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.

I recently went abroad (whilst pregnant) and totally forgot to get travel insurance before I went. Got it with Virgin travel like the day we left, good price and activated immediately and I was so relieved I did as I managed to catch the most bloody horrible stomach bug whilst away, on the first night so I was sick the entire holiday!

I luckily didn't have to go to hospital so didn't bother claiming on my insurance tbh, but it was good to know I had it just in case, so get some bloody insurance!!!

As for the flight back, I (stupidly) flew on a 2.5hour flight after having been sick all day (if I'm honest it's totally selfish but I desperately wanted to get home!!), just made sure I ate nothing about 4 hours before the flight and sipped water. I was being really violently ill, vomiting as I couldn't keep anything down and I just basically starved myself for the flight which was horrific but got me home! I also made sure I had some wipes with me and hand gel and that I didn't cough or touch anyone or anything I didn't need to to try and avoid spreading it. I also wiped down the toilet before and after with wipes and refused any food/drink on the plain. I didn't want anyone else to have it!!

I got quite good at learning what I could/couldn't keep down while I was away so try today to just have things like watered down, non acidic juice (half water half juice), dry crackers or plain crisps (not mega salty), toast, dry cereal, baby pouches of fruit (god knows why babies like these they're vile), bread rolls, ice cubes made of frozen juice or water and then maybe things like potatoes or beans once you know you're not vomiting anymore!

It's up to you whether you still go, yes it is a little unfair on your little one if they aren't well and there is the potential to spread it, but if you are eagle eyed and clean, and feed them the right stuff today there is a good chance they will be better tomorrow and just keep them hydrated and hygienic on the plane. Also bear in mind you may lose a few days of your holiday if they are still unwell while there. My parents took me away when both of my ear drums had burst and i had a really bad cold when I was little, on a plane in the middle of winter and I still had a bloody fab time (plus I got fussed over at the doctors and it wasn't a total disaster). Just make sure if you do go, that you get travel insurance sorted today and stick to the most boring diet known to man!

most bank accounts have travel insurance

Rubbish. Only some packaged bank accounts which you pay a monthly fee for have travel insurance.

Agree that most bank accounts don't offer travel insurance-mine does because I pay a premium for the account which covers travel, mobile and breakdown cover. It is worth looking at if you travel a lot.

Actually my old account used to fleur and it wasn't packaged so it's not rubbish at all

Crazy spending £6000 on a holiday and not getting insurance. Yes it’s probably a bug but is it fair to spread it to others who are also about to go on holiday?

mine does

Surely an insurance investigation would find out fairly easily given OP's DS has been off school sick all week? Would they be able to access this information?

I think I would go as long as he is ok today and no one else becomes sick today.

(But I am another who is gobsmacked you didn't have insurance when going long haul, not so much for the cancellation possibility, that's 'spent' money but moreso if you had a medical issue whilst away).

Just bear in mind OP that you and your DH are both fairly likely to go down with it too. Norovirus is highly contagious.

I went on holiday for DDs 21st birthday, I had noro from my grandkids on the Monday/Tuesday, we went away Saturday morning but I still felt very weak and poorly, and being abroad was an utter nightmare. I basically ate bread for 4 days. It wasn't a holiday and I was so relieved to get home afterwards. Bear in mind your DS is likely to be very tired and weak for the next few days.

Please if you go do the rest of us a favour and slather this on liberally on all of you:

Boots Anti Viral Hand Foam

(better than normal hand sanitiser as anti-viral and anti-bac and works for several hours). Also wipe down the surfaces (arm rests and tray) and try and keep him away from other people, don't let him walk up and down the plane touching stuff, supervise well in the toilet etc. You won't realise but you will be risking the health of others - ruining other peoples holidays etc. With a bit of care you could avoid that. Speaking from experience of having a small child pick up a sick bug on a long haul flight then be admitted to hospital a day or so later in LA - perhaps the person travelling and spreading the illness wasn't aware of the ripple effect but if they were it is extra annoying!

Hope I'm not sat next to you or your ds on the plane, I could do without a vomiting bug ruining my hols but that's just me.

Pack a load of food he can eat if he is delicate for a few days and put plain biscuits like Carrs in your carry on, he can just eat those and a banana on the plane. It sounds like he is mostly over it, but his tummy is still a bit sensitive

Your holiday insurance will not cover you for a sickness bug that has already been reported to the school. The insurance will find out.
They have fraud investigators who’s job it is to find out.

Why on earth did you think giving a sick child a bacon sandwich was in any way a good idea? A tin of soup, some toast with no butter, maybe some fish or chicken (something light and easily digested) definitely nothing fatty.

