HELP! Flying out tomorrow ,passport expires in July 2026

[Potterxoxo]

Hi all,

Bit of a panic here and hoping someone has been through something similar.
Just realised my 6 year old’s British passport expires July 2026 and we’re flying to Albania tomorrow from London, coming back on 13 June 2026.

I’ve read that Albania needs 3 months validity left after you leave and now I’m worried we might not be allowed to travel.

Has anyone actually been in this situation? Did you get stopped at check in or were you still allowed to go?
I’m just trying to work out how strict this really is in real life,a part of me hopes miraculously they will let us through.
Any experiences would really help !

Totally agree. What on earth is wrong with some people ????

Will definitely do! It is a really lovely holiday destination indeed . We are back to being excited about going again now after today’s ordeals . Will report when getting back xx

@BigAnne
As you showed interest I would like to share where we are going. We are visiting a small town called Pogradec,while it isn’t a coastal city it is surrounded by mountains and has a beautiful lake which they share with Macedonia so hoping to do a day trip or two to visit the towns on that side as it’s only a 20 minute drive from Pogradec . Our friends also do day trips to Greece often as it’s close to the Greek border too .

We really did get lucky there. Was so worried that we would have to just cancel and lose the trip all together .
Definitely a case of it wasn’t meant to be . It was hard seeing it in the morning ,we were all in panic mode but as the flights got changed and the panic settled I worked out well still .
thank you for the kind words .

@EdithBond
Thank you so much for your kind words. ❤️ I have definitely been beating myself up over it and it’s been an expensive lesson unfortunately, which is hard when family holidays take so much saving for, but I am grateful for everything being on the mend.

And thank you for sharing about your children too. How lovely that you had them at home .
I completely relate to not wanting to leave them. Mine are my little shadows and I know I am probably a bit too attached sometimes, but they grow up so quickly indeed and I just love having them close.
I hope you also get to visit Albania one day !

Maybe her children are home schooled.

So glad to hear you are getting to go at a later date. I’ve been to Albania twice. First time was about 25 years ago and I went back last year. A tad more modern than 25 years ago, but still just as beautiful.

Highly unlikely you can travel

"My husband is great but he is just a sponsor for our family"

This the saddest sentence I have read all year.

My partner & I are not white and we went over for 5 days in March. It’s a stunning country however it’s not somewhere we would recommend as a holiday destination for POC’s, especially a single mother.

I don’t mind people matching my “energy” at all. Let’s face it, it’s very odd not to know the validity of a passport before booking a holiday. For clarity, here’s what I posted. There’s nothing rude in any of my posts. But here we are, typical MN, posters looking for an argument over nothing as usual 😂.

The screenshots don’t appear to have posted the first time for @Witchonenowbob hopefully they’re approved this time.

Looks like you missed my other posts about our relationship. To sum it up ,we are fine ,it’s just the way our life is at the moment. DH working hard for our family ,for our new house being renovated while I stay home with the kids as per my request. So yeah he’s the sole provider hence me calling him a sponsor and yes he is barely here but no because he doesn’t want to be ,because I have taken charge of all things kid related and because we are trying to get somewhere at the moment and this is how life has to be to achieve what we want .
We live each other and we love our kids and we are trying our best for them .

You posted this

Did you not think to check the passports before booking? It always astonishes me that people don’t make sure they have plenty validity on their passports before booking

It’s rude IMO and a few others who’ve also pulled you up. You may want to think about how you word things.

As OP had made the assumption that her child's passport was valid for 10 years and hadn't checked it at all, it wouldn't have made a blind bit of difference to her what date was on the passport. The passport could have easily have expired entirely.

OP - I hope you have a lovely trip.

Which is a bizarre assumption though. My DC’s first passport was issued at 4 months old. Taking her through passport control at 3 they really looked at her eyes and face shape to determine it was her (we had to wake her up for it). At 5 it was less obvious again and I’m sure would have been completely meaningless at 9.5. They change so much in 5 years that a 10 year passport would just introduce so much risk it couldn’t ever be worth it.

I think this was all a meant to be kind of situation.
Currently at the hospital with a very poorly DS . He has been having frequent vomiting episodes and diarrhoea since yesterday . I am glad things went the way they did. I would have hated for this to have happened abroad.

Oh goodness @Potterxoxo I hope he gets better soon xxx

Wow so glad you weren't travelling when that hit. Hope he gets well soon.

Well, I am very sorry to hear your DS is poorly but I was going to say upthread that these plans going awry are often meant, have seen it time and time again

No, you're not flying out tomorrow. Sorry.

You've had years to be aware of this issue.

Tomorrow has come and gone, they're going next month.

🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Why not read the thread? You've had days to find out what happened.

RTFT 🙄

@Potterxoxo I'm sorry your DS is ill, hope he gets better soon, glad you have got a solution even if it is at some cost, I hope you have a fabulous time when you do go. Also I have a friend whose marriage sounds similar to yours and it works well for the whole family and they are very happy.