ככל הנראה רוב האנשים סביבכן יגידו לכן שתינוק צריך שגרה, מיטה משלו, את הדברים המוכרים לו וכו'. קארן אדוארדס, אמא לשניים בת 33 מאנגליה, החליטה לבלות את חופשת הלידה שלה בדיוק ההפך מהעצות הללו. ללא מיטה אחת, ללא מקום מוכר אחד, הרבה זמן בנסיעות ובטיסות – את חופשת הלידה שלה היא מעבירה מסביב לעולם. אבל ממש.

לחלק מהאנשים נסיעה לחו"ל עם תינוק, טיסות, מלונות, ריזורטים – נשמעים כמו סיוט מהלך. אדוארדס יצאה יחד עם משפחתה כשבנה השני, קווין, היה בן 9 חודשים בלבד. מאז הספיקו לטייל בקנדה, ארצות הברית ומרכז אמריקה. הם שוהים במלונות, בוואנים ובקרוואנים בחופים ומקומות נוספים. אדוארדס אמרה בראיון ל- ABC News שכל ה"בלגן" הזה לא משפיע על קווין כלל. "אני מנסה להסביר לאנשים שזה בעצם קל יותר מאשר להיות בבית, כי בבית יש לך כל כך הרבה דברים לעשות רק בניהול משק הבית".

אל המסע יצאו לשנה שלמה, וכשהם נשאלים כיצד הם מרשים לעצמם את התענוג הזה עונה אדוארדס, אחות בבית חולים בלונדון, כי על 9 חודשים היא מקבלת חופשת לידה מלאה ולגבי 3 החודשים הנוספים הם ישכירו את ביתם בלונדון.

כמובן שאת הטיול הם מתעדים בעמוד אינסטגרם שפתחו בשביל זה. אז הנה כמה תמונות שיגרמו לכן לרצות לעזוב הכל ולעשות כזה גם.

GUATEMALA BLOG POST- I wrote a guide to Lake Atitlan (Link in bio)… Such an awesome little place with vibrant colourful villages and picturesque volcanoes. If you watch our Instagram stories, you are probably wondering why we came back to the US. We touched down in Miami late last night and we are going to be tripping around Florida for the next 9 days. Don’t worry we are not done with Central America just yet we will pick up again in Nicaragua in a few weeks. We thought we would utilise our time in Miami to see the area before we head on our @msccruisesofficial around the Caribbean!!! We are so excited as I am a total cruise virgin! It was an opportunity not to be missed hence us backtracking to the US again .. Florida is already exceeding all our expectations … possibly one of the best places for kids ever?! .. We are staying in a little apartment @caribbeanresortbytheocean .. it’s refreshing to be able to cook for ourselves .. we are foot steps from the beach, splash fountains and a playground for Esmé…needless to say she is very excitable at the moment Ps… we had a nice little feature in @abcnews this morning .. see our insta stories for the link … 💜✈️🌎

A post shared by TRAVEL MAD MUM (@travelmadmum) on Nov 10, 2017 at 10:40am PST

I had my first go at surfing in nearly a year and a half today . I was the chick rolling around in the shallows. Why is it that every time I surface from getting tossed around by a wave, one boob is peaking out and my hair is all over my face… Bridget Jones eat your heart out… I’m blaming it on the one pack as a result of this little man … One good thing, El Salvador is not at all touristy so we pretty much have the waves to ourselves at certain points throughout the day .. #needabs #travelmadfam 💜✈️🌎

A post shared by TRAVEL MAD MUM (@travelmadmum) on Nov 5, 2017 at 6:08pm PST

I thought I should say HI to all our new followers and bring you up to date on our family. Especially if you read the story in The Independent today! We are a family of four, I’m Karen and hubby Shaun is @travelmaddad … We have two kids, Esmé aged 3 and Quinn is 4.5months old. When we had Esmé, ‘we used my maternity leave to travel around the world and we’ve done exactly the same with our son Quinn. I am a nurse in the UK and I am very lucky to be allowed to take a year off work. It’s not all paid but quite a lot of it is!… We rented our house out when Quinn was 9 weeks old and sold all of our belongings to make it happen on my maternity leave. This time is different, especially with 3 old Esmé… let’s just say we have our hands full with all her energy! When we left home, we travelled from Calgary to Vancouver in Canada and road tripped the entire west coast of the USA. We’ve since been exploring Central America and arrived in El Salvador this morning. So as you can see we’ve come a long way from when I had Esmé… Here we share all our stories. The good, the bad and the ugly. We like to keep it real and not sugar coat full time travel with two kids… it is amazing and I wouldn’t change it for the world… But.. we have bad days too of messed up travel schedules, missed buses, lost luggage, crazy toddler tantys and a sick baby in the back arse of no where… It’s totally worth it for the endless family time we have together and as a second time new Mum, I’m very grateful to have @travelmaddad around every day. We are not rich. Like I mentioned I’m a nurse and my hubby is a builder. I like to think we are savvy travellers. First time around we did it all out of our own pocket. This time is a little different since we have a successful blog, many hotels like us to write a review for them. That is more than we could ever have dreamed of. We semi have the potential to make this our little business and that’s genuinely because of this engaged audience. None of this would be possible without having interested followers, so thanks so much from me to you for following our journey. I hope we can inspire you to travel deeper with your kids💜✈️🌎

A post shared by TRAVEL MAD MUM (@travelmadmum) on Nov 3, 2017 at 1:31pm PDT

This is one of the cute villages around late Atitlan… Those little tuk tuks rip around the streets, up hills and along dirt tracks. It’s pretty impressive.. The streets are lined with little stalls, all of them have oodles of colourful textiles. Not to mention the cute cafes and many tortilla stalls. Latin America eat your heart out!!.. it was such a pleasure to collaborate with @hoteltoliman whilst we were there. They give SO much back to the community. Like so many things. They have a house for women fleeing domestic violence and they allow kids with physical disabilities to have their weekly therapy in the pool. The lady that owns it is the most intriguing Guatemalan women. She has done so much voluntary work in her life .. I can’t wait to do the write-up.. 💜✈️🌎 would you visit Lake Atitlan?

