Practical Wanderlust

Off-Beat Couple's Travel Blog

Hey, we're Lia and Jeremy, the couple behind the Practical Wanderlust travel blog!

MEET LIA & JEREMY

Hey there! We’re Lia & Jeremy. We created Practical Wanderlust in 2016, just before throwing all of our stuff in storage and embarking on a year-long honeymoon. The honeymoon was pretty much a disaster (read all about it) but we had a great time anyway.

On our blog you’ll find practical, down-to-earth, budget-friendly travel tips that will help you avoid making all of our terrible, terrible mistakes. We love off-the-beaten-path travel and discovering what makes a place unique (and a little weird). Our goal is to inform you & make you laugh (preferably at the same time). We want to show that travel doesn’t have to be perfect – sometimes it’s a complete disaster, and that’s OK too!

Want to know more about us? You can low key stalk us here & on our social media channels.

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ABOUT

Meet Lia & Jeremy

Recent Posts

  • #ad Where would you go if nothing was holding you back? What adventures would you seek? What dreams would you chase?⁣ .⁣ If the world is calling but you're not answering, I have a challenge for you: how can you redefine your idea of travel? Travel doesn't have to be a big, crazy international trip. It can be a weekend getaway to somewhere inexpensive you found on @Bookingcom just a few hours away. And to help get you there, you can snag $30 off your stay by using the link in my bio. (Last chance, y'all - grab it if you haven't⁣ yet!). . Travel can feel scary. It can be challenging. It can force you to re-examine things you took for granted. And that's why I LOVE it - and I want you to experience it, too! But anything that pulls you out of your comfort zone and pushes you to explore somewhere unfamiliar is travel. So #BeABooker and travel in any way that you can, whether it's close to home or far away. Your soul will thank you.⁣ .⁣ .⁣ .⁣ .⁣ . . #nusalembongan #bali #balilife #balitravel #balivacation #beautifuldestinations #baliexplore #bestvacations #travelbali #lovebali #traveltagged #travelbali #thebalibible #passionpassport⁣ #thetravelwomen #femmetravel #globelletravels #gltlove #girlslovetravel #wearetravelgirls #sheisnotlost #dametraveler #girlswhotravel #TheGlobeWanderer #TravelDiary #sheexplores #WomenWhoExplore #radgirlslife
  • Hey, y'all! It's been a LONG time since I did an intro post (possibly ever?) so today, I'm doing one! Hi, I'm Lia 👋 I'm half of the disaster-prone couple behind Practical Wanderlust (and the one who runs the Instagram account). As you can see in this photo, I once drank watermelon juice while wearing a tie-dye romper in a cool swing in Bali. Here are some other useless facts about me in emoji bullet point form! . 🐎I grew up on a farm in Kentucky (hence all the y'alls). I have a lot of complicated feelings about my home state and its backwards a$$ politics, but I LOVE my hometown, Louisville. Louisville is the most underrated city in the country and y'all can quote me on that. Go visit!⁣ .⁣ 🚶‍♀️I'm incredibly clumsy and generally accident-prone. I often fall over when standing still (or walking). I've been known to get completely lost inside of a blanket (blankets, how do they work??). And if you put stuff in my hands, I shut down completely and lose all ability to function, like a malfunctioning robot. . 🏋️‍♀️ I powerlift! Powerlifting is my favorite workout because it makes me feel like a bada$$ BEAST who is strong and capable of anything. Focusing my goals on gaining muscle rather than losing weight makes me happier. I've also learned to embrace failure as an essential tool for growth. Oh, and yes: I make obnoxiously loud, grunty noises when I lift stuff (they actually help!).⁣ . 👗I studied fashion design in college. Then I spent 5 years working in the corporate fashion industry. Then quit and threw it all away to ~travel. These days I mostly use my fashion industry knowledge to rant about travel pants with pockets on the blog. . ⛑️ During our disastrous year-long honeymoon, I got rescued off of a waterfall in Colombia, crawled up a mountain on my hands and knees in Ecuador, and attempted and failed to hike the Inca Trail in Peru. But hey, at least I didn't run a BMW into a castle in France like my husband did. You can find all of those stories and more on our year-long honeymoon summary - link in bio! . What do you wish you knew about me? What stuff are you low-key curious about? Now's your chance to be nosy! Drop me a comment below.⁣
