Dd holiday - WWYD?

[ShinyGreenElephant]

Dd13 is due to go to Lanzarote for a week with her dad just before Christmas. Hes historically not been very involved but has a new gf with a daughter similar age so planned this holiday and DD wanted to go. It will be her first ever trip with her dad and I thought it would be good for them to have the chance to bond and create some memories together, plus the girlfriend seems lovely. Her dad is an antivaxxer but Dd, the other teen and dads gf are all vaxxed and the agreement was that if he catches covid they leave him there and get her home for Christmas. I do trust the gf to make this happen. Dd is vaccinated and has already had covid - its been rampant in her school and friendship groups since and shes never caught it so I don't think she will on holiday outside all the time.

BUT with these new restrictions and new varient I'm having a massive wobble about the chance of her being stranded there if it went on the red list. Shes never had Christmas away from me (never been away longer than 4 nights on school trips) and would be devastated. Her sisters would be devastated. I trust the gf to do everything she could to get her home but I dont trust her dad with anything, he's a waste of space who hates me and doesn't care that much about DD even. I would pay whatever I needed to pay for her to get home via other countries but she can't very well do that unaccompanied at 13.

Can anyone who understands the current situation more than me advise whether there's a chance they will get stuck there? And wwyd- I cant cancel now can I? Absolutely kicking myself for agreeing to this

Anyone?

Unfortunately OP anything could happen right now. What dates does she go?

I think it's too early to say what the situation will be just before Christmas and the decision may be taken out of your hands, by restrictions or by your ex deciding not to go. But you probably feel you need to make a decision before then.
Don't kick yourself for agreeing to it. Most of us have made plans in the hope they would go ahead.

I’m not a covid expert but I do have some experience of shit exes!

Do you have a phone number for the girlfriend? If so I would try and give her a call to talk through various scenarios and see how she feels about it all.

I would also warn dd that covid rules are changing and you don’t have a definitive answer about the holiday yet so that she is a bit prepared in case of cancellation.

How long before Xmas is she due to travel back?

Personally given how useless you say her dad it I would not be letting her go. Anything could happen at this stage!

Also I would do some reflection yourself about whether you would let her fly independently in that situation as that makes a huge difference to your ability to get her back if needed.

How soon before Xmas would it be? Have you spoken to her about how she would feel about not going??

You are very trusting of this new girlfriend. Why?

I would pay whatever I needed to pay for her to get home via other countries but she can't very well do that unaccompanied at 13.

Worst case scenario then yes she can, she can fly an an unaccompanied minor. They have escorts. Get her in a taxi, she will be met at the airport, escorted through and you can meet her at the other end.

At 13 she won't be able to fly unaccompanied. Very few airlines do unaccompanied minors flights now (e.g..BA and Easyjet don't).

Is she double vaccinated with a travel pass? Because Spain has just announced it only accepts fully vaccinated people which unfortunately means teenagers with the one vaccine aren’t counted in this. It’s a very recent change - yesterday I think.

Has she had 2 vaccines? It's my understanding that Spain are only allowing double vaxxed into the country during December with the only exemptions being under 12s.

Oh and the Dad won’t be able to get in anyway if he’s unvaxxed. Reuters link from yesterday - only vaccinated Brits to be allowed into Spain from Wednesday 1st

He won’t get in … they’ve changed the rules and you have to be double vaccinated to enter Spain. Can’t just read etc.

www.reuters.com/world/europe/spain-tightens-covid-19-restrictions-british-tourists-2021-11-27/

Spain will require full vaccination from 1st December anyway so I don’t think any of them will be able to go

Test that should say!

@CrumbsThatsQuick ah. It’s been a long time since I was 13

sorry - ignore my out of date advice!

@BigSandyBalls2015

He won’t get in … they’ve changed the rules and you have to be double vaccinated to enter Spain. Can’t just read etc.

That’s what I thought too.

They won’t get in. 12 and over now require double vaccination to enter Spain.

Also, as a separate point regardless of Spain’s vaccination policy, you assume that as a child your DD would not have to isolate as a close contact of her dad and that she would be free to travel back. That may be true in the UK for children but remember they will be following the rules of the destination country.

@CrumbsThatsQuick

At 13 she won't be able to fly unaccompanied. Very few airlines do unaccompanied minors flights now (e.g..BA and Easyjet don't).

Both BA & easyJet charge full adult price for 12 and up therefore anyone 12 and up can travel with them unaccompanied no questions asked.

You are right in that it may be difficult / impossible to get assistance arranged though, so DD would need to be a confident traveller.

Thanks everyone! Hopefully having his holiday cancelled last minute will make him see sense and although I do feel sorry for Dd who will be really disappointed, I'm pretty relieved tbh!

Does anyone have a link for the guidance re over 12s needing two jabs? My niece is supposed to go to tenerife on the 27th so looks like her holiday is cancelled too - at least her and DD can comfort each other

Found it anyway. Thanks for all advice. And just to answer a few questions- I would let her fly home from lanzarote alone and either meet her at the airport or even fly out to take her back, but if she had to fly through a third country then that wouldn't be doable. Shes very confident but shes only 13 and far too much could go wrong. Glad I dont even have to think about about that now although I'm dreading telling her she can't go!

I’m afraid there isn’t a link I can find @ShinyGreenElephant because the law hasn’t actually come into force yet (like the us announcement yesterday the govt sites haven’t been updated) but the vaccination pass that Spain uses is the EU green travel pass, and the nhs one has been accepted as part of that - does your dd have a QR code on that app showing her dose as 1/1 or 2/2? If 1/2 it definitely wouldn’t count as the EU isn’t interested in the first dose, and a lot of countries (including spain) only issue the QR code for the final dose as that’s the one which means fully vaxxed. In other eu countries with the fully vaxxed only rule, single vaxxed teens haven’t been allowed in (it’s been all over the news - Google) and Spain’s been the exception up until now.

It’s frustrating because in Spain, many Spaniards have 1 dose + COVID recovery certificate which is fine for travel WITHIN the eu but not for third countries, and Spanish people have been demanding extra doses for this reason (and getting them). But just as these people can’t enter the UK because they don’t meet the UK definitions, I would be extremely surprised if single vax teens can enter Spain as they don’t meet Spanish definitions.

@ShinyGreenElephant

Thanks everyone! Hopefully having his holiday cancelled last minute will make him see sense and although I do feel sorry for Dd who will be really disappointed, I'm pretty relieved tbh!

Does anyone have a link for the guidance re over 12s needing two jabs? My niece is supposed to go to tenerife on the 27th so looks like her holiday is cancelled too - at least her and DD can comfort each other

There are a few news reports about it if you Google, plus I saw this from a travel expert on Twitter. It's definitely being brought in from Dec 1.