pulled it off!