Just booked a holiday in Bulgaria, anyone been? - ALSO fly in 2 weeks, dd hasn't got a passport yet

[Mascaraohara]

I'm very excited..

Has anyone been, got any tips?

Should I panic about the passport and go down to the office in person?

You'll be pushing it to get the passport on time.

You'll need to ring the passport office right away and get an appointment. You may need to travel to get to an office which can give an appointment within a week. You can't get a new (first time) passport using the same day service - the quickest turnaround is the "guaranteed in a week" service(and even that costs you £77).

O...k.... bugger!!!

Anyone got a link for the passport office website??

Link here

Link here

Sorry, back now.. just went off to find the site..

Have an appointment for Saturday - £70!!

So, shall I start a thread - what to do with a 4year old in London?? might as well make a day of it!

What time is your appointment? Depending on what your dd is interested in, you could take her to the natural History Museum to see the dinosaurs (they have some fantastic canomatronic "life" size dinosuars, including a T.Rex that I swear gives you the evil eye), do the "Duck Tour" - a wee tour of London inan amphibious bus that takes you past Big Ben/Trafalgar Sqaure and then goes down a slip way and goes up the Thames and past the Houses of Parliament.

When I got my passport done recently on the week long service (I'd lost it, so couldn't get the same day service) it took exactly a week to get my new one.

You may be lucky with your dd's one, as they may have had to do extra checks on mine to to check it wasn't being used fraudulently somewhere.

Well we're flying Tueday afternoon after the bank holiday so effectively they have 10 days and I'm paying for the week service.. I might ask if I can travel down again to pick it up though as bank holiday weekend is worrying me slightly.

I think maybe the natural history museum or the science museum??

Appointment is lunchtime though

Another wee thought - if you've got a friendly local post office that it also a "Passport Checker" office, it would be worth just running the application form (plus supporting documents and photo) by them. You don't want to g all the way to London to find out that you've missed something and/or the photo is not valid.

Another tip: if you've got a good digital camera and printer, we used that to taek the photo of ds and then re-take/re-size until it met the rules. They've relaxed the guidelines slightly for children under 5 - but again, you'd don't want to fall inadvertantly foul of them.

My apointment was on Wednesday and I got the passport on the followiong Wednesday - so you should be OK Saturday to Saturday. It wasn't the e Post Office that delivered it though.

Not sure if you have the optio of asking to pick it - but you can always ask. my concern was the "no guarantted if no-one is in to sign for it" - but that is apparently for shared entrances (efg flats). If you have your own front door, then it doesn't have to be signed for.

I'm sure you'll be fine with the delivery, they use couriers now not the postal service. My mum has just renewed hers, it was delivered by someone in an ordinary car and she had to open it in front of him to prove it was her then sign for it. Security measures I suppose

I think it should be OK, not going to worry about it too much - in the hands of fate I suppose now. Holiday is all paid for after all..

Will just pack and if it's not in my hand by 11:30 Tusday 29th I'll cry then!

The hotel looks fab and I'm no time to spend a fortune on clothes either!

Good luck! I'm sure you'll have a great holiday!

Fingers crosse, first time abroad for dd.. first 'family' holiday for me, dp and dd. Why do I do things on the spur of the moment?!?!

I was demotivated at work before I booked that now I really have lost interest.

Thanks for your help

Off to research Bulgaria..

MIL went to Bulgaria in July and absolutely loved it. She said people were very friendly, food was great etc and definitely recommends it.

Oh thanks Iklboo...

Just been looking at it and it looks fab, all the commenst I've seen so far about the hotel are very complimentary as well.

We are staying here so I have high hopes.. (assuming passport arrives)

I've looked on the web.. Science museum is only two stops away so will get down there for 10 do science museum for a couple of hours, break for lunch & passport appointment then back to science museum before home. I think!

Hi mascaraohara, Good website for Bulgaria info is www.holidaytruths.com, lots of very useful info. We are also going to Bulgaria for the first time but flying on 27th. (Actually staying at a hotel next to yours!) Hope you get passport sorted , i'm sure it will be fine. Tunise.

Oh I'll check out that holiday truth website.. I looked on the sunnybeach website easlier, can't believe how many hotels were listed.

How old are your lo's? apparently the bars/restaurants are about 1.5kms away so am wandering whether to take a fold away buggy for dd (she's 4)

I have 2 boys age 7 and 8 and a girl age 1. From what i can gather the pavements are rather dodgy so might make buggy hardwork but might be worth it when walking back late in the evening. Also i think there is a mini train that runs by hotel on a fairly regular basis if you dont fancy walking.

sorry. co.uk not com !

hmmm, reviews on holidaytruths are so mixed it's hard to gauge.. vary from below average to excellent. Bit nervous now.

Dont be nervous! It seems that every hotel in Bulgaria has very mixed reviews. You wonder if all these people actually stay in the same place!

The majestic was one of the hotels on my shortlist the only reason we decided not to was because we found a better deal self catering and also trying to fit 3 children in was a nightmare. But it looks beautiful and i'm sure you will have a lovely time.