Babymoon -- sweet! Couples relax while they still can

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Monday, April 24, 2006

Babymoon -- sweet! Couples relax while they still can

By KRISTIN DIZON
P-I REPORTER

They had never heard the term, but Tristan Uecker and her husband, Christopher Vuchetich, went on a babymoon last month.


		WENDY WAHMAN / P-I

The Seattle couple spent two nights at the Rosario Resort & Spa on Orcas Island, where instead of champagne and caviar upon arrival, they enjoyed sparkling cider and cookies. They also received a baby gift and two massages, including a prenatal version for Uecker.

It was all part of a new package the resort has offered since February.

"Our life will change forever," said Uecker, whose baby is due this month, "so we thought, 'Let's do this now.' I had no idea something like that existed."

Before the exhausting cycle of round-the-clock feedings and 12 or more diaper changes per day for a totally dependent little being begins, many other couples are likewise taking trips before their twosomes become threesomes.

Expectant parents, especially those who love to travel, see it as the last time they'll venture far from home before adjusting to their new reality of strollers, baby gear and scheduling around a little one. Or maybe it's a chance to reinforce their bond as partners before they become mommy and daddy.

In the past few years the babymon has grown in popularity as travel marketers, resorts and moms-to-be pick up on it.

The term still confuses many. It's not, as some guess, a trip for the purpose of making a baby. And its original definition -- the immediate period of nuclear family bonding after the baby comes, similar to a honeymoon -- seems to have been eclipsed.

Several factors have helped crest the wave of babymoons. Many people are traveling more and farther than they used to, and it's now considered fine for most pregnant women to fly until about the 36th week. Of course, people were already taking these sorts of trips, but naming and marketing them as babymoons has led to more buzz and press.

Patty Onderko, senior editor at BabyTalk magazine, said most women prefer the second trimester for a babymoon -- after the nausea of the first has passed, but before they're uncomfortably large or need a bathroom every five minutes.

"The travel industry is realizing that pregnant women do travel," she said. "Pregnant women today are extremely active."

Onderko said babymoons help couples reconnect.

"Once you get pregnant, you're on an instant roller coaster of doctors' appointments, buying things, getting ready, taking care of things at work," Onderko said. "There's really not time to step back and reflect on the reason you're having a baby together -- because you love each other."

Businesses, including www.babymoonfinder.com, have sprung up to serve the demand. Ashley King, who runs the site with her husband, wrote in an e-mail that any couple can book a trip to the spa, "but babymooners are looking for special gifts and tokens that will remind them of their trip." She said some resorts are providing those extras, including cigars for Dad, pickles and ice cream for Mom, or plush onesies with the hotel logo.

The Web site offers more than 200 getaways and babymoon packages around the country, from multiday trips for $2,000 to a day at a spa for $200.

Several years ago, Jennifer Loomis, a Seattle- and San Francisco-based maternity and family portrait photographer (www.jenniferloomis.com), began offering babymoonlike services for clients who were flying to Seattle for pictures of their pregnant silhouettes.

Loomis and her staff realized people wanted a getaway, so they began booking hotels and spa treatments, offering restaurant tips and more.

"It's an added service for us," Loomis said. "We really want to make our mothers happy.

"Three years ago, they had no idea what we were talking about when we said 'babymoon,' " she added, "but now they do."

Uecker, a technical writer for a software company, said she loved the water-view room and the massage at Rosario.

"I wanted to go somewhere that felt a little pampering, as opposed to just a hotel," she said.

Since she was eight months pregnant at the time, the couple looked for a nearby destination and came across the package on the Web.

"Before I booked it," she said, "I asked what kind of medical facilities they had on the island, because you never know."

Her husband may have needed the trip even more. Besides working long hours as a game designer, he had tackled home projects to prep for the baby -- building a pantry, retiling a shower, preparing a nursery.

"We just tried to enjoy each other's company," said Uecker, who lives on Phinney Ridge. "We went on little hikes and had nice meals."

BabyCenter (www.babycenter.com), a popular Web site with 3.5 million unique visitors (according to comScore Media Metrix), released a survey earlier this year with Liberty Travel and found that 59 percent of parents-to-be visiting the online community had gone on a babymoon.

