Baby who took 'gap year' at 9-weeks-old gears up for next adventure with globe trotting blogger parents

A baby who has travelled to more countries than some visit in a lifetime is gearing up for her second 'gap year' after the birth of her sibling.

When she was just nine weeks old, Esmé Bayes set off on a 10-month adventure around the world- including to Australia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan- with her parents Karen Edwards and Shaun Bayes.

With Karen, 32, using her maternity leave and Shaun, 31, taking a break from work, they rented their house out and sold their car before setting off in November 2014.

By her first birthday, Esmé, who is now two, had visited nine different countries with her parents.

Karen, who is originally from Ireland, used her blog to document what the young family were getting up to while posting tips about how to travel with a baby.
Karen said: "I was super nervous, it was my idea but I did get cold feet a bit and my husband had to push us to do it.

"I love travelling so it was about keeping my identity too and doing something we all enjoy.

"We saved up and I had maternity leave coming in anyway so we rented the house out and sold the car."

Esmé's first country was Ireland as Karen and Shaun took her to meet her grandparents.

From there the family returned to London and flew to Shaun's native country, New Zealand, via Singapore.

Karen says that flying wasn't an issue with Esmé as she slept most of the time but is concerned about their next trip which will be with a baby and a toddler.

The nurse manager said: "We went from London to Singapore and then to New Zealand so it broke up the journey, the plane was fine. It's a lot easier to do with a baby than a toddler, they just sleep.

"We hadn't really planned a lot, once we got to New Zealand we then planned the majority of it."

During the next 10 months the family, who kept in touch with relatives via video app Skype, visited Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Karen explained that Esmé swam nearly every day and has become very sociable due to meeting new people.

She said: "She went on the steepest cable car in the world on Langkawi Island [in Malaysia], she saw koala bears in Australia and she had a monkey jump on her face in Bali.

"She swam every single day, so now she is amazing in the water and is so confident.

"She's very sociable because at breakfast and meals she was surrounded by lots of people every day and we were out doing stuff all the time so she got to meet a lot of people.

"Her relationship with her dad is very strong because they spent a lot of time together in her first year, you don't always get that because they have to go back to work.

"It's usually just the mother and baby together, it was an amazing experience and we really bonded."