  • #ad Palm trees swaying in the breeze. An infinity pool literally ON the beach, looking out onto the ocean (and a looming volcano).🌴I’ve teamed up with Booking.com to give you all $30 off your next getaway!⁣ .⁣ #BeABooker and find somewhere amazing to escape to. There are all kinds of beautiful, tucked-away resorts and inns and bungalows and b&bs just WAITING to be discovered in the many corners of this great, big, beautiful world. So why are you hesitating? The link to claim your $30 off is in our bio!⁣ .⁣ Oh, and if you DO happen to have a ticket to Indonesia in hand, this is the Three Brothers Bungalows in Amed, a tiny town in the lesser visited region of northern Bali known for scuba diving. Take us with you?🤗⁣ .⁣ Have you ever snagged a too-good-to-be-true deal on a trip? Humble-brag about it (and then tell us all your secrets, plz) in the comments below!⁣ . . . . . . . . . #bali #baliindonesia #balilife #balitravel #tropical #paradise #balivacation #beautifuldestinations #baliexplore #balibeauty #indonesiatravel #bestvacations #travelbali #travelasia #baliview #lovebali #traveltagged #balilove #balibible #travelbali #thebalibible #thebaliguideline #wonderfulindonesia #passionpassport⁣ #tasteinhotels #beachesnresorts #beautifulhotels #speechlessplaces ⁣
  • Travel tip: Get off the beaten path - like, literally. 🙃 See all those crowds of tourists on a busy, packed street? That's the beaten path. Look for the nearest exit off of it! . Alleys are an excellent beaten path escape route. Turn down any windy alley in any old town and chances are things will instantly get quieter and more interest. Head down that alley and try your hardest to get lost. Look around you for details that tell you the story of this alley. Smile at locals as they pass you by. Duck into that tucked-away restaurant or cafe - it's definitely better than whatever was on the main street.⁣ .⁣ Another quick getaway from the crowds? Stairs! If you're physically able, climbing upwards is a great way to quickly leave the throngs of tourists behind. Head upwards and your exertion will pay off in the form of empty streets, views, and - if you're lucky - a new story to tell, or maybe a touch of travel magic. . The alley pictured here is a perfect example. Behind me, as I took this photo, moved throngs of people, all enjoying the beauty of Taormina's main street. But although many of us in the crowd looked at this staircase and noticed how remarkably pretty it was, few people were actually climbing those stairs up or down. Few of us sought out to discover who created those paintings and if those plants might be hiding the entrance to a whole other street (they were). . For the record: I totally didn't climb these stairs. It was hot and stairs are hard. Besides, I'm here to give you travel advice so you can AVOID making my mistakes, y'all, remember? 😂 . Have you ever turned down a tiny alley or headed up a steep staircase in search of adventure? Tell me about your adventure & what you discovered in the comments below! . . . . . #sicilia #cntraveller #beautifuldestinations #traveladdict #travelvibes #aroundtheworld #taormina #travelblogger #beautifulplaces ⁣ #ig_italia #ig_europa #topitalyofficial#topitalyphoto #exploremore #TravelDiary #BestVacations #goexplore #MyTinyAtlas #TravelAwesome #travelstagram #welltravelled #travelDeeper #worldingram #LovetoTravel⁣ #exploretheworld #OpenMyWorld #WheretoFindMe⁣ #destinationearth #sidewalkerdaily #PassionPassport
  • Thinking deep thoughts in Italy ... JK, all I was thinking about was what I was going to eat next 🍝 🍕⁣ .⁣ Y'all, I'm so ready for spring! For warm weather and blooming flowers... although for some reason, confused flowers have been blooming here in California for months even though it's 45 degrees out. I'm ready for the cold rain we've had for months to finally stop. And most of all, I'm ready for warm-weather adventure! For the past few months, all of our travels have taken us to cold, snowy destinations, which is rad but also like ... my skin is so pale it's practically translucent. I've been like, popping Vitamin D pills (not actually sure they do much). Point being: I NEED some sun, y'all! ☀️⁣ .⁣ So to get help me simulate sunshine, I dug out a few photos from trips last year that I hadn't been able to share yet. This shot is from a stunning overlook in Taormina, Sicily from the trip to Italy last year that I took with my mom.⁣ .⁣ Taormina is a stunning medieval town perched on a hill (like so many villages in Southern Italy are) and has been a popular tourist destination for literally centuries due to the fact that it's absolutely freakin' gorgeous. The main attraction in the town is the ancient Greek theatre, built in the 3rd century BC in what was then called Tauromenion. On a semi-related note, during high school I used to play a really nerdy PC game called Caesar which was all about Roman history (because I only game when I'm also learning stuff🤓) and this entire trip had me itching to establish trade routes and build armies and stuff. You know, typical Roman things.⁣ .⁣ I've got a link in my bio to a post I wrote with 40 things nobody tells you about visiting Southern Italy, so you can find out things like when you order pasta in Sicily chances are it will come served with anchovies and topped with pistachios (turns out I do not enjoy that at all).⁣ .⁣ Do you have any warm-weather travels coming up? If not, where would you most like to go? Maybe talking about sunny places will help us make it through the end of winter 😅 Drop a comment below!⁣
