A Look Back at Kaleya’s Travels in Her First Year

Last Updated on May 18, 2018

Last month, we celebrated the momentous event of Kaleya turning one year old. (I know! How did one year pass just like that???)

In the past month, Baby Kaleya has blossomed into a toddler. Having taken her first steps at 10 months old, she’s now waddling her way all over the place and loving this new phase in life. She can also say a few words now, like “mama”, “byebye”, “guau-guau”(dog in Spanish) and “uh-oh” (every time she drops something). She makes us laugh so much, being the mischievous and curious creature that she is.

In the travel charts, she’s doing really great for her age as well. At one year old, our little explorer has already traveled to six countries on three continents: from Spain to Singapore, Maldives, Cyprus, Norway, and the United States. She’s a born traveler, being able to sleep through long-haul flights, adjust to new environments and timezones easily, and make friends wherever she goes.

It’s been a while since I wrote about our travels with Kaleya here, so in light of her birthday, here’s a quick recap to highlight some of our special moments with her.

All Over Spain

As soon as Kaleya was one-month-old, we brought her on her first trip. While it was just a stay at a country retreat just outside of Granada where we live, it was great to get out into the countryside for some fresh air and go walking amidst sunflower meadows. The setting amidst olive groves and rolling hills was just perfect.

Over summer, we went all over Spain on various road trips just to explore our backyard and get Kaleya adjusted to traveling. we went on a relaxing beach holiday on Costa Blanca, and also went glamping with baby, staying at some really cool campsites like Yurts Tarifa and Airstream. In July, we escaped to the beach town of San Roque in Cadiz and went on a daytrip to Gibraltar.

Singapore

At five months old, Alberto and I brought Kaleya on her first trip abroad to see my family on the other side of the globe. It was a long 16-hour journey from Spain, but she miraculously slept through most of it and awoke just in time to meet her grandparents. My folks were completely smitten by her and she was the centre of attention the entire time we were there.

Maldives

Since we were already in Asia, we decided to make the most of our time and hopped over to the Maldives. Our time in Maldives was just wonderful and a true break from our daily routine. From our overwater bungalow, we would wake up to a view of the spearmint blue sea before us and the first thing we would do was take a dip in the water beneath our feet.

Ibiza, Spain

In October, we weren’t quite ready for summer to be over just yet, so we nabbed some cheap flights to Ibiza and headed to the Balearic island for a long weekend. Ibiza has such a bad reputation as a party island, but there’s actually plenty to do beyond hitting the clubs: we took long scenic drives, explored the hippy market, and wandered around the port at Ibiza town. The weather was really warm and pleasant, and the water just the right temperature for swimming. Kaleya loved playing on the beach and napping while we drove around the island.

Cyprus

Before the year ended, we brought Kaleya on another trip to Cyprus, an island that’s intrigued me for the longest time. As it turned out, the country is multilayered, not only in its history, but also its rich traditions, cuisine and landscape that few other countries can rival. It’s also a perfect destination for families: we brought Kaleya on a leisurely hike in the Troodos Mountains, she loved chilling out on the sun-kissed beaches of Limassol, and it was easy bringing her around the ancient ruins. We couldn’t believe how nice and warm it was that we could have left our jackets at home! Read more about our time here.

Norway

For our Christmas trip, we’d booked promo fares from Oslo to California (for just $400 return!) and so we took the opportunity to revisit Norway’s capital city and show Kaleya one of our favourite cities in the world. Sadly there was no snow yet, so we couldn’t bring Kaleya sledding at Korketrekkeren, Oslo’s most popular toboggan run. We ended up spending most of our time walking around downtown Oslo, enjoying some good food and soaking up the festive atmosphere at the Christmas markets.

United States

During the festive season, we spent three weeks with my family in California. It was the first time we’d be introducing Kaleya to her auntie and cousin who live there. My parents also flew in from Singapore for a family reunion. It was just really nice to leave work and everything behind and spend some quality time with family. We spent a few days in Palm Springs, exploring its national parks and staying at some of the coolest villas we’ve ever seen, before exploring Yosemite National Park and spending some time at a ski lodge in Lake Tahoe with my family.

Singapore

Just last month, I brought Kaleya back to Singapore again (but without Alberto this time) to celebrate her birthday there with her cousin Dominic whose birthday also falls in March. It was great to be in the tropics again — Kaleya too was rather sick of winter. We spent two weeks hanging out with my family, exploring parts of Singapore I haven’t seen in ages and just having some downtime. extremely lucky to celebrate her birthday twice with family in both Singapore and Spain.

I still can’t believe my little baby has turned one. It’s been an incredible journey so far and I can’t wait to see her grow into a lady.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY PRECIOUS LITTLE THING!

Here’s to many many more years to come!