We (Finally) Booked Our Babymoon Vacation!

If you’re close to our family, you know that Vadim and I are quite the spontaneous travelers.

Take our three-month adventure across Europe a few years ago. Other than purchasing the airplane tickets, we didn’t plan an ounce of the trip. Yet it was, in all honesty, the best three months of our single and married lives, combined.

Spontaneity was never my preferred way of traveling, I’ll be honest. In fact, as a type-A person, I am all about wanting to control every element of my life. This fact has proven to be both a blessing and a challenge the older I get.

Before booking any vacation, there’s always a sort of back-and-forth dance between Vadim and myself. I gently push to lock down our plans… Our PTO hours don’t get approved… We change the dates… I push again, but for one reason or another he resists… I attempt to coordinate details myself only to give up completely. Then, at the last minute, Vadim swoops in and makes it all happen better than I could’ve ever imagined. Over the years I’ve learned to just have peace about the process. He never let me down, so why worry?

I guess I should mention where we are going, right?

After much deliberation and changing our minds what feels like a million times, we finally purchased our tickets to Maui, Hawaii. I am bursting with excitement!

By the way, if you’ve ever been, please, please, please share any recommendations. I’m especially curious about accommodations, as that’s looking like it’ll be another (very) last-minute decision, ha!

A few especially curious people have asked if maybe I’ve gone insane for attempting to make a 17-hour trip while pregnant.

Yes, you read that right. The entire trip is 17 hours – which includes two 3-hour layovers… The flights themselves aren’t terribly bad – 50 minutes to Atlanta, 5 hours to LAX and 6 hours to Kahului.

Of course I discussed the trip with my midwife, who was totally on board as long as the trip took place between the time I was 18 and 24 weeks. She recommended getting up and walking around during the flight to get the blood pumping through the body – something that you should be doing regardless of whether you’re pregnant or not.

And yet I’m sure someone out there is thinking “why?” risk it and “why not just take things easy at home?” to which I will easily reply: Why take things easy at home, if I can take things easy in Hawaii? Am I right, or am I right?

I’ve never thought of pregnancy as a sickness or some sort of burden. I realize not everyone has a fairly easy pregnancy, which is why this situation totally depends on individual circumstances. Had my midwife forbidden me to fly, of course I wouldn’t. But despite my type-A personality, I am not one to over-analyze the situation, build up hypothetical scenarios in my head, or take to random Internet forums for advice. For all pregnancy-related questions, I have a midwife with whom I consult, my own common sense and, of course, my trust in God.

Another popular question: If we’re willing to make the long (and expensive) flight to Maui, why not just travel to another country?

As much as I would’ve loved that – my beloved Paris, anyone? – it isn’t an option. We simply wouldn’t have enough time to get our international travel documents in order.

If you remember an earlier post from a few weeks ago, I shared that we would be taking a cruise for our babymoon. Clearly that has changed – and here’s why: we were oh-so-close to booking our cruise until someone mentioned the Zika virus, which sent me on a researching spiral. I wasn’t fully aware of its spread or its effect on pregnant women and fetuses.

Come to find out, the Zika virus is locally-transmitted in the Caribbean and most surrounding areas, meaning that the cases recorded weren’t simply from travelers bringing the virus home (like cases in US). Back to the drawing board we went, in search of a tropical destination neither of us had been to – one that was preferably a short flight away and in our budget. Needless to say, Hawaii is neither close nor inexpensive. But since we hadn’t taken our yearly international trip, we reasoned we could splurge a little.

Sure, I may not fully enjoy all that the island has to offer (no 10-mile volcano hikes for me!). But we are thrilled to celebrate our little miracle with some relaxation, sand and sun at a location that has been voted over and over again as “The Best Island in the World!”

I’ve been putting together a Pinterest board (of course), but if you have more suggestions, please send them our way! We fly out next Saturday, so the countdown is most definitely on! Very soon this mama-to-be will have her toes in some gorgeous, white sand, and I CANNOT WAIT.

Now, if only I could find a bathing suit that will fit this growing body of mine…

Happy weekend, friends!