{"id":4083,"date":"2016-11-01T00:00:08","date_gmt":"2016-11-01T00:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/stay-or-go\/"},"modified":"2022-07-11T19:04:50","modified_gmt":"2022-07-11T19:04:50","slug":"stay-or-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/travel-diaries\/stay-or-go\/","title":{"rendered":"Travel Diaries: Should I Stay or Should I Go?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/strong>The\u00a0Darker Side of Travel<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s one of the harsh realities for those of us who have chosen to live far from where we were born: when a loved one dies overseas, do we drop everything and go? As I found out recently, there are good reasons to do just that \u2013 travelling for bereavement helps us come to terms with our loss and offers a chance for family and friends to get together to celebrate a life.<\/p>\n

The Dreaded Call<\/strong><\/h3>\n

It\u2019s the call we all dread. For those of us who live far from home or have family members scattered across the globe, it\u2019s a call that often comes at an unsocial hour from a distant time zone. Your stomach drops and you hold your breath as you await the news.<\/p>\n

Then, decisions must be made as it may not be a foregone conclusion that you will travel to sit by a sickbed or attend a funeral. You may be\u00a0too busy to drop everything and fly overseas and instead have to find some other way to address your loss.<\/p>\n

In some cases, not going is simply not an option. There’s a \u2018hierarchy of grief\u2019, as a friend of mine calls it, which dictates that we must travel if a close family member (such as a parent) has died. This usually means that we have to quickly drop everything and make travel arrangements.<\/p>\n

Should I Stay or Should I Go?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In the past year alone, I had to make difficult choices about attending two funerals in the UK while I was living in Australia. A good friend became ill very suddenly and,\u00a0heartbreakingly, passed away in the prime of her life. She was someone I\u2018d known since I was four years old. I wrestled with the decision, but work, children and financial concerns meant I simply couldn\u2019t make the trip.<\/p>\n

Six months later, my mother\u2019s sister, who had been ill for two years, passed away. I was no more upset at the death of my close aunt than I was by the loss of my friend, but this time that \u2018hierarchy of grief\u2019 meant that I had to go. I dropped everything and found a flight that would get me home within days. It was a sudden, quick trip but I was very glad to have made it. Being there certainly helped me come to grips with the passing of someone I’d known all my life, which would have been so hard to accept from many miles away.<\/p>\n

With these experiences in mind, I recently advised an Australia-based friend, who is originally from the UK, to fly home when his estranged father was suddenly taken gravely ill. He was unsure about what to do \u2013 he was busy at work, he had pressing social engagements and he wasn\u2019t sure how his father would react to his sudden visit.\u00a0However, he decided to book a last-minute flight and was very glad he did.<\/p>\n

Last-minute Travel<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Last-minute flights can be expensive, but it\u2019s usually possible to travel within days of making a booking where it won\u2019t be too costly. In some cases, it may even be less expensive. Sometimes you have to be strategic with your timing. If you know someone is sick and might not last much longer, you have to weigh up whether it\u2019s more important for you to see them and say goodbye or be there for their funeral.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s particularly difficult if you can only get away for a few days and you\u00a0have to return home before they pass away. Arrange with your employer\u00a0for as much time off as possible and try to negotiate this as\u00a0bereavement leave rather than holidays. Also, try to book a return flight with some flexibility.<\/p>\n

Things to Remember<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Before planning any last-minute travel, check your passport is valid and ensure visas are up to date. This is particularly relevant if you have elderly relatives living overseas and you know you could be called up at a moment\u2019s notice. Otherwise, you might have to pay extra to arrange for emergency documents or, even worse, be unable to get them at the last minute.<\/p>\n

