Early this year, my husband, Albert, surprised me with a babymoon trip to Japan before we had our 3rd baby. At the time he bought our plane tickets, I was already a few weeks pregnant. I was very thankful and excited for the trip since I never traveled during my two previous pregnancies.
Fast forward a few months, however, and so many complications came up that we didn’t expect. A shortened cervix, early contractions, two rounds of antibiotics, bed rest orders, and tons of new medicines. By God’s grace, tests results came out better and I was given a go signal to travel by my doctor in time for the trip.
If you’re considering traveling while pregnant, I highly recommend it! It’s a great experience and a morale booster before a major life change.
Keep in mind however, that as expecting mothers, there are things that we have to be especially considerate of. Here are some tips on how to travel during pregnancy period:
1. Consider your destination carefully.
While most people go to the beach for their babymoons, we chose a balance of relaxation and a bit of adventure. For our Japan trip, we enjoyed traveling to the more laid back cities in Japan: Shimonoseki and Iwakuni.
Novelty & Familiarity
I’ve been to Tokyo and Osaka many times before, but this was my first time to the more “rural” parts of Japan. I’m always excited to go to new places, a fresh change of scenery from the daily routine of mom life. It also helped that Albert had been to Fukuoka three times before, so he was my guide during the trip.
Proximity & Climate
The flight to Fukuoka is only a quick 4 hours away, meaning that if anything happened to the kids (or to me!) while we were abroad, we could easily book a flight back home. The timezone was only an hour ahead, so we could also Facetime our kids conveniently.
The temperature during this time was a comfy 24 degrees, ideal for pregnant women like me. (I suddenly remembered that whenever I’m pregnant, Albert sleeps with two blankets while I complain about the fact that the air-conditioning isn’t working!)
Crowd & Cleanliness
Since Fukuoka isn’t a bustling metropolis like Tokyo, I didn’t have to be worry about being elbowed in the midst of a busy pedestrian crowd. Japan in itself is already clean, but being in smaller cities takes it to a whole new level!
Zero pollution, no touristy crowds (only a handful of locals), and their bathrooms are the BEST in the world! This is such a big plus for anyone in their third trimester who has the urge to pee every 30 minutes!
Fun fact: Contrary to Philippine custom that discourages throwing toilet paper inside the bowl, all the signs in Japanese bathrooms point to the opposite. This is because their toilet paper isn’t the lush 3-ply kind, and is designed to eventually dissolve, thus not clogging up the drain pipes.
2. Get a written clearance from your OB.
This was my mistake, I forgot to ask for a signed clearance from my doctor to present to the airline. I wasn’t questioned during our China business trip, so I didn’t think of it at all.
It wasn’t much of a problem when we were departing Manila. The staff just asked how many weeks along I was and asked me to sign their forms. I waited for a while, and they handed me a form afterwards with the airline doctor’s signature (who I didn’t see at all!).
On our flight headed home, the Japanese staff at the check-in counter was more concerned. It took some explanation to detail why we didn’t have an OB’s certificate. A group of supervisors discussed among themselves if they should let me board, eventually allowing me to.
3. It’s okay to overpack.
To be on the safe side, I packed all my medicine and vitamins in my hand carry. Then I packed a duplicate set of medicine and vitamins inside my check-in luggage. Just in case either would get lost, I wouldn’t have to worry about filling up prescriptions in a foreign country. Clothes, underwear, and shoes are easy to buy, but replacing medicines is a hassle I’d rather not go through.
4. If you are financially-able, consider booking through a travel agent.
We planned a leisurely-paced 4-day trip through Nippon Travel Agency, considered the#1 travel agency in Japan.
Though we usually plan our own travels, Albert felt that for this case it would be more relaxing and enjoyable to book through a travel agency. Instead of hauling our luggage from train stations and figuring out maps (which can be fun), we were like a happy retired couple just enjoying the premium service of our tour coordinator.
I haven’t booked with a travel operator in a long time, but Nippon Travel Agency deserves a 5-star rating easily. They speak English well, and easily adjusted to and accommodated our concerns. We had a wheelchair on hand for long walks, which I used twice during the entire trip.
During a night at a traditional Japanese hotel, our travel coordinator also quickly arranged for an elevated bed instead of a traditional tatami floor bed so that I didn’t need to exert much effort getting up. Albert and I thoroughly enjoyed the extra level of service because it was one thing off our minds to coordinate the logistics, etc., that we could enjoy the sites and each other’s company more.
4. Enjoy yourself but still exercise caution.
Albert was shocked (but also pleased) that I tamed down from my usual non-pregnant travel pace of “Go, go go!” We knew that it was a blessing for us to enjoy the trip, but we shouldn’t be pushing ourselves to our limits.
Sightseeing
One of my favorite spots during the entire tour was the Motonosumi Inari Shrine. A big plus was that even though it was listed on CNN Travel’s 36 Most Beautiful Places in Japan, there were only local tourists.
The shrine had 123 Torli gates, and it was quite a walk down. Despite really, really wanting to go all the way down to the bottom and see the cliff over the sea, we just settled on enjoying the view from above. In my case, it was too risky climbing up and down all those stairs (even if there were 70-year old seniors doing it!)
Onsens Are A No-No
During our trip, we stayed in two hotels that had authentic onsens, which were definitely NOT safe for pregnant women. Albert was very supportive, even if I told him he could go on his own, he just spent time with me taking photos wearing our yukatas along the coastline.
Food
For food, I really liked how healthy Japanese cuisine is. Out of a huge bento with all sorts of treats, there would only be one small deep-fried dish. It’s very subjective whether you can eat sushi or not when pregnant, but I did! As a precaution, I took probiotics before meals. I drew the line at eating fresh chicken sushi at an organic chicken restaurant though.
5. Going without travel insurance is NOT an option.
We are super advocates of insurance, since it’s something you can actually buy to hedge against risk. Travel insurance covers all your up-front costs (flights, hotels, activities) up to around P500,000 (depends on the package plan) in case you need to cancel or cut your trip short. Albert and I have separately used travel insurance before and were able to redeem all our expenses.
I have a suki insurance agency we buy travel insurance from, and she makes it as hassle-free as possible. We just forward our airplane tickets; she sends us the policy via e-mail, and we pay her via bank deposit. The advantage of booking through an actual agent instead of buying it in the airline’s website is that it’s not only cheaper, but it’s also easier to claim. You have someone to follow up on your behalf instead of calling a “hotline” everyday and explaining the situation to a different person each time.
I’m very thankful that nothing untoward happened during our trip, but we did have a companion who had to go visit a doctor. They just kept the prescriptions and receipts for reimbursement when they got home.
6. Trust and Enjoy!
Whatever we do, we can’t control every single situation and outcome. Having trust in God and prayer for peace with our decision helped us be confident to pursue this trip.
We had so many worries—would the kids be okay while we were away (my mom stayed at our place the entire time we were gone); would I relapse back to my old symptoms? So many questions and nothing is 100% certain. The only thing we can certain about is to ask God to put us at the center of His will and trust in His goodness that everything will be okay.
It was a great time to pause and take a break from our routine and focus on our marriage and be excited for our 3rd bundle of joy!
I hope you can have and enjoy your own babymoon!
This article was originally published at: MomYourOwnBusiness.com
