Fueled by Adventure in the Canadian Rockies + Beyond

She Who Wanders

Apr 26

A Convo with Maya from @travelwiththesmile

Meet Maya. Born in Slovakia and now residing near the Canadian Rockies, Maya is a wife, mom, adventure travel blogger and founder of Smile Campervans, a camper-van rental company. Having traveled around the world full-time for two years, she is a lover of outdoor adventure and new experiences, but also knows the power of the simplest moments spent in nature, especially with her family. Her passion for outdoor adventures overflows to impact others through her amazing tips, detailed travel guides, and of course helping people live their greatest adventure through their own epic campervan adventures.

Tell us a little about you and your family like where you’re from, where you live now, how old is your little guy and anything interesting or unique you’d like people to know.

My partner, Michal, and I were born and raised in Slovakia. After getting my Master’s, I felt it was time for a change, so we applied for 1-year Working Holiday Visas in Canada. More than a decade later, we’re still living near the Canadian Rockies.

Moving across the ocean to a new country hasn’t always been easy but it was the best decision. Once we passed the initial struggles of finding a job, and a place to call home, we went all in to experience as much as we can in this lifetime.

In 2016, we quit our jobs, put the little stuff we had in storage and traveled around the world. Starting in Mexico, we traveled through Central and South America, then made a longer stop in New Zealand where we worked to fund our next travels. We had a glorious time in Indonesia, and then surprised our families and came to Slovakia for a visit. It was time to explore more of Europe, so we went for a road trip through the mountains of Slovenia, Italy, and Austria. After 2 years of travel, we circled back and came back to Canada.

Now we adventure in the Canadian Rockies and beyond with our 3 year old son, and run our businesses - adventure travel blog Travel with the Smile, and Smile Campervans.

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??

Honestly, any outdoor adventure. Whether it’s a big biking trip in the Rockies, or just playing with my son at the lake. When I feel the sun on my face, and fresh air, I immediately come to life. Mountain views are a cherry on top and they used to be mandatory. But since having our son, I find that even the tiny moments of us connecting in nature are beautiful.

I love your motto “let the adventure be the fuel of your life.” Why have you made this your motto, and how does adventure serve as fuel for you?

Our trip around the world taught me to enjoy the present moment. It’s hard to do that at home where I work and also have a long to-do list of everyday tasks. But when I’m planning an adventure or I’m already outdoors, I’m fully living in the moment. I don’t think about the past or worry about the future, I’m right there in the moment. It’s a beautiful thing when your mind settles and you pay full attention to what you’re doing. And this is why I think adventure + the outdoors fuels my life.

You have had a lot of epic adventures in life! Take us back and tell the story of an experience that pushed you past your limits and changed your perspective on yourself, the world or life in a positive way.

After reading this question, I immediately jumped to our trip around the world in my mind. There were so many moments...

One of them was a biking trip in Canon del Pato in Peru. The road through Canon del Pato is considered one of the most dangerous in the world. Although it’s a paved road, it’s quite narrow and on one side there’s a giant rock wall with occasional rocks falling and on the other is a deep canyon. If that wasn’t enough, there are 35 pitch black one lane tunnels with signs that headlights are mandatory so other cars can see you. I’ve read about this road before we started our travels and the thrill of the ride was enticing. We rented mountain bikes, took a bus to a nearby village, and started the ride through Canon del Pato. It’s a beautiful ride with stunning views but we were the only cyclists on the dusty road with many cars speeding and passing by. And I didn’t want to ride on the side of the road as you usually do, so I’m not close to the canyon but on the other hand, I didn’t want to be too close to the rockwall so I don’t end up with a falling rock on my head. And then there were tunnels. So many of them. The cars were honking before entering the tunnel so others are aware of the incoming traffic, but there are no horns on bikes! At one tunnel I heard a car approaching us but wasn’t slowing down. The honking in the tunnel makes it so loud it scared the shit out of me. I slowed down and leaned on the tunnel wall to let the car pass. The tunnel wasn’t wide enough for cyclicts and cars. Needless to say, it was an adrenaline filled 40 km bike ride.

Some people asked me if it was worth it, and I immediately replied hell YES! It was one of the best adventures of my life. You only live once, so you better enjoy everything that life has given you. At least that’s my philosophy.

I think you are the resident expert on having fun and embracing the outdoors, even in cold weather that would keep many people inside! Tell us your secrets for enjoying freezing outdoor adventures and what you love most about them.

