Dad travels solo with a toddler. Would you try?

A few days ago I read an article on the Huffington Post of a father from China who decided to travel solo with his two-year-old to Taiwan for a week, leaving the mom home. Not only they had tons of fun (he claimed that it was one of the best trips in his life), but also they had their relationship redefined, in a very good way. He learned a lot of new things he never knew about the child, but also about himself as a dad. He shared his knowledge and experience by showing her the world himself. The bonus, they gave the mom a well deserved "break" from them for a week.

My husband and our toddler on a wooden boat, sailing back from Sempu Island in Malang, East Java

I told my husband the story and he seemed challenged. He said he would do it, but he's not too sure if he can do it just yet. Don't get me wrong, my husband is a super dad. He changes the kids' diapers more than I do (we cloth diaper, mind you), he babywears both kids, he goes to the movies with our toddler, he takes her the whole day so I get a day for myself (and the newborn). Our toddler is extremely attached to him.

However, traveling with a toddler by himself is a whole different thing. They'd go with a plane somewhere new (most probably) outside the country, sleeps in a hotel for some nights, being with each other 24/7 for several days, experience new things, just the two of them. Without mommy.

My husband and the toddler in a jetway of Zagreb airport, entering a plane to fly to Doha

I'm not sexist, but for some reason the notion of a mom traveling with a child seems more familiar. As a matter of fact, I'm abroad at the moment with the kids without my husband, and it doesn't seem too big of a deal. I'd be flying home with them by myself. A dad with a child going somewhere far and new for multiple days? Not as familiar.

The two of them at Srau Beach in Pacitan, East Java

I'd really like my husband to experience it, it could be the time of their lives, could be the best memory they'll share for the rest of their lives. I mean, it's fun when we all travel together as we always do, but without me and the newborn, it could be something special, something extraordinary, which, they might regret in the end if they never do it while she's so little.

He took her to experience Indonesian traditional market

As the father from the article shows his toddler what he does for living by showing her the world (he's a professional photographer for world famous magazines), I dare my husband to do similar thing to our toddler. Showing her big seaports, busy airports, amazing tunnels, long bridges (he works on transport infrastructures) in different places, or, he can simply take a few days off and take her to Disneyland Paris or Legoland Gunzburg?

So fathers, would you do it? Or, if you're a mother like I am, would you encourage your partner to take a mini adventure with your child(ren) without you?

I wish there's cure to jet-lag

Some people are not affected by jet-lag at all, no matter how many time-zones and how many oceans they just passed by. I'm one of those who are severely affected by jet-lag. And so are my children. In this trip to Indonesia, we went from GMT+2 (Zagreb) to GMT+7 (Jakarta).

After 30 hours of flights and layovers, we arrived in Batu, East Java, at around 11pm local time, meaning 6pm in the place of origin (Zagreb). Yup, you guessed it right, the kids were wide awake until 3am when they're finally sleepy enough for bed, so, 10pm Zagreb time, basically, the regular time they go to bed (yes, they go to bed that late, go ahead and judge me). And that means, they would wake up only around 1pm local time, around 8am Zagreb time.

Due to jet-lag we'd start the day quite late, and "lose" half of the day

My toddler would nap naturally around 6pm local time because that's 1pm home time, and would sleep until 9pm when she's fresh again after "afternoon" nap, for the rest of the "day".

She was so confused one day she asked me why she doesn't have to brush her teeth before bed (it was her afternoon nap schedule). I explained to her that she's just going for a short nap, and she doesn't usually brush her teeth for afternoon naps, and she argued with me that it was night, and not afternoon, pointing at the darkness outside the window. It was night local time, indeed, but it was afternoon for her body, biologically. Kill me.

This schedule moved forward a little bit every day, they would be sleepy an hour earlier every evening and get up an hour earlier the next day. It was not until the fifth day they were basically fully functional. Like, wake up and go to bed at normal times, and most importantly, have their appetite back (mostly for the toddler, the newborn only breastfeed so her appetite wasn't affected).

To be fair, my husband and I were also affected severely, but we're old enough to already feel sorry to lose half of sunny and nice day to sleeping, so we kind of forced ourselves to get up at a normal hours. But then, we got too tired to keep up with the kids in the evening when they're not tired yet. What a dilemma.

You know she's jet-lagged when she colors at 2am

Technically we could've waken them up in the morning, yeah. But if you have toddlers you know what it means to wake them up forcefully. Handling a sleepy, tired, moody, aggressive, cranky toddler (and baby) all day long? No, thanks.

I don't know if there's a cure to jet-lag? Living the world we live today, probably there is, who knows. I'd like to know though. For us, who stay longer in this vacation, almost two months, jet-lag is no problem. I don't mind "losing" five days for sleeping. But I think a family who's on vacation for a week or two would be annoyed losing so many days just for their kids (or themselves) to adjust.

I'm no expert but my only tip is to take it easy. On your kids and on yourself. If their bodies are not ready, don't force them. I wouldn't wake my children up at 8am if they're not ready, just because I'd like to do as many museums as I could today, or, I wouldn't fight with them because they refuse to go to bed in the evening because their biological body doesn't tell them that it's bed time. Cranky kids mean nervous parents, nervous parents make a disastrous vacation. Take it easy!