A British couple's dream honeymoon in Bali ended before it began when they were refused entry because their dog had chewed a corner of the husband's passport. Daniel and Tia Farthing, from Hadleigh, Suffolk, had spent £4,000 on the trip, which was to include an elephant safari, a villa and a pool.
The couple flew 16 hours to the Indonesian island, having left their two-year-old son Jacob at home with family. They passed through Singapore without any issues, but on arrival in Bali, officials deemed the damaged document unacceptable and put them on the first flight back to Singapore.
Daniel, 26, was detained for seven hours in a locked room with around 30 others. He said: 'I was shaking and throwing up. It was a horrendous experience.' His wife Tia, 25, a hospital receptionist, said it was 'really scary' being separated from him, and she ran up a £216 phone bill calling relatives.
The passport had been nibbled by their four-year-old labrador cross, Milo, when he was a puppy. Daniel had used it for European travel without trouble, and UK Border Force staff had assured him it would be fine for Indonesia as all key details were intact.
The couple returned to the UK less than 48 hours after leaving, having covered 15,544 miles. They lost all but £600 of the trip's cost, and relatives have started a crowdfunding page. Tia said her father-in-law joked on Facebook about selling the dog, adding: 'He knows he’s done wrong because he’s been constantly coming to us for cuddles.' An air hostess at Heathrow reportedly looked at the passport and asked: 'Is this what all the fuss was about?'
