Mum takes her daughter on day trip to Italy for less than the price of a pizza
A mother has taken her daughter on a day trip to Italy for less than the price of a pizza.
Suzanne Stevens, 41, and her daughter Libby, 11, flew to Pisa for just £24.99 return after Suzanne organised the surprise mother-daughter trip.
"We had the best time – it was so nice to go away to a place that I otherwise wouldn't think of going," the Kent mum says.
"I didn't tell Libby, and we got an early morning flight as a surprise. We just walked around. We went into a lot of the shops, and we played cards in a restaurant where we had an authentic Italian pizza and some gelato too.
"We climbed up the Leaning Tower of Pisa and took some pictures there. Then it was time for the flight home. Even that was fun for my daughter despite being delayed – she just practiced her TikTok dances in the airport."
After deciding she wanted to book in a surprise treat for her daughter, Suzanne was disheartened after finding that spa sessions cost around £60 for either a morning or afternoon session.
She decided to think out of the box and found cheap flights to Italy instead, and didn’t do any planning before they went so they could do what they felt like when they were there.
"I put it into Google and looked at the cheapest flights that came up, which was Pisa for £24.99," she explains. "We had an early morning flight at 7 or 8 am. It was such good value for money when it would have cost around £60 for a morning or afternoon session in a spa. You can't go bowling with an adult and a child without paying £15 and that's only for 20 minutes – me and my daughter got a whole day out."
Suzanne and Libby spent about 12 hours in Pisa, and Suzanne estimates she spent £120 in total, including the flight.
"The price of going up the Leaning Tower of Pisa wasn't outrageous,” she adds. “I thought it was very reasonable, maybe around €10 (£8.66) per person. We probably spent an additional €20 (£17.33) to €30 (£25.99) per person on food that saw us through the whole day.
"I'd never really thought about going to Pisa before – there are other places in Italy that I'm more drawn to, but I was very driven by the cost, and thought it was a great way to explore a place I wouldn't be willing to book for a two or three day holiday."
After having a taste for a cheap day trip, Suzanne has started to scout other cheap destinations to fly to - with Copenhagen in Denmark at the top of her list.
"I really want to go there, but I know it's quite expensive to stay in, so a day trip is a great way to get around that,” she adds.
"My advice to anyone else considering going abroad for the day is to not overthink it. Make a list of certain things that you're interested in, then just explore and have a look around. We knew we wanted to go to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but we left everything else to chance."
Cheap day trips: Read more
Is booking cheap flights for a day out abroad insanity or genius? (Yahoo Life UK, 5-min read)
Friends splurge £285 on a day trip to Italy - and admit it was ‘exhausting’ (Yahoo Life UK, 4-min read)
Mums travel to Ibiza for a 12-hour holiday – and return in time for the school run (Yahoo Life UK, 2-min read)
Watch: 'We flew to Milan for an 18-hour spa trip for just £102 - we were home in time for the school run'
