Cuban-born Mom Talks Using Fear for Good + Staying Curious

She Who Wanders

Dec 2

8 Questions with Marae from Brave Family Travel

Meet Marae. A Cuban born, adventure seeking, mom to one, Marae is always on the lookout for ways to dive deeper in travel and life. Her story is powerful + inspiring as she uses her family history, past and present ambitions as a reason to find more joy, learning, fun and success in life. She pushes her own boundaries and recognizes fear as a force that drives her to stay curious + live outside her comfort zone, building her dream life for herself and her family, one creative venture at a time. With tips for traveling with babies + how to get off-the-beaten path to experience beautiful destinations, she’ll have you itching (and prepared!) to set out on your own next adventure.

Q: As a woman and mother, in what ways does travel and getting off-the-beaten-path for family adventures feed your soul?

Traveling is my biggest reward, my escape, my continued education and my way of having fun. I travel with and for my daughter but i very much travel for me, too.

Traveling keeps me open minded and humble, it reminds me to stay hungry for both lessons and experiences and it motivates me to remain active.

Q: What is it that most draws you to the nomadic lifestyle as a mom? Tell us about some benefits you’ve seen in your daughter, Alaska, that have come from adventuring in new and unfamiliar environments.

I think comfort is so dangerous both for the body and the soul. I notice that when we “settle” for longer than a few months I lose a bit of motivation and so does she. When we’re moving we stay curious and excited and I believe there is no better way to live. I want to wake up every day and wonder what I will be doing that day rather than be already bored of the mundane repetition I know will occur.

For Alaska I love seeing her growth as an empathetic and aware human. She isn't shown one way exclusively so by default she is becoming a more accepting, well rounded and also more daring individual. I’ve seen her hold deep conversations with people of all ages, sizes, colors, and she’s not even 2.5 years old yet! She has a deep interest in others, especially animals and females. She seems curious about nature and points out the moon, trees, birds daily. When we visit different countries I can see her curiosity lighting up when she sees different nature around her. And she loves food. I really do believe she loves to travel for food. She will try anything at least once. She’s an adventurous eater. She likes things most 2 year olds don’t like squid, olives, octopus…

I also think when traveling a lot of the pressure of “entertaining” our kids goes away. I don’t worry so much about how she'll have fun or what I will teach her because our travels always lead us in that direction anyway, it’s the school of life.

Marae, Brave Family Travel, The Great Wanderlust, She Who Wanders

Q: The Great Wanderlust is all about moms stepping outside of the box and diving deeper in both travel and in life! The mission is to inspire mamas and families to feel fully alive through adventure and exploration! What is your great wanderlust? What most makes you come to life??

I love all kinds of travel. I love winter destinations and summer ones. I like cruises, comfort, luxury and laid back trips. I love adventure and diving and snowboarding and trekking in the mountains without a GPS.

For me traveling isn’t reduced to a style or way of doing it. I’ve walked weeks from Portugal to Spain and hitchhiked from Mozambique to South Africa. I've stayed with tribes in Lesotho and gone on the most luxurious cruise in the world in the mediterranean. We’ve hiked volcanoes in Alaska and gone to remote northern villages in Argentina. But the experiences that light up my soul the most are the ones that involve both nature and people.

This February we took Alaska 11 hours into the deepest jungle in central America - The Darien. We drove for 6 hours and took a 6 hour wooden boat up a river with drying water and it was AMAZING. We had no comforts, very basic food, it was hot, humid, there were mosquitoes, and we were under-slept… But seeing my daughter play with the kids there the second she got off the boat, the moments we exchanged with the tribe there who had never received more than 20 tourists in their lifespan. That was unbelievable and unbeatable. The local children put on an afro caribe dance show for us and Alaska (who loves all things music) wanted to join. It was just so magical. I will never forget that trip.

Q: Choosing an unconventional life is so magical - living life on your own terms and creating your own reality is so invigorating! But it can also be scary at times and doubts can creep in. Do you or have you ever experienced this? How do you keep your vision/conviction strong and stay the course on your own path, even in the midst of society’s general opinions and messages?

