International babymoon?

[Izzy34]

Hi all, first post so apologies if my etiquette is poor or I shouldn’t have started a new thread.
I’m almost 23 weeks pregnant with first child, due in August and so the last real opportunity for a babymoon is probably from the 17th May, when international travel is supposed to be resuming. My pregnancy so far has been good (touch wood), I would love one last childless trip away, but I’m not vaccinated and don’t know whether I’m just being selfish in wanting to go abroad. Keen to hear if anyone is in a similar situation and is planning to go abroad if possible/ has decided against and their reasoning behind that. Thank you x

Hi OP, I'm interested in any responses for this too. I'm only 14 weeks but would also love a final trip in the sun with my DH but don't know if it's foolish given the current circumstances. We managed to get away to Greece last summer and it felt really safe (much safer than back here!). I'm hoping that because everyone will need a negative test before travel that it may be ok?

I personally think it's too risky to be travelling abroad at the minute if you're unvaccinated and you might find it practically difficult. We have booked a glamping trip in this country for a couple of nights. It felt the safest option. I'm high risk without pregnancy though and haven't been vaccinated so I'm being very cautious. It sucks we can't have a holiday abroad but it's a pandemic and safety comes first.

I personally wouldn’t travel unvaccinated. We don’t know what variants may emerge from abroad that you could be exposed to.

Have you thought of a Staycation? Not quite the same of course, but visiting a different area with a fancy hotel would be lovely.

in my first pregnancy we went away for a week when I was 26 weeks - it was great. This time around we're just not risking or booking anything abroad. Not worth it in my opinion. I won't be vaccinated and I doubt it will have trickled down to my husband's age group within enough time to allow for it anyway. Europe's stats aren't looking good and I wouldn't do long haul when pregnant anyway. We are saving for a nice family holiday when this all eventually blows over

Honestly, I wouldn't. I had one last holiday on my first around 26 weeks, I ended up with symptoms of DVT (despite it being a v shortfall flight) while out there and trying to figure out healthcare and find a suitable hospital and arguing with our travel insurers (even though we had particularly sought out good pregnancy cover) and all was well but it was v stressful. And that was without COVID. Any risk of needing to navigate a different health system, quarantine rules, etc etc is just a bit much compared to the benefit you'd get. I'd book a nice UK break in your position, I'm hoping when its allowed over the summer my in-laws will take our toddler for the night and we can book a hotel somewhere nearby and just luxuriate in a lie-in. Part of me longs to return to travel but I think it will be another year before things are 'normal' and doing it while pregnant is a bit too much like being a guinea pig.

Izzy34 where are you planning to go? Unlike last year the UK is now doing better than most countries in terms of covid, purely because of vaccinations, so you'll be at greater risk outside the UK. Are you prepared to deal with a premature birth outside the UK and being stuck in your destination country for a significant length of time? Are you and your partner in a position to quarantine if the rules change while you're away (in either or both countries)? Do you have or can you afford health insurance to cover pregnancy and childbirth and medical care of a premature newborn? Could you afford a prolonged stay out of pocket, if the baby was born abroad and/ or if the situation changes while you're away and you end up having to quarantine in one or both countries? What about the time off work for both you and your partner if the baby isn't born abroad but you become unwell or/ and have to quarantine?

Obviously Brexit means healthcare in the EU requires insurance, which is problematic in pregnancy.

Not worth it . You wouldn’t forgive yourself if anything happened. Under normal times I would say go for it . I was in the south of France 8 weeks before I gave birth to my second . But no way would I do this now unvaccinated with the travel uncertainty and new strains of Covid mutating . It is just not worth the risk to the baby. Blow the budget in the UK instead!

It’s really not worth it imho.

Book a fabulous, fancy adults only hotel in the uk.

I’d love to do the same but will be going to a fabulous 5* spa hotel in the UK for a couple of nights instead.
Am thinking we may get a winter sun break with the new baby instead this year when vaccinated and travel might be a bit easier.

Is insurance impacted?

I’d probably go somewhere really nice in the U.K.

Thank you very much all, it’s really useful to have your perspectives and I hadn’t even considered the possibility of having the baby prematurely abroad 😱 or Brexit causing problems and @Stirmecrazy you’re completely right, would never forgive myself. @namechangemarch21 so sorry to hear about your experience, it sounds horrendous and so stressful. Earlier in the year we had hoped to go to Greece but would have opted to go anywhere decent that ends up on the Green list. I have made some backup plans in Cornwall so can do those instead
@LizzieLa hopefully the situation will improve and you’ll have a bit more time.

We've been considering this as well. We both really want to and we're in the South East so would be really easy for us to drive to France but the stats from Europe are just too risky. We've decided to book a few days in the UK, including in a spa hotel (given that I can't around drinking copious amounts of rosé). We're hoping we might be able to get away with the little one in October (due July).

How about Jersey as a compromise? I hear a few people booking trips there, French weather but UK...?

I was really tempted to go away internationally in May too (due in July) but in the end decided against it for all reasons PP have said. I also think I'd end up not enjoying it because I'd be on edge all the time and scared about going into labour abroad. We've opted for a short UK break instead. Desperately hoping we get some decent weather, I am so so sick of this unrelenting cold snap! This time last year I was in tshirt and shorts 😭

Another vote for too risky sorry.

There are some amazing hotels in the UK though. I see you’ve mentioned Cornwall which is a great idea. This hotel in the Lake District looks amazing too thegilpin.co.uk/

I don't think I would mainly because of all the faff if there end up being loads of restrictions and rules where you go and when you come back having to quarantine and loads of testing and so on, or if it gets cancelled...just seems like such an effort especially whilst pregnant.

I second PP who said Jersey! We went to Dublin for ours years ago hah it was good. I'm pregnant now and wish we could do another childfree holiday ! Enjoy yourselves.

I'm 16 weeks and would move to get some sun but just think it's too risky this year. Have decided to go to Edinburgh as a middle ground instead so still get a chance to get away but without risk of international travel. Strange times eh!

Thank you all for you thoughts, very sound advice. Yeah I looked at Jersey, looks really nice and quite easy to get to from London. Wishing everyone lovely UK babymoons!