Our blog has been nominated for Liebster Award!! Yay! We are stoked that people are reading and enjoying Travel with the Smile blog.

After 3 years of living in Canada and endless questions from friends and family about our expat life and trips around, we’ve decided to make it easier for all of us and created this blog.

Only few months passed and I’ve noticed there are some people outside that circle following and enjoying our blog.

This award was created by bloggers for newbie bloggers to show appreciation for all the hard work and to remind us to keep going…

And we appreciate the award very much! Thank you Dean from Living La Vida Global for the nomination. Keep writing and inspire us all to discover new places. We wish you all the best on your journey!

Big thanks to all of our readers and followers on social media!

Since we’ve received the Liebster Award, we have to write a blog post following these rules:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back to his/her blog
2. Answer questions they asked you
3. Nominate other bloggers with less then 500 (or 1000 depending on the rules you read) followers
4. Ask your nominees 11 questions
5. Contact the bloggers and let them know about the nomination

Here are our answers to Dean’s questions:

1 – What made you decide to start blogging?

Our friends and family enjoy listening our travel stories and looking through our pictures. I have been reading travel blogs for a while now and figured we should make a blog to spread out the word outside the circle of family and friends.

2 – Did you face any negativity from friends or family about your plans? How did you overcome it?

We didn’t feel any negativity but after telling everybody that we are moving to Canada, we almost always faced a response  – Wow, I wish I could go, too. Well, many could but probably were afraid of making the leap. Having fears is natural and we had a few ourselves. Overcoming them was easier then we thought – we were too excited and did to a lot of research.

3 – You can travel anywhere for one month. Where do you go?

This is a very tricky question as the list is very long, but on top would be for:
Maya: New Zealand
Michal: Scottish Highlands

4 – You can invite any three people to travel with you. Who are they and why?

We are travel buddies and love sharing all life moments together. It would be awesome if our friends from Slovakia Oli & Anci could join us on our next trip. We complement each other and always have so much fun together.

5 – Where would you live if you could no longer travel?

Both of us would love to live near the mountains and the sea. Italy seems to have it all – you can swim in the sea, bike the mountain and ski in the same day without having to drive long hours.

6 – What was the first blog you followed?

If I remember correctly, first few blogs were Nomadic Matt, Goats on the Road and A Cruising Couple. All of them inspired me to create a travel blog, too.

7 – What is the best piece of travel advice you have had?

Pack light! It’s not the advice we’ve received but came to it through our travels. The less you pack, the lighter you feel. It’s much easier to move around, starting at the airport.

8 – What was the best food experience you have had?

During our trip to Mexico, we stumbled upon a local market. None of us spoke spanish and none of the locals spoke english. So we just ordered randomly some food for dinner and were pleasantly surprised that we liked it. We returned the next day and did the same – excited to choose something and figuring out what we were eating was the best part.

9 – What do you feel is the toughest part of blogging?

Toughest part is finding time to edit pictures, that is the least enjoyable part for me. I have a full-time job and after coming home, I like to do a lot of sports and can not force myself to sit at the computer.

10 – As a traveler, do you chase the sun or live for the cold?

No matter if it’s hot during the summer or cold during the winter, we enjoy both. Fortunately in Calgary, where we live now, is very sunny for the most part of the year. But as for the traveling part, we mostly chase the sun.

Our nominees:

1. Carly from The Wanderlust Days
2. Brad & Leslie from Two Sided Travel
3. Kelly & Florian from Go Find Water
4. Becky from Trekking with Becky
5. Dorene & Troy from Travellifex
6. Kelsey from Wend Away
7. David & Katherine from Travel in the Mix

Congratulations to all of you!

Questions for nominees:

1. What or who inspires you to travel?
2. What is your best travel experience so far?
3. Which country/place did you like the most?
4. Do you have any travel essentials that you absolutely have to travel with?
5. What is the first thing you do when you arrive in a new country?
6. Who is your best travel buddy?
7. Where would you go if money wasn’t the issue?
8. Is there anything you don’t like about traveling?
9. How did you choose a name for your blog?
10. What part of blogging do you like the most?
11. What part of blogging you don’t like?

We can’t wait to read your answers and discover new blogs that you will nominate.

Thanks again Living La Vida Global for the nomination.

Keep up the good work, you all rock!

Maya & Michal