Many hotels in the UK won’t accept bookings from anyone under 18. One of our teenage WWOOFers Pauline Poujol – delayed by a security alert at Frankfurt airport – couldn’t get a hotel room when she arrived in Manchester because she was under 18.
We found out that Premier Inn will take under 18s and so will some Youth Hostels, but not all.
Here’s how it felt to Pauline: ‘When I was in the airport there was a lot of people and I was really sad and angry when I missed my flight. But that is life and you have to found a solution. I felt a little bit guilty for my host because it was not her job to do all these things for me. But I had money, I had my phone, I wasn’t really lost and frightened, it was OK, it just made my travel more difficult. And after I was not.
I felt a little bit angry but also that I can’t do something about it, I cannot negotiate. There were so many people.
I called my mum, then my dad, then my host. After I realise I need a hotel for the night and we all search a hotel, but all the (time) I feel guilt and bad because for one night the price was ‘uge! Nobody wants me because I have 17. Afterwards a text from the stepmother when a friend just go to the toilet and lock herself in for the night and I thouht nooooo! So I was a little bit stressed. So I called again my mum and my dad. When I arrive in Manchester there is nobody in the airport, But soon I heard the host and she had found a solution. Otherwise I just stay in the airport of Manchester. My dad agreed with that, but not my mum. She really wanted me in a secure place.’
