A young man has told how he spontaneously traveled to Japan without his girlfriend after she missed her flight due to a simple passport error.
The American couple was traveling interstate to catch their connecting flight to Japan, where they planned to spend a week celebrating the New Year.
But halfway through their domestic flight, the 23-year-old bride suddenly realized she had forgotten her passport at home.
Instead of staying with her, the 25-year-old decided to go on vacation without her.
“Since we were far from our house, she couldn’t quickly return home to grab her passport,” the man explained in a Reddit thread.
“We were both obviously upset, but I reached out anyway and told her I was still going without her.”
“She got upset and asked me why I had abandoned her because of a simple mistake and I told her that I wasn’t going to miss a trip just because she planned it wrong.”
The dilemma began after the man reminded his girlfriend to pack her passport the day before her trip, and she assured him she would do so.
A young man told how he spontaneously traveled to Japan without his girlfriend after she missed her flight due to a simple mistake in her passport (file image)
On the day of their flight, the couple began their trip, flying from a domestic airport to the international airport.
“We both just showed our state IDs for domestic flights and flew without any problems,” he explained, adding that the couple had booked their tickets for the two flights separately.
‘When we were checking in for the second international flight, they asked to see his passport. He said he didn’t have it and told me that halfway through the first flight he realized he forgot to pack it.
Since the couple was away from home, he suggested that she could stay with a friend until he returned from his trip.
“I told her that since we had a mutual friend who lived in the city we were currently in, she could ask if she could stay with him and explore for a week, and then I’d meet her on the flight back and we’d meet her.” “I would go home,” he said.
“She agreed, but she was still upset because she wanted to spend New Year’s with me.”
However, things took a turn when he called his girlfriend on New Year’s Eve.
‘I called her on FaceTime and we talked for a while. Our friend joined the call and said he was surprised I abandoned her like that and was disappointed in me. “My girlfriend agreed with him,” the boyfriend said.
‘Am I really a bad boyfriend for continuing to take this trip?’ For example, if she decided not to go anyway, it wouldn’t even benefit her at all, it would only hurt me.
‘Am I the idiot for going on a trip without my girlfriend since she forgot her passport?’
Thousands of people weighed in on the man’s situation, with most agreeing that they would have gone on holiday without their partner if they had forgotten their passport.
The American couple was traveling interstate to catch their connecting flight to Japan, where they planned to spend a week celebrating the New Year (file image)
‘This is what I would call a relationship-defining event. If someone is so careless as to forget their passport on a multi-leg international trip, without being mentally incompetent, then it is their fault and their responsibility and they must bear the consequences. “If they turned around and got mad at me for taking the trip as planned, I would be seriously reconsidering the relationship,” said one.
‘It is very unfortunate that she has forgotten her passport, but she has that, not you. You reminded him to pack it and he didn’t. Why should you miss a trip you planned and paid for because of their mistake? “It’s not like you left her stranded in a random place, you made sure she had a safe and comfortable backup plan with a mutual friend,” another explained.
‘I would have gone on a trip too. “This is 100 percent his fault,” one added.
However, not everyone agreed with his decision.
‘When it comes to your girlfriend, obviously the mistake was hers. However, you decided to take an amazing trip and leave her, so I don’t blame her for being upset about that. I’ll tell you why. Your solution when you dumped your girlfriend was that she should show up at a friend’s house unannounced and stay for a week. A week! Who does that to someone, even a good friend? I can’t say I blame the friend for letting you hear it. This behavior is so incredible to me.
Meanwhile, many said the woman could have found an alternative way to get to Japan without missing the trip entirely.
Many suggested they could have sent him the passport via FedEx, same-day express delivery.
‘Is there no one at home to whom you have entrusted the key in case of emergency? Because Same Day FedEx Express still exists and she could have made arrangements for a flight the next day. For me it would be worth spending a few hundred dollars to save a few thousand dollars on a vacation,” one of them said.
Meanwhile, travel workers said they see people miss their flights all the time because they forget their passports, a common mistake travelers make.
“I was a travel agent. You’d be shocked and shocked,’ one said.
Others couldn’t understand how the woman managed to board her domestic flight without problems, to which one explained: ‘They booked the domestic and international flights separately. That means that for all intents and purposes they are two completely separate itineraries, even if it is with the same airline. They are not linked at all and there would be no international requirements checks until they tried to check in on the second flight, which is what happened.’