u/Ok-Sherbert-75

We’re Americans in the US and I know what is officially recommended. The reason I’d like to stop traveling with this document is fear of theft, which could have catastrophic consequences, or damage. I don’t like the stress of worrying about it.

I’m a widowed mom to my oldest and he had been to 27 countries with just me before turning 18. I’ve always had his birth certificate and his dad’s death certificate with me but the only time I’d ever been asked for documentation was on a cruise. I’ve had bags lost forever or stolen but luckily never with the documents.

I now have a baby I had solo. She’s been abroad 3 times and I’ve never been asked for her birth certificate. I’m considering just having a scanned copy saved on my phone and calling it good. Maybe a photocopy folded into my passport holder. We have a trip to Norway and Sweden in the fall. Both countries recommend having something but don’t explicitly require it either. I’m kinda thinking of leaving the birth certificate at home.

But I wanted to check here - have you ever been asked for a birth certificate while traveling? And if so, what country are you from and where were you traveling to, and at what stage (e.g immigration, security, boarding etc) did they ask for it?

I’m still in the planning stages but for those of you with babies right around 2 years apart who didn’t want to wait long after 2. Did you do it before or after the baby came? How did it go?

I lost a lot of hair along my hairline after giving birth and it’s grown back to 3-4 inches in the front. It’s thick enough that it looks like poorly executed bangs but it’s too thin for me to make it look intentional.

I can make it work with my hair down but with it looks super goofy with my hair up, and with summer around the corner that’s an issue.

I think I can pull off curtain bangs. But even if I can’t, a good stylist’s best shot will look better than what I’ve got going on… right?

Do people do this? Are they happy or regret leaning into the bangs childbirth gave them?