Keith and Chelsea Sasine made history this past November when they took Mia, their fourth child, to 40 countries before her first birthday. Although there is no official record, the International Book of Records reports that the most well-traveled toddler is a 16-month-old boy who visited 31 countries.
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“This whole thing sparked when we were in Malta, which was her 40th country,” said Chelsea in an interview with the Deseret News, “We were on the elevator and this English guy was like, ‘Oh! Is this her first trip out of the country?’
“We were like, ‘No, actually, it’s her 40th.’ His reaction was hilarious. He dropped to the ground and could not even fathom it. He said, ‘that has to be a world record!’”
Between March and November 2025, the family visited countries across Europe, North America and Northern Africa. After discovering their love for travel as newlyweds, the couple made traveling an integral part of family time.
“A lot of times they would congratulate Keith. They would see him carrying Mia and would say, ‘Good job dad, you’re doing it right.’”
— Chelsea Sasine, on their family trips
“All of these memories,” Keith said, “I think of them as little pieces of glue that are bringing our family together.”
The couple observed how traveling helped their family to grow closer and make lifelong memories. They also saw their faith and love for the gospel of Jesus Christ grow as they visited different congregations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“Some of the coolest parts of our trips is going to church all around the world,” Keith said.
“Sitting next to people from all over the world and hearing their conversion stories,” she continued, “the spirit is always so strong.”
‘We just got the travel bug’
Keith, born and raised in South Jordan, is an Army oral surgeon stationed in Germany. His wife, Chelsea, is a native of Colorado. The two are parents to four children: Izzy, 10; Abby, 9; John, 4; and Mia, now 18 months old.
The couple met while Keith was studying in the Air Force Academy. They dated long distance until Keith was able to leave the Air Force to get married to Chelsea. He then joined her at BYU-Hawaii.
Countries the Sasine family visited in 2025:
While in Hawaii, Chelsea worked as a ramp agent for SkyWest which allowed the couple to fly for free.
“We discovered that we loved to travel,” said Chelsea, “We traveled on weekends, mostly to Asia, and did about 30 countries during that time,” Chelsea continued.
Once Keith graduated from BYU-Hawaii, he commissioned with the Army out of Salt Lake City and moved to San Francisco to attend dental school. During those three years, and their five-year residency in Hawaii, traveling was largely put on hold.
Germany move an opportunity of a lifetime
In 2023, Keith was stationed in Germany. After about a year, they found out that they were expecting their fourth child and would receive 12 weeks of paternity leave.
“We knew we could use that to recover from baby and the way that Chelsea likes to recover from baby is traveling to lots of places,” Keith said.
For the first four months after Mia was born, the family didn’t take any trips. In March 2025, the family flew to Puerto Rico to visit family.
“From the very beginning, we knew that we had something special in Mia,” Keith explained. “We were on the flight to Puerto Rico and we put her on a little mattress under the seat in front of us and she slept the entire flight for nine hours straight.”
“We were like ‘woah, this is not a normal traveling baby.’”
When the family returned to Germany, they decided to plan some more trips as Mia got little older.
“It helps you really prioritize family when you’re traveling with them cause you have to problem solve. When something bad happens, we call it a family team-building activity, and we figure it out together.”
— Chelsea Sasine, on working together as a family on the go
“From March through November she did 40 countries,” said Chelsea, “We averaged a country a week, even though that’s not really how it turned out.”
A majority of the countries came on two big road trips through Europe.
Big family a unique sight for locals to see
“The cool thing about where we live is that the majority of our trips were done in our Honda Odyssey,” Keith said.
“We got a lot of attention for it, just having so many kids,” continued Chelsea.
“A lot of times they would congratulate Keith. They would see him carrying Mia and would say, ‘Good job dad, you’re doing it right.’”
Traveling with Mia opened the door to a lot of unique experiences.
“It opens people up,” Chelsea said. “(People) invite you into their home, or talk to you on the train. It’s totally a different experience when you travel with a baby.”
Connecting with kind locals
The family was sometimes shocked at how generous and kind people were to them.
“While we were in Istanbul,” Keith recalled, “we left the car parked for a few days. As we were leaving Turkey, the wheel started making this crazy noise.”
Keith continued, “The lug nuts had loosened in the heat, so I pulled into this gas station and before I could ask anyone for help, this guy came up to me and asked ‘Are you OK?’”
Keith explained what was happening and the man helped them find a tire shop and translated for them.
“He stayed there with us for an hour and a half to make sure we didn’t get ripped off,” he continued.
The men in the shop fixed up the car and replaced the brake pads for a price far below what the couple would have ever expected.
Afterward, the man who helped them said, “You need to come to our house, I need to feed you.”
“He led us to his house,” Keith said, “he introduced us to his family, he went and bought food for us, and then we ate traditional Turkish food in his backyard.”
Learning as a family on the go
Through all of these experiences, the Sasines saw lasting memories and important blessings for their family. There were sometimes bumps in the road, but they used these as opportunities to work together as a family.
“It helps you really prioritize family when you’re traveling with them cause you have to problem solve,” Chelsea said. “When something bad happens, we call it a family team-building activity, and we figure it out together.”
Traveling was a unique educational opportunity for both the parents and kids. Keith and Chelsea loved to learn what fascinated their kids and see them absorb important information about the world.
“You never know the thing that is going to captivate John,” said Chelsea of her 4-year-old son. “He hates the Colosseum, but he loves the train rides and the cows crossing the street. He loves Ryanair.”
