Friday, July 20, 2007

Pregnant Traveling

OK, so people have been telling me that they're ready for me to tell them about my take on traveling while pregnant :) So here it is... I don't think this will live up to all of the hype - but oh well :)

BATHROOMS
OK, so one of the obvious things that most pregnant woman experience is that wonderful feeling of having to go to the bathroom ALL THE TIME!! It said online that it's not supposed to be as bad during the 2nd trimester... well.... it hasn't really changed for me... so while traveling I've had to go to the bathroom A LOT! - which can make for an iteresting experience while overseas. Here in our country it's sometimes impossible to find a bathroom... in Thailand it's a lot easier to find a bathroom (but even some places don't have them... We went to a Starbucks that didn't have a bathroom - now that's a bad combination! - coffee and no bathroom....) but in Malaysia they had bathrooms just about everywhere... so that was great! They even usually give you the option of a western toilet or a squatty (which is great b/c now that my belly sticks out, my balance is a little off and, well... squatties can be a little complicated :) One thing about Malaysia - I HAVE NEVER DONE SO MUCH "PAYING" TO GO TO THE BATHROOM before in my life! Most places we went had a person by a desk that would ask for money before you went in. Most places you paid anywhere between 10 cents and 25 cents... at one place, they asked for almost a dollar! Well, I had to go, and the cheaper bathrooms were the next floor down, so I paid and used it... it was super fancy - they had all these fancy lotions and body sprays from the Body Shop... it was really clean.... BUT ANYWAY.... enough about the bathrooms... on to the next topic....

PLANES, TRAINS & METROS
We traveled in a few different modes this trip - not as many as in previous trips... but plenty for this vacation :) For our vacation we flew AirAsia... it's one of those low-budget airlines where there's "open seating" and you have to pay for your drinks or snacks on the plane... it's great though because we can fly all over Southeast Asia for cheap! (one of our tickets this trip was only $15!!)... Well, the first day that we flew (from Bangkok to Penang) I wasn't feeling that good that day. It didn't feel good to stand up for very long and I was a little nauseous... I wasn't really in the mood for that whole "open seating thing" (that means you can sit wherever you want, and so you have to stand in line for a while and people are pushing and shoving sometimes...). Adam went up to the front where they were about to take tickets and told them that is wife was pregnant...

Well..... they took me (and Adam) outside to an Air Conditioned Mini-van and then drove us right up to the front of the plane!!!! Everyone else had to cram onto a bus a ride (standing up)around for a while to get to the plane (which I normally wouldn't mind...but totally couldn't have handled it this trip)... it was awesome!

Now, not all of my transportation experiences were that great... Most of the time on the Metro or Train someone would give me their seat.... but some days weren't that great... I feel sort-of like a wimp writing this, because normally I would have felt bad if someone got up to give me their seat.... but since being pregnant there are some days I really just need to sit! - so I don't feel bad at all.... One trip on the train I was feeling bad! I was really tired, it wasn't feeling good to stand and I was starting to feel sick... there were all sorts of young guys sitting down, but nobody got up (I had already picked out what guy I was going to throw up on if the chance came - is that bad? :)) ... well, I was really feeling sick... One of the ladies sitting down could see that I was feeling bad, so she gave me her seat - I thanked her and sat down. After a while I started to feel a little better and I looked up at the lady that had given me her seat - SHE WAS PREGNANT TOO!! When I got to the point where I was feeling better, I gave her the seat back...

BEING TIRED!
So I'm still not used to the lack of energy I've had since being pregnant... One day when we were in Penang we took a train to the top of a mountain... it was a super slow train that went straight up the mountain... it only went like 5 MPH or something... but somehow, by the time we got to the top I was soooo exausted... Adam tried to take my picture on top of the mountain... this was the best smile I could muster... haha! I look so exausted!So I defintely had a fun trip, but it was really interesting to see how traveling was different while pregnant... I guess it's to get me ready for EVERYTHING to be different after the baby - haha!

6 comments:

Emily said...

I can't believe one of those guys didn't give you their seat. I mean, I live here, so I can believe it, but still. That's awful, no matter what culture!

Anonymous said...

It is so awesome that you were able to enjoy your vacation even with your tiredness and sicky feeling.

Heather Henderson said...

I am so glad you guys had a great trip. It's amazing the way that being pregnant changes things. I totally lost my mind and forgot how to do anything (which was especially bad because I was working for a low-cost airline at the time!! oops!). Even though you are soooo tires, you still look amazing. HOT MAMA!

The Agarwals said...

Well, you know that me of all people can identify with that gotta go right now feeling!! Imagine our trips from New Orleans to Wauchula!! It took us three times as long when I was pregnant, because I had to stop at every other exit to find a bathroom!! Thank goodness I didn't have to pay! That story about the A/C van- awesome! Way to go Adam for getting them to cater to you- it should be like that for all pregnant women right!! Even though it's tough, tiring, and frustrating sometimes- it's worth it!! And although it does help with the preparations, nothing will ever prepare you for the moments when you are 100 percent responsible for that little baby- even at 3 am in the morning!!! Glad you guys had a blast, despite all the craziness!! I can't wait to see lots more pics!

Deanna said...

Great post! Really, I'm so impressed! I've been to your neck of the woods before and it was the absolute hottest I've ever, ever, ever been - and I wasn't pregnant at the time. Hang in there!!!

Bethany Faith said...

Thanks for reading my blog! i wasn't able to get on for a while, so i didnt know you guys commented!
anywho, about the tape, actually it was a joke cuz they sent us a HUGE Zip Lock bag of scotch tape.
TTYl