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.

Just go on the holiday. If he's sick on the plane, just say he gets travel sickness.

I doubt any insurance company would let you buy insurance today and claim tomorrow. Surely you'd have to lie and say your ds wasn't ill when buying it.

1981m You would need to check policies VERY carefully. I think many would NOT refund you if you cancelled a holiday within the first 24, 48, 72 hours of taking the insurance out (says this as someone who used to work in insurance).

I am assuming that any policy doesn't activate immediately so we activate it today and then can use it to cancel tomorrow if we need to?

I think this is unlikely, for cancellation at such short notice. They do activate immediately though, I took health insurance out of arrival in UAE one time as ex had assured me he'd take it out but admitted he hadn't when we got there.

*spare thousands
*get home/afford treatment.

Ffs.

Long haul. Somewhere hot. Young child. No insurance. Jesus wept. OP you should be bloody glad this has happened and woken you up a bit, you may have swerved a total disaster.

Im sure you'll find someone to cover your losses if you lie enough.

You need insurance at the point of booking to be covered for cancellations I believe, but you will at least be covered should heaven forbid you are ill whilst you're away.
I once joked about getting last minute insurance "never going to need it etc" and then fell and broke my leg on holiday. If I hadn't had insurance I would have ended up with a massive hospital bill.
Have a lovely holiday, definitely buy some insurance before you go

You will not be insured against pre-existing conditions so will not be covered for a child who is already ill when the policy is taken out.

I think you need to do some reading up on what travel insurance covers you for and the expenses involved, assuming you don't have several hundred thousand pounds sloshing around for medical emergencies and repatriation from overseas? Insurance is such a small cost when compared with a long haul holiday and not having it because "we've never needed it in the past" is plain stupid.

You must not travel abroad without insurance: what if one of you broke a wrist or any kind of illness? Private bills abroad are astronomical, especially in America!

If it is ‘just a bug’ (aka Noro Virus) and he isn’t sick anymore, you will infect other people in the plane until
he has been symptom free for 48 hours.

Given the risks of having an ill moany child on hol I would suck up the expense and change the dates.

What about the other people on the plane? You could spread a vile bug and ruin their holiday as well.

I think I'd get some dioralytes from the chemist have him just quietly sipping on those. If the wretching stops try something gentle like a boiled egg and soldiers. If this all goes ok and he brightens up....head off.
If he's got severe cramps or the shits you can't travel, it will be hell on the plane for everyone and no fair on anyone else who might be immune compromised.
Do check his groin and belly area carefully for any funny lumps etc to eliminate a hernia; common in young uns.
Good luck!

You might as well just hold out today and see how he is. You won't be able to claim even if you made a policy right now (will be in the small print). Loads of people would do it otherwise. Obviously immediately sort insurance for while you are there though!
It was obviously extremely silly to miss this (I am surprised it wasn't pushed on you by the company selling!) but it's done now and no point banging on about it. Are you sure you haven't got TI attached to any bank account? I have with my Natwest gold?

Surely insurance won't cover you for any current illness unless you have stipulated it in the policy e.g. if you have diabetes. Can't imagine any company accepting say £100 premium knowing that they are likely going to have to pay £6k the next day as a child is being sick

Insurance: you won’t be covered for the expense related to this sickness, but you will be covered for anything else that crops up while you are away. And if you do change the dates, and take out insurance NOW you would be covered if something new causec a problem with the new dates.

Please don’t take him on a plane and potentially ruin holidays for a plane load of people.

Either change the dates by at least 48 hours of cancel

I would go. Clearly a tummy bug.

Ensure your son doesn’t touch anything where poss and carry some hand sanitizer

I doubt he is contagious now anyway

Insurance generally doesn't cover any pre-existing conditions - you have to declare them, if you don't you can be accused of fraud if you make a claim for them.

It's probably a bug but even then it could infect others on the plane and you which would not make for a pleasant holiday. I would imagine a lot of people in this situation do fly though, I always hope I'm not on a plane with them though. You could try phoning the airline, unlikely they will help, but nothing to lose to see if they can shift dates back a week or so.

Ok. Dh is sorting travel insurance out right now. So at least if we go we are covered when we are there.

According to dh the insurance company said it would be activated immediately and you can make a claim once it's activated. I am on convinced. Trying to read the small print.

You won’t be able to make w claim for an illness he already has though!

Both have happened to me. We cancelled because of gastro and she was fine by the afternoon!

We didn't cancel one year as she seemed to be recovered and she was fine until we got on the plane, and then suddenly she started being sick again, and all the way there. Used up every last bowl/blanket on the plane. I had sick in my hair. It was HORRENDOUS. Not just for me but for all of the passengers. I felt so bad, I will never do it again. 7 hours of hell and then when we got there she was even worse in the heat and we had to call out a dr. It NOT a holiday.

Make a decision today if you can salvage the hotel cost, but if not leave until tonight. A day can make a big difference.

If you can reschedule I would.

In 20 minutes your DH probably hasn't shopped around and probably hasn't checked it out properly at all, seeing as you both seem so unfamiliar with the concept and how it works.

If you activate insurance now, and she gets ill tonight you will be covered if you haven't seen a dr yet.

Travelling ever without insurance is an awful thing to do when you have children.

I wouldn't say this lightly, but you and your husband are idiots.

Whenever I have taken insurance I have had to list any pre existing conditions or anything being tested for and these have been excluded from cover. Not sure if sick bugs come under pre existing conditions but I would assume you couldn't cancel for it.

It does seem like a stomach bug; yes, keep him on plain food and take medicines with you for temperature. Mine daughter started getting sick on Monday vomiting frequently; vomiting stopped a midnight but she is still unwell with temperature and loose stools and lack of energy and was on the sofa all day yesterday and now on the sofa again. You can take him to the de too to see what he said.

Some kids recover quickly, hope yours is better soon and recover quickly and you can go on holiday tomorrow.

7 hours in a plane don't seem ideal when you are sick and the virus could spread easily. Hope he is fine tomorrow as you don't want to loose all that money.

From what I ve read we can change the hotel to another date but not the flights. We would loose the flights and have to re-book at full price. We booked flights directly with airline and paid for holiday through holiday company.