My festive surprise, by TravelMole travel agent columnist Barbara Charlton (Travel Counsellors)
With Christmas coming up I thought you might like this little story of a Christmas surprise I planned for one of my customers who had booked a Lapland trip with me.
My client had booked a surprise trip for his wife and three children months ago, and as the time drew near for the tickets to arrive, I devised a cunning plan to get those tickets delivered to the wife and children in a very special way!
I managed to bribe my 13 year old daughter to dress up as one of Santa’s special Elves to fly in and deliver the tickets in person on behalf of Santa. We bought a special costume and the obligatory pointed elf ears and off we went in the rain and wind to deliver the tickets 10 miles away.
My elfen daughter had her name changed especially for the occasion to ‘Loupee’. She knocked on the door and gave the girls a special invitation letter from Santa along with a special calendar with a ‘countdown to Lapland’ theme, for them to mark the days until they went.
I must say Loupee had a strange and wonderful accent, that was a sort of cross between Swedish and Bulgarian, I think! But those children and their mummy were mesmerised and in total shock that they had such an important visitor.
I LOVE my job, and if I can do it to please other people in original ways too, so much the better.
Of course, the forthcoming article in the local paper will probably not do me any harm, and will only add to the job satisfaction this little exercise brought.
Phil Davies
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