Passports and holidays

[KatySp]

After the worst 2 years of our lives DH and I have decided to go abroad. It's the first time taking our DS.

DH passport has run out and DS has never had a passport. He starts school in September so we need to go before then.

How long do they take to come back? Are we being unrealistic to think it will be back before mid-Aug? Happy to pay extra for fast tracking.

Also, with covid do we need to pay for tests before we go or does it depend where we go? If we need covid tests how does that work?

DH and I have never been ones for holidays abroad so we are very pretty clueless?

Also, where's the best place to book a holiday? Just looking for something all inclusive with some entertainment for DS.

We got our renewals back in 3/4 weeks, but it does take longer for new passports. I would order them now, but hold off booking until you get them and then use a site that specialises in last-minute deals.

I couldn't tell you re passports, but you need to check re the destinations for testing.

I have trips planned to Iceland - no entry requirements at all currently and Spain - vaccination certificate required. No testing for either.

There was a thread earlier about someone stranded in Italy because of a positive test though.

Hi, thanks for replying. We wouldn't book a holiday until we have the passports.

What sites are good for late bookings?

My previous passport expired in 2020.

Applied for a new one online on June 11 and the new one has been posted through my door this morning(16 days in total)

Have a look at something in late August on Jet2holidays. If you're in northern England you could possibly fly from a Scottish airport as Scottish schools have gone back by then so might be less expensive. Look in the AI deals section for a family favourites/family luxe hotel.

Somewhere like Spain incl the Canaries/Balearics could be good for a first time abroad.

I'm sure that if you apply for fast tracked passports now, you'll get them back well in time for a late August holiday.

By the way, my passport wasn't fast-track. Just a standard application as I'm in no hurry.

Did my photo using my iPhone. Uploaded the photo and the first version wasn't good enough as my head was tilted slightly! Next attempt all ok.

It's so simple on-line now.

Order the passports and then book the day they arrive.

We did that in 2020 when we went to Iceland. I booked flights and hotels 3 days before we left. It was a struggle for me because I usually book over a year in advance!

My advice would be to get as much lined up as you can. Pick a few flights and hotels that you fancy so that you can go ahead and book whichever is still available once they arrive.

DS took 2 weeks, but if you join the passport chaos group on Facebook some people have been waiting months.

Get the passports sent off in the next couple of days - we did online and used a photo booth company in Tescos who give you a code to use on the online form to pull the images.

We used On the Beach for our first family holiday. We booked a hotel in Spain with a little aqua park type thing and right in the town so easy for meals out. Short walk to the beach. We did self catering.

I applied for renewal for DC end of April. I am still waiting. Have not been able to book because not sure when it will be here. DH got email stating it is being processed do not ring

Depends where you go and whether you are vaccinated as to whether tests are needed. We are in Lanzarote and didn't need to test as we are all vaccinated. Just needed covid passes.

Ds's renewal took about 3 weeks in total when we renewed a couple of months ago.

Online application is faster and cheaper. We used the phone to do the picture and uploaded it as part of the application.

If you do need to test then you need to find a private provider and pay for them.

That's an adult renewal, totally different to a childs first passport.

My renewal passport took three weeks to come back, even allowing for the bank holiday. Same for my little ones, three weeks.

you can not fast track a child’s first passport.

if the application is correctly filled and certificates etc are sent, they are not being long. The ones taking an extraordinary long time are applications with missing facts.

There is a 1 week service for a child's first passport which is faster than doing it in the usual way

My friend will hit 10 weeks this week waiting for a child’s passport renewal. Fast track renewals are hard to come by.

First adult passport for DS was 19 weeks but there were some cock ups like my passport number not being entered onto the system and therefore they were requesting documents we shouldn't have needed too send (but ended up sending just to get the damn thing!) had to get our MP to hurry it up before DS had to lose not only his holiday but all of his mates because he was the lead traveller.
Passport arrived on Thursday, they left Manchester airport this morning... it's been a bit of an experience!

Thanks everyone. I think we will apply then if it comes back in time see what's around. Are last minute holidays cheaper than booking in advance? I'm sure they used to be but it's been so long I'm really out of touch 😂

It's hard to say what's cheaper for well in advance vs last minute.

If you're flexible about where and exactly when you go and what sort of holiday you want, you could possibly get some excellent last minute bargains.

However, if you're very particular, want to go at an expensive/popular time of year and are limited in which airport you can fly out from, you could find little choice and what is available is expensive for what it is.

We've booked in under a week before and start by looking at what cheap flights are available to somewhere we fancy going, then checked that there was suitable accommodation available at the destination, or possibly see if there are any good packages with Jet2.

It's never been bargain basement, but it's been good value, eg return flights under £100 pp, but from an airport slightly further away than we'd like and setting off slightly earlier in the morning than is decent, B&B in a nice hotel for £70 pn for a double room, that sort of thing.

We never get the 'stupendous bargains' that some people claim, who find a week's accommodation for a family for £200 and return flights for £50 each but I'm generally happy that we can find somewhere nice for a reasonable price (although we actually did go to Lanzarote for £30 pp return, but that was in early December and booked probably 2/3 months in advance).

If you're happy for a gamble, there has been some really good priced package holidays on Tui, I think people have been put off by the well publicised cancellations.

But probably 90%+ of their bookings have gone without a hitch, we'd have considered them for the holiday we're going on later this week, but we had a very narrow and exact booking window and they didn't have the flights to the place we wanted on the right days.

The fast track service isn't available at the moment I was going to use it so ended up applying yesterday the normal way for baby's first passport we are hoping it comes in 4 weeks so we can book for mid august dd goes back to school in September so we need it before then too you also need to send in the birth certificate so I'd apply straight away we are just going to book with tui