I don’t think about it this way. Whether it’s freezing or not to go outside. I just think about what gear or clothes do I need to take to have fun. Is it -10C and sunny? Great, let me put on snow pants, down jacket, grab ice skates and I’m sure we’ll enjoy our time outside! We’re fortunate to live in a place that offers endless outdoor opportunities that we take full advantage of. When you have a fun activity in mind - whether it’s ice skating, sledding, skiing or building a snowman, you do what you have to do to truly enjoy it. We made sure to get the right winter gear for our son, and he truly doesn’t care if it’s summer or winter outside. We have fun either way. If any moms reading this are struggling with cold with their kids, I’d suggest focusing on the preparation. Get your kids excited about what you’re going to do outside. If you’re going further from home, take a wagon, a thermal blanket or hand warmers, and your kids won’t be cold. Believe me when I say that speed walking with a wagon will warm you up as well.

In moving to a new country and traveling around the world full-time, there must have been moments of doubt or fear. Where did your passion for trying new things come from, and how do you step through the fear that comes with it? What are some ways you help your son feel comfortable trying new things too?

Ever since I can remember I was trying new things. It came from my parents. As a kid, I was always outside, we used to go camping and biking a lot, and my dad always said I should try new things. At least once. I don’t have to continue, but I was encouraged to try. During my childhood, he signed me up for lots of different things to try and see where my interests lie. I went to dance school, played piano and guitar, played badminton and volleyball. And that was before I went to high school. I think it’s important to try different things, get that excited feeling about something new and see where it goes. That’s how I discover new hobbies or at least learn something new about life. With my son, I also encourage him to try new things. But I don’t push him. I show him why it’s fun for me and it’s up to him whether he wants to try now or maybe later. When we introduced skiing this winter, he walked around the house with the skis on, we read books about skiing, and always showed him other kids his age on the ski hill. The first time ever we went on a bunny hill, he refused to go down and I had to carry him to the lodge. The very next day he was just as excited and did so many laps that he didn’t want to finish. On the next ski trip, he didn’t want to ski at all. So we cut our ski season short and focused on activities he enjoyed, like ice skating.

Since I was growing up with an attitude that trying new things is fun, it’s no surprise I had no fear about our world trip. We saved enough money for traveling around the world and had a good health insurance for medical emergencies. And If we had to cut our trip short because of illness or other circumstances, I would be happy we at least tried. Everything didn’t go smoothly, as it rarely does when you’re traveling for 2 years, but we worked through it. We were robbed, evacuated because of the hurricane, and sick several times. But nothing stopped us in pursuing our dream of traveling the world.

Tell us about your business, Smile Camper Vans. What inspired you to start it and what has been the most rewarding part? What about the greatest challenge?

I think Michal came up with that idea in New Zealand. We were converting our minivan for a long road trip, and seeing how much it cost to rent a campervan and then adding the mileage and some amenities, it was more budget-friendly for us backpackers to build our own.

Then Michal looked up campervans in Canada to see what’s available for a road trip once we come back, and he was disappointed. There were big RVs available but hardly any option for backpackers on a budget. And when he found a few options, it turned out that when you add the basics such as insurance and mileage, it’s not budget friendly at all.

So after experiencing road tripping on four continents, and seeing many campervans, he decided to build his own. A campervan that would include absolutely everything for a comfortable road trip through the Rockies. He had a very clear vision about how it would look like and built a website, Smile Campervans, to see if there was any interest from travelers. The bookings started coming before he even finished building the campervan. There were no pictures on the website and people were booking the campervans. That was a pretty clear sign that we could build something bigger than just one campervan for us.

People come to Canada excited to see the mountains and wildlife. And when we ask about their experience with our campervans, their excitement grows. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is when strangers thank you and mention how the campervan made their dream trip so much better and easier. The feeling of accomplishment is through the roof.

It took months to source all the materials for the build and through trial and error build a campervan in a parking lot at our apartment building. Nowadays the biggest struggle is to find enough minivans in good condition to satisfy the demand. But that’s a good problem to have.

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

As of now, we have no travel plans other than to visit our backyard in the Rockies. A very busy season of renting our campervans is coming up and therefore any summer adventures we’ll have are always planned last minute.

I’m looking forward to our lakes thawing so I can take my son stand up paddleboarding. I’m looking forward to our bike trips to a nearby playground and an ice cream shop. And I’m very much looking forward to camping this summer.

Is there a question you wish I would have asked or anything else you’d like to share with other mamas relating to travel or life?

Comparison is a thief of joy. It’s not my quote and you might have heard it before. It couldn’t be more true for parenthood! With social media sky-rocketing, it’s easy to compare your life to others and feel discouraged. But no joy in life came from comparing and feeling sad about not doing enough. Many childhood experts agree that our love and attention is everything kids need to thrive. Whether you’re doing all the activities and traveling every month, or enjoying a walk outside your house, as long as you love your child and pay attention to their needs, you’re doing enough as a parent. Please remember that next time you’re belittling yourself because you saw an Instagram post that doesn’t even show the full reality.

Who inspires you to dig deeper in travel and life? Do you have a few recommendations of someone I should feature next? :)