Just when you thought your trip planning skills were getting pretty solid, along comes a twelve-year-old to show you up. International flight? Check. Luxury hotel? Check. Ground transport? Not a problem. An Australian boy from Sydney managed to book and execute a solo trip from Sydney to Bali, sans-parents, sans-escort, and generally sans-any-other-kind of assistance. He even remembered to bring his passport.
This 12-Year-Old Booked a Luxury Solo Trip to Bali -- and Got Away With It
As a minor, his name isn’t released to the media, but this kid takes the crown for the best way to get back at your parents. After getting into an argument, the boy managed to get ahold of both his passport and his mom’s credit card. With help from the internet, he found an airline that allows children over 12 to fly unaccompanied and without a note from their parents. He bought a ticket, got himself on the train to the airport, and flew to Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar. He even managed to successfully navigate a layover in Perth.
The story gets even juicier after his arrival in Denpasar, the capital of the Indonesian island of Bali. He checked into the luxurious, four-star All Seasons Hotel and managed to stay for four days — four days — by himself. He told A Current Affair that he “wanted to go on an adventure.” After realizing that he didn’t turn up for school, the boy’s parents reported him missing. It’s doubtful that the first thing local police thought to check was with Indonesian authorities, perhaps explaining how he managed to stay for four days.
Why no one in the international terminal at Perth International Airport was suspicious enough of this 12-year-old traveling alone to raise an alarm bell remains a mystery, one thing is certain: no one is going to have better stories to tell at his secondary school than him.
H/T Metro