Travel at 36 Weeks pregnant

Sounds crazy right? What kind of pregnant woman would subject herself to 30+ hours of travel while she’s 9-months pregnant? Throw in the 3 other kids and you might think I need to have my head examined.

Honestly, when people found out that we would be moving to the other side of the world when I was this pregnant, almost everyone thought I was crazy. Once you realize that my options were 1). travel 9 months pregnant with 3 kids and a husband, or 2). travel with 4 kids (one newborn and a 21 month old) on the same flight by myself; well option 1 starts sounding much more appealing then, eh?

I planned for the worst – to feel sore, uncomfortable and pretty miserable post-flight. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how smooth everything went.
Here are a few things that I learned:

1). Not all airlines are equally comfortable

In the past, we’ve always just gone for the cheapest option. We figured that we could survive any discomfort for a few hours, especially if it saved us a few bucks However, this time around, I quickly learned that not all airlines are created equal. Our first leg of our flight was a 2 hour trip from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles on Delta. It was your typical domestic flight. Translation: airflow was poor, seats were small, and leg room was almost non-existent. I was horribly uncomfortable and the thought of a 16 hour flight in a few hours brought me to tears.

For the remainder of our trip, we flew on Emirates…and I fell in love (with the airline that is). The seats were roomy, there was ample leg room (and I’m 5’10”), and the plane was not only clean but was pretty state of the art with fantastic in-flight entertainment options at each seat. Shockingly, even the food was good. I can truthfully say that I was pretty comfortable during the whole flight!

With more and more families traveling internationally, airlines are picking up on the importance of keeping the kiddos happy. When we got on-board our Emirates flight, each kid was given a bag of goodies and games, a new stuffed animal, and a new blanket. My kids were in heaven. So much for the meticulously packed backpacks full of special snacks and toys – the kids didn’t touch them. They just wanted to play with their new gifts and watch all of the awesome movies that were available. Better yet, the kids were always the first ones served their food so their bellies were always nice and full. While we were thrilled to find this on Emirates, I know that a lot of airlines are now catering to kids. Make sure to check out their website or call their customer service line to find out what a specific airline offers (these are usually well advertised since they are a huge selling point for families). Honestly, having my kids so well taken care of on the flight made it so much easier and relaxing for me, which was a must!