Search icon

Family dynamics

09th Dec 2017

Irish woman flies more than 7,000 km to surprise her brother for Christmas

'Tis the season, after all.

Keeley Ryan

Talk about sibling goals.

Christmas is only around the corner, which means it’s around that time of year when all the heartwarming videos of loved ones flying home for the holidays will begin to appear.

But one Irish woman in particular has gone viral for her holiday journey to surprise her brother and his wife.

DJ Claire Beck flew more than 7,000 km to Canada surprise her brother – and deliver a very special (and we reckon very well appreciated) early gift.

Claire’s brother Declan moved to Vancouver around seven years ago, where he fell in love with and married a Canadian woman – they’ve got a daughter together, and are currently expecting their second child.

Declan, whom Claire calls ‘Derris’, and his wife Meredith (or Merris) have been back to Ireland once since then, in 2012.

And while Claire has been over to visit “a handful of times” over the years, they haven’t seen each other for a year and a half.

So, to celebrate the holidays early, she decided to fly over 7,000 km to Vancouver to surprise him  – and bring him a very Irish hangover cure on the way (after all, it was his work Christmas party on Friday night).

She explained on Twitter:

“Even though Derris has been crazy busy in work and prepping for baby #2, he’s still been checking on me regularly.
“I can never repay him for all the love, joy and support he’s given me over the years. But I wanted to do one small nice thing for him.
“We haven’t had a Christmas together in 7 years, I haven’t seen him in a year and a half. His Christmas office party is tonight.
“He’s not a big Tayto or Cadburys guy, but apart from Guinness and me (obviously) the main thing he misses from home is going to the fridge to get an ice cold Lucozade after a heavy night out.
 “Canada is fierce health conscious, they don’t have it there.
“And that is why I’m flying this bottle of Lucozade over 7000km in time for Derris getting home from his Christmas office party.
“He has NO IDEA I’m coming and I cannot wait to see his face.”

She shared the full story on Twitter, from every missed train, delayed plane, all down to her arrival in Canada.

In the late hours of the Friday evening (Vancouver time), Claire added a video of their homecoming after Declan returned home from his Christmas party – and it will absolutely warm your heart.

Social media users were moved by Claire’s lovely early Christmas gesture for her brother.
Word of the story eventually reached Lucozade themselves, who later got in touch with Claire and promised to send out some more bottles to Declan.