About us

We Are

Oksana & Max

A Canadian couple inspired by the world, fueled by curiosity, a sense of adventure, and a desire to make a positive impact on the destinations and communities we visit.

In 2015, we quit our jobs, sold our possessions and left the 9-5 life behind to embark on the biggest adventure of our lives. We’ve been traveling full time for over 5 years and this year, we are excited to finally explore our own backyard in Canada.

We are on a mission to explore the world in a responsible way, to take nothing but photographs and leave nothing but footprints.

Our Story

Our paths first crossed in 2006 in a boring University lecture hall in a small town of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. But our story didn’t begin until a few years later. While in University, we dated for a few months but didn’t take our relationship seriously.

After graduation, our lives took us on solo adventures around the world. Max moved to Australia to pursue his Masters in 2009 and Oksana embarked on an adventure to the UK and then to China in 2011-2012.

Travel has always been our passion and the force that eventually brought us together.

After many years of long-distance friendship and solo travels, our love for adventure and a desire for a travel lifestyle brought us together in sunny Australia in 2013.

Between 2013 and 2015, we lived and traveled around Australia, exploring all of its nooks and crannies far beyond the major sights and attractions.

We took advantage of holidays and time off work to travel outside of Australia, falling more and more in love with adventures on the road.

Australia holds many wonderful memories for us but as much as we loved Australia, we weren’t happy with our part-time travel/full-time work routine.

We longed for more adventures and a nomadic lifestyle…

So in 2015, we quit our jobs in Australia, got rid of most of our possessions, and set off on an adventure around the world!

Our Lifestyle

Since August 2015, we have been living an unconventional lifestyle, traveling full-time and earning our income while working on the road.

To date, we have visited over 79 countries

Over the years we have been on some pretty amazing adventures.

We have summited Mt. Kilimanjaro, visited the Sahara, Wadi Rum and Gobi deserts, spent 2 weeks sailing in the Adriatic Sea, slept in a ger under the starry skies in Mongolia, spent the night on an active volcano in the DRC, kayaked among glaciers in Patagonia, and more!

But this year, we decided that it was time to come home and to spend the rest of 2020 exploring Canada!

Where We've Been

6

Continents
Visited

79

Countries
Visited

150

Unesco
Sites

5

Years on
the road

Our Travels

Our Mission

In 2017, after 2 years on the road and after seeing the impact that tourism can have on destinations, we made a commitment to travel more sustainably!

To Travel in a Way that is Responsible and Conscious

Today, we aim to inspire a travel lifestyle that is sustainable and respectful of the world we now call our home, of the nature that surrounds us, and of the local communities that we meet along the way.

Our Hotel

In late 2017, we bought an old hotel in Costa Rica, renovated it, and turned it into Drift Away Eco-Lodge, a boutique hotel and retreat centre that opened its doors in October 2018!

The lodge serves as a beautiful example of simple eco-luxury and we are so pleased with how it turned out!

But the lodge didn’t take us away from traveling! We were able to hire a great team to carry out our vision of the Drift Away Eco Lodge and run its operations, so we can continue to do what we love doing the most – TRAVEL!