  • #ad We've teamed up with Booking.com to give you $30 off your next spontaneous adventure. Because sometimes you just need to get away from it all. Just get up and go. Hop in a car, or on a bus, or on a train, or in like, idk, a kayak? Horseback, possibly? Look, you can figure the logistics out later. Because when the call of adventure beckons - or in our case, when the call of adventure is like "u up?" at 11pm on a weeknight - don't think, just book. . You'll find the link to claim your $30 off in our bio. If you could go anywhere this weekend, where would you go? Drop us a comment below! . Seriously though, just this once: #BeABooker, not a "I'll put it on my to-do list and then spend 3 weeks researching but by then the price doubled and also someone invited me to something and I already said yes so now I can't back out so I guess we'll have to take that trip some other time." Sound familiar to anyone else orrrr is that just us? 😅⁣ . . . . . . . . . #wearetravelgirls #sheisnotlost #GirlsWhoTravel⁣ #theoutdoorfolk #TheGlobeWanderer #TravelDiary #girlslovetravel #sheexplores #WomenWhoExplore #radgirlslife #thetravelwomen #girlsvsglobe #femaletravelbloggers #girlsthatwander #MountainLife #themountainiscalling #liveoutdoors⁣ #folkscenery #choosemountains #likeamountaingirl #yosemite #wildernessbabes #wearethewild #wildernessculture #exploremore #yosemitenationalpark #travelbucketlist #yosemitenp
  • Today was Career Day at the high school where Jeremy teaches here in Oakland! It's both nerve-wracking and REALLY fun to get up in front of a group of creative, intelligent, eager high schoolers who are all WAY cooler than me, and it's one of my favorite days of the year. . Mr. Garcia's students (I still giggle saying ~Mr. Garcia because I'm mature and supportive) are all amazing and welcoming. Plus, by now his students have spent nearly a full school year hearing stories about me without actually meeting me, which gives me an air of mystery and ~intrigue~ that definitely helps hide the fact that I'm actually incredibly awkward. Like, his kids apparently decided at some point that I had a posh British accent. Imaginary Lia is WAY cooler than real-life Lia. . It also blows my mind to stand up in front of a classroom and tell a group of kids that blogging and content creating is a job. Because like ... I don't know about y'all, but I would've rolled my eyes if someone told me that was a thing when I was in high school. Posting photos of myself and making bad jokes is a JOB? That's ridiculous. But it's 2019, and digital storytelling is not just a real job, but it's actually a really good way for a creative, talented young person to grow a platform, create some amazing content, and tell their story to a giant audience. Plus Mr. Garcia is actually the Advanced Digital Media Art teacher, so he literally teaches his kids the skills they need to do my exact job. (Like, I've been trying to teach myself video editing while his kids have moved on from video to recording their own podcasts. How cool is that?!?!!) . Did your high school have a career day? How would your angsty teenaged self have reacted to what you're doing now? Drop me a comment below!⁣
  • It's been a difficult month, y'all. Some months just suck, and last month was one of them. But I'm learning from it, sort of out of necessity. . For example: not having much energy or motivation forces me to do things like say "no." Which means I need to identify what I want to spend my rapidly depleting stores of energy on, knowing that as an introvert, any and all human interaction feels a bit like guest starring in an episode of Buffy as the victim of an energy-sucking vampire, who is probably wearing disco pants and saying things like "can I pick your brain?" (You guys, I suck at metaphors.)⁣ And I'm realizing that the more I say no, the easier it gets. I'm Marie Kondo-ing my whole life, hitting that delete button like "this email does not bring me joy. Thank u, next!"⁣ .⁣ I'm also learning to prioritize self-care above work, which is a blessing in disguise given that "prioritize self-care above work" has been on my To-Do list for like, a year now? I'm not exactly there yet - letting myself sleep until 10 and then dragging myself out of bed isn't exactly self-care, but it's also not like ... the worst thing? - but I'm getting better. I'm going to the gym a lot this month, for example. And taking lots of vitamins. So. . Besides, working less and sleeping more definitely FEELS like self-care, even though I'm also spending a lot of time when I probably should be working rolling around in a blanket burrito reading incredibly detailed Bachelor conspiracy theories on Reddit (I wish that was an exaggeration). . I don't have like a snappy summary or take-away lesson for this caption. I can't do much other than leave you with a mental image of me in 3-day old sweats wrapped up in a blanket cocoon on my couch yelling NO at my email inbox while scrolling through Reddit on my phone (hashtag behind the scenes, hashtag real life, hashtag I woke up like this and will also go to sleep like this). . But I'd love to hear any/all tips you have for preserving your energy or working on your self-care when you're not feeling 100%. Or maybe just tips for dealing with grief. Or maybe just virtual hugs. Leave 'em below, fam, and I hope your month is going better than mine.❤

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