NOT QUITE ELOISE at the Plaza, my golden-curled daughter has instead grown up hotel-hopping around the world. Her first deluxe destination was at 10 weeks old: the Pendry West Hollywood, one mile from where we lived at the time. Soon after she turned one, we moved to Bali and upon arrival there her tally had already reached 42. By the time Indah turned three earlier this year, she had checked into 115 different boltholes—the vast majority five-star—sprinkled across five continents.
I should warn you up top: this piece is not to offer specific advice on what to do when traveling with a toddler, but rather to persuade you why to do it in the first place.
Innumerable highlights swirl around in my head (and heart) and feel woven into her life’s story. Spending so many nights in hotel rooms means many milestones have occurred in them. She began crawling by the pool at Calamigos Ranch in Malibu, took her very first wobbly steps at Our Habitas Namibia, ate her first Michelin-starred meal at Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong’s Lung King Hee, and sipped her first babyccino at Jumeirah Bali aside the Indian Ocean, gleeful at the novelty of being presented with a toddler-sized non-sippy cup and feeling foamy bubbles on her lips.
While I’ve diligently documented her every move at each of these spectacular properties, we weren’t doing it for the ’gram. I intentionally brought her on my travels to expose her to the world, to its infinite nuances and people and flavours and ways of being. To do this is a rare privilege that the reality of my job allows, and one I want to make the most of. I was well into my 30s before I began truly seeing the world, so it’s important to me that my child become a global citizen far sooner.
Happily, Indah has learned the art of adaptability, settling in comfortably and quickly wherever she lands. After so much traveling, this toddler has not developed a dependence on sameness, such as complete darkness, quiet or sound, or even specific foods. She has as worldly a palate as any jetsetter—after first tastes at Regent Phu Quoc and Shangri-La Singapore, respectively, two of her favorite foods are shrimp and funky cheese.
Watching horses on the beach with butler Maxi at NIHI Sumba
Checking out our in-suite mural at Capella Hanoi
A flower bath at AYANA Villas
I’m frequently reminded of the contrasts between her upbringing and mine. As a child, I hardly heard any foreign tongues beyond Spanish, while Indah can say “thank you” in a handful of languages and finds ways to communicate without English at all. Call me biased, but I’d say our travels have helped her develop not only a natural ear for languages, but an openness to hearing and learning them.
Luxury stays could easily skew a child’s sense of entitlement, but we have found her to only ever be friendly and empathetic. She’s stoked about treats and gifts left for her in rooms—like the neon stuffed snake, backpack and passport case from Bulgari Resort Bali that she squealed about for weeks—but never notices if there’s nothing at all; she’s too excited exploring, looking out windows, asking How? and Why?
But maybe my favorite benefit of our frequent hotel stays is Indah’s comfort with humans—and mine as well. It’s in stark contrast with my upbringing, which included very few hotels, travels outside my comfort zone, or interactions with even “safe” strangers. I was painfully shy until I got to university, maybe partly because of lack of exposure to the broader world.
Ready for safari at Sabi Sabi Bush Lodge in South Africa
Poolside bevs at Four Seasons Resort Bali at Jimbaran Bay
From Vietnam to South Africa to Mexico, she’s been in the arms of guides, servers, housekeepers and concierges, walked hand-in-hand with our jadugar at JOALI Maldives, even chatted on a video call with the small son of our butler at Four Seasons Resort The Nam Hai, Hoi An. And while she knows what strangers are, she’s not timid like I was, and is always open to meeting new people, whether they’re hotel staff or fellow travelers. This is one of the biggest lessons I dreamed for Indah, especially given the perks we enjoy: to know that everyone on this planet is equal and worthy of respect.
As for me, the watchful mama, I have learned to trust and put faith in people. Like the time my husband and I went for a nighttime game drive at Sabi Sabi Bush Lodge and returned to find Indah tied by a sheet to the babysitter’s back, sleepless and dazed yet perfectly content. From observing different cultures and chatting with folks across continents, I’ve learned my American style of parenting is not the only valid way. I’ve loosened up.
When we stayed at The Standard, Bangkok Mahanakhon, Indah showed me what fearless looks like as she pranced around grinning on the tower’s 310-metre-high glass cantilever. And the time at The Sanubari on Sumba Island when I held her in my lap on a horse named Odessa, ambling slowly between coconut palms and along the beach… Bareback horseriding is something I would have never imagined possible when I was a child and wouldn’t have anticipated being comfortable with for my own daughter. But the magic I feel in times like this washes the nervous Nelly out of me, moment by spontaneous moment.
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