Travelling abroad with work

[jaykay987]

I am sure lots of people are still regularly travelling.

I can travel a lot with work, but it comes in peaks.
I've just found out they want me to hold workshops in 6 different countries over a three week period.

am worrie dhow tired this will make me, and how I'll cope, but on a more serious note I am not confdent the work travel insurance will cover me.

Any experience?

I have got a copy of the policy and it is very high level. It does make reference to not covering "pre-existing" conditions, so think it might not cover me.

I was hoping to tell work as late as possible, but this trip will need to be organised first full week back after Christmas. I will be 14weeks (so no pre-scan issues) but I was trying to keep quiet as long as my belly would allow to try and protect my promotions opportunities.

Has anyone had their risk assessment with work - which has stopped them travelling?

I know this is likely to vary from company to company, but to hear from anyone who has experienced anything similar would be helpful to get me out of this spin!

Thanks!

Contact the insurer and ask them if you would be covered, they won't contact your employer about it.

Re travelling, I think it'll depend on how you're feeling and also how late into your pregnancy you will be travelling. I could have done it comfortably up until around 24/25 weeks but after that my SPD started kicking in, and insomnia etc. I'm sure there's people who could have managed longer, and I know there's people who would have had to stop sooner.

it partly depends which countries - eg if they require vaccinations / malaria tablets as you're unlikely to be able to have these. also what's the standard of healthcare like in the countries just in case anything went wrong? hope it all works out ok - remember you & baby are most impt! x

Mainly central europe. No vaccinations required.

I've tried calling the insurance company direct this afternoon...no luck so far. I was passed around and then people didn't want to talk to me as I'm not the policy holder! AGGHHH!!

The more I think about it, the more I think I'll have to come clean early. I'm already worried about this - and I'm trying to unwind and not get stressed so much! This clearly isn't helping - so perhaps its a sign to just tell earlier than planned.

I just don't want to be difficult. But not sure I feel entirely comfortable about so many flights in such a short space of time. Its not helping my anxiety levels! If something happened, not sure I would be very forgiving of myself. I just don't think anyone else can do it (there are four of us free - so they are sending all of us to different places). If I say I can't go - the whole plan will fall apart. And so far I can't think of a solution! I think I'd feel better if I had an alternative I could "sell" to my manager after I tell him.

Pregnancy is not a "condition" for insurance purposes so unless you are high risk you should be covered on the insurance. You ought to double check your cover though.

if it was me i would only travel to countries with first world healthcare standards and where i didn't need to worry about vaccines. I would say a European trip would be nothing to worry about. An African trip would be out of the question for me. I qm quite risk averse in general though.

By the way flying is perfectly safe and poses no risk to the baby

Can you talk to your Occupational health people? It would be confidential (they are not permitted to disclose medical details to your manager) but they could advise you.

Travel insurance cannot discriminate against a healthy pregnancy. You will be covered unless you have any complication you already know about.
But I still think you should tell your employer and discuss your itinerary.

I'm not sure it's discrimination is it? I thought insurance was risk based. Hence why there is age limits etc.

Anyway, I think I was distracting myself with the insurance issue (though I do still need to check if I'd be covered). I think I should think about telling work before the trip is finalised.

Thanks for the comments!

I was in a similar position, lots of travel whilst pregnant. I refused to travel at the start as I'd had a mc before that started on the way back from somewhere, and I didn't want to be on that position again.

I did travel after 17 weeks, it was fine. But I found it really tiring. I had a rush assessment where I agreed that I would stop travelling before 30 weeks. In the end I travelled at 29 & 30 weeks, and then again (domestically) at 32 weeks. By that stage I was exhausted and suffering from awful ligament pain. It contributed to me finishing work early last week at 32 weeks rather than 34 weeks.

If I hadn't had the ligament pain I think it would have been fine. Tired, but ok.

Hello JayKay

My work risk assessment says no travelling more than 1 hour away, which I kind of asked our very supportive h&s manager for. But then I have had 3 mcs which work are aware of so they're very supportive in doing anything they can to help.

If I was you, I would talk to your occupational health (or h&s manager depending on what you have), discuss it with them, take their advice & ask them to do a risk assessment. Between you, you should be able to come up with the right answer for you. In order for the risk assessment to be enforced though, you will have to tell certain people - probably your manager & hr.

Good luck!

Thanks everyone.

Unfortunately, I have to tell my manager in order to trigger the HR/Occupational assessment. Can't do it anonymously - they log every call.

Perhaps I'll call them tomorrow and see if I can speak to them off the record.

Hi Jay - I'm still traveling, have had 4 trips in the last 3 months since I became pregnant and am currently on a trip now. Planning on traveling with work up to 30 weeks (long and short haul) . My company didn't do a risk assessment, but I did speak to my boss and HR off the record quite early though about it.

I'm happy with my traveling, as all locations are in countries that I am comfortable with the standard of healthcare and I am always in major cities so if anything did go wrong its not too far away. I also am lucky in the fact that on most occasions I can be flexible with my schedule - ie ensure that I know I have enough time for travel etc so I don't tire out. That said I had a few 4.30am starts and then full on days early on which killed me.

But as others said before me, do what you feel comfortable with - and stick to your guns. Your and the bumps health is the most important thing

I think I'm most worried as it'll be a flight to 1st country - two days stood all day facilitating sessions (which is intense and exhausting even before bfp!) then fly to the next country and do the same again before flying home. Squeezing 4days of intense facilitation into one week is ambitious to say the least and that's not factoring in the travel and the fact I probably won't sleep well in hotels.

I should have more energy by then. I'll be approx 19-22 weeks.

Think I need to start thinking a bit more positively about it. As I might have to go even if I do speak to them early. Agghhh. So difficult!

Can you build in additional rest time? e.g. For my last work trip abroad I travelled out at midday so I could rest that evening (although I ended up working until late), and I ordered room service, took taxis instead of public transport. I wanted to take the following day off but boss said no, but that would have helped.

A word of warning, my exhaustion has only improved in the third trimester. Not everyone blooms in the second trimester.

In hindsight I'd really recommend getting OH advice. My risk assessment was just between me and my boss, so he treated it as flexible.

Unfortunately they want two, two day workshops each week. So it'll prob mean flights out in Sunday or back on Saturday or super early flight or late night flights. Three weeks running, I'm not going to have much down time, regardless of when they're scheduled.

I think that is worrying me - it'll be intense. Desperately trying to find an alternative to either the schedule or me going! My brain just isn't cooperating!