Many small humiliations… Travel and Pregnancy

I thought to myself today, as I was checking in for my flight, that I might as well have called my blog "Travel Mama".  I travel for work about thirty times a year, and like most people on the road, it truly is a love-hate relationship.  

Normally, I do enjoy it.  Even when, after several nights of late-pregnancy insomnia, I got up at 3:30 Eastern time this morning (2:30 my regular time) to make a 5:30 a.m. flight home, I was in a good mood.  It wasn't until the “Never Lost” GPS system in my rental car told me to U-turn three times in a row on my way to the airport that it started to slide a bit.  And after I was charged TWENTY dollars to check one bag at the airport and I discovered I lost my Blackberry (my life) did the early morning seem grim.  Then, two football fields away from the check-in counter, a security agent asked me to pick up my carry-on and fit it into the metal cage to see if she had to send me back to the counter to spend another $20 and check that bag as well.  Finally, when I had to wait to watch an entire 747 full of people board my plane while my sore feet (read swollen ankles) throbbed, but I patiently stood as close to the gate agent as possible with my fingers crossed because I was promised an upgrade me to first class as a reward for waiting forty minutes for a seat assignment, a gentlemen who had not lost his Blackberry strolled up as the very last passenger to board with a real first class ticket.   Boo-hoo, so my morning was tough. 

Let me interject that, on the bright side, when you are almost eight months pregnant and traveling through an airport, people fall over themselves to help you.  Complete strangers who aren't even looking your direction will race across the aisle to lift up your bag and place it in the overhead compartment.  Or pick up a water bottle you drop and ask what else they can do to help.  Or act tickled pink when they ring up your third Cinnabon and ask if it is a boy or girl!??  “Oh, CONGRATUATIONS!”  they exclaim (which always makes me to wonder if they would have acted disappointed if I had said that it was a boy instead).  Indeed, if everyone treated each other like they were in their third trimester in an airport, the world would be a wonderful place. 

When I arrived in Atlanta, it did all turn around, and the love of travel flooded my system like sweet sugar grits hitting your blood stream and making your little baby in your belly kick.  Yes, I had found Paschal’s, a Southern Tradition, at the food court and actually had time to sit down and eat a real breakfast with spicy sausage patties and the creamy scrambled eggs that only a Southern mama can make.  And the biscuit with honey put me over the top.  I LOVE my job!  I love travel!  (Notice not all caps on the second one.) 

So what does this rant have to do with pregnancy and style?  Everything.  Traveling has everything to do with pregnancy style. 

First, you may not feel that great, but it doesn’t give you a license to be rude to strangers – even to the nastiest security agent or to loudest seat companion.  In that way, despite what many people believe, style is much more than "fashion" (google the famous Coco Chanel quote).  As any true Southern lady knows (like my mama, Deborah Louise, or my grandma, Dorothy Louise), style is about doing things with a certain grace and propriety.  And treating people well, especially under trying circumstances, reveals true style. 

 Second, pregnancy may be a long journey, but you can’t pack your whole wardrobe for it.  It is only 40 weeks. You have to be choosy and practical, but you never know who you are going to run into, so you want to look your best.  Especially after eating sausage, eggs, and a bowl of sugar grits. 

Third, the real challenge is to prepare for the physical demands of travel (along with the humiliation of going through yet another security system that is slightly different than every other security line at every other airport).  This is, of course, on top of looking your best under the circumstances.  (Sorry, I still can't wear a track suit through an airport.  The Southern Belle upbringing I suppose).  

So what are the tips?  It is actually pretty simple.  What I do is study the airline attendants.  Ever notice that they almost always cruise through the airports with a cool attitude and a sharp look?  And how do they do it?  Here is what I have noticed:

• They wear clean, dark colored uniforms that don’t need pressing
• They style their hair to last all day (e.g. tie it in a bun or sport a bob)
• They pay attention to their shoes – and you never see them wear sneakers
• Most importantly, they have ninja packing skills

As a result, I have several travel "uniforms" that look great without pressing in a comfortable fabric.  I demand a haircut that looks clean and styled (even when I am faking). I sneak comfort into my stylish shoes, which I term my "airport shoes".  This could be a pair of leather Tory Burch flats or a pair of Easy Spirit sandals that look like trendy wedges.  

And I copy their packing and carrying methods.  Ever notice that flight crews almost always have one carry-on (in black) and a smaller piece of luggage that they tether to the big carry-on so that it hangs off of the front?  Try it.  It is infinitely lighter than carrying the second bag on your shoulder or dropping it on top of the carry-on and wheeling all of that weight around on your arm.    

And if you travel regularly, invest in the best luggage you can afford, like Tumi.  It is much easier to be kind and graceful (hence stylish) when you have a lightweight, sturdy piece of luggage, especially when you are stuffing it with all of your might into a small metal display to show the security agent that she doesn’t need to send all eight-months-pregnant-of-you half a mile back to the check-in counter to pay $40 on top of your $400 flight just to get your dirty knickers and running shoes home.  

Jenny

P.S.  I hope everyone enjoyed watching the maternity style segment (thanks, Paula!) on KWQC today.  If you missed it, check her website for a link to the video in the next couple of days.  But don’t wait – it will be taken down by middle of next week!