Meet "the world's most well-travelled baby" - who has visited 23 countries in just 11 months during his mum's maternity leave

SWNS 2023-08-28

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Meet "the world's most well-travelled baby" - who has visited 23 countries in just 11 months during his mum's maternity leave.

Little Atlas Montgomery set off on his European adventure when he was just six weeks old.

Now 11 months, he's been travelling around Europe in a campervan with his parents while mum Becs Lewis, 29, originally from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, is on maternity leave.

Along with dad Will Montgomery, 31, they set off from their hometown, Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand, in October 2022.

After visiting Singapore for three days they jetted to the UK where little Atlas met his mum's side of the family for the first time.

The tot, who will turn one at the end of August, learned to crawl in Switzerland, got his first tooth in Norway and started eating solid foods in France.

Their family has just left Sweden and is currently travelling back to the UK to sell their van before flying to their final destination - Greece next month.

When Becs' maternity leave is over in early November, she will return to her job as a retail manager.

Brit Becs said: "I went travelling in New Zealand in 2016 and started to work towards my residency there.

"I said once I got it, I would come back to do a European road trip.

"A year before I got my residency, I met Will.

"We decided we would get a puppy but I got pregnant, and it spiralled from there.

"It never occurred to me that you could travel with a baby. It seemed so unrealistic, but it is not that hard.

"It has been amazing - you can see every bit of his growth. It's great being able to travel just the three of us."

Becs gave birth to 5lb 5oz Atlas on August 31, 2022, at 11.28pm at the Invercargill Hospital, Invercargill, New Zealand.

Both parents worked hard to save up to sustain them on their travels when they discovered Becs was pregnant with Atlas.

When he was born, Will took a sabbatical from his job as a retail manager.

They ended their tenancy in their rented home and sold all but five boxes of their belongings, which now sit in Will's parents' garage.

The first stop six weeks later was Singapore so Atlas could spend some time with his uncle - Will's brother - Fraser Montgomery, 38, who lives there.

The pair then travelled to Chesterfield, in the UK, where they bought a Fiat Ducato van for £11k while staying with Becs’ dad in Rotherham nearby.

An unusual stop on a tourist’s typical journey, Becs said this was the first time her family had met baby Atlas – so it became one of their most memorable stops.

From there, they travelled to France, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium and have just finished up in Sweden to return to the UK.

As a condition of their visas they have to return to the UK every three months - before flying back out to pick up where they left off.

Other countries visited on their adventure include Italy, San Marino, Switzerland, Litchenstein, Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Czechia, Denmark and Norway.

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