The Upside<\/strong><\/h3>\n

There\u2019s always a silver lining isn\u2019t there, even in death? Of course, this might be hard to see if you\u2019re in the throes of grief. Funerals can be sad affairs but they can also be uplifting and a celebration of a fulfilling life well-lived. Also, other than weddings, this might be one of the few times your relatives and friends can all get together. For those of us who have chosen to live in another place, it’s a golden opportunity to catch up with people we know and love. Let’s make the most of it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0The\u00a0Darker Side of Travel It\u2019s one of the harsh realities for those of us who have chosen to live far from where we were born: when a loved one dies overseas, do we drop everything and go? As I found out recently, there are good reasons to do just that \u2013 travelling for bereavement helps… Continue reading Travel Diaries: Should I Stay or Should I Go?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":4084,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[56,82],"authors":[174],"class_list":["post-4083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel-diaries","tag-couples-getaway","tag-travel-diaries","authors-liz-durnan","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nShould I Stay or Should I Go? | Travel Blog - Expedia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s one of the harsh realities for those of us who live far from where we were born: when a loved one dies overseas, do we drop everything and go?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/travel-diaries\/stay-or-go\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Should I Stay or Should I Go? | Travel Blog - Expedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s one of the harsh realities for those of us who live far from where we were born: when a loved one dies overseas, do we drop everything and go?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/travel-diaries\/stay-or-go\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Expedia SG Stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-11-01T00:00:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-07-11T19:04:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/sad.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"676\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andrew Gray\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andrew Gray\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/travel-diaries\/stay-or-go\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/travel-diaries\/stay-or-go\/\",\"name\":\"Should I Stay or Should I Go? | Travel Blog - Expedia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/travel-diaries\/stay-or-go\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/travel-diaries\/stay-or-go\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/sad.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-11-01T00:00:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-07-11T19:04:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/16dfd645db9e4ade59a4790b2655cd3c\"},\"description\":\"It\u2019s one of the harsh realities for those of us who live far from where we were born: when a loved one dies overseas, do we drop everything and go?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/travel-diaries\/stay-or-go\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/travel-diaries\/stay-or-go\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/travel-diaries\/stay-or-go\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/sad.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/sad.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":676},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/travel-diaries\/stay-or-go\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Travel Diaries: Should I Stay or Should I Go?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/\",\"name\":\"Expedia SG Stories\",\"description\":\"Just another WordPress site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/16dfd645db9e4ade59a4790b2655cd3c\",\"name\":\"Andrew Gray\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93806db7c66e1d34e1265dcbfee63f26?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93806db7c66e1d34e1265dcbfee63f26?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Andrew Gray\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.wave.dev\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/author\/Andrew Gray\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Should I Stay or Should I Go? | Travel Blog - Expedia","description":"It\u2019s one of the harsh realities for those of us who live far from where we were born: when a loved one dies overseas, do we drop everything and go?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/travel-diaries\/stay-or-go\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Should I Stay or Should I Go? | Travel Blog - Expedia","og_description":"It\u2019s one of the harsh realities for those of us who live far from where we were born: when a loved one dies overseas, do we drop everything and go?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/travel-diaries\/stay-or-go\/","og_site_name":"Expedia SG Stories","article_published_time":"2016-11-01T00:00:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-07-11T19:04:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":676,"url":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/sad.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Andrew Gray","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Andrew Gray","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/travel-diaries\/stay-or-go\/","url":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/travel-diaries\/stay-or-go\/","name":"Should I Stay or Should I Go? | Travel Blog - Expedia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/travel-diaries\/stay-or-go\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/travel-diaries\/stay-or-go\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/sad.jpg","datePublished":"2016-11-01T00:00:08+00:00","dateModified":"2022-07-11T19:04:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/16dfd645db9e4ade59a4790b2655cd3c"},"description":"It\u2019s one of the harsh realities for those of us who live far from where we were born: when a loved one dies overseas, do we drop everything and go?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/travel-diaries\/stay-or-go\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/travel-diaries\/stay-or-go\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/travel-diaries\/stay-or-go\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/sad.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/sad.jpg","width":1200,"height":676},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/travel-diaries\/stay-or-go\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Travel Diaries: Should I Stay or Should I Go?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/","name":"Expedia SG Stories","description":"Just another WordPress site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/16dfd645db9e4ade59a4790b2655cd3c","name":"Andrew Gray","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93806db7c66e1d34e1265dcbfee63f26?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93806db7c66e1d34e1265dcbfee63f26?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Andrew Gray"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.wave.dev\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/author\/Andrew Gray\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4083"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4083"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12809,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4083\/revisions\/12809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4083"},{"taxonomy":"authors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.expedia.com.sg\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/authors?post=4083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}