What shall I do about this holiday?

[1981m]

Not AIBU but need speedy reply with advice.

Ds (5) was sick on Monday in the night (now Wednesday here in Uk), lots of sick. Kept him off school yesterday and had a sofa day. He was fine in himself mostly. Up and down. Lying down sometimes but also jumping around. Saying his heart was hurting. No other symptoms except being sick.

Wasn't sure what to give him food wise. He had toast with butter for b fast and no lunch. Bacon sandwich for dinner with bread and butter. Dh thinks silly to give this. Was a bacon sandwich wrong?

Anyway, ds sick again last night, tiny amount of sick. Then a further three times with just water and bile. Again no other symptoms.

The problem is we are going on a long haul holiday tomorrow morning. We are meant to get up at 5 am, drive for two hours to the airport, then do 7 hour flight! We don't know if we should cancel holiday or still go. We would loose the total price of the holiday to cancel £6,500. Or £200 per person to try and change dates on it with hotel provider. The flights look like they are non- transferable and we would loose the cost automatically. We don't have travel insurance.

Dh wants to go and reckons its just a stomach bug. He reckons if we stave ds today and on the flight it will be ok. Reckons its a 24 hour bug.

I am reluctant as worried he will be sick again in the night. Worried about having strange food in a hot place will just make him sick again and he will just want to rest all holiday. Think the holiday will be ruined with moany ds. Don't want to risk taking him on long flight if he's ill, could be a nightmare. But we stand to loose £6,500 if we don't.

DD (who is never sick) spectacularly vomited at the check-in desk on the way home last year and then again as we got to the gate. She had been fine all day and just went a bit quiet and did not eat the McDonald's she wanted on the way to the airport. She did not throw up again on the flight or the long drive back (did not fly from local airport). They let us on the flight, I did not get sick and I far as I am aware it was not some super contagious bug.

Children sometimes get sick, so do adults. You are best placed to know if this is self-limiting or a hugely contagious illness.I have a child and work with children, I rarely become ill by coming into contact from the poorly, germ ridden beings. I except that some people have suppressed immune systems, I have worked with them and they take precautions as far as is possible. Mumsnet advice will always be NO WAY if your child has been sick however most adults are expected to limp into work unless and infect the whole office unless they require intensive care. You know if your child is well enough.

i dont think saying its ok theyve mcdonalds there or whateveris relevant they dont ship their food from the uk do they!

Relevant in that they did not finish it as in hindsight this was strange behaviour. It was their request to stop off for dinner on the way to the airport. Any how in simple langauge for the hard of understanding, child became subdued and did not eat treat meal on way to airport, was sick at airport x2. Got on flight, no further problems. Child being sick does not always mean the whole world is exposed to super-contagious bug.

I can honestly say it wouldn’t matter what the holiday had cost if one of us could potentially endanger the life of someone else by going.

FFS... if someone's life is endangered by the possibility of a bug then what are they doing on a plane?!

OP, if DS is not sick again I would go.

i dont think saying its ok theyve mcdonalds there or whateveris relevant they dont ship their food from the uk do they!

The menu in these places are pretty much identical the world over, it's kind of their selling point. How different can a portion of fries manufactured in the UAE (if they even are!) actually be? I will tell you, no different at all. I go to the UAE at least once, sometimes twice a year. Also, yes food in the supermarkets is imported in. There is a supermarket chain called "Spinneys" that sell Waitrose own brand and many other U.K. brands - bread, beans, biscuits etc and as a previous poster said there are actually a few Waitroses supermarkets, some Co-ops too as it happens.

16 years ago when my ds was 3 years old, we had a huge family holiday booked to Orlando. 3 days before we flew ds was sick about 4-5 times in one day and then nothing for the remaining days. We had travel insurance and dh and I ummed and ahhed over whether we should go or not. In the end we cancelled as we didn’t want ds being ill on the plane or in the humid Florida heat. The day of travelling, the rest of our party flew and I spent the day with my head in a bucket constantly vomiting which was followed 2 days later by dh. We had thought ds illness wasn’t contagious but obviously was and we were affected in a much worse way. I remember we just ended up losing our excess from the holiday and rebooking the following year.
Please also be aware, if your son looks ill before the flight takes off or vomits before plane leaves, the cabin crew can still ask you to disembark if they feel you’re not well enough to fly.

Please also be aware, if your son looks ill before the flight takes off or vomits before plane leaves, the cabin crew can still ask you to disembark if they feel you’re not well enough to fly.

I used to think this. Then DD was violently sick then passed out at the airport - the paramedics wheeled her off to an ambulance to check her over. After half an hour they declared her well, and told the check-in staff that she could fly. I really did not think anyone would let us on that flight.

Maybe he's just excited to go on his holidays. I was like this when I was younger a few days running up to the holiday. Either way, I hope he feels better soon and/or you have a great holiday

OP you sound so irresponsible.

Don't go. It's not fair on your kid or all the other passengers. Stop being so ruddy selfish.

Which airport are you flying from? I'm at Gatwick right now, and hoping I don't catch any bugs waiting for my flight!!

Would they be able to investigate if ds was off school then? I sent an email to the teacher. Can they get access to this? Not sure what powers insurance investigators have in the UK but here I type a lot of transcripts for insurance investigators and people are always surprised at how much info they are able to access. Admittedly you have to give them signed permission to do so, but if you don't then chance are the claim will be declined.

Please also be aware, if your son looks ill before the flight takes off or vomits before plane leaves, the cabin crew can still ask you to disembark if they feel you’re not well enough to fly.

I used to think this. Then DD was violently sick then passed out at the airport - the paramedics wheeled her off to an ambulance to check her over. After half an hour they declared her well, and told the check-in staff that she could fly. I really did not think anyone would let us on that flight. Almost happened to me way back in the "old days" :D When I was 17 (I'm in my 50s now) I woke up with bad stomach pain the day I was due to fly home after holidaying with my gran. Good old Gran thought it was just period pains and dosed me up on brandy and duly delivered me to the airport. Got on the plane and all was good but we had a stop over and had to disembark then when I went to reboard I felt pretty rubbish and could barely walk and was told I might not be able to board as airline crew were worried about me. Somehow managed to talk my way on to the plane, my folks picked me up from the airport and delivered me to hospital where I went in for emergency appendix surgery!

I don't for one second believe all these posters saying if it was them they wouldn't go - 'for the sake of humanity'. Nonsense. Literally everyone I know would get on that plane in your shoes.

If you take these arguments to their logical conclusion no-one would ever fly - what about if you have a heavy cold? You would lose a family holiday and a lot of money? I don't think so.

I sincerely hope it all works out Op. Not the best lead up to a week away. I hope you can all get some R&R when you get there.

The fast food ( McDonalds, KFC etc) is part imported e.g. fries and part produced in UAE - patties,. Chicken Royales etc. The facilities are EU approved and have excellent hygiene standards ( I have audited them). Hotel kitchens, restaurants etc. are all inspected.
It's perfectly safe to eat.
The water is also safe to drink as it all comes from a desalination plant.

I think some of the posts here are crazy. what airport are you flying from? I’m at Gatwick and I don’t want to catch any bugs waiting for my flight. chances are there are several people in the airport carrying a bug, nurovirus is rife at the moment due to the cold weather we have had, I’m sure there will be others travelling whilst recovering from illness. Most stomach bugs are spread through direct contact with vomit or poo, if her child has not vomited for over 24 hours and hasn’t got and vomit on him he’s unlikely to spread it, yes there’s a chance another family member could come down with it on the flight but so could anyone else on that flight.

I’m sure most people in this situation would do the same and get on the flight. OP has payed a lot of money for a holiday, probably taken time off work, arranged house sitters and arrange taxi or parking for the airport, her child hasn’t been sick for over 24 hours, why cancel all thoughs arrangements on the off chance he may still be unwell?

OP, I hope you have a great holiday and that the rest of you don’t come down with anything.

I'm guessing OP has gone then

hope they have a great time

There are people on here acting like people only ever fly following a full BUPA healthcheck and certification from a doctor when the truth is every airoplane you've ever been on is a tin can full of germ soup and it's purely luck whether you catch any of the millions of bugs floating around at any one time. OP's son had no temperature and no symptoms other than some vomiting. It's probably the least of your worries when it comes to bugs.

I hope OP went and has a fab time.

Surely you have insurance? It’s a bit mean of you not to consider that you’ll be passing it on to everyone else off on their holidays too!

Op only bought insurance after this thread....

Apparently one in four think it is a waste of money. Sadly another brit is now the subject of a gofundme after travelling uninsured.

You might have overloaded a tummy that’s not been well, Dr told me bland food, potato, bread best to avoid anything rich like butter or bacon, only you know how they are, but I doubt it’s anything serious, you haven’t got travel insurance you’ve had enough wagging of fingers and I told you so’s, what I would say is they may we’ll be fine, but it’s worth sorting something out now for the piece of mind that if he were to get bad you can go to the hospital and get him checked over - also check you haven’t got it automatically through your bank, I paid it for a couple of years before I realised i and any family travelling with me were already covered

It's not just about cancelling, what if you get run over, fall etc and have to pay for an air ambulance to bring you home?

I am truly shocked at some of the sanctimonious responses to this! We have had many many flights with vomiting kids due to a job that meant we just had to get on planes. My DD once vomited quietly about every 30 mins all the way to South Africa. So, if he's not feeling too bad, just go ... take all the bags, wipes, mints that you can, and try and enjoy your holiday when you get there :)

Honestly, I wouldn't not go on holiday because I had a minor stomach bug that would most likely resolve itself in 24 hours (and is already on the way out). Especially a holiday of this kind of magnitude.

Enjoy yourselves!

Have a terrific time OP. (As I shake my head at the twilight zone that is Mumsnet.)

Yes I say go. Try to give him sparkling water ... always found that helps. Got to agree with those saying why haven't you got travel insurance? Crazy for a long haul holiday although I risk it for EU countries (though will have to reconsider that after next March)