Practical Wanderlust

Off-Beat Couple's Travel Blog

Playa Blanca on Isla Baru Cartagena, Colombia. Isla Baru is located less than an hour from Cartagena and home to the best beaches in Cartagena!
Latin America

Travel Guide to Playa Blanca & Isla Baru: Cartagena, Colombia’s Island Paradise

Isla Barú, located just off the coast of Cartagena, Colombia, is the kind of tropical paradise that most visitors to Cartagena envision when they book their tickets. Palm trees, bright blue Caribbean sea, sandy beaches, fresh seafood and fruit juice… heaven, basically. You can visit Isla Barú for the day, sunning on the shores of stunning Playa Blanca, or you can choose to stay overnight, which is what we did. Read this travel guide to Isla Baru for more tips about visiting Isla Baru and Playa Blanca, and our pick for the best Isla Barú hotel!

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Cartagena, Colombia is one of the most photogenic cities in the world. We've visited several times, and we're sharing the most instagrammable places in Cartagena to take photos during your trip to Colombia!
Latin America

The 10 Most Instagrammable Places in Cartagena, Colombia

Cartagena, Colombia is one of the most photogenic cities in the world. Around every corner there’s a 400-year old cathedral, a colorful mural, a balcony laden with flowers, or a rainbow-colored street. We’ve taken several trips to Cartagena and find ourselves returning to the same photogenic spots over and over again! In this post, we’re sharing all of our secrets to finding our favorite spots to take photos in Cartagena. You know, for Instagram. Because if you don’t post about it on Instagram, did you really go?

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Watching the sun set over Santa Marta, Colombia, with the Sierra Nevada mountains in the background. Santa Marta is one of those places you'll end up going when backpacking Colombia, even if you don't quite mean to.
Latin America

How to Get from Cartagena to Santa Marta: A Complete Guide

Cartagena is the starting point for most travelers visiting the  Caribbean coast of Colombia. But too often, visitors to Cartagena don’t venture outside of the city limits and explore the rest of this amazing region. That’s a HUGE mistake! There are a zillion amazing destinations nearby, from Minca to Parque Tayrona to the Lost City to the Tatacoa Desert. But before you can dive into all that the northern Colombian coast has to offer, you’ll have to get from Cartagena to Santa Marta, which is the jumping-off point for most of these spots. Luckily for you, we’ve traveled between Cartagena and Santa Marta many times over the years. Here’s a step by step guide to getting from Cartagena to Santa Marta!

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What to pack for Colombia: the ultimate packing list for this South America travel destination. Everything you need to backpack in Colombia!
Latin America, Travel Tips

What to Pack for Colombia: The Ultimate Packing Guide

Packing for a trip to Colombia can be really challenging. After all, Colombia is home to about every diverse landscape you can think of: the tropical Caribbean northern coast; the hot, humid Amazon; Medellin’s “eternal spring;” the cool, mountainous region around Minca and Santa Marta, and the cold, high-altitude city of Bogota. After spending a month in Colombia, we’ve got all the tips you need to pack your bags and go in our ultimate guide to what to pack for Colombia. Plus, get a free downloadable checklist to help you pack!

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30 things nobody told us about before we went backpacking in South America!
Latin America

30 Things No One Tells You About Backpacking in South America

We spent 5 months backpacking in South America. Although each of the countries we visited was as unique and different from one another as can be, we did notice a few universal truths about backpacking in South America… things nobody told us about before we left. In no particular order and in various degrees of usefulness, we’ve compiled our observations into this list of 30 things no one tells you about backpacking in South America!

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  • Spanish moss, historic architecture, blooming flowers, an adorable trolley, and romance: welcome to Savannah in the springtime. 🌸⁣⁣ Did we mention we're obsessed with this place?⁣ .⁣ We have so much to tell you about Savannah, but we're going to start with the people. Savannah is like this: we're at a cafe, sipping some truly excellent coffee and flipping through our photos, like ya do. Seated next to us is an older gentleman. He leans over to us, a photo pulled up on his phone of a park in Savannah at