Mums do travel

Travel with and without teens

  • Home
  • Destination
    • UK
      • London
      • Kent
      • Northern Ireland
      • Wales
      • Elsewhere
    • Europe
      • Austria
      • Croatia
      • France
      • Gibraltar
      • Greece
      • Hungary
      • Italy
      • Netherlands
      • Norway
      • Portugal
      • Russia
      • Spain
      • Turkey
    • North America
      • USA
      • Canada
      • Carribean
      • Costa Rica
    • Africa
      • South Africa
      • Tunisia
    • Asia
      • Thailand
      • Bali
      • Singapore
    • Australia
  • Inspiration
    • Things to do in…
    • Things to do in London…
    • Where to stay
    • Language learning
    • Family travel interviews
    • The journey
    • Recipes
  • Published in
  • About
  • Contact
  • Travel shop
Home / Home Slider / The one where I forget to renew my son’s passport

The one where I forget to renew my son’s passport

September 20, 2016 by Gretta Schifano 8 Comments

Passports. Copyright Gretta Schifano

So, I thought that we were being really organised with our family summer travel plans. We decided to go to Portugal, and we booked our flights and our accommodation six months before the trip. We lined up a hire car, and I started researching things to do in Lisbon and Porto. Totally oblivious to the fact that our 13 year-old son’s passport was due to expire a few days before our flight.

This is what happened.

Monday

Our flight is booked for Sunday and I’m vaguely thinking about starting to pack. My husband arrives home from work and announces that he’s going to add our details to our flight booking and then print out our boarding passes. We usually do this the day before we travel, so I’m impressed by his forethought.

A few minutes later he says, urgently: ‘Look at this passport’.

He holds the passport out for me to see. I look at it. It’s our son’s passport, and it’s due to expire on Wednesday. I laugh, and say:  ‘It’s OK, we can book an appointment at the Passport Office in London to sort it out.’

I think that it’s possible to renew a child’s passport in the space of a few hours. I know that this is an option for renewing adult passports and I assume that it’s the same process for children.

I’m an idiot.

A few minutes later, the pair of us are staring at the official Passport Office website, which tells us that the one-day renewal service is not available for children’s passports. I feel sick. The website tells us that our only option is a one-week ‘Fast-Track’ service. That’s one week from the date when you go to a passport office, in person, with the necessary forms, photos and payment. In order to do this you need to book an appointment online.

The next available appointment (excluding one at the Passport Office across the sea in Belfast) is in Peterborough, on Wednesday. Peterborough is more than 100 miles away from where we live. Wednesday is four days before our flight. We book the appointment.

While we’re doing all of this, this, our son’s stomping around anxiously, saying things like: ‘So, I can’t go on holiday then.’ Guiltily, I try to reassure him that we’re doing our best to sort it out and that we’ll definitely still have a family holiday, together, even if we have to go a few days later than planned. He’s not convinced and he’s not at all happy. I feel like the worst parent ever.

Tuesday

Our son and I are at our local Post Office as soon as it opens, to collect a passport application form and to get some passport photos. I fill in the form and contact a friend to countersign the photos and to verify that they’re a true likeness of our son.

Wednesday

I allow an hour longer than I should need for the drive to Peterborough, but the M25 is choked with traffic and I’m relieved when I arrive at the Passport Office just in time for my appointment. In the entrance lobby there’s a woman sitting on the floor, weeping. I gather that she’s been unable to book an appointment and I feel very sorry for her.

An expressionless member of staff checks my form and documents and tells me that the new passport will be delivered to our house within a week. I find that I can barely speak, but I show him a printout of our flight confirmation for Sunday and start to try to explain. He cuts me short and shakes his head. I realise that he’s heard it all before. He tells me that our booking makes no difference. Quietly, I ask if we can collect the passport, to save time, but he says that’s not possible. The passport will be printed in Liverpool and delivered to us by courier, he says. There are no deliveries on Sundays.

I feel deflated, powerless and sad.

I drive home, feeling like I’ve let down my children. I’m usually optimistic, but realistically, at the height of summer, I think that there’s no way that the passport can be processed, printed, dispatched and delivered to us by Saturday, in time for our flight on Sunday, so we’re just not going to be able to go on holiday. I tell myself that we’re lucky to be able to go on family holidays at all, and that if this one doesn’t happen, then that’s just the way that it is. But I still feel very sad.

In the evening my husband, daughter, son and I talk about what to do. I say that my husband and daughter should fly on Sunday as planned, and my son and I will join them when the passport arrives. Our daughter, who’s just 18, says that my husband and I should fly on Sunday, because we’re the ones who are most looking forward to the holiday. She says that she’ll stay at home with her brother until the passport arrives, then they can fly out to meet us. My husband says very little, as he thinks that the passport will arrive in time for our flight. Our son is adamant that we’re not going to be able to go on holiday at all.

Thursday

I call the Passport Office to see how the application is progressing. I’m told that it hasn’t been looked at yet. Pleadingly, I explain that we’re due to fly on Sunday, but I’m told that there’s nothing that can be done to speed up the process.

Friday

I call the Passport Office in the morning, to be told that the application still hasn’t been looked at. Almost out of hope, I call again in the afternoon: miraculously, the application has been processed and the passport printed. I can’t believe it!

I’m told that the passport should be delivered to us by courier either tomorrow or on Monday. I find out the name of the courier company and call our nearest depot. They are very sympathetic and helpful, but they have no record yet of our passport. They tell me to call again when they open at 7am tomorrow.

