To ask you to help me process things and get home from France.

I think you nee£ to reply to the text saying you understand but you need a call first thing in the morning to discuss logistics for the rest of the holiday: travel, Disney etc

@Notsurehowtoprocessthis Like some others have said, keep your fingers crossed for this morning. It's hard to judge without knowing the situation or the people, but here's something that's super easy to loose sight of in the heat of them moment - or it is for me at least!

When people get tired, hungry, thirsty, frazzled, frustrated, and to the limit of what they can cope with, that can make us say and do all kinds of stupid shit, because we're not thinking about the long term consequences of effects of our actions, we just need to make ourselves feel better RIGHT NOW, and nothing else worries us.

Until a few hours later when we wake up and think "Jesus fcuking Christ what have I done, how am I.. what th.. ok, that'll be me fcuked then.. FCUK!!", then have to do the walk of shame round to their mates house and face the music like "Mate, you know that thing last night with the.. er.. huh..". See how the land lies after breakfast and go from there :)

A large rucksack / backpack would be more useful than a suitcase. A large rucksack would have been a far more sensible option in the first place than a bag for life. You can stuff lots of stuff in and it would have squished up in the car.

Stop referring to this person as a friend. They aren't.

To leave someone with an young child stranded in another country when you've taken the responsibility to drive them there, is beyond shitty.

You could order a suitcase from amazon.fr, next day delivery, the campsite office should be able to receive a parcel for you. Alternatively consider boxing up the bulky stuff and posting home, just travel with the essentials then you're not lugging suitcases around between trains etc. Services like DPD will do door to door with collection.

You say that your daughter's reaction was to her daughter's blood. How hurt was this little girl? I am just wondering whether your friend was very worried and upset about her daughter, and couldn't cope with your daughter's meltdown in that moment, or was upset if you didn't seem interested in the fact that her daughter was hurt.

I suppose I am playing devils advocate. You are really good friends who are on holiday together yet she feels no qualms about dumping you there without the means to get home. She must know that this will end your friendship. Either she really is a terrible person or there is something about this event that we are missing. Are you also autistic, and could this lead to you misunderstanding or misconstruing a situation?

Either way, I guess your priority now is to get your daughter to Disneyland - assuming she wants to go - and then buying a bag that will get your belongings safely home via the most convenient and affordable method. I don't think you need to consider how any changes to your return journey might affect your friend in these circumstances.

Your ‘friend’ is a horror. But to answer your question. Yes absolutely cancel the travel home on your discount and rebook as foot passengers if you need to. If she doesn’t take you home then you owe her nothing. If she doesn’t take you home she’s an absolute piece of shit.

@Notsurehowtoprocessthis
U need to send your friend a message asking for details on pickup time for going home. Assume she is coming go get yous until she says otherwise, if she says she mot then she's a bigger c*nt and have it out with her. She knows you've no way to get home because she brought you. Also, think hard about continuing this friendship...or not

She said “hadn't booked yet as we were unsure whether to go for the day tomorrow or Friday due to weather forecasts”

she has tickets but if she hasn’t booked yet it may be fully booked, I do think OP should’ve booked a date before telling her child.

I hope that your friend is having a re-think about her plans, OP, as they also need to include consideration for you and your daughter. You've paid the transport element and she really needs to honour that, she knows you can't drive.

What a stressful situation for you, I would be stressed as well. I hope tomorrow brings better things. I agree with the posters advising that you talk together in person, not do this over text messages, it's so easy for those to be misconstrued.

I'm sorry that your longed for holiday has turned a bit pear-shaped and I hope your friend is decent enough to realise that she has an obligation to get you and your daughter home again as agreed.

So sorry this has happened. Would it be easier to fly home if your friend does choose to move on? May be more straight forward with your little one.

If it were me I would sort a case, go to Disney and get the train from there to the airport (funds permitting). Write the pillows and blanket off. It will be too hard to cope with your little one.

Hope it all blows over by tomorrow. Best of luck.

I just wanted to say OP that I'm sorry you're facing this. It's a really difficult and unpleasant position to have been put in. I would find it awful (and I could like you make a plan and get through it) but it's really not fair that you have to. I'm sorry this has happened to you.

I think you should take a day or two to process everything and concentrate on having a nice time with your daughter for the rest of the holiday, it's not going to be a problem to get back to the UK so don't rush any decisions, you can always leave some things behind if you need to or post them back to yourself in the UK if you need to get rid of one of your bags, just travel with what you need, the bare essentials.

Personally I would forget about the ferry, there's no need to use it without a car and you'll have the travel to and from the ferry terminals to pay for, so wouldn't it be easier to get the eurostar direct and then you only need to find onward travel from St Pancras?

If you've still got a few days left try and book Disney using your free tickets, even if you don't end up using them, I suspect she may have already used the tickets though.. forget Disney if it becomes too complicated though, it really isn't a necessity.

If you need more specific help then you could post your location and dates of travel and people could help sourcing things/travel options for you.

If friend does leave you then talk to the campsite manager and see if they have any advice.
Look at Bla bla car.
Go on fb and look at lifts in France for everyone.
Also join ladies in France together for help in your area.

Good luck.