Those trips averaged four nights and generally took place in the eastern or western United States.

In another, informal survey, BabyCenterfound the most popular babymoon destination to be the beach.

Jessica Lilie, director of market research for BabyCenter, which also publishes magazines, said 21 percent of survey respondents spent between $1,000 and $2,000 on a babymoon, 9 percent spent $2,000 to $3,000, 5 percent spent $3,000 or more and 4 percent spent less than $1,000.

"We were surprised that most people weren't familiar with the term," Lilie said. "But we asked what they thought about it, and women liked it."

They also liked not having an agenda.

"The thing that people enjoyed doing the most on their babymoon was nothing," Lilie said. "A close second was dining, followed by shopping."

On a three-night babymoon in Vancouver last summer, Kirsten and Brian Bell had no schedule, but they shopped, strolled, saw a Rodin exhibit and enjoyed the hotel pool.

Neither had heard of a babymoon. They dubbed their trip "Our Last Hurrah."

Bell, an account manager at a public relations firm, said her husband surprised her with the destination, handing her a portfolio at the border marked "top secret attach�." Inside were photos, hotel reservations, a restaurant guide and more for Vancouver, which she had never visited.

They enjoyed couple time, talking about how they met, their courtship and reminiscing about good times.

"We definitely had the sense of one chapter of our life about to end and another one beginning -- one that's exciting and scary at the same time," said Kirsten, who lives in Magnolia.

The Bells' son, Bryson, is now 6 months old, and they hope he'll be a good traveler when he's a bit older.

And when they start traveling more as a family, it may be the perpetuation of another trend. Some marketers have noticed couples are increasingly traveling with young children, and they've coined a new name for it -- the familymoon.

A BABYMOON SAMPLER, NO KIDDING

Anyone can put together a babymoon, but here's a look at some travel packages from around the country:

Amore by the Sea Bed and Breakfast Inn, outside Victoria, B.C., offers a babymoon package for about $200 U.S. that includes an aromatherapy facial massage for the mom-to-be, deep-tissue massage for future dad, chilled sparkling apple juice, a basket of lotions and soaps, large box of Roger's Chocolates, and a Teddy bear for baby. But that doesn't include the room. One of three rooms also must be booked for a minimum of two nights. They range from $130 to $160 (U.S.) through April 30, then rise to $160 to $215 (U.S.) per night from May 1 to Sept. 30; www.amorebythesea.com.

Rosario Resort & Spa, Orcas Island, has a two-night babymoon, which includes a $20 dining credit, use of the Avanyu Spa fitness facility, a bottle of chilled Martinelli's and a half-dozen homemade cookies, two 50-minute massages (prenatal massages available) and all resort taxes and fees. Prices are $599 for a standard and $689 for a deluxe room through June, and $719 standard and $809 deluxe from July 1 through Sept. 30; www.rosarioresort.com, click "rates & specials."

The W Hotels in New York have a "Baby Me" package that includes a fashionable baby bag, "Hot Mama" book, cotton onesie that reads "Whoops," a subscription to American Baby magazine, a shopping guide, a mom's comfort kit, a gift for baby and three items from the "Womb Service Menu." Prices at the five locations range from $359 to $439 per night; www.welcometowhotels.com/nycbaby.

The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island in South Carolina has a two-night babymoon with garden-view king bed, buffet breakfast for two daily, a maternity massage and a massage for dad-to-be, rose petal turndown, dinner for two, baby book, spa set for mom, celebration cigars, gift from boutique. Winter, $901; spring, $1,303; summer, $1,363; fall, $1,187; www.thesanctuary.com/packages.

Peter Island Resort in the British Virgin Islands offers five nights in either a beachfront junior suite ($5,060) or an ocean-view room ($6,710), with two spa treatments for mom-to-be, a massage for dad-to-be, a beach picnic with non-alcoholic sparkling grape juice, a baby album and all meals and activities such as snorkeling, windsurfing and tennis; www.pi-resort.com/babymoon.html.

P-I reporter Kristin Dizon can be reached at 206-448-8118 or kristindizon@seattlepi.com.

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