Is it possible to book an open-ended trip?

[Sabine]

My mom has a bunch of milestones coming up, namely her 50th bday and her graduation from college. My brother and our spouses would love to do something special for her to mark the occasions, and she''s been talking FOREVER about wanting to go to Australia.

Would it be possible to book a trip for her that has open-ended dates so that she could choose when she wanted to go? How would that work with both the flight/hotel reservations? Also, would it be possible to book a guest ticket without the name of guest so she could choose who she wants to go with? If not, any other suggestions?

If Australia doesn''t work out, we would consider booking a cruise for her. Do cruiselines have multiple departure dates for the same cruise, so that if we booked the room, she could choose from a few options of when she would go?

 

[iheartscience]

I don''t think you can book an open flight/trip like that.

We are sending my parents on a trip for their 40th anniversary this year, but couldn''t decide exactly when or where they would want to go. So we put together a little dossier of all the different trips we could send them on and let them choose.

So if I were you, I would just put together a nicely planned out itinerary with photos, etc., and present it to her as a big gift. Then she can choose dates, who to go with, etc. (Obviously price everything out first so you know if you can afford to do the Australia trip or the cruise or whatever you decide!)

 

[Anastasia]

I like Thing2of2''s suggestion. First of all, with all of the security issues and identification requirements, I don''t think you could book tickets that weren''t for a specific itinerary or a specific person.

Second, I wouldn''t want to commit the money to one airline/hotel/cruise line, not being sure of all of the specifics.

I believe you can buy gift certificates from travel agencie, but I wouldn''t recommend this either.

You are very sweet to do this for her!