Expectant parents Kim Kardashian and Kanye West went to Paris this week, and headlines dubbed the trip a "babymoon" — a term Us Weekly attributed to a Kardashian source.
They're not the first babymooners. Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan-Tatum were recently photographed on a post-Christmas babymoon in St. Barts, as Celebrity Baby Scoop put it. Royal baby fever has led several sites to suggest babymoon destinations for Will and Kate and even inspired the the Waldorf Astoria New York to create a Royally Luxurious Babymoon package, starting at $10,800 for a weekend of pampering, pilates and breakfast in bed. And Kardashian still has about six months to go in her pregnancy, so the French babymoon probably wasn't the couple's last.
Like it or not, "babymoon" seems to be gaining momentum as a word, and possibly as a thing some regular people do before their first child arrives — those who can't afford nannies and night nurses probably have more reason to savor their childless freedom than people who drop $11 million on a Bel Air mansion while expecting.
A babymoon is "a last getaway before you start having midnight diaper runs and all the good things that come along with having a newborn," Jeanenne Tornatore, senior editor at Orbitz, told HuffPost Travel last summer. It used to describe post-partum time off for the parents to enjoy their newborn baby, but in recent years the travel industry has pushed the pre-baby definition, offering lavish escapes for expectant parents all over the world. And because of the royal pregnancy, which carries the possibility of a royal babymoon, travel outlets are eager to create a trend in 2013. According to Virgin Holidays, every expectant couple will plan the sort of trip that Will and Kate have not discussed taking:
Couples will book babymoons for the first time, probably to the Caribbean, the Far East or Bali. Why? Because, in case you missed it, Kate and Wills are having a baby, they're bound to cram in a final holiday before the big arrival and ta-da — the babymoon will become a rite of passage for every expectant couple.
Famous people will always take exotic vacations, whether or not they are expecting or have kids. Each Kimye babymoon this year will remind the rest of us to enjoy our limited windows for travel.