We are Nat & Marc – a Canadian couple traveling throughout North & Central America with Walter, our 70-lb adventure mutt. We are road-tripping in retro 90s style in Slow Sally, a beluga-like 1994 Dodge Roadtrek Van. Everyone on our little crew plays an important role in our expeditions:
- Nat (me): Co-pilot & Chief Navigator (Marc generally has no clue where we are or how we got there)
- Marc: Co-pilot & Chief Engineer (Nat has zero mechanical skills outside of calling CAA)
- Walter: Adventure Mutt & Chief Security Officer (defending Sally & the crew against small, ill-tempered vermin)
- Slow Sally: Land Exploration Vehicle (aka van … responsible for (usually) getting us safely from point A to point B each year)
Becoming Part-time Vanlifers
Our extensive travels started in 2014 when after many years of saving and planning, we left our 9-5 jobs. It took just one 5-week trip to Nicaragua to realize that travelling without our dog (it was George at the time) was not going to be an option. Being away from him for so long was painful. We decided then and there that if we were going to travel long term, we’d have to do it via road trip so that we could bring George with us.
George was along for the ride in 2016 on our road trip through the Mexico mainland, Baja, and back. We spent 10 weeks driving through North America in our old Toyota Matrix wagon, spending each night crammed into a 3-man tent. We loved every minute of it. We have since lost George (he passed – we miss him terribly), adopted Walter (we adore him), upgraded to a ‘real’ campervan (absolute luxury by comparison), and have been exploring North and Central America for part of every year since.
Recommended Posts: Vanlife & International Travel with a Dog & From Tent Camping to Vanlife
When we’re not on the road, we’re at home in Quebec, Canada. We use this time to catch up with friends and family, attempt (without much success) to keep on top of house and yard maintenance, take contract work to pay the bills, and fund the next year’s travels (in Nat’s case… Marc is retired), and plan our next road trip. I used to think that I’d like to live and travel full-time in the van. But after many years of travel, I’ve learned that we need some time at home, and off the road every year to recharge our own personal batteries and to sustain our passion for travel.
Getting Outside Our Comfort Zone
Many of the adventures most outside our comfort zone have been those in Latin America. Entering Mexico from the US feels like being instantly transported to a different world. A new language and culture, brighter colours, more pungent smells (both good and bad), louder music, and a more chaotic atmosphere. We’re drawn to Mexico and Latin America because we love these differences, but these differences can be intimidating. For us, there’s a sense that we’re leaving the world we know and understand behind, creating a sense of vulnerability and dependence, which can be scary. I think it’s what (unnecessarily) scares so many Canadians and Americans about visiting Latin America. But the reward for pushing ourselves outside of our comfort zone is huge, and we share those experiences in our blog.
Recommended Posts: Why Crossing the Mexican Border *Still* Makes Us Nervous & A Day In the Life On Lake Atitlan – Volunteering
Getting Off the Beaten Track
We love getting off the beaten track. I know it sounds cliché, but it’s true. And travelling in a van is one of the best and easiest ways to do it.
“What does off the beaten track even mean?”, you’re wondering. To us, it means taking the road less travelled. Visiting places (cities, villages, wilderness) that aren’t well known or that aren’t often visited by other tourists. Some destinations may be popular with locals or national tourists but are relatively unknown to international tourists. They are the hidden gems that are hard to find. The destinations you mention to friends and they respond with, “Where?!”.
We like getting off the beaten track because it feels like we’re on a real adventure. Getting to these destinations is a challenge and we arrive not knowing what to expect. It often takes greater effort to find and navigate these places, and we’re rewarded with an experience that’s unique. In other countries, it usually means that English isn’t spoken, and we must learn (and in some cases butcher) a new language. Most of the time, off-the-beaten-track destinations are cheaper (we’re all about that!) and less crowded. There’s also a good chance that the locals aren’t yet fed up with tourists, and are friendlier as a result.
Recommended Post: 5 Reasons to Visit the Guatemalan Highlands
Staying On the Beaten Track
Although we prefer getting off the beaten track, we’ve ditched *some* (lol) of our snobbishness towards more touristy places. We’ve learned through experience that some places are touristy for a reason – they’re home to something spectacular. Yes, visiting these places means that we’ll likely pay more, get stuck in a crowd, need to rise and shine at an ungodly hour to get a parking space, and get no chance of having anything all to ourselves. But sometimes that’s a price worth paying. We recently visited Monument Valley and 3 of Utah’s Mighty Five National Parks. These destinations are touristy, discovered, and sometimes overrun, but they were nonetheless magnificent. We don’t regret our decision to visit them one bit (but do of course recommend being strategic and avoiding the busiest times).
Recommended Posts: Check Out Our 3-Part National Parks Series about Bryce, Capitol Reef & Canyonlands
Next year we plan to drive part of the Pacific Coast Highway, of which I’m certain many parts will be overrun. But hey, we want to see it! So, we’ll go, suck it up, and do our best to find the quieter (and cheaper, lol) spots.
Writing a Blog
We get so much of our travel inspiration from reading blogs and watching vlogs. It’s the next best thing to word-of-mouth stories and recommendations from other travellers. Writing this blog is an opportunity for me to give back to the community, exercise the creative part of my brain, and share our love of adventure with people from all over the world. Our extensive travels in Mexico and Guatemala have opened our eyes to other cultures, lifestyles, climates, cityscapes, and foods – and that’s something I’ll never get tired of sharing with others.
In this blog, we share our adventures and misadventures, the places we visit, and our lessons from the road. We write posts that we hope will inspire you to get out of your comfort zone, plan your next adventure, introduce you to new destinations, and give you a sneak peek of what life on the road is really like. If you’re travelling with a dog, this blog is definitely for you because EVERYTHING we do on our travels is dog-friendly (we have no choice, Walter is needy!).
Ciao for now!
Nat, Marc & Walter
SLOW SALLY & CREW 