Giving a tropical twist to the Power Maternity Leave trend
For most new mums, jetting around the world with their baby is probably the last thing on their mind.
But one London mum is turning her maternity leave into an epic family adventure – for the second time.
Karen Edwards, 32, is currently on a round-the-world trip with herhusband Shaun, theirfive-month-old son, Quinn, and their daughter, Esmé.
Karen first made headlines when she and Shaun decided to use her maternity leave to travel the world with Esmé (then 10 weeks old) in 2015.
The full-time nurse and her professional landscaper husband visited over 20 countries with their daughter, chronicling the adventures through Karen's Travel Mad Mum blog.
Two years later, they have chosen to use Quinn’s arrival in June to recommence the family adventure.
“I am a nurse in the UK and I am very lucky to be allowed to take a year off work,” Karen recently wrote in a post.
“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.”
The couple sold their car and, pre-baby, Karen took a second job "working in a university as a lecturer on my days off from the hospital. This gave us additional money to put towards savings."
Shaun's job allows him the flexibility to fit work around travelling, and he does afew jobs here and there on the road to keep money coming in. Karen is also doing some remote work for the university while they globetrot.
The backpacking quartet flew to Canada in August and have so far visited North America, Central America and the Caribbean, with Karen regularly updating her 95,000 Instagram followers about her family’s travels. For his part, Shaun has nearly 20,000 followers on his Travel Mad Dad profile.
“The overall aim is to inspire like-minded, travel loving parents - ‘your travel days do not have to be over,’” writes Karen on her blog. “It is all about incorporating your little person into your way of life.”
However the travelling is not all Insta-perfect.
“It is amazing and I wouldn’t change it for the world," writes Karen. "But we have bad days too of messed-up travel schedules, missed buses, lost luggage, crazy toddler tantrums and a sick baby in the back arse of nowhere...”
Karen’s travel blog means she is often able to secure some complimentary accommodation or flights in exchange for writing reviews - which obviously isn't the case for most people.
But, ultimately, zipping across the world with your SO and babies is pretty badass.
“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 [Shaun]around every day.”
Karen feels stronglythat the start of your parenting days doesn't have to mean the end of your adventuring, even if it involves some pretty major sacrifices.
“Travelling is an incredible way to bond as a family, introduce your child to a variety of sights, smellsand soundsand prepare them for a life surrounded by other cultures,” she says.
Karen’s project puts a new spin on the 'Power Maternity Leave, external',a trend that’s seen women using their time away from work to reassess their careers and even start new businesses.
"Maternity leave can be a brilliant time to think about what really matters to you," says Sarah Hesz, co-founded of Mush, a meet-up app for mums.
"When you realise you can produce and look after a tiny human - and that is hard! - that can give you a different type of confidence and a renewed perspective on your career.
"There are definitely days when the thought of achieving anything other than surviving until bedtime will seem ridiculous. However, I do believe anyone can take advantage of the potential benefits of maternity leave - of having a refreshed outlook on life and what your priorities are."
One mum who's taken the 'power maternity leave' to new heights is 21-year-old Australian singer Kita Alexander, with her Hotel EP last week achieving Gold Record status, external.
Hotel was released in April, five months after Alexander gave birth. It followed a year during which she had to pause her career to look after her partner, professional surfer Owen Wright, who had suffered a life-changing brain injury while surfing in Hawaii.
But perhaps the most famous example of a young mum using her post-baby period to produce something momentous is JK Rowling writing Harry Potter.
The single mother wrote the global bestseller in a series of Edinburgh cafes in the 1990s whenever her daughter, Jessica, was asleep in a pram by her side.
Now that is some truly special mum-power.
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