Staff reporter
While Christmas may still be a few weeks away, apparently jolly old St. Nick couldn’t wait and paid an early visit to a local couple where he left behind a mighty nice surprise at the home of Henry and Margaret De Vries.
Actually, the De Vries’ were the lucky winners of a draw made through their travel agency with the prize being reimbursement for the entire cost of their recently booked holiday to the Dominican Republic.
“In conjunction with Travel Professionals International’s (TPI) 15th anniversary, every month they are giving away prizes and I entered the De Vries’ name in the draw and out of about 7,200 entries across Canada, their name was chosen,” said travel agent Sandy McLary. “I’m very happy for Henry and Margaret. They deserved to win.”
Booked through Transat Holidays, the couple will depart for the Bahia Principe San Juan Puerto Plata in the tiny Caribbean nation on Dec. 1 and have already began planning another trip early next year, following the windfall that carries a retail value of between $2,800 and $3,000.
“She (McLary) was bringing us out our tickets and she said she had some other great news and that was that we had won and would have the cost of our trip to the Dominican Republic given back to us. I was ecstatic. I have never won more than $50 in my whole life, or my husband Henry either,” De Vries said of the win. “I was on Cloud 9 for three days, and still am. It’s an awesome Christmas present and now we can really enjoy our holiday and maybe go on another trip in February.”
Remarkably, the couple was presented with the reimbursement cheque on the very same day they received the credit card bill for the holiday. The trip will mark the third time the couple has travelled to the Dominican Republic. They have also visited many other destinations in their journeys every winter.