Travelling while pregnant? Yes, please…

… at least this was the case for me. During two out of three pregnancies I took several flights and didn’t have any problems with it. I want to share my experience to add to the voices that are out there not he topic.

I had coffee with a momma to be who was about to travel from Tokyo to Hawai. She got lots of criticism from her circle for traveling at 20 weeks pregnant. After my positive experiences with traveling and flying while pregnant I was happy to be able to encourage her and leave her feeling more positive about her upcoming trip.

This being said, it is purely my own experiences that went well for whatever grace the universe granted me. I am not a doctor, nurse, or medical professional in any sense. Do check with your doctor if you are considering to fly while pregnant but are not sure whether you should. The final responsibility will remain with you so do what you have to to feel comfortable with your decision.

If you’re curious, continue reading my travel itineraries during my first and third pregnancy that me all around the world – and contributed to the Globy’s name creation.

Pregnancy 1

Japan – Germany

At the end of my first trimester, I had a business trip scheduled. The first one in my first management position. After a lot of fatigue in the first trimester and luckily no other problems, I started feeling more energetic again. I felt good about taking the flight and going on the trip.

My mother was going to meet me in the city I went to for business where I was going to tell her in person that I was pregnant. It was also my opportunity to tell my business unit director in person about my pregnancy. Read more about how to best communicate your pregnancy at work here.

Thanks to it being a business trip, I travelled business class. Being able to lie down was obviously heaven and I appreciated it just a little more this time. During the security control I avoided the scanners and always asked to be checked on the side. Most of the time the security personnel was quite accommodating without any issues.

Japan – Malaysia – Germany

Neither life nor your career stops when you’re pregnant. So it happened that during my second trimester I was scheduled for a New Manager Training in Kuala Lumpur for 3 days. Thankfully I got to fly business class from Japan to Malaysia so that the 7.5 hour flight was very comfortable and no problem at all.

The training was at a conference room in the hotel. Instead of a 1 hour commute through Tokyo I only had to walk 5 minutes to ‘work’ which made it a few quite relaxing days. One evening I decided to get a driver and go into Kuala Lumpur for some sight seeing. I visited a mall, a local food court, KL Tower and drove past a few other sights.

My friend’s bachelorette and wedding were on the weekends after my business trip. Therefore, I flew from Kuala Lumpur to Munich. This time it wasn’t business class anymore but I was lucky to have a 4 seat row all to myself so that I could lie down and sleep on at least one of the legs.

In Germany, I had three stops planned. Munich, Berlin, Frankfurt area.

In Munich I got a rental car and drove to the house where we were going to stay for the bachelorette weekend. It seems a little much of a trip even without being pregnant but it was actually really alright.

For the I went to Berlin to see my parents, other family and friends and for work just to go back south for the wedding the following weekend which took place near Frankfurt. I was seated next to another pregnant lady at the wedding who was 2 months ahead of me. She also told me about extensive work travel she was doing while pregnant. It still amazes me how I thought a pregnancy is like a sickness when in fact I was feeling completely normal. (I am very grateful for my very healthy pregnancies and feel for everyone who doesn’t have such a smooth experience).

After the wedding it was time to take myself and baby bump back to Tokyo.

Tokyo – New York

My husband is a huge boxing and marshal arts fan. As he’s from London he was especially a big fan of Anthony Joshua. When I found out that AJ was boxing in New York that year I thought it could be a fun experience for him to go to the fight with his mates.

One of his best mates already had kids at the time and maybe that’s why he suggested for me to take him. I love New York, was feeling fine in my pregnancy and still felt adventurous so I booked a flight and tickets so we could go to the fight and spend a long weekend in New York.

This flight was not business class unfortunately. We managed to get the emergency exit seats as he is quite tall and my pregnancy wasn’t showing too much yet. You know, how you can hide the bump at some point, too. Normally, I think airlines won’t let you sit there when pregnant.

During the outbound flight I was mentally prepared to not sleep much, I was excited to arrive in New York where I had lived for 6 months and so the flights weren’t too bad. I have to say I was really happy to lie down in a proper bed when we arrived. Even though we did go out for Pizza and to the supermarket first.

While in NYC we went to the fight, took a bike ride around the east village and more of Manhattan and went to see my husband’s cousin in New Jersey by train.

On the way back, I was grumpy. I don’t remember too much of the flight except that I felt uncomfortable. It must have been some exhaustion kicking in after that first flight, the weekend and the jet lag. During a stop over I was even lying down on the floor on a jacket when I wanted to sleep. I felt angry that there didn’t seem to be any special provisions for pregnant women to lie down and that no one was trading me special for being pregnant.

Conclusion

With this post, I wanted to share my travel experiences while pregnant to add to the discussion around traveling while pregnant. Some voices might say you cannot travel when you’re pregnant which is clearly not the case when you are healthy, willing and able to travel.

There is no need to travel unless you want to (or maybe have to due to work). But the important point is that you, the one pregnant, should make that decision yourself – taking into consideration your health and your pregnancy’s condition.

If everything is ok there is nothing that should stop you from doing a world trip even while pregnant.