I had planned to spend the entire summer in South America, before realizing earlier in the year that I didn't want to travel alone anymore. She was going on a cruise with her parents in May that ended up in Venice, so I thought that meeting her there with a ring might be a pretty good idea. Especially since I sent her fake photographs of my trip in "Argentina" and allowed her to believe that she wouldn't be seeing me for a long time once she got back. Needless to say, I think she was pretty surprised when she saw me walking over a canal bridge toward her. It definitely took a few seconds for the multiple levels of the surprise to set in, but she said yes!