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Original poster

Is there a good reason not to take your passport on a business trip to Europe?

139 replies

lisbey · 20/09/2009 20:19

Just that really. A married man, telling his wife he has to spend 2 nights a week in main land Europe for the foreseeable future, while a troublesome job is completed.

After the first trip she realised he hadn't asked her to find his passport, and whilst he's an intelligent man she would usually do such things for him. 2nd time, she checked the drawer while he was away and the passport was still there. Trying to be positive for her, but I can't think of a decent explanation.

She doesn't want to confront him because she "trusts him", but also, I suspect because she doesn't really want to know.

OP posts:
pofacedandproud · 20/09/2009 21:41

Odd to lie about something so easily exposed. Does he not know that you might call him and that the ring tone is different?

jkklpu · 20/09/2009 21:41

You can go to Ireland if you have a photo passport; for everywhere else, you need a passport.

pofacedandproud · 20/09/2009 21:42

i mean she.

jkklpu · 20/09/2009 21:44

Sorry, it's late and I'm slightly jet-lagged: I meant a photo DRIVING LICENCE is fine for travel to/from Ireland, you don't need a passport.

junglist1 · 20/09/2009 21:44

Bastard

squeaver · 20/09/2009 21:44

Like I said, he's a bit thick.

Lulubee · 20/09/2009 21:47

In some Euro countries the ring tone is just the same as the UK - my husband frequently works abroad and I usually get a normal UK ring tone on his mobile.

Lulubee · 20/09/2009 21:48

And yes, he's definitely working abroad. My PI verfied it.

hf128219 · 20/09/2009 21:53

You can travel abroad on certain other ID cards/documentation. My dh and I had this very conversation today!

browntrout · 20/09/2009 22:09

does he not say where in europe he is going? It's a pretty big place after all. Tell her to ask him for some lovely local speciality or some duty free and see what he does. Presumably if not really away then he'll just be working as normal - cant she take a drive past office or ring his no with hers withheld. Unless he's taken 2 days a week as leave for foreseeable future of course.

Alibabaandthe40nappies · 20/09/2009 22:11

Surely if he did honestly forget his passport but was able to travel on some other ID he would have mentioned it when he got home? In a 'what an idiot I am, lucky they still let me get my flight' kind of way?

Did he call home at all while he was away?

It does seem bad. DH goes away with work sometimes, but like Porto I would know where he was going, his flight times and his hotel details.

Horton · 20/09/2009 22:14

I'd just ring the office and ask for him by name and say I'm his sister (if he has one). She could put the phone down if he answers if she doesn't feel up to dealing with it right then or alternatively say 'Hello, darling, aren't you meant to be in Denmark?' and then put the phone down. And call a locksmith to change all the locks on the house. If he isn't there, a sister can easily say 'oh, is he on holiday or away on business?' etc without the humiliation that comes from being a wife whose husband is lying to her.

Horton · 20/09/2009 22:15

If no sister, cousin would do.

Ivykaty44 · 20/09/2009 22:24

The mobile will take much longer to start ringing - and then it is a dur dur (in a deep voice)

Rather that a quicker conection to the ringing and a normal burrrr burrrr

LynetteScavo · 20/09/2009 22:25

I was thinking MI5 or similar....
Men can be so lame at covering there backs!

You don't really want to know...but then it's going to eat away at you if you don't.

Private detective time, I think.

LynetteScavo · 20/09/2009 22:28

Or you could phone the person at work who aranges his travel, and ask what time his plane/train is due in....pretend you are then nanny trying to organise something for the DC. (That way you will save face if he is sitting comfortable in his office)

Horton · 20/09/2009 23:05

I am really loving the text translations of ringing tones. Sorry, I know that's a bit flippant.

StripeyKnickersSpottySocks · 20/09/2009 23:22

I've gone to France on ferry without a passport. It was a last minute (free) booze cruise and I risked the fact I may have to spend the day in Dover waiting for my mates to come back but they let me out and back in.

LynetteScavo · 20/09/2009 23:31

But nobody goes on a buisness trip to mainland Europe on a ferry, do they?

OrangeFish · 20/09/2009 23:34

Just check you have not found an old expired passport. He may be traveling in his new one.

LynetteScavo · 20/09/2009 23:39

www.schengen.dk/

He may have thought his old one was lost, and applied for a new one, which he has been using.

hanaboo · 21/09/2009 00:29

yea, tell her to ring the mobile, it will sound like a slower version of an engaged tone if he's abroad.
and ringing the office is a gd idea too.
i hope it works out ok

DillyTantay · 21/09/2009 09:18

dh says no
you coudl chance it but youd not risk it

DillyTantay · 21/09/2009 09:18

( dhs one has iris recognition )

DillyTantay · 21/09/2009 09:20

Mt great UNcle had two passports - great mystery about one of them that showed he seemed to have travelled behind the iron curtain in the early 50s then sent a postcard to his housekeeper...( like all spies do)