All the time! Everytime i read the news I panic about Alaska’s future, the climate, the crumbling economy, the fact that we don’t own a conventional home or have a college fund for her….. The list is endless. But the truth is that life is scary on your couch with a glass of wine in your hand. It’s scary walking down your own neighborhood and going to the same old job… life CAN be scary regardless of where you are and what you do. The difference is I challenge myself to find joy and seek lessons in the discomfort of fear rather than let the fear dictate how I live my life. I try to stay the course by always finding new purpose, goals, adventures and by surrounding myself in real life and online with others whom I find inspiring and motivating. I believe the mind is a powerful thing and if we focus on fear that’s what we’ll live through. As a cuban born, i know what it’s like to live in fear, in denial, and in the shadows of the world…. And as scary as anything out here may feel, nothing is worse than living in fear.

Q: You just launched a brand new course all about flying with babies. Tell us a bit about it and what prompted you to want to create it? How can it help other women who want more adventures/experiences for their families?

The Ready To Fly mom is such a project of love. I co-created it with the rest of the TravelFamilyAcademy team (@travelfamilyacademy on instagram and my business partners @dreamofvoyagers)

We noticed that a lot of people found our travels inspiring, but the fear of that first flight with a new baby/toddler was crippling to so many of our mom friends online. We started getting so many questions about the flight part of it. So the thought occurred to us, why not teach parents how to overcome the first and most intimidating part of the trip? We can all envision ourselves at the beach with our kids, but how uncomfortable is the thought of your child throwing a tantrum mid flight and having all those judging stares?

With the ready to fly mom, we teach moms how to plan, prepare, and execute a successful flight with a baby or toddler so they can arrive at the destination rested and get to enjoying the destination. We believe flight/travel day can and should be part of the adventure and we teach other moms how to make it so.

Q: What is something - an experience you had, advice you were given, maybe something you learned from watching someone else - from your childhood or past that has helped make you the woman you are today? How did it help ignite this fire for you to live your life free from the expectations of others and forge your own path?

My grandmother was born to very wealthy parents (I'm talking the 1%) who lost it all during the Cuban revolution. She studied architecture because she wanted to, even though she didn’t need to. She was part of the revolution because she believed in equality and believed this is what the revolution was about. She had 7 children in poverty and away from the rest of her family who fled the country while working full time as an architect, making clothing for the whole family, and running a household. She was abused physically, sexually, and emotionally by her husband for over 50 years. She finally left the country when all her children and grandchildren left but never saw her parents again as they had already passed. She taught herself English at the age of 75 so she could pass the citizenship test in English even though there is a Spanish option. She died peacefully surrounded by her 6 remaining children and 13 grandkids at the age of 94 and reminded me every Sunday when we spoke on the phone for hours that I should continue traveling and living my life to the fullest because through all her life what she remembers with the most fondness were the trips she took with her father around the world when she was little.

I didn't leave Cuba until I was 12 and had only visited 2 countries by the age of 16. But when I moved to Germany at 16 and saw how different life could be elsewhere I knew I wanted to see all the different ways of doing life. She inspired me to live a full life and to not let adversities define who you are and what you do.

Q: Where are you off to next and what are you most looking forward to about it??

On the 15th we fly to London and then France and in December we will go to Portugal’s Madeira island for 2 months. We are going with our business partners and friends as we are working on some more cool projects to continue empowering and helping other families to get out there. I am most excited about European food. I love nothing more than European food and my heart (read taste buds) has missed it dearly.

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to share with other mamas relating to travel, parenting or life?

Take the leap. Make the plans, Book the ticket, create that dream life, whatever that looks like. I know it sounds cliche, and I bet you it will be more challenging than you expect in some areas. No, it won’t all be rainbows and butterflies but life in the comfort zone isn't either so might as well go through life’s ups and downs while working towards your dreams/goals.

Also, your travel story doesn’t have to look like anybody else's. Maybe a trip down the road is all you need. Maybe you start with a 2 hour road trip…. Just start somewhere and see where it leads.