“For the girls, it’s been really fun because they’re like sponges. A huge part of homeschooling is exploring these places.”
Since coming to Europe, the Sasines have homeschooled their kids, with Chelsea being their principal teacher.
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“Kids learn so much from traveling. I was worried about homeschooling and how I was going to prepare them, but there’s just so much that you learn from living in a different place.”
“Through these experiences,” Chelsea continued, “they get to learn spontaneously about Roman numerals and converting money and how to respect cultures.”
“They make friends so easily at the beach or at the park, and even if they can’t communicate, they can. They’re the best little communicators.”
Keith continued Chelsea’s thought, “It’s helped them to know that their friends aren’t just people that live next door to them. Their friends are everyone in the world.”
Memories bond their family
Beyond the educational benefits, Keith and Chelsea have seen their adventures bond their family.
“Memories are so powerful,” Keith said, “The word that you hear most often in the scriptures is ‘remember.’”
“I’ll just have Izzy, or Abby, or John come up to me,” he continued, “and we’ll be having a conversation about a regular topic and they’ll say, ‘oh do you remember when we were in Morocco and we went and had lunch with that nice lady that invited us over?’”
“All of these memories, I think of them as little pieces of glue that are bringing our family together. When they come up to me unscripted and are sharing the memories with me, it’s telling me that things have really stuck.”
“Some people ask,” said Chelsea, “‘Why do you travel with little kids?’ Mia especially. Her older siblings will remember and have had great experiences, but sometimes Mia is much more intrigued by the pigeons than by the Cathedral.”
But even for Mia, Chelsea explained, she sees that their travels are shaping her and helping her to bond with her dad. Mia has seen most of the world strapped to her dad in the front pack.
“I love taking paternity leave later,” said Chelsea, “cause she just gets strapped to Keith and sees the world from his perspective.”
“A lot of people see paternity leave in a certain way,” Keith explained. “It’s like, ‘Oh, you’re helping the mom with the kids or you’re taking care of the kids while mom is sleeping,’ but we wanted to use paternity leave as a way for me to really bond with Mia.”
“Being able to travel this way made that bond a lot stronger,” Keith said.
Faith-promoting experiences for their family
While traveling, the Sasines got the opportunity to attend church in dozens of new locations.
“Honestly,” said Chelsea, “going to church is always the highlight of our trips … There’s so much beauty in having connections which we got mostly from going to church.”
Even though it was sometimes difficult because of distance or language barriers, they always saw blessings from going to church.
Keith and Chelsea also saw these trips as an opportunity to teach their kids how important it is to go to church.
“We’re on once-in-a-lifetime trips,” Keith said, “We’re in countries they may never come back to, but we’re going to go to church.”
“The kids are so good,” Chelsea said, “They always go to second hour and primary. A lot of time it’s different from their military American ward, but they sing the songs and learn the things.”
“Abby’s made it a goal to always share her testimony on a fast Sunday whenever they’re in a different country.”
“The church is true in Montenegro and in London,” Chelsea said.
“It totally makes you realize that we are all so much more similar than we are different,” Keith explained. “So much of the world wants to emphasize, ‘this is who I am and it’s me because I’m different.’ But going to all these different countries, you realize it’s all these people living their lives just trying to be good people.”
“No matter their race, religion, creed, or gender, it just seemed like we have so much more in common than we have different.”
What the kids thought about traveling with a baby
The Sasines’ kids have loved traveling with a baby just as much as their parents have.
“It’s definitely worth it,” said Izzy, the oldest child. She explained that she got to watch her little sister grow up as they explored the world. “In Budapest, we had a hotel with a giant window and she went up against it and we learned she was scared of heights.”
“In Morocco,” Abby said, “we were riding camels and she fell asleep on the camel. When she woke up we were all in turbans and she was pretty scared.”
When asked if it was ever hard to travel with a baby, John, the 4-year-old, responded, “Nopey, dopey, dopey, dopey.”
“I really like baby,” John continued, “because she likes playing with my Paw Patrol race track.”
When asked if she ever got embarrassed by her little sister, Abby responded by saying, “No, but I’m proud of her a lot of the time.”
“Everyone just kisses her and loves her so much,” she continued, “They give her a lot of crackers and snacks and they love kissing her cheeks.”
When asked what they thought Mia loved most about traveling, the kids listed the airplane ride at Germany’s Legoland, chasing pigeons at Notre Dame, and going into the ocean for the first time.
The kids each had their own favorite adventures, too.
John said his favorite was golfing at Saint Andrews in Scotland; Abby said hers was visiting the Dome of the Rock in Israel; and Izzy said hers was seeing the Blue Mosque in Turkey and riding camels in Morocco.
What’s next for the Sasines?
Next year, the Sasines will move back to the states and settle down in Chelsea’s hometown of Colorado Springs.
“When we move back to the states, it might look like something different,” Keith said. “It won’t change the fact that being together as a family and traveling together is how we create family memories and connections.”
The couple said that what really mattered most was spending time with family and making the most of the situation they are in.
“This all kind of started as like a ‘hey, we could do this.’ We got a little bit out of our comfort zone and realized this was really a once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity that we can take advantage of,” Keith said.
“Take advantage of whatever situation you’re in. The next step might be camping or RVing, but we’re going to take the next step to the fullest to maximize our family time.”
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