In December 2015 Gareth and I went on what is generally known as a babymoon – a holiday just before a baby arrives. The little traveller was due in two months and we thought it would be a good opportunity for us to get out of the house one last time to explore some familiar and unfamiliar sights in South Africa before we had to worry about the challenges of travelling with an infant. Being seven months pregnant comes with its own set of difficulties, but I needed a holiday badly and this was our last chance for the foreseeable future.
It was also the first time we had the chance to take Loki, our lovable black Labrador, on a road trip. He was as good as gold all the way from Pretoria down to Cape St Francis, where we spent the first week of our holiday. We did the 1200 km journey in one day, leaving early in the morning and stopping whenever the pooch needed a water or a bio break. Throughout the journey, he sat quietly in the back seat, looking out the window at all the countryside zooming past, or napping lazily in the sun. Luckily, even our dog is a perfect traveller!
I’ve mentioned before that Cape St Francis, a sleepy holiday town about an hour’s drive from Port Elizabeth, is a place of the heart and a soul’s retreat for me. We spent a wonderful week there with family and friends, celebrating Christmas and generally just relaxing.
Our days started with long walks with the dogs on the beach at around 4 AM every morning, watching the sun rise as the canines cavorted in the chilly water. The rest of the day could be spent reading a book, walking over to the lighthouse to watch the waves crash against the rocks and say hello to the penguins, catching some sun while digging a hole at the beach, playing games or building puzzles, until late at night we drifted off into blissful sleep with the lights of the chokka boats glimmering over the calm ocean water.
How quickly a week can go by! All too soon we had to say goodbye to everyone and cuddle our puppy as we left him behind to return home later with the others. We were off to a game reserve and couldn’t wait to see what lay in store for us next.
Have you been on a babymoon? Do you think it’s necessary to go on a short holiday before a little one joins the family? Where did you go?