Would it be wrong to travel without the children after passport mistake?

[Halohalolumpia]

Alright, so we’ve made a silly mistake and found out our eldest’s passport is expired, and we fly tomorrow. We didn’t get travel insurance so that’s a couple of grand down the drain. The two options are to leave the kids ( 2 years 9 and 5 years 8 months) with my parents whom they stay with every week anyway. Or we just all don’t go. It’s such a waste and I am torn. My hubs is ok going on our own but I feel sooooo guilty! The kids were so looking forward to it. Has anyone been in this situation and is it bad parenting going on our own :/ We’ve been away on our own before for a wedding for a couple of days but not 6 days. thanks xx

This is the most sensible and least selfish option. It was the parents who made the mistake so why should the children suffer and the adults get rewarded either a nice child-free holiday. Cruel! You’ll really show the kids how much you mean to them if you do this.

I can’t believe you considered going on their holiday without them!

That is very selfish- you make the mistake then the kids suffer while you go off sunning yourselves!

Travelling without insurance is very irresponsible. There’s a British woman stuck in a Florida hospital without insurance and her bill is already £100k.

If it was me I wouldn’t. But I would get dad to take the others and me and the eldest would be booked into a nice hotel somewhere with A LOT of spoiling. Have a girly time!

Typical bloke to think it’s ok to leave the kids behind in those circumstances.

Fucking hell.

Cancel the check!

Too many people with absolutely no thread etiquette whatsoever.

RTFT!!!

Anyway, good luck, OP.

This, and buy some insurance

Yes, it would be wrong to go off on a jolly without your kids because of a mistake you made. Parents deliberately booking an adult only holiday is one thing, but booking a family trip and then saying at the last minute, 'sorry kids, we didn't check your passports, so daddy and I are going on holiday without you,' is awful. Also, leaving your parents with 4 kids, one of whom is a baby, seems a bit much.

It is disappointing and a waste of money, but mistakes happen. I think you just need to suck it up and consider it an expensive lesson for next time. How long is the holiday? Is it possible for one parent to stay behind with the oldest child and try to get an emergency appointment for a passport renewal?

Did OP go on holiday without the kids-? As their flight was today??
I would have tried to change the holiday dates . Seriously no travel insurance- very Irresponsible ?!?

If planned in advance I'd say it's fine to leave them, but I think if they are old enough to have looked forward to it and understand that you've now gone without them, that might feel pretty hurtful to them. Maybe better to stay home and have a nice week in the sunshine here.

i am flabbergasted why you think this would be acceptable, its ok for one of the adults to stay behind with the child with expired passport and do fun things with them

THERE ARE ONLY 2 CHILDREN

Sorry, my mistake, I read it as a 2 year old, a 9 and a 5 year old and an 8 month old. Whether there are 2 or 4 children, does not change my opinion or suggestion.

I just couldn’t do that to my kids

I couldnt do it, think it is a really mean idea.

What happened OP?

That's a vile thing to do

This happened to me a few years ago. Fortunately I realised a few days prior and not the day before.

what I did was arrange an emergency appointment with a passport office- I went to Glasgow the next day (I live in England nowhere near Glasgow, but needs must) with the child that needed the passport. They won’t provide you with a same day passport but it can be expedited. Ours took 3 days. My husband travelled on the correct flight with his children (my step children). Me and my two children travelled the day the passport arrived. We missed 2 days of the holiday. From recollection the passport office text you to notify you it’s been posted so you have notice that it’s likely to arrive the next day (pay for that service). I had researched in advance which flights were available from which airports on the days it may arrive and once I had the passport in my hands we booked the flights and travelled the same day. Unfortunately we had to travel from a non local airport and paid a huge premium.

it depends if you can be bothered with all the hassle. It’s a PITA but for us it was worth it. I’ll never make the same mistake again and have diarised all the expiry/ renewal dates so nothing slips through the net.

This seems like a very sensible option. No way can you two just go and leave the kids behind.

Maybe Insurance would not have covered their pass port mess up this time.

Bur l.would never go in any foreign holiday. Especially with children without a really good travel.insurance policy.

Anything could happen. Be responsible

At least try to get the first appointment you can at the passport office to see if its doable to follow on a couple of days later.

No, thats awful!

Different if you had planned all along to have just an adults holiday and leave the kids home with grandparents, but to plan it as a family holiday, and then leave them is just so disappointing and unfair to them.

I'd phone passport office first thing and ask how long a passport may take. If its longer than a couple of days, I'd just try and accept that the holiday is off, money has gone and its an expensive mistake and try and make the most of a week off work with the kids

If passport can be here within a couple of days guaranteed, then I'd say one parent go with kid who has passport and the other stay home with the other and fly out once passport comes if thats a viable option

Why would you book a holiday without checking passports first?

Why would you risk travelling without holiday insurance? Is your plan to start a ‘go fund me’ if you need medical repatriation?

You seem entirely irresponsible!

Regardless of the passport mistake, as parents you are completely irresponsible to travel with no insurance. Who exactly do you think is going to pick up your costs if one of you were to get majorly unwell on holiday. A Go Fund Me perhaps.

Whilst on one hand you posted here for advice, on the other hand, there is a kind of glee to your post which suggests given your parents can step in that is really what you want i.e. the time alone.

You do not need verification from anyone on here. What you both need to do is step up as parents going forward and protect your children when travelling.

There are only two kids!