Hey, Friend!
My name is Rebecca Smiley
From a young age I was taught that travel should be made a priority. Growing up, my family trips were a lot of camping or driving to the closest beach.
In order to make travel more
affordable, we often had
spaghetti dinners in our
condo or made sandwiches
by our campfire. We normally
got a condo with groups of
friends or family to make things more cost effective, too. So many of my favorite childhood memories involved these trips. I truly appreciate that my family got creative in order to make travel happen for me as a kid.
Generally, we stayed stateside, but in 1999 we did try to leave the states! That September, my parents and I embarked on our first cruise (and it would be our only for many years). Our ship was the Disney Wonder for a Millennium cruise. We were headed to Nassau and Castaway Cay, but were unexpectedly rerouted by Hurricane Floyd. Our ship was famously one of the only Disney Cruises to ever be rerouted in this way.
But sometimes the unexpected leads to great things! For example, an unexpected surprise on my 13th birthday is actually what got me interested in travel planning. For my birthday, my parents gave me a budget. You might be thinking “huh?” but this budget was for a trip! The budget had to cover everything and it was my job to make the trip happen. Being a
Disney fan as a kid, I picked Disney World. I researched, wrote park itineraries, made meal reservations, booked the stay/flights and more! And I LOVED being able to watch the trip come to life. When I got home, I made a scrapbook filled with my research and pictures of the trip. I even wrote a diary about the experience, because I wanted to remember every second. I read it recently, and it’s hilarious! I think my parents envisioned the gift helping me understand and appreciate what went into vacations. Little did they know, it would eventually become my passion and career.
Besides the cruise attempt, I didn’t leave the country until my first year of college. I was always interested, but never got the opportunity. While walking to class, one of the professors (who I didn’t even know yet) stuck his head out of his office window and yelled to me “do you want to go to Jamaica?!” Intrigued, I stopped and listened to his spiel about his classes and study abroad opportunities. This was my chance and I jumped on it. While there, I studied tourism and its impacts on the country, the Jamaican education system and international trade. We mostly stayed in the countryside, but also visited Montego Bay and Negril. Additionally, service at a special needs orphanage and local school were huge components of the trip. Afterwards, I “caught the travel bug.” The first trip wasn't enough for me – so throughout college, I did several stays in Jamaica and Mexico. I still have friends in both places and say I “lived there,” because it definitely feels like it, especially when you add up the time spent and truly immersive experiences.
Because of my experiences on these trips, I chose to study Sociology. That goofy professor became my advisor and eventually even the Minister at my wedding. My travels made me love college so much, I started working in higher education after graduating. Still, I loved to travel. I blew through all of my vacation time constantly and would drag my new husband on trips whenever I could! But after a few years in higher ed, I kept feeling like something was missing… until I went to a wedding.
Now you might be thinking, “what’s a wedding have to do with all this?” Well, that’s where I met Linda, my eventual mentor in travel. I was having quite a bit of fun at this wedding when my Uncle Gary interrupted my (likely terrible) dancing… He really wanted to introduce me to his travel agent, Linda. I didn’t think much of it until a few days later. I was at the office, hating my job, as usual. That’s when I thought “wait a second, travel agents are still a thing?” Immediately, I called my Uncle Gary and asked for more info. He told me about his favorite trips and how Linda was the one to make them happen. He loved that she helped them at 2 AM when things went wrong on their Italy trip. He said she constantly explores new places, in order to offer her clients first-hand travel knowledge. I thought to myself, “I want to do that.”
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After a lot of research and a few phone calls with Linda, I decided to go for it. I studied, got certified and quit my job. Thanks to the support of my awesome husband, along with our family and friends – I dove head-first into Smiley Travel.
Since then, I have had the pleasure to plan and go on trips all around the world. Every day, I get to combine my love of travel and helping people. I’ve made bucket list dreams come true. I literally produce smiles as part of my career.
I think the 13 year old me would be proud.
