Toddler Towns

Turning a leisurely vacation into a child-friendly one brings unique challenges but also the joy of seeing the world in a new light. Huzan Tata recounts navigating Austria and Hungary with a toddler in tow.

ARE WE INCREDIBLY brave or unbelievably stupid?" my husband and I look at each other, asking ourselves the same question for the fifth time in four hours as we attempt to control an overtired toddler at Istanbul airport where we're catching our connecting flight to Vienna. I secretly hope that it's the former so that my husband doesn't blame me for pushing him to travel with a 19-month-old hurricane for our summer holiday. Little do we realise then, that like many other things in post-baby life, the way you travel changes too.

To warm our son to long days outdoors, we begin the first morning of this scorchy European summer at Schönbrunn Zoo, the world's oldest one that's still in operation. Alternating with pushing the stroller and letting our little one guide the way with the waddle of his tiny feet, we head through enclosures of giraffes, lions, zebras, flamingos, seals, and our son's favourites-pandas and monkeys all straight out of the many picture books he's read since he was an infant. "Mumma, roooooar!" Jahaan says excitedly as he sees a tiger lazily stroll in and out of its small cave-and both my husband and I go crazy with our cameras to capture our own eager monkey! After a taste of his life's first frankfurter from the zoo café, Jahaan decides that it's not time for more animal spotting yet, but some playtime at the vibrant children's play area nearby.

As he explores the multicoloured mosaic-tiled steps and slides, I'm constantly checking my watch wondering how to fit all that we've planned to see in Austria's capital into three days. But the sound of his laughter bring me back to why we're here we want our child to explore the world's joys as much as we have, and some playground time under the sunlit Vienna skies sure does the trick for him.