Ohhh... I'm very excited to share with you a humble story of our family trip to Bhutan when my oldest was 18 months old.   Written by Vidhul Aul of Straits Times Singapore. 

These adventurous parents have no qualms about taking their very young children off the beaten track

PUBLISHED: SEP 3, 2017, 5:00 AM SGT

By: Vidhu Aul 

I had no food cravings during my pregnancy. My only cravings were travel-related - I saw this as a good omen for all the exciting travel that awaited my tiny travel companion and me.  Before we had our daughter, my husband and I had trekked in Central China and spent time in the Amazon and the Arctic. I had travelled solo to several countries when I was single.  With such travel credentials, I could not help gazing down at my belly and smiling at my unborn baby as I dreamed of our journeys ahead. Looking now at my toddler, Aavya, it seems that truth is indeed stranger than hormonal delusions.

At four months, my daughter had a 50-minute meltdown on a one-hour flight to Penang. Traumatised at the prospect of a repeat of midair mayhem, for our next holiday, we decided to go via ferry to Bintan for a weekend - only to find out that our then seven-month-old hated the beach.  A trip to Ho Chi Minh City was next - there were no beaches to battle and, at 10 months, my daughter had won over cabin crew and co-passengers with her perfect behaviour.  Just when we were beginning to celebrate our travel dexterity with our baby, the first diarrhoea attack struck. A large part of our visit was, therefore, more about probiotics and less about pho, the beloved Vietnamese noodle soup.  I wondered if it was just bad beginner's luck or if I was doing something wrong that made travels with my little one, now 19 months, notable for all the wrong reasons. I decided to seek inspiration from mums who opted for adventurous travel with their babies.

TREKKING UP A MOUNTAIN WITH AN 18-MONTH-OLD

Ms Elizabeth Chan, 38, management consultant

Considering that a large part of early parenting revolves around feeding struggles, food inevitably becomes an important part of travelling with little ones.  Ms Chan's travel memories of her backpacking days in South America are now merged with musings of feeding her toddler in an ensuite bathtub in Japan. She and her husband had opted for the bath area to feed their son, so that when he did not like something and spat it out, the hotel carpet would not get soiled.  Apart from a unique dining style, her son, Otto, was also introduced to snow in Japan at nine months. Less than a year later, in November 2014, the family decided to scale greater travel heights. They trekked with 18-month-old Otto to Tiger's Nest or Paro Takstang in Bhutan on a 10-day trip.

She says: "To get to the Tiger's Nest before noon, our driver, Tinga, needed to pick us up before sunrise. At this hour, Bhutan in November is sub-zero, but by 11am, it gets up to 20 to 25 deg C.

"My husband back-carried our son all through the trek and, of course, when you are carrying a toddler, the whole trek becomes slower because you need diaper changes, snack breaks, taking our son down from the baby carrier and then convincing him to get back in it."

Apart from the scenic splendour and colourful prayer flags, the humility of the Bhutanese and generosity of the children as they offered Otto snacks were experiences to cherish.

"We encountered a big traffic jam en route to Punakha, so our guide stopped at a local village to let Otto stretch his legs and relax a bit. The local children playing nearby soon gathered around, fascinated, since they hadn't seen toddler travellers too often on this route.

"Otto offered them some grapes and one of the kids came back and gave him some fruit, including a big orange, and local bread."

By the last day, during a visit to a private temple, Otto was sick of his rice crackers and sandwiches, so he was crying and refusing to eat. "The family who were keepers of the temple offered him one of his favourite foods - chicken rice porridge, interestingly with some added cheese."

While Ms Chan and her son were fine, it was her husband who had a bit of altitude sickness, not uncommon for a trek to Tiger's Nest, where the highest elevation is more than 3,000m. Apart from Paro, the base for their trek, the family cherished their time in Thimphu, the only capital in the world with no traffic lights, and Punakha, known for its Temple of Fertility.

Ms Chan hopes to return to Bhutan soon, this time with her 11-month-old baby girl Robyn, and Otto, now 41/2, to break more Bhutanese bread with the seminomadic yak herders of Merak and Sakteng.

Ms Chan's travel tip: "Preparation is the key to success. Check basic necessities, simplify the travel route and explore activities that you will enjoy as a family. Plan ahead and you'll have a higher chance of a smooth and once-in-a-lifetime experience. We are now a family of four and I am looking forward to taking Otto and his little sister, Robyn, to Myanmar next year."

In this story by Vidhu, she covered 2 additional families who also had brave travel tales to share with you. For the full story, please visit the Straits Times Website Here . 

• Vidhu Aul, a Singapore permanent resident from India, is a travel enthusiast, a freelance writer and mother of a toddler.