Tips For Travelling In Your First Trimester

The thing about the first trimester is that you will usually already have things in the diary that you committed to before you found out you were pregnant. In my case, lots and lots of travel.

And I gotta tell you, even though travel is my passion in life, in those first three months, all I wanted to do was stay home, nap consistently and eat anything that didn’t make me nauseous (so y’know not much). Let alone leave the country.

But leave the country I did. A few times actually. During that first trimester I visited The Netherlands, Edinburgh, Northern Ireland, Bath, Manchester, Helsinki, Tallinn and Riga. YEP. I mean you have to laugh really.

To be totally honest with you, these trips were not as fun as I had hoped and it’s definitely an adjustment when you’re travelling inpregnito. But I came up with some solid tips to get through it if you find yourself in a similar situation…

Tips For Travelling In Your First Trimester

Pack snacks

With my morning sickness, I found nibbling on ginger nut biscuits would keep the nausea at bay for a bit. So I packed a big ol’ bag of them in my suitcase and carried around a little tupperware box in my handbag that held 3 or 4 biscuits. It just made me feel better knowing I always had some on me!

I’ve heard other gals say crackers work well for this too just FYI.

Take extra water on the plane

You know how you get dyhydrated on planes and are encouraged to drink lots of water? I just felt like I needed way more when pregnant. So I got a big bottle of water at Duty Free for a 2-3 hour flight and would recommend it if you’re feeling extra thirsty like me.

Speaking of planes it might also be a good idea to sit in the aisle seat if you’re feeling the need to make regular bathroom trips.

Don’t plan too much

I’m usually one to pack in as much as I can on my travels. But at the beginning of my pregnancy I was fucking exhausted. Like, all the time. In real life I would go home from work, take an hour nap, get up and have dinner then go to sleep for 10-11 hours. It’s mental.

So obviously, when you’re travelling the same rules apply. On my Helsinki-Tallinn-Riga trip we started late most days and would have to come back to the hostel/Airbnb for a nap in the afternoon.

It can be annoying when you’re used to doing so much but you just have to remember you’re growing a human and this is what your body needs.

Airbnbs are better

I found it much easier to stay in an Airbnb or apartment rental as opposed to a hotel or hostel. Mainly because it meant that if I was struggling with food, which I really was in Eastern Europe, I could cook dinner at home.

I had a phase between 9 and 11 weeks where I couldn’t stomach anything. It all just tasted awful. But there were a few things I could rely on and one of those was jacket potatoes. So being able to stay home one night in Tallinn to have jacky Ps for dinner really did the trick.

Tell people you’re pregnant

Eventhough you may not be announcing your pregnancy at home, it can help you out if people know when you’re travelling. People like tour guides or waiters at restaurants when you’re being weird and asking about cheeses and cured meats.

The tour guide thing definitely helped me out on my Northern Ireland press trip. I opted out of doing a helicopter ride because I didn’t feel comfortable doing so pregnant, and there was no pressure or anything. Everyone totally understood.

Pack comfortable clothes and shoes

I mean, it’s kind of an obvious one and I like to think I always pack comfortable clothes on my travels. But I do like to wear nice outfits sometimes for the travel photos. Guilty. But in early pregnancy? It was a leggings, baggy tee and trainers job every day. Fuck it, I’m preggerz.

Download Uber

I walk everywhere on my travels. Or if somewhere is pretty far away, I’ll work out how to get there via public transport. But you just don’t have the stamina in that first trimester. It can actually be a bit of a shock when you walk somewhere and realise you’re too knackered to walk back!

So Uber can really be your friend in another country. You don’t have to worry about figuring out the Metro, it’s pretty cheap and it’s the same process everywhere. Just get me home already.

Eat what you’re craving

I felt bad that on these trips I wasn’t really eating the local food. I ate Middle Eastern food in Finland, Asian food in Edinburgh and Italian in Latvia. But I think you just need to remind yourself that what you fancy for dinner is really important. It’s hopefully food that won’t make you feel sick and it could be what the baby needs. Just go with it, your tastebuds aren’t right at the moment anyway.

Pack bug spray

Oh fun fact – mosquitoes like pregnant ladies way more than regular humans. It’s because we have more blood pumping around so we’re just like a tasty treat for those wankers. It doesn’t matter where you’re going, even Scandinavia, just pack bug spray, ok?

Accept you can’t do it all

This one was a tough pill to swallow. I like to do it all. I like to be able to tell you guys what’s good and what isn’t but I can’t do that if I’ve spent most of the trip napping or trying to find food I can eat. But y’know what? Your prioirities are different now. You just have to take it easy, try to relax and enjoy yourself. You can’t do it all. That’s a fact. But you can use this trip to take a break from having to mask morning sickness at work or pretending to drink in front of your friends. Just have fun. It is a holiday after all.

Please let me know if any of this helped and if you have any more tips for travelling during the first trimester! Thanks for reading, go head over to my Instagram or Twitter for regular updates.