The first holiday after a separation tends to get postponed, and usually for the same reason: It feels impossible to commit to a date in July when you don’t know where you’ll be living in May.
That’s a fair instinct, but it leads to a lot of newly single parents not taking their children anywhere for two years. There are ways to book sensibly while the rest of your life is still being untangled. Here’s the practical version, including the paperwork many new solo parents don’t find out about until they’re at a check-in desk.
Permission to travel as a single parent
This is the one that catches many new single mums and dads out, and it’s worth sorting long before you look at holiday destinations: If more than one person has parental responsibility for a child, the consent of the other parent or guardian needs to be obtained before travelling abroad. Taking a child out of the UK without that consent can, in law, amount to child abduction — even if you’re the parent the child predominantly lives with.
There’s one significant exception. If a child arrangements order (CAO) states that the child lives with you, you can usually take them abroad for up to 28 days without obtaining separate consent, unless the order says otherwise. That’s the general position rather than advice about your situation. The rules are genuinely technical, and anyone with a court order, a contested arrangement or an unusual set-up should read the government guidance on taking a child abroad and, where there’s any doubt, take proper legal advice before booking a single parent holiday.
The practical step is simple: Get written consent, dated, and signed, with the other parent’s contact details on it, and take a copy with you. A short letter is fine and costs nothing.
Evidence of your relationship
Separately from consent, expect to be asked how you’re related to your child. Airline staff and border officials do ask, particularly where only one adult is travelling with a child.
If you and your child have different surnames, this is more likely to happen. Carry their full birth certificate, and if your own name has changed, something showing that – a marriage certificate, decree absolute or deed poll document. Being questioned about your relationship with your child is not an accusation and shouldn’t be taken personally. It’s a safeguarding check, and having the paperwork turns a twenty-minute conversation into a thirty-second one.
Checking travel documents
Child passports last five years, and they expire faster than you remember. Many countries also require at least 3 months of validity remaining beyond your return date, so a passport that looks in date may not be accepted. Check the expiry date and the number of months needed after your return date to the UK before you book yourself a holiday. If the other parent needs to countersign or supply information for a renewal, build in extra time. That’s the step most likely to stall, and it stalls in weeks rather than days.
Booking when dates aren’t certain
The instinct is to wait until everything is settled. The better approach is to book in a way that allows room for change.
Take travel insurance out when you book and not before you fly. The cancellation cover starts from the date of purchase, which is the whole point of it. Make sure you know which reasons to cancel are covered by your policy.
School holidays limit your options, but term dates are published a year or more ahead. They’re the one fixed point in all of this, so build around them first.
If you really think your ex will throw a spanner in the works, look for operators offering free date changes. A deposit you can move is worth more than a slightly cheaper booking you’d lose.
The financial side
Working out the cost of a single parent holiday
Going from two incomes to one might make paying the bills harder, but your holiday cost doesn’t necessarily increase. After all, you are now only paying for one adult, not two. What impacts the price per head is the single person supplement if you are travelling solo with a young child or that you may be charged for two adults, rather than one adult and one child if you book a hotel room for yourself and your youngster.
Tour operators specializing in group holidays for single parents aim to offer fairer prices without a single supplement and with sibling discounts. Always check whether your child’s place is priced as a full adult. Pricing varies enormously by operator and age band, and the same trip can differ by hundreds of pounds depending on how they count it. Age bands can count children as adults from as young as 12, but each hotel and operator has its own policy, so shopping around is worth it.
When the house is the thing holding everything up
For a lot of separating families, the holiday isn’t really waiting on money. It’s waiting on the house. A jointly owned home usually can’t be sold without both parties agreeing, and until it is, neither person knows what they have or where they’ll be living. That makes committing to anything twelve months out feel reckless.
It’s worth knowing how long the process of selling a house normally takes. The average UK sale runs around five months from listing to completion, with roughly 120 days of that falling after an offer has been accepted, and very little of it comes with a firm date. It has to be said, that around a quarter of agreed sales collapse before completion – usually not because of your buyer, but because of somebody several links down a chain you’ll never meet. When that happens, the survey money and most of the legal fees are gone, and the process must start all over again.
For most households, the open market is still the right route, because patience genuinely is worth money and you’ll get a better price by waiting. Where that changes is when the delay itself is the problem: two people paying for one house they both want out of, in most cases one paying for rental whilst waiting for the sale, and arrangements that can’t be settled until the sale is.
There might come a point for some families when looking to sell a house quickly after a separation is the best option – where the buyer uses their own funds, so there’s no chain and no mortgage approval elsewhere that can fail. The trade-off should be said plainly rather than buried: You’ll get meaningfully less than the open market would pay, and for most people that makes it the wrong answer.
Where both parties want a clean line under it and a date they can plan around, the calculation looks different. It’s worth understanding the option properly, ideally alongside whatever legal advice you’re already taking, rather than discovering it at the point everything feels stuck.
Choosing the right holiday destination
Direct short-haul flights are worth paying for when you’re travelling solo. There’s nobody to swap watching the kids with, after all.
All-inclusive isn’t automatically the cheaper option, but it removes the running calculation of what everything costs, which has its own value on a first solo trip, and you don’t have to accompany the kids every time they want to get another drink or ice cream. Of course, sometimes, it’s just not worth paying the extra, especially if you are not a big drinker, so do your math.
Accommodation with a kitchen gives you flexibility over mealtimes, which matters more with younger children than the restaurant quality does.
Going with other single parent families solves what the resort can’t: There are other adults to talk to in the evening, and your child has company their own age without you having to engineer it. You could round up some friends and organize your own holidays for single mums (or dads) or look for a tour operator who specializes in holidays for single parents and offers extra support throughout the booking process and at the resort. It might cost slightly more (although not necessarily) but will also make for a more stress-free first trip.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need the other parent’s permission to take your child abroad?
Usually yes if they have parental responsibility. A child arrangements order stating the child lives with you generally allows up to 28 days, but check the government guidance and take advice if your situation is at all unusual.
What documents should a single parent carry when travelling alone with a child?
Written consent from the other parent, your child’s full birth certificate, and evidence of any name change. Keep both paper and photographed copies.
How far ahead should you book?
As early as the term dates allow, prioritising bookings with free date changes over the lowest headline price.
Is it cheaper to travel in a single parent group?
Sometimes because specialist operators try to obtain favourable group prices and don’t apply a single supplement that standard packages do. Compare the total rather than the per-person rate.
Can parents book a holiday with their children before the legal separation or divorce is finalised?
Yes, but parents need to be mindful that the overall cost of the holiday should be reasonable, especially if paying from joint funds.
And finally…
Your first holiday as a single parent doesn’t need to be ambitious. Pick a holiday destination that you can fly to directly and short airport transfers and sort your paperwork early. Booking a solo family holiday rather than waiting a year until everything has finally settled down can positively impact your mental health. Looking forward to a holiday sparks happiness, builds excitement, and calms your nervous system. No matter how stressful life feels, knowing that you can in the not too distant future decompress and unwind, can be a life saver.