A post shared by TRAVEL MAD MUM (@travelmadmum) on Nov 1, 2017 at 8:08pm PDT

I’ve been waiting for that volcano to pop it’s head out of the clouds the entire time we’ve been here @hoteltoliman .. was feeling chuffed when it was finally visible at our last glimpse of it this evening … and yes this baby is MASSIVE.. he’s only 4.5months old and already wearing 1 year old size… 💜✈️🌎 hosted

A post shared by TRAVEL MAD MUM (@travelmadmum) on Oct 30, 2017 at 8:48pm PDT

Nothing spells Latin America more than bright colourful buildings and the need for a 4X4. Someone asked me yesterday how I’m coping with getting the kids around the buses on Central America and the answer is, terrible. For a number of reasons. We can’t guarantee the buses will have AC on our route. They are usually long journeys that don’t make enough stops for a toddler needing the toilet. It’s one thing potty training and it’s another asking a potty trained toddler to pee in a nappy for the sake of a journey. The only reason we didn’t rent a car in Belize is because it wasn’t possible to do a different pick up and drop off point. However here in Guatemala we are doing a round trip with @rentalcarscom to the capital. Having a vehicle is definitely the way to do it with a young family and I would say a 4×4 is a necessity to get to some of the hard to reach destinations. Like yesterday we visited an avocado farm on the side of a mountain and the road was more of a dirt track than a road. On the way back down we met the two cutest little boys, no older than six carrying tonnes of logs on their back. They somehow were taking the weight on their head too.. It made me feel very sad and privileged at the same time. We were glad to be able to give them a lift in the back of our truck. They were so grateful … I’ve often thought of giving up my career in nursing but the truth is I absolutely don’t want to. Having had a break from it on maternity leave recently, I know it’s a damn good reality check at what life is really about… i actually miss work and my colleagues, although I’m sure when I return and do my first night shift I will be cursing ever saying that with how tiring they can be. But I’m not going to think about it just now .. we will just concentrate on having fun this year .. 😂.. but to my colleagues who follow me, you haven’t got rid of me yet 💜✈️🌎 sponsored by rental cars

A post shared by TRAVEL MAD MUM (@travelmadmum) on Oct 25, 2017 at 9:47am PDT

A rare photo of all four of us!… we have been slowly introducing Quinn into the water the last week or two. I am grateful for the swimming lessons we took with Esmé in Nz when she was little because we are implementing those same techniques to teach Quinn to swim. He seems to like it so far. He’s a little unsure of the mini submersions but he can be distracted quickly and easily…. fact about me, I’ve been quite scared of the water for years. My sister @lifeveganstyle_ nearly drowned twice and so did I when I was visiting friends in Australia years back. I’m on a mission to make these two competent in the water so they are not scared and to be good swimmers.. @travelmaddad is an awesome example to them anyway … does anyone else push there kids a little with something they are not so good at themselves? Having endless access to swimming pools this trip has made Esmé really good .. we are feeling super proud… all the staff here @belizeandreamsresort always tell her how good she is … 💜✈️🌎 hosted

A post shared by TRAVEL MAD MUM (@travelmadmum) on Oct 16, 2017 at 8:31pm PDT

We were VERY productive today!!… We visited this iguana project, we also did a lesson in raw chocolate AND visited Mayan ruins… We even made it back to @chaacreekbelize to watch the sun set from our pool… a good travel day by all accounts despite the toddler throwing several Wobblies …. I've decided to fork out for a transfer tomorrow … it's soooo hot on the buses without AC for little man and we would potentially need to take four 😱… 😱 We are still figuring out the Central America transport system… it's going to be interesting that's for sure … anyone that's navigated it with kids relatively comfortably … hit me up with tips 💜✈️🌎

A post shared by TRAVEL MAD MUM (@travelmadmum) on Oct 13, 2017 at 9:52pm PDT

After a gruelling seven hour journey we made it to the jungle in Belize yesterday evening! I've realised busing around Central America is going to come with its challenges… Nonetheless we are here at the incredible @chaacreekbelize … i had no idea what to expect. This place is phenomenal. Owned by an English man and his American wife, they've built this eco resort in the jungle over the last 40 years. No roads, couldn't get trucks here… they literally started from scratch. I met the owner Mick this morning, I could have chatted to him for hours. He was telling me of the challenges living here in the 80's trying to get his wife to hospital when she was in labour… some people just blow my mind.. He came here with 300USD in his back pocket and built this entire place up over the years. The best part about it is he is humble and it's not owned by a huge chain hotel… I love working with these kind of people to bring exposure to their work and what they have to offer tourists.. @chaacreekbelize has everything you could ever want to explore the jungle with a young family, river tubing, canoeing, infinity pools falling off into dense jungle, luxury villas, treehouse accommodation and the most amazing butterfly farm with blue morpho. Everywhere I look I see massive iguanas lurking, hundreds of working ants carrying big leaves, colourful birds like the tui and that's just in the grounds nearby our villa… Honestly guys you need to come to Belize … between here and the beach-life out on the island it makes for a varied and interesting holiday… They only get 220k tourists in Belize a year so it's still relatively untouched. Also if you ever worry about language being a barrier, English is the first language!! 💜✈️🌎 hosted

A post shared by TRAVEL MAD MUM (@travelmadmum) on Oct 11, 2017 at 3:59pm PDT