Globetotters
Evelina, 1, and Leo, 2, are youngest travellers to visit all 51 countries in Europe
SIBLINGS Evelina and leo Kadela have caught the travel bug early, having already visited every country in Europe at the age of just one and two.
They are world record breakers, according to their mum, Alex Kadela, 27, who said: “The youngest people to do it before this were 17.”
Leaving their London home in December last year, the trio spent six months and £10,000 country-hopping, mostly by Interrail.
They stayed with 30 families, with warehouse worker dad, Piotr, 29, joining when he could.
The Guinness World Record for the youngest people to visit all the countries in Europe was given last year to Norwegian brothers Sander and Mathias Rolen, who were 17 and travelled solo.
Alex said: “My children were too young to travel alone, so they don’t officially qualify.
“But we live in a world where people are told life stops when you have kids. We’ve shown travelling the world with kids is one hundred per cent possible.”
When she left her supermarket job to travel but then became pregnant, people said her adventures were behind her.
But she and Piotr took Leo on honeymoon to Malta, Portugal and Poland when he was just five weeks old.
And Evelina boarded her first plane to Morocco when she was nine weeks old.
“Going on a plane is like any other kid going in a car,” said Alex, who added they did not moan when delays turned a two-and-a-half-hour bus trip into 16 hours.
“Most children would scream the place down but they just got on with it,” she added.
Sites visited included the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Georgia’s ancient city of Uplistsikhe, Hadrian’s Gate in Turkey and Aphrodite’s Rock in Cyprus, and the children visited a playground in every country.
They went to a traditional wedding in Azerbaijan and visited Russia and Ukraine.
“Some people were worried about us going to Ukraine but we visited friends next to the Polish border,” Alex said. “I didn’t feel unsafe in any country.”
To keep costs down, if they needed clothes, they bought secondhand, they cooked food to take on trips and used trains and buses.
“I didn’t want us to be typical tourists, we stayed with local families, ate with them, went out with them,” Alex said. “One highlight was when Leo and Evelina were wearing traditional outfits in Azerbaijan and were invited to a wedding.”
The children tried local dishes, such as khachapuri (bread with cheese and egg on top) in Georgia, saffron rice in Azerbaijan and paella in Spain. Of course, there were a few mishaps.
“The kids were ill and vomited on a plane,” Alex recalled.
“Then I lost our passports – we were travelling from Kosovo to Albania and I left them on the bus! But I got them back the next day.
“The thing is not to panic. If something does go wrong, don’t stress because the kids will pick up on it.”
The intrepid mum also taught her children to say hello, thank you and goodbye in each country’s language.
“We are a multilingual family,” she said. “I’m half English and half Spanish and my husband is Polish. When Italians heard Evelina say ‘ciao’ they wanted to give her a cuddle.”
Alex shares their adventures on Facebook and Instagram, @globe_trotting_babies. Now home and job hunting, she is planning a two-month road trip along the US East Coast, before which there will be trips to Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt, all, of course, with her children.
“I can’t wait to go on more adventures with them,” she added. “They are fearless now and their confidence and language skills have soared.
“They are global citizens now.”