Welcoming him to my country!! :) Ideas?

[ferakin]

Hii

Just a quick intro to you all since i've never posted here before - hello! I'm currently halfway through a degree in spanish and arabic in the UK, 5500 odd miles from my boyfriend, who lives in Mexico! We met on my gap year out there in 2009 and he's since been over once for christmas 2 years ago, whilst i've been over there 4 times since.

....so, to the point!

He's coming over for christmas again this year (yay! English christmas!!) and i'm going to pick him up in the airport and bring him back to the uni.
When he came over last time, it was all a bit weird for me (if you have ever been in that situation, you may know what I mean?) and I think I was very English and cold, greeting him with a quick hug and kiss (didn't help that all my family was there too).

So this time I want to make him feel like I actually DO want him here!!
But I can't think of any ideas.

For example, the first time I went back to Mexico he arrived with a dozen roses, and then had decorated his room with hearts made of felt with "i love....[insert attribute here] written on them as well as heart balloons and on the bed tons of petals spelling out our initials framed by a heart made of petals.
When I went back for christmas that year, just after my birthday, he had got a professional graffiti artist to write "I love [my name]" on the wall of his house, about the size of a car, with other drawings of things I liked or that meant something to us both - and his house is right on a main road so everybody who drives through sees it!!

When I went over this summer for his birthday I made it a suprise visit and got his friend to pick me up, and take me to a chalet where I waited in a nice dress with music that I had recorded on the piano playing in the background. His friends somehow convinced him to come out that night and tricked him into coming to the chalet, where I was waiting for him.

I want to do something perhaps not so grand but at the same time memorable!! But I have no ideas!!!
In any case, big ideas are VERY welcome as he'll be here for our 3 year anniversary and we have never been together for the anniversary (nor valentines day) so it should be something special

So far my only ideas are to make sure I arrive at the airport with some nice home-made biscuits, a bottle of water (always thirsty after flights!!), perhaps a beer or something, and a banner with his name/ I love you on.

I would love to prepare a meal, before anybody suggests that, but it's about a 5 hour train ride from the airport to the uni (involving a train, two tubes, a long coach ride, and then a short taxi ride) so I can't really do that! Plus we'll get in around 9 30 at night.

Please help!!! I only have a few weeks to plan this!! ))

Thanks and hello!

[lucybelle]

For me, I really am not interested in doing anything big after a long flight. Mexico to England is far enough, plus another 5 hours in train? Geeze louise! When my SO moved in with me, I just put up some streamers in my apartment and cut out letters from construction paper saying "Welcome Home". Maybe you could put "happy anniversary" or something. I also had some fruit, cheese, crackers, wine and other snacks. I didn't want to make dinner and I knew he wouldn't want to go out.

Oh another idea just hit me. How bout instead of going back to your uni that same night, you book a night at a local bed and breakfast? They're super cute and comfy, and you can usually arrange to have wine or snacks waiting for you in your room.

[Haley53]

I tend to find that B&B's can be a bit pricey. Here, B&B's run 200.00 and up and you have to arrive no later than 6 and leave no later than 10 in the morning, so I've avoided them on that basis. :/ However, it may be my location and irregardless, if you have the money to spend for/on it, it could be nice.

Other than that, I agree with lucybelle. I've never felt like doing much after a long flight. Total travel time to Ireland was around 14-15 hours, plus the 20 minutes it took to get to his house, and considering I don't sleep on planes... I was exhausted on arrival and wanted nothing more than to cuddle and sleep. You could plan on doing what you're doing at the airport, the banner and biscuits etc., and then get up super early (if he stirs, tell him you want him to sleep in and you will be back to bed in a little bit) and make him breakfast in bed? Or get up and spread a path of rose petals to your kitchen, put together a breakfast display, and then cook breakfast there? You could already have some fruits and juices laid out so if he's like me and a light sleeper, if he gets up to follow the petal path to the kitchen, the display would have some yummy snacks laid out already while you cooked eggs and bacon or pancakes or crepes or whatever your fancy. :P

Doing something the next morning would also catch him a bit off-guard, I'm sure, but in the good way.

[thompsongazelle1]

hmm you could use your wild imagination here!! if i were doing this, i would think of ways i would want to be welcome if the roles were reversed.

so if you want to make a romantic dinner for you two, do it the night after he flies in. make it candle-lit with romantic decorations and his favorite meal. (if you can't cook like me, order take out lol)

in the mean time, you could decorate your pad with welcome decorations and things like that. but after a long flight, i would just want to go straight to sleep next to my SO. when he came down here to visit me, (i'm in ohio, he's in michigan) the first thing we did was he picked me up from my residence hall, went to the hotel, and slept and cuddled. best thing ever. i wouldn't have wanted anything else.

maybe you could take him on a tour of your town so he can see where you're living, not just from what you've said? i did that for my SO and he loved it.

overall, i think just spending quality time with your SO will be magical. just put in the extra effort to make it the most romantic and magical night ever.

[kat4301]

I am stealing this from other people on here, but I like the simple idea of keeping a running list now of the things you wish you could do once you are together, maybe he could do the same thing and you could collaborate right before he gets there. It might make the LDR waiting a little easier. I like your idea of food and whatnot when he gets off the plane, pay attention to anything he might say now, like he might mention how much he likes chocolate eclairs, then you could bring those. My SO loves when I remember weird dessert cravings he has and then I get them for his birthday or a visit.

[ferakin]

thanks for the ideas guys! the bed and breakfast sounds cool but we get in so late that I don't know if they'd have us! my uni room is pretty nice so hopefully it won't matter too much :/
i really like the breakfast in bed thing - actually i could cook him a full English, that'd be quite fitting wouldn't it! I do have classes that morning but whether or not i'll make it to them is another question! not sure about the rose petals though since I share the house with 5 others
if the weathers okay the next day then yeah we can go for a little wonder, have a walk through the parks and stuff. it wouldn't be a real tour since he has been here before (and im rubbish at directions so dont really know where much is haha).
i like the idea of a list of things to do together, i think i'll suggest that to him. even if its just obvious stuff like snuggling or watching a film together.

youre all right though: its horrible having a long flight and a long day and all you want is a bit of drink, a bit of food and to shower and sleep next to your loved one. though given the journey back to uni he'll probably nod off on the coach! wouldnt be surprised if i did too!

i know this is cheesy, but what do you all think to biscuits in the shape of a heart with nice things written on top or something along those lines? or maybe each one has a letter on top which spells out "i love you"? or do you think he wouldnt even notice due to tiredness and hunger?

any more ideas very very welcome! thanks guys

[ferakin]

thanks for the ideas guys! the bed and breakfast sounds cool but we get in so late that I don't know if they'd have us! my uni room is pretty nice so hopefully it won't matter too much :/
i really like the breakfast in bed thing - actually i could cook him a full English, that'd be quite fitting wouldn't it! I do have classes that morning but whether or not i'll make it to them is another question! not sure about the rose petals though since I share the house with 5 others
if the weathers okay the next day then yeah we can go for a little wonder, have a walk through the parks and stuff. it wouldn't be a real tour since he has been here before (and im rubbish at directions so dont really know where much is haha).
i like the idea of a list of things to do together, i think i'll suggest that to him. even if its just obvious stuff like snuggling or watching a film together.

youre all right though: its horrible having a long flight and a long day and all you want is a bit of drink, a bit of food and to shower and sleep next to your loved one. though given the journey back to uni he'll probably nod off on the coach! wouldnt be surprised if i did too!

i know this is cheesy, but what do you all think to biscuits in the shape of a heart with nice things written on top or something along those lines? or maybe each one has a letter on top which spells out "i love you"? or do you think he wouldnt even notice due to tiredness and hunger?

any more ideas very very welcome! thanks guys

[princessmeg1328]

I live in Texas and my SO lives in England. I know whenever I have to make that flight, I'm always hungry and tired afterwards so I think having some nibbles for him would be nice. My journey afterwards isn't quite as long as yours, but I have a two hour car ride. I think it would be nice to have some activities for the two of you to do on the train. Maybe take a game or something else he enjoys. I usually try not to sleep during the day and then just go to bed early that night. I don't know if your SO is the same, but having something for the two of you to do would make the five hours go by more quickly and let you have some instant bonding. I think he would love it if you had heart-shaped biscuits. I don't know if he would notice the "I love you," but I still think it's a nice idea.

I would definitely do the full English. There's nothing better after having a long flight the day before than to start the next with a proper meal.

[NineInchNails_x]

About the bed and breakfast thing- Maybe skip the train ride for the last few hrs and spend the night where his plane landed? I'm sure he won't want to be in a train for another five hrs. You could stop and sleep in a nice hotel or B&B, order room service in the morning, and then get on the train home. That way he would have gotten plenty of sleep and he would be up and ready for fun! And you could always decorate your room or have someone else prepare a dinner so as soon as you get home it's ready and you can just go in and relax and eat. I'm not planning anything special lol. My boyfriend is coming home in a couple of days and I just made sure I had like 100 dollars for gas so we can go sightseeing together and to a movie or something. He doesn't want or need all the frills, he is just happy to be home and I'm sure your SO is the same way (: