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.

He might have a relapse

And he might not! The one thing I would urge you to avoid is milk. Milk after a vomiting bug is pretty much guaranteed to cause further vomiting (temporary lactose intolerance is common). If you DC is a milk drinker then either switch to Lacto-free or avoid altogether. Water is the best drink for a dodgy stomach. And if you're afraid of not being able to get bland food take some plain biscuits with you. I'd also encourage you go get some probiotics to help his gut recover.

We always has someting like rocket lollies in for when they are ill with temperature. I know that's not what this is, but with a stomach upset, that's the sort of thing you should be looking for - plain lollies that are basically frozen juice/squash. Or ice pops.

OP: to address your ‘small print ‘ issue, travel ins will be activated straight away, but won’t cover pre-existing conditions.

As to what to feed: delicate stomachs do not want food that needs a lot of churning and breaking down in the stomach before squirting it through the sphincter to the next bit of the system. A delicate system does not want foods that take a lot of breaking down.

Hence no meat and nothing fatty or greasy. Avoid acidic food, too. Light carbs, plain fluids.

Good luck! Kids do bounce back very fast.

Credit cards sometimes offer travel insurance too. So check any accounts you have just in case you do have travel insurance without knowing it. However, even if you do have insurance with an account it might not be as comprehensive as a policy you would pay for separately.

*Hope he's better and go
-Pretend he's better and go

• Cancel and lose the money

-rearrange the dates and lose some of the money -Cancel and commit fraud - hopefully get your money back*

This sums it up.

Its really silly to not get insurance, especially for a winter holiday where youve got such a high chance of being ill

To clarify, any illness known prior to insurance policy acceptance has to be declared and will either have clauses added to the policy or be exempt from claims.

Can't believe all the people saying they should go. What if it's contagious? Why should they ruin other people's holidays just because the OP didn't want to buy insurance. So selfish

I agree...it is selfish and I'd be furious if I caught a stomach bug off someone on the plane there.

In reality though, hardly anybody would throw away £6.5k and just not go...I wouldn't. I'd go and keep my fingers crossed.

For my own peace of mind op, I would research Doctors/hospitals before we went in case he worsened.

Do not go. You know it's morally and medically wrong.

Please also learn the difference between 'Lose' and 'loose'. It's not hard.

A 7 hour flight assumes you're heading out of Europe, possibly the US?

If any of your family had an accident/car crash/ etc you'd have to sell your home in the UK to pay for the exorbitant medical fees.

Travel insurance is so cheap!

My moneys on the Caribbean for that price and distance.

If your child needs medical attention abroad it could be very expensive, quite apart from the concerns about his health. You have kept him off school as he is ill so there is a clear trail for the insurance company to indicate you are withholding relevant information / making a false declaration. I understand insurance companies share this information so you could have problems getting insurance (maybe not just health insurance) in the future. I would take him to the GP or a private GP if needed to get him checked over to declare he is fit to travel (or not). If the doctor thinks he is fit to travel contact the insurance company to declare the existing condition and the doctors advice and pay the premium, if there is one (if they still want to insure you). If he is not fit to travel, then just rebook the hotel, take the hit on the flights and cancel the travel insurance (no claim).

Go. If he was first ill on Monday night he is unlikely to be contagious tomorrow I would have thought?

Unless he is today of course, in which case you need to reconsider. Sounds like a tummy bug to me, which has run its course.

Nothing wrong with bacon. stick to toast and marmite and bananas today (not all together )

I hope you have a lovely holiday. and I won't mention how idiotic you are not to have taken out insurance beforehand

The thing is if you had not forced the point yesterday he would have been 48hrs clear - he was sick yesterday because you gave him food his stomach could not handle the last thing you want when sick is a bacon sandwich

Personally if he can go 36 hours now without being sick again yesterday was a relapse due to the food irritating his stomach and the bug was Monday night

Travel insurance now will not cover his illness

What about all the other people who have spent 6.5k on their holidays? If it is a bug then you and your dh will be incubating it and likely to come down with it soon or on the plane. And ds is likely to be contagious too. I would be pretty pissed off if you sat near me on a plane and ruined my holiday too.

And I used to work in travel insurance and people like you are one of the reasons why premiums increase. The policy is to protect you against the UNFORSEEN and there will be a clause stating they will not pay out if you are already in a claim situation. Sadly they will probably be unable to find out otherwise but it is blatantly dishonest and looks dodgy as most people would take it out once they have forked out all that money.

Icey ones if you know what I mean, like rocket lollies, callipo, things like that not ones made from fruit juice or milky ice cream ones, they wouldn't be any use.

If he's not sick again i would go. I know it's not quite 48 hours but the truth is apart from schools and medical establishments most workplaces would only expect you to wait 24 hrs before returning to work. The 48 hrs is worst case and as long as DS has proper hand hygiene and isn't kissing others etc. He wont be passing on the bug.

If he is sick again you can't be sure it's not something else so should be cancelling the flights. Could you just rearrange the flight out for friday/Saturday and have a slightly shorter holiday?

And I used to work in travel insurance and people like you are one of the reasons why premiums increase.

A bit unfair as the OP hasnt actually done anything wrong yet

Give your GP a call they will be able to advise you.

I agree...it is selfish and I'd be furious if I caught a stomach bug off someone on the plane there.

How would you know? You could have caught it anywhere.

Is there anyway to change your flights to 24 or 48hrs later? Then contact the accommodation and tell them you will be arrving late, they should still keep it for you

Your holiday will be a bit shorted and you will have to pay to change the flights but that may be better

It is really hard I know, we have had to cancel two birthday parties, and one trip to Italy because DS vomited. In retrospect, the parties could have gone ahead, as he vomited once and that was it. It is obvious now it was nerves (DS often gets sick from nerves). They Italy trip though he was ill and spent the next 4 days waking up and vomiting every 1-2 hrs through the night, though he was weirdly much better during the day though off his food

It is hard to tell sometimes DS gets over a sickness bug in 24-48 hrs but on one memorable occasion over Chirstmas, he was clearly off his food but drinking and playing fine excpet for vomiting 1-2 times a day at random for 3 weeks!. The doctor was just aboput to start further investigations at that point when it went. I wouldn't have wanted to be on holiday for that though

I would suck up the cost of new flights, and change the hotel booking for a few days later. Don't risk ruining your DS's holiday, your holiday and the holiday of all the other people on the plane. I've been sick on holiday before (tonsillitis) and it was bloody miserable. Don't knowingly inflict that on other people just because you didn't buy insurance.

£6500 for 7 days? Where are you going?!

Not rtft but most bank accounts have travel insurance - call your bank and they will confirm. You may also need to tell them your dates for travelling.

I also agree with the avoid milk advice. Lollies such as calipos or rocket lollies or other flavoured ice. Nothing milky or with ice cream.