Meet the World’s youngest traveller

If you are a parent of a small human or two you know that traveling even to a braai requires bag after bag of baby stuff. 

From nappies to burp rags, change of clothes, bottles, wet wipes the list is endless. 

If going away for a weekend, this type of excursion takes hours to pack for and the driveway is then loaded with just in case items from the medical box, highchair and pram. 

Karen Edwards knew that staying at home during maternity leave was just not going to cut it.

She decided to pack up her home, 10-week old baby and hubby and travel the world.

The family flew across the world to explore Asia, Australia and New Zealand, for 10 months during their time off from work.

The couple boxed up their belongings, sold their car and decided to put their house up for rent while they were travelling. 

This is why Karen and her hubby decided to leave everything behind and travel:

'Both Shaun and I were keen backpackers before I fell pregnant and everyone thought we were completely nuts when we said that we were going to take Esmé when she arrived.

'She was really well behaved and because she was small it was easy enough to keep her in the harness when we were on the move.

'We have no regrets, she got to experience new sights, scenes and smells as she grew and that is incredible.

'The only time I felt Esmé was missing out was not having much socialising with other children.

However the libraries always have free rhyme classes if you need to socialise your child a little.

'The weirdest part of the trip was actually coming home. Esmé hasn't lived somewhere for a long period of time because we were always moving around hotels and rooms.

'It's also harder to find her things to do in London - well, compared to travelling anyway.

'People say having a child ruins travelling, but it really doesn't. Obviously there were times, like at night in the hotel room when you fancy a beer and the baby is asleep, and when you crack it open she wakes, that makes it harder. But it's worth it. 

'You can still do everything, including snorkelling and diving, but you just take it in turns. I can't imagine having spent my maternity leave any other way.'