Advice for Travelling with Child's Friend

mjhtvchick

Universal Fan-atic
Joined
Apr 10, 2012
Hi all, I am looking for any experience/advice you may have for travelling with a child other than your own.

Looking to take my daughter and her friend (both 14) on a "girl's trip" to Orlando over the summer and want to make sure that I am not missing anything in the planning.

Obviously, she will have her passport and we will have signed letters from both her parents using the template on the Travel Canada website (https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/children/consent-letter).

Did you have anything special from a medical perspective other than copies of heath insurance cards? This is probably my biggest stressor - if she gets ill or injured, I don't want to run into a situation where she cannot be cared for.

Thanks for any and all insight you have!
 
Any additional medical coverage or just basic provincial plan?

A list from family of basic OTC meds she is okay to take if the need should arise and what family is comfortable with if x, y, z medical situation happens?

My oldest is only 12 right now but I would probably want to have a long talk with the other parent about expectations, etc. before going so there are no surprises. I realize this isn't what you asked for but there are possibly zero people I would let take my children out of the Country, even within my family, so I'm thinking that way.
 
I’m in the camp of the above poster. When I take other people’s children, I bring along the parent too. That way the child is not my responsibility but we have the fun of a trip with friends.
 
Over the years I have taken four of my daughter’s friends with us, each trip has been at least 10 nights. I always ask parents to buy travel health insurance, I ask them to fill out consent letters, and I get a basic health history. I also add parent to Facebook so that they can follow along from home. If the girls are 14 be prepared for them to want to visit the parks alone and to not want to spend as much time with you, as cool as I thought I was, to teen girls I was not at all. Thank goodness she is now 21 and now realizes how awesome I am.
 


The good news is Canada is not the other side of the world so if something very dramatic does happen I would imagine her parents would be very reachable and able to consult on whatever you need them too. But really chances are they will be fine and have a great time. It’s awesome you are doing this!
 
Did you have anything special from a medical perspective other than copies of heath insurance cards? This is probably my biggest stressor - if she gets ill or injured, I don't want to run into a situation where she cannot be cared for.
You may want to look at "Child Medical Consent" you can do a google search for more information.
Obviously the parents would need to be comfortable with this and would want you to consult with them but if forms need to be signed approving treatment for even something minor I think this would expedite things.

Chance of something happening are low but you do hear of people reacting to the sun or bug bites. Even at 14 kids can do something that requires medical treatment.
 
This is a tangent but I want to comment as someone who was allowed to bring friends on my family’s trips to Disney.

This goes back 30-years now (I am currently 42), but my friends will still reminisce about it when I see them. I had no idea how big a deal it was for them or how long their memories would last.

I know it was a different time back then with etiquette, legalities, insurance and more changing over time. However, I will say it could mean a lot to your child and their friends if you can pull it together.
 


This is a tangent but I want to comment as someone who was allowed to bring friends on my family’s trips to Disney.

This goes back 30-years now (I am currently 42), but my friends will still reminisce about it when I see them. I had no idea how big a deal it was for them or how long their memories would last.

I know it was a different time back then with etiquette, legalities, insurance and more changing over time. However, I will say it could mean a lot to your child and their friends if you can pull it together.

Thanks for this! This is the main reason I am "going through the trouble" of doing this - it is very likely that this girl would never get to go on this kind of trip otherwise...and her parents cannot afford to come with us.

I realize that there will be challenges and it is costing us a bit more money than if the trip was just my daughter and I but I think it will be worth it and a nice experience for them right before they start high school in September.
 
I bit my tongue mentioning finances because I didn’t want to imply it’s only worth it as an act of goodwill... but yes, the friends we brought along would probably not have been financially able to go with their families either.

It should be a rewarding experience for everyone and I give you kudos for making the effort.
 
Notarized letter of consent, Copies of Medical insurance cards, and travel medical insurance. All the contact information for parents cell number and maybe friend them on facebook to use messenger and the family doctor's number. List of any OTC medicine the parents might give for mild pain/ allergic reactions. At 14, the girl should be able to handle herself for the most part. If its just you and the 2 girls, this is more supervision than kids get on most class trips.
 
Definitely travel medical. Provincial health insurance covers very little for out of country care and you might also need to pay for emergency flights home which can run up expenses. I know that I'd prefer to be cared for at home rather than abroad (even if it's just over the border) once the emergency is taken care of and I'm able to travel even if I'm not fully healed/well so being able to be transported asap would be something I'd want to consider, hence the travel medical which usually covers such things as does trip interruption insurance. An extreme case, but my father got a lung infection when in Span and spent 10 days in the hospital there. He wasn't able to make his original flight home and they wouldn't discharge him to fly home unless he was escorted with an EMT and oxygen. Fortunately, his travel medical was able to pay for the hospital stay, the change in flights, the EMT and the oxygen otherwise he would have had to stay even longer in the hospital in Spain. Either way, very expensive if he hadn't had the insurance.

Also, as others have said, not just letters to allow for you to take her across the border but also to authorize health care if something happens plus anything in her health record that they would need to know that might impact the treatment they provide. Make sure if she has travel medical that you know about any pre-existing conditions that might impact whether they would pay out in the event of an emergency and/or the insurance covers that. Fortunately, there seems to be a lot of competition lately for out-of-country travel medical and trip interruption insurance. We just purchased some for our next trip and it's about 1/4 of the cost of what it was a few years ago.
 
I would make sure that her parents(or at least one) has a valid passport. I know the chances are remote, but if something happens and you need them to fly down quickly they need passports ready.
 
Does she have her own cell phone? Make sure she and her parents are okay if roaming charges are incurred. In fact, her parents may want her to check in nightly or every morning.
 
I am taking my daughter’s boyfriend with us to celebrate their 16th birthdays in May. I will have a notarized letter, I purchased extra medical insurance, I have a power of attorney for medical decisions (obviously I would consult his parents), emerg contact info and medical history. I have taken several trips with my children’s friends. So far I have never needed the documents but it’s always good to have.
And it is sooooo worth the extra effort to pull documents together. The memories are priceless. (And I told them they could go off on their own at the parks, etc but she says Disney is our place so she wants to hang with me and her little sis ).
 

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