If she leaves you there and drives back alone then she's bang out of order and yes, I'd change the travel booking you've got to something that suits you and never speak to her again. How awful

@Lovefromjuliaxo

Re: your comment "Disney should’ve been booked and paid for already before op told her child, op says she hasn’t actually booked her tickets yet."

If you read the OP's posts she has got free tickets from a friend whose DH works for Disney.

"Another friend gave me two free tickets because her hubby works for Disney, which I was going to share with my friend and we were going to buy a child ticket each. I hadn't used the free tickets to book a date yet. I had emailed my friend the two free tickets to print out for us and I'm hoping she doesn't use them for herself. "

She also did not want to tell her child until they were en route to Disney:

"The other thing is, is that my friend was really keen for us to do Disney on this holiday for a day. I went along with it to be a good friend, even though it's a big extra expense on what was supposed to be a cheap holiday, and she wanted to tell the children before we had booked it. Anyway I was only able to go as she gets DLA for her child so booked queue jump for us via her DLA. I can't take my DD now as she can't cope with queues and her DLA hasn't been processed yet. My friend did a big surprise thing with getting them to scratch scratch cards to see where they're going even after I said let's tell them when we are on the way, because I didn't want to make promises which might not be kept, knowing how tired everyone gets on holiday. Now I have to tell my dd that her friend is leaving early and we can't go to Disney now either. "

Your friend would be horrible if she left you like that. Hope she doesn’t.

Taking a breath here, surely your friend can take your stuff back even if you end up travelling separately? Just take a small bag with necessities.

However, the main thing is for you and friend to talk like adults not get into a ping pong of text messages especially if you're both currently in the same caravan. Is there any way the kids can be entertained tomorrow while you both work out a plan to get home, be it time apart then travel back together, travel separately or whatever.

Disney should’ve been booked and paid for already before op told her child, op says she hasn’t actually booked her tickets yet.

I think you need to speak to your friend in the morning and clarify exactly what her plans are.

The deal was you booked the accommodation and she dealt with the transport. If she is now refusing to take you back to the UK you need to ask her how she intends to compensate you for this in terms of buying suitcases and travel tickets.

This isn't as simple as her changing plans to suit herself. It has a massive impact on you and your DD.

Hopefully she hasn't booked anything and is just having a moment. Or are very least she is planning to stay elsewhere then come back to pick you up to return to the UK.

But if she has (and it sounds like she has) then unless she honours her promise to sort the travel then all bets are off and I'd absolutely change the ferry booking in your favour and recind the offer of the Disney tickets (can you get your friend who offered them to cancel them and issue you new ones so she can't use them - or at least say that's what you intend to do in light of her actions).

Frankly I find her reaction really cruel. Stranding a friend and their child abroad is beyond shitty. Even threatening it is.

Add to that having built up Disney for both children and putting you in a position that makes it difficult to fulfill is really awful.

Sadly I think unless she apologises tomorrow and agrees not to leave you in the lurch then you need to do whatever you need to do for yourself and DD even if it inconveniences/costs her - as she clearly doesn't care about doing that to you.

I'm honestly pretty shocked anyone could consider doing this tbh.

I just said what I said, as if you didn’t, or if she knew said child was autistic and not about the meltdowns (not all autistic children have them), it can be quite distressing, overwhelming and scary (especially for another child) to see a autistic person have a meltdown. I am autistic, and I genuinely think if I had a NT child who didn’t understand autism yet, and I hadn’t had a chance to explain as the mother hadn’t told me about the meltdowns, I too would want to get out of there. The mother may be concerned incase her daughter hurts herself again (as all kids do) and your child has another. Or concerned that it could happen in Disneyland if your child finds it overwhelming.

ive not been to Disney world/ land but I would defo check if you can definitely still get tickets if you aren’t booked in yet. I also agree with PP that theme parks can be overwhelming for those who are autistic. Especially Disney which can be super busy especially at this time of year. Disney should’ve been booked and paid for, and alternative travel should’ve been looked at (buses trains) incase the car broke down or something before you told your child and got their hopes up.

I also would’ve made a contingency plan to get home in case anything had happened, your friend took unwell or god forbid there was an accident. Especially with a child with autism.

I don’t agree with what your friend did, but I think it was partly shock and heat of the moment stress. I would talk again in the morning.

OP, don't do this until you have spoken with your friend.

Your friend didn't want to stay in the same accommodation as you after what happened to her child and your's child's reaction to it.

Which is not unreasonable if your friend has a lot going on in her life and is not totally enjoying the holiday.

They have not said anything yet about travelling back from France without you. You appear to be catastrophising about something that may not happen.

If she has previously been a good friend she will arrange to meet up with you both for some of the holiday. They just need their own space and will hopefully arrange to pick you both up for the return journey.

So don't do anything for now until you talk things through!

100%

I'd message her now and tell her that you and your daughter will be using the Disney tickets your friend provided to you since she's left you stranded.

I'd cancel the ferry and re book using your discount.

If you’re near Disney maybe getting the eurostar back to the uk would be easier? ( depending on prices) or even a flight from Charles de gaulle or orly ? could you order a suitcase from amaz and get a quick delivery to the campsite? Hope everything’s calmed down by tomorrow though.

No good advice but I’m so sorry you’re going through this. Your friend has behaved so badly. Sending a hug. I think you are entitled to do whatever you need to to get home safely without breaking the bank.