Any help please, I’ve messed up so badly

[ZoeRose81]

We went to check in on line on Thursday (to depart Friday) and realised our kids passports have expired. It’s just unbelievable disorganisation and general uselessness on my part. My mum booked the holiday - it is her 75th birthday today. And me and the children are not there. My husband has gone, as the villa is remote and she can’t drive over there (Italy) so it was a choice between that or cancelling. Mums oldest friend (64 years long friendship) died unexpectedly two weeks ago and she desperately needs this, so cancelling was not an option. Since Thursday night I’ve been in rallying mode. The kids have been out having fun non-stop, brave face from me. Harry Potter sleepovers etc. then I’m awake at 2am desperately trying to stave off panic attacks. I feel so awful and so exhausted. Appointment is first thing tomorrow at the passport office for the one week emergency service. Does anyone have any clue about how I can secure these as soon as possible? I’ll then have to sort flights and stuff. I know in the grand scheme of things there are a million worse situations to be in but I’m devastated and exhausted and autistic and after 72 hours of wearing the fixed ‘mummy will sort it’ smile, I’ve run out of everything

I also renewed my partner's passport online. From the moment they received his old passport it took 48 hours for them to approve, print and post it.

FFS It is not the OPs mum's responsibility to check that her grandchildren passports are up to date.
OP I hope the passports are renewed in time for you to get at least a week's holiday with your Mum. Your DH is ace!

Her mum simply booked the villa and she couldn’t have done so if OP and DH hadn’t agreed as she doesn’t drive. So next time OP has to be firmer in her boundaries about what she can cope with and what is reasonable to expect from DH in terms of driving seeing that he’s the only one. Much more sensible to go somewhere they can get around more easily so it’s not all on him.

My mum, throughout her life, has always booked remote places (particularly up mountains) and then spent two weeks moaning about how remote the place is 😂 poor husband. He’s managed to get a couple of glasses of wine in her and she’s currently sitting and philosophising about how beautiful the light is! He’s gone for a swim.

Its not never making a mistake that speaks of character OP, its how you deal with it. And you and your DH are doing everything in your power to put this right with an impressive display of team work. By the age of 75 I'm sure your mum has learned a sense of perspective. Her family are safe and well, she's got a lovely SiL and a DD who is doing everything in her power to join her ASAP. This has happened now and feeling guilty won't change it, it just puts a dampener on your mood. Be positive, enjoy your home based pre holiday time and look forward to joining your mum.

You are lucky to have a husband who would do this for you, he sounds wonderful!

Stop putting yourself down. It could have happened to anyone. I’m sure your mum/husband/kids all consider you to be a useful human being. 💐💐

Stop being so hard on yourself. There’s not a person on the planet who’s never made a mistake. What’s important is owning up to it (which you have, as has your husband) and learning from it (which you will, as you’ve endured stress and additional cost as a result so will be extra cautious with checking next time).

If you watch the old program Airline (plenty of eps on YouTube) you will see an abundance of grown adults appearing at the airports with their own passports expired or no passport at all and giving abuse to airport staff who say no. You will quickly realise you are not all that bad after all! 😂

We had to renew dd’s passport at short notice, went to the passport office in London and it actually only took a couple of days although they say a week. So hopefully you will get them quickly.
Everyone makes mistakes ! You don’t need to compensate your children for having human, fallible parents. It is part of life to learn to understand and cope with accidental mishaps with good humour. Don’t make it bigger than it is because you feel guilty, as then your children will also overreact when they make mistakes and think it is a disaster. It’s fine to make mistakes, especially when overloaded.
I hope you are soon in Italy and have a lovely time.

The OP's mum made the booking 18 months ago so I'm sure she thought any necessary passport renewals would be done by the time they were due to leave.

Also, I saw a tiktok recently that said “go easy on your mum, it’s her first time living too” and it really puts into perspective that the huge expectation on parents to never make mistakes is ridiculous. I don’t know how old your children are OP but if it hasn’t already happened, there will be many a time in your life you forgive them as they age for silly decisions or mistakes (their first time drinking too much, a questionable partner, needing money to pay a parking fine) - I’m sure they will be able to get over this!

I remember doing a passport in a day, for a fairly hefty fee and two trips to the passport office in London, morning to fill in form hand in old passport, evening to collect new passport. I doubt that is possible now, but you may be able to pick them up to save waiting for them to be posted.

OP has your DH signed the forms already? If not then he'll need to come home to do it

It's not necessary he signs as well.

According to the website I just need their old passports, but I’ve got their birth certificates, mine, my husbands old driving license (he’s obviously got his current one and his passport) and our marriage license (I didn’t change my name) so I cannot think of anything else that could be a curveball in getting them renewed 😬

no need to if you have comprehensive travel insurance

have you heard from your husband and mother? how are they both doing? presumably they get on very well?!

This happened to us 2 weeks ago, my daughter’s passport had expired. Rest of family went. Did application online, appointment on Tuesday morning, picked passport up from sorting office at 8am Saturday morning, drove straight to airport & were with family by 3!
(when you get told it’s been dispatched & have tracking you can get it changed so you can collect it at the sorting office - meant we could collect at 8, rather than a between 10 & 2 delivery)
good luck x

It doesn't need his signature. Plus the application was done online so noone has signed anything

I stand by my post. No matter when the OPs mum made the booking it is not her job to check that all the family's passports were still in date! HTH

You can't possibly know this as fact. Many insurance policies dictate you need GHIC/EHIC in order to keep costs down.

In the “olden days”

not anymore

the only time needed is if you don’t have insurance because it cover emergency free comber at the point of need

which… insurance does

ignore me
i’m wrong
if you don’t have comprehensive
then important

Says who? My insurance policy states everyone over 16 needs one, in fact Compare The Market states it's still the case.