Ask the Travel Shrink: Where Should We Go on a Babymoon?

This is the preview of our latest post on Way to Go, our new, reader-supported email newsletter. To read the full article or subscribe, click here.

Dear Fathom Travel Shrink: There’s a baby on the way and now all anyone does is give us unsolicited advice. So we’re soliciting yours! Have any good ideas for when, where, and how to take a babymoon? Also, do we have to call it a babymoon?

Jeralyn here. (Mother of three.) A babymoon — the vacation taken by expecting couples before they become parents — can be just about anything the birthing person (with emphasis on the birthing person, please) wants it to be, including over-the-top, cosmopolitan, dare-devilish, adventurous, etc. But many pregnant women, perhaps sensing a sunsetting on simple pleasures like doing nothing and answering to no one, opt to use the time to get pampered, connect with their partner, and indulge in peace and quiet and do-nothingness for the last time ever (kidding … sorta). 

The best vacation destination will be one that you can travel to with ease and in time. Travel too early in your pregnancy, and you’ll risk being overwhelmed by nausea and/or your new but firmly established fatigue. Travel too late in your pregnancy, and it becomes uncomfortable to sit on a plane or in a car for long periods of time. Though most domestic airlines will let expectant mothers board a flight up to 36 weeks (37 is considered term), the ACOG recommends traveling mid-pregnancy — 14 to 28 weeks — which is typically when morning sickness has subsided, your energy has returned, and you generally feel good (and maybe even sexy). 

Now, where to go?

The rest of this article — with our best suggestions on the east and west coasts, the Caribbean, Mexico, and Europe — is for subscribers only. Sign up for our newsletter, Way to Go, for your all-access pass. And remember, the doctor is in, so send your burning travel dilemmas to the Fathom Travel Shrink.