Practical Wanderlust is a travel blog written by Lia & Jeremy, aka Liaremy. We got married in May of 2016, and then we quit our jobs, sold our stuff, and left for a year-long honeymoon. Read more about us here!
So now you know a little bit about us. But what about our travel philosophy, or how the blog came into being? Read on!
Our Travel Philosophy
Practical Wanderlust focuses on responsible travel on a budget. Our goal is to help curious travelers (that’s you!) embark on life-changing trips.
On our blog and podcast, we tell the story of what makes a place unique (and maybe a little weird) with historical & social context, pairing education and practical advice with humor and storytelling.
We want to make you laugh, learn, and relate; to show that travel doesn’t always have to be perfect; and above all, to emphasize travel as a tool for education, connection, personal growth, and positive social impact.
The Story of Practical Wanderlust
The name of the blog is also the balance between two elements of myself that feels like they are constantly at odds:
- prac·ti·cal (adjective): sensible and realistic in the approach to a situation or problem.
- wan·der·lust (noun): a strong desire to travel.
I, Lia, am a person afflicted with permanent wanderlust. I think it’s actually genetic: I definitely inherited it from my 90 year old grandmother, who existed in a semi-permanent state of traveling right up until the end of her incredible life.
I am also a highly practical person. Logical. Reasonable. Sensible. I am the type of person who has a physical pocket calendar and a series of never ending to-do lists (oh my god, I’ve turned into my mother).
I am the type of person who, when confronted with an anxiety-causing problem, maps out several possible worst-case scenarios and brainstorms every possible way to avert crisis, which are then added to my on-going to-do list in order to ease my anxiety (oh my god, I’ve turned into my sister, too).
“Practical Wanderlust” describes me perfectly: I want to travel, like, all the time. At the same time I also thrive on being firmly rooted and stable, having a home to back to, developing daily routines, knowing where my next paycheck is coming from. You know, fun stuff.
And so, I approach the problem of my wanderlust practically: I travel where I can, when I can, as much as I can, in a way that is sustainable and feasible. I take regular weekend trips, I work travel into our monthly budget, and I travel as much as possible (within the confines of paid time off and my husband’s teaching schedule).
… Except for that one time I quit my job and took off on a year-long honeymoon.
After 5 long years of planning, budgeting, and tiding myself over with weekend trips close to home, I gave into my “wanderlust” side and took a huge, terrifying risk: I quit my job to go travel. Along with my new husband, I backpacked around South America and Europe. It was mostly a disaster, but we had a great time anyway (here’s what happened)!
And while we traveled, I worked on a fun little side project I’d started to keep our friends and family in the loop: a travel blog! I didn’t think anyone other than people I knew would read it, but it seemed like a convenient place to direct people who wanted to follow along on our adventures.
I soon found that I LOVED blogging about travel! Over the years, I’d run a few blogs for fun, but none of them had ever turned into very much. Still, writing about the places I was seeing and experiencing was energizing and fulfilling.
I stayed up late into the night in our hostel dorm rooms, tapping away on my tiny Chrome travel laptop and laughing silently to myself as I retold stories about the disasters that befell us, like getting rescued off a waterfall or failing the Inca Trail hike (here’s more).
To my surprise, the blog’s readership grew … and grew. And by the time we returned from our trip a year later, we were even earning a small amount of money. Not much, but enough to make me think that maybe, maybe, I could turn this into something.
Five years later, Practical Wanderlust is one of the top travel blogs in the world, with a wonderful team, a podcast, and a best-selling book called “How to Quit Your Job & Travel.”
Beyond any of my wildest dreams, travel blogging has become my full-time job, and it is my absolute joy and honor to help millions of curious travelers embark on life-changing trips each year!
