Seeking long lines...

May 12, 2013 7:44 PM

Do you know some long-wait presents? I am planning an anniversary gift, and I would like to show that I want to be with this person for a long time. I am interested in signing up for some long wait tours, experiences or gifts. I am thinking of things like the Canadian flag at parliament hill - a 25 year wait list, but anything >1 year is good.

Bonus points for NZ and Canadian things due to nationalities.

posted by anonymous to Human Relations (16 answers total)

There's no wait list yet AFAIK, but how about a plan to share the total solar eclipse of August 2, 2027?
It' has the longest duration of totality of any eclipse in the next 50 years, and it passes directly over the island of Cyprus and the Egyptian pyramids. You could make it into something quite memorable!
posted by TDIpod at 8:08 PM on May 12, 2013 [12 favorites]

It's not a year, but if you planned to get on the waiting list of French Laundry, it's not only a matter of a long wait, but also of persistence and being committed to giving your partner the very best.
posted by xingcat at 8:17 PM on May 12, 2013 [3 favorites]

Try making your own pitch drop experiment.
posted by perpetualstroll at 8:21 PM on May 12, 2013 [4 favorites]

Green Bay Packers (NFL) season tickets. According to Wikipedia, 96,000 people on the waiting list and an anticipated time of 38 years.
posted by blob at 8:26 PM on May 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

I always liked the idea of buying a case of wine and labelling each bottle in advance for significant events to come in the future.
posted by lemniskate at 8:31 PM on May 12, 2013 [10 favorites]

Dinner reservations at The French Laundry.
posted by Miko at 8:41 PM on May 12, 2013 [4 favorites]

Make a time capsule that the two of you will unearth together in 25 years. Put some cool stuff in there- current indicators of who you are today, your best guess of who you will become in 25 years, a picnic blanket, a bottle of wine and a love letter. Put it somewhere good that you'd like to visit again in the future.
posted by bkeene12 at 8:59 PM on May 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

Seeing the mention of a plan to share a future eclipse and also the NZ/Canadian bit at the end made me think that any sort of national anniversaries might be good -- centennials/sesquicentennials/bicentennials/whatever of significant events that will probably be celebrated in some sort of significant way.

Also, maybe one of those things where you buy in at a winery/distillery for a certain vintage of something to be delivered when it's done, so you could buy in now for an 18-year Scotch or something. I don't know of any specific places that do this, but I'm pretty sure it's a thing.
posted by naturalog at 10:19 PM on May 12, 2013

La Sagrada Familia, the amazing unfinished cathedral that is Gaudi's masterwork, is scheduled to be completed in Barcelona in 2026. Or 2028, depending - it's been under construction for 140 years, so what's a year or two on that timeline?

The cathedral was designed as testament to Gaudi's devotion to God and even incomplete, is utterly breathtaking and transcendent. Go inside, hold your love's hand, tilt your heads back, and look up.
posted by deliciae at 10:24 PM on May 12, 2013 [3 favorites]

Trees.
posted by aniola at 10:34 PM on May 12, 2013 [5 favorites]

What a beautiful idea for a present. How about World Cups 2014, 2018, or 2022? Global sports extravaganzas aren't problem free, but getting to see one as a spectator has got to be awesome.

Alternatively, given the NZ / Canada context, Commonwealth Games 2014 (Scotland) and 2018 (Australia)?
posted by spamandkimchi at 11:04 PM on May 12, 2013

A number of types of nut trees (pecan, black walnut,...) take a long time (10-25 yrs?) to reach the point of maturity where they begin to produce nuts.
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:17 PM on May 12, 2013 [2 favorites]

Cyclical/long wait nature things: century plants, periodical cicadas (though I can't imagine how this present would work, "honey, I buried a plague of locusts underneath our house, happy anniversary!"), and total eclipses somewhat near to either NZ/Canada (March 2016, August 2017)

The most in-demand fine dining restaurants seem to only book reservations a few months in advance?
posted by spamandkimchi at 11:27 PM on May 12, 2013 [2 favorites]

I like the trees idea: either a young tree and a couple seats to sit in its year-from-now eventual shade; or nut trees with recipes for the future --- a young pecan tree, for instance, with recipes for pecan pie and a note about how you're looking forward to sharing that pie with your SO.

And, of course, there's always putting down a case of wine to age for a decade or three.
posted by easily confused at 2:45 AM on May 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

You can apply to get into the lottery to get onto the waiting list to buy a house on Toronto Island but you'll be waiting a long time before you get offered a house.
posted by windykites at 6:04 AM on May 13, 2013

Previously and previously.
posted by cider at 6:05 AM on May 13, 2013