At home it can be easy to idealize your future holiday. Of course it'll be perfect - you think - you'll be on holiday! If you can mostly do without that unattractive support belt or unladylike chewing gum at home, why bother packing it? You can easily ruin your holiday by being an optimist.
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| my last trip's packing had mostly to do with what my children might need - though they ended up sharing their pretzels! |
I just got back from holiday. I have traveled 20,000 miles during this my third pregnancy and here is the list of things I wish I had remembered to bring:
- travel socks with disposable/shorter socks over top - so if you have to walk through security in socks you can get rid of them easily. Take multiple pairs because otherwise you'll be wearing the same pair for four days running and that can cause itching.
- comfortable shoes
- if in 2nd or 3rd trimester - support belt
- soft face cloth for heating up to deal with headaches
- anything you need to sleep - I know people who travel with their pillow or favorite pillowcase
- to treat nausea - mints, ginger biscuits, lemon drops, whatever helps
- palatable snacks - 'expensive snacks' is what my sister calls the kind you really want to eat. Nothing against a 30p sleeve of ginger biscuits but you also need something with fiber to fight constipation. If you are anxious to avoid nuts for the sake of all the poor children with peanut allergies who might be on your flight AND avoid getting in trouble for carrying fresh foods across borders, you might have to invest in exotic dried fruit or wholewheat crackers.
- empty water bottle to stay hydrated!
- sweatpants - ignore everything you read online about dressing smart for travel. Some people find in pregnancy that they swell or grow unexpectedly whilst traveling and you don't want to be still trying to force yourself into pre-preg clothes.
- some hydrating cream or oil to fight itchy, dry skin - which you might get all over.
- Imagine all the health issues you've ever had during pregnancy and amplified by 100 - even if it's ones you don't like to think about like hemorrhoids or yeast infections/thrush - and bring whatever you use for treating this for at least the first few days of the trip in case you are too tired to go shopping for it. Also budget buying more things to treat this whilst traveling.
I find traveling in the first trimester requires a lot less gear but more throwing up. Traveling in the second trimester seems to take up more space - not just you being bigger but bigger outfits and more things like security belts but you're generally a bit less nauseated.
The nice thing about traveling pregnant when you're showing is at least you're not self conscious about the six passports bulging out of your security hip-pouch. Also I think people might take slightly more pity on you.
And you can force yourself through security by reminding yourself that no matter how hard it is to travel pregnant with two small kids, it is definitely easier than traveling with 3 small children like next year because at least the child in your womb can't kick off in a noisy and embarrassing tantrum for 6 hours on the plane.
Another thing you might want to remember - anything you need to do with pregnancy reveals whilst you're away. We decided to find out the gender while with my side of the family. We quickly came up with signs, but if you wanted to bring balloons or blue/pink candy or the scan pictures to show your family/friends/innocent bystanders, those should go on your packing list too!
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