In the evening our son hears that he has a place in a football team which he’s been trying out for over the summer. He’s ecstatic. He announces that he doesn’t want to come on holiday with us any more. He wants to stay at home and train with his new team instead. This is now more important to him than anything else, and he’s outraged when I explain that he’s too young to stay at home by himself, and that I’m not going to ask anyone to have him to stay for two weeks while we’re away.

Saturday

I call the courier company at 7am. They have the passport and will deliver it to us today. I’m astonished and delighted. It arrives mid-morning, and I finally start to pack for the trip.

Sunday

We fly to Portugal, all four of us, together, as planned.

Sunset at Praia D'el Rey, Portugal. Copyright Gretta Schifano

Sunset at Praia D’el Rey, Portugal. Copyright Gretta Schifano

Thank you very, very much to everyone who sent me supportive messages during this extremely stressful week. It really did help. For details of how to apply for or renew a passport, go to www.gov.uk  – preferably a couple of months before you’re due to travel.

SaveSave

SaveSave

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)

Related

Categories: Travel advice
Tags: passport office, passport renewal

About Gretta Schifano

I'm a freelance journalist and blogger specialising in family travel with teenagers, trips when parents manage to travel without their kids, and 50+ travel. I also write about vegetarian travel, parenting teenagers, adoption, SEN, ADHD and anxiety. My work's been published by the Financial Times, Guardian, Independent, National Geographic Traveller, Lonely Planet and others. I've lived and worked in Italy and Spain and am now based in rural south-east England with my husband, adoptive and birth kids and our dog. I previously worked as a social action radio producer for the BBC.

Facebook - Twitter - Google+

Subscribe to posts by email?

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

Comments

  1. Char | Taylor Hearts Travel says

    October 11, 2016 at 7:51 am

    What a tense week! Hopefully you can laugh about it now and your son didn’t begrudge missing out on football training!

    So glad it arrived in time in the end. Bet you won’t let that happen again! I’m off to add a reminder for our passports…

    Reply
    • Gretta Schifano says

      October 11, 2016 at 2:05 pm

      It was very, very tense! I don’t think we’ll ever be forgiven for he football training though!

      Reply
  2. Cathy (Mummytravels) says

    September 30, 2016 at 10:40 pm

    I have to make a note to renew my daughter’s early next year while it’s quiet or I’m convinced the same will happen to me.
    Cathy (Mummytravels) recently posted…How to camp if you hate tentsMy Profile

    Reply
    • Gretta Schifano says

      October 1, 2016 at 11:38 am

      Yes, please do that! I’d hate for you to have to go through what we did! x

      Reply
  3. nicola baird says

    September 20, 2016 at 10:27 am

    Yes passports go out of date so quickly! A testing time for you all. I once was house sitting and ended up looking after one of the family’s sons because his passport hadn’t been renewed – we tried to give him lots of treats but he was understandably v sad. Hope you all had a lovely time. Nicola
    nicola baird recently posted…7 things to inspire you to take a Hastings day trip – beach launching NZ styleMy Profile

    Reply
    • Gretta Schifano says

      September 20, 2016 at 5:48 pm

      That’s so funny – we had a house sitter too, but I couldn’t have asked her to look after a 13 year-old boy as well as our ageing pets!

      Reply
  4. Sally says

    September 20, 2016 at 9:56 am

    OMG – SO luck!!

    Reply
    • Gretta Schifano says

      September 20, 2016 at 5:49 pm

      Very lucky – I was astonished.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

Search site

Follow me!

Email: gretta at mumsdotravel dot com
Follow me on FacebookFollow me on Google+Follow me on TwitterFollow me on InstagramFollow me on YouTubeFollow me on PinterestFollow me on Bloglovin

You'd like posts by email?

Booking.com

Most popular posts:

  • How to pack for an 8 kg luggage allowance
    How to pack for an 8 kg luggage allowance
  • Where to find Mary Poppins film locations in London
    Where to find Mary Poppins film locations in London
  • Thailand with teenagers: a two-week summer itinerary
    Thailand with teenagers: a two-week summer itinerary
  • 8 great family holidays for football fans
    8 great family holidays for football fans
  • What to do when your teenager doesn't want to go on your family holiday
    What to do when your teenager doesn't want to go on your family holiday
  • Itinerary for a three-night Berlin sightseeing trip with a teenager
    Itinerary for a three-night Berlin sightseeing trip with a teenager
  • 17 places to find the world of Harry Potter in London
    17 places to find the world of Harry Potter in London
  • 60 free things to do in London with a teenager
    60 free things to do in London with a teenager
  • How to shop in the souks of Tunis medina, Tunisia
    How to shop in the souks of Tunis medina, Tunisia
  • What to wear for a DofE expedition
    What to wear for a DofE expedition

Recent Posts

  • How to apply for Italian citizenship: everything we’ve done so far
  • How to explore London’s top attractions from home
  • Amsterdam virtual museum & gallery tours
  • Introducing Armchair Travels
  • How to explore Florence, Italy, from home

About

  • About
  • Published in
  • Contact

Disclosure

This is a personal blog written and edited by me, Gretta Schifano. Sometimes I’m given products or sent on trips to review, but I always make this clear and give my honest opinion. See my About page for full details.

Copyright © Mums do travel 2019
Header by Suzanne Barton
Website by
Callia Web

Sign up for my free newsletter:
Subscribe to the Mums do travel mailing list... it's FREE!
You'll receive family travel news, offers and competitions. Once you sign up you can download my tips for saving money on family travel.
Your information will *never* be shared or sold to a 3rd party.
Sign up for my free newsletter: