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“I tried my best to resist, but dropped an extra £30 per person for different flight times. The original flights we were given from London Stansted (with Ryanair) landed late in Milan Bergamo (around 8pm) and they came back very early two nights later (around 7am), so that would only have given us a full day to explore.”

“The upgraded flights left on a Thursday at 8am and landed back at Stansted at 5pm on Saturday, giving us much more time and bringing our costs so far to £129 each, but it didn’t stop there. During our call the adviser repeatedly said “are you sure you don’t want to upgrade the hotel package as it’s a bit far away” and wanting to stay as close to the £99 price as possible I declined (and I wish I hadn’t).

“One piece of advice for anyone looking to book is to keep in mind that the transportation upgrades they offer will not be the only options available. We declined the Wowcher airport transfer from Milan Bergamo to Lake Garda (starting at €80) and booked a journey of 1 hour and 45 minutes, one minute train (€15 each).”

Once they landed in Italy and took the train to their hotel, Harriet felt “upset” because she claimed that the location of the accommodation was “so far” from her “surprise destination”. As a result, the couple found it cheaper to book a hotel in the center of Pescheira than to pay for transportation to and from their original hotel.

“Simply put, our hotel was so far from Lake Garda that it would have cost us £160 (minimum) in travel costs to get to and from during our trip,” he said. “On the advisory call I had seen on Google maps, it was about a 14-18 minute drive away, which assuming there was reliable public transportation, I thought I was more than fine.

“It wasn’t, as we were visiting Lake Garda during the ‘low season’, there were no bus routes to Affi and no train routes on the line we had traveled from Milan. Our nearest lake side town from Garda was Pescheira – from here we were quoted €40-45 ONE WAY in a taxi to and from our hotel – this would not have been a problem if our hotel was close to some restaurants, parks, shops etc, but to make matters worse things, we were on the side of a turnpike, next to a gas station.

“Once we checked in, we sat in the room adding up the cost and calculated that we would spend at least €160 over the two days in taxi fares (on top of the €80 price it cost us to realize our mistake and come back and vice versa the first night.) For us, it was a ridiculous amount to spend just for round trips and I was annoyed that the location was so far from our ‘surprise destination’.So, we checked out after an hour and booked a hotel in the center of the city of Pescheira for €85 for two nights (just over half the cost of the taxi).”

After landing in Bergamo, Harriet and her partner took a €20 taxi to the city center and spent most of the day exploring, including a trip to the top of the city’s ‘Citta Alta’. They then took the train from Bergamo Central Station to Pescheira (one of the largest towns on Lake Garda), which took one hour and 45 minutes.

On the second day of their break, the couple visited some of the other towns around Lake Garda. As for hidden costs, Harriet cautioned potential Wowcher clients to be wary of some elements of the deal.

Harriet said: “Of course, the Wowcher trip can be as cheap or as ‘fancy’ as you want. We were on a mission to stick to their £99 motto as much as possible and count everything but the money we spend on sightseeing and food , we spent around £230 each.

“A breakdown: £99 Wowcher, £30 flight upgrade, £30 petrol to Stansted airport, £15 train ticket, £20 taxi to Bergamo station, £40 taxi to first hotel.

• Pay extra if you fly out of London airports
• You can pay more to get “better” flight times (to extend the amount of time you have at the destination)
• The hotels included are not central, they have to update
• The price does not include any additional baggage on the flights; you must book an additional cabin or bring a suitcase
• The price does not include transportation to and from the airports”

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