See how your son is today, you fly tomorrow so he may well be fully fit by tomorrow. But just light foods today, nothing fatty, avoid dairy.

I’d still go. He should be well enough by Thursday from Monday sickness.

If you go, do everything you can to minimise infection.
Do not let him lean over the seat coughing / breathing on other people
Frequent anti-viral hand rub for all 3 of you.
Observe scrupulous hygiene in the toilets: wipe the taps and door handle with anti-viral after you and he touch them.
Make sure he covers his mouth if he coughs.

Have you spare those sands in the bank to get homeadford

Eh?

Everyone is assuming this is a sickness bug ..... it may well be, BUT also may well be something more.

Dd was poorly for a full week before one of our holidays ... GP kept saying it was a stomach bug. I took her back the day before we were due to fly as she was still no better ... still told Just a stomach bug. Her appendix burst that night, hospital didn’t pick it up straight away, she had emergency surgery the following morning, THE DAY WE WERE DUE TO FLY ON HOLIDAY. She almost died, the surgeon said she wouldn’t have lasted 3 more hours.

Sickness is not always just a tummy bug/24 hour thing.

You would be silly to take him now regardless if it's a bug or not. You will be on a plane, a confined space for 7 hours with a child who could potentially infect more people. What if there is small children who are don't have great immune systems? Newborn babies? Elderly? Incredibly irresponsible in my opinion.

Sorry haven't read everything, but does your bank account or house insurance include travel insurance? Worth checking.

Just go on the holiday! You have insurance so that if it's anything then you will be covered.

If he doesn't have a fever I wouldn't be concerned. Give him some calpol and see how he is.

I've been sick like this before, I think it was down to food. I did even wonder if I was pregnant but I was a virgin at the time.... lol.

Just go, kids get sick. Kids get sun stroke when on holiday even. It's life. I've been sick on so many holidays with parents from things like pool water or too much sun or dehydration. Just make him drink LOTS of water, he will flush through anything and it will tell you quite soon if he's going to be sick. But if it's just at night, it could even be anxiety or something.

Unless you kiss people on the flight, or share drinks or cutlery you won’t pass it on.

… or use the loo, or touch a door handle, or sneeze…

speaking as having to deal with travel sickness we have managed to get through it.with yes buckets and a few stops but was genrally ok.
so is he well in himself to getbetter soon to enjoy it do you think? might he vomit a little but is well.and just getting rid of a bug?
only you know whether dc is well enough to travel.enjoy holiday and be well etc.

My friend's son vomited on a plane and the entire plane had to be quarantined for several hours after they landed while my friend was questioned about where they'd been/what they'd been exposed to, etc.

A lot of confusion here about "travel insurance".
One kind you buy when you book the holiday: that covers you for cancelation as well as sickness, accident, lost luggage etc while you're away. Obviously the OP did not get this.
Second option does not cover cancellation as it can come with your credit card package or you can buy it separately and it works from the minute you buy it for anything which is not a pre-existing condition. This will be the kind that the OP's husband has just purchased.

On another thread someone was extolling the virtues of a new payment card called Revolut. It works with your mobile phone and in order to find out more than the bare minimum about it you have to give them your mobile number. It's a great international payment system (no charges for making payments in dollars, euros or any one of dozens of foreign currencies) but where it becomes relevant to this thread is that there is an option to have automatic "travel insurance" which is activated the minute it detects you are on a phone network abroad. The cover costs £0.99 per day... no cheating possible as it knows precisely where you are. The insurance it provides is for health cover - and you can add fellow travellers (spouse, children etc) up to 8 hours after it detects you are abroad.
I'm definitely going to start using it when my annual insurance policy lapses this summer.

Just a bit of information to throw into the pot:
People infected with a norovirus are contagious from the moment they begin feeling ill to at least three days after recovery. Some people may be contagious for as long as two weeks after recovery.

Could it be excitement for the holiday?

He had perked up a lot and eaten and you say it was only a little bit of sick, I'm sorry I'd go.

Are you sure you don't have insurance with your bank account?

My DSs can have the same bug, but one DS will be horribly sick for however many hours, and then will stop and get better. The other one will be sick for however many hours, have a day or two where he's not sick, then will be sick again, be free for a day or two, then be slightly sick again, etc.

This happens ALL the time. For DS2, I think he has a more sensitive stomach, and when he is recovering more foods will make him feel ill.

In your case the bacon sandwich (yes, very daft on an empty stomach) would have upset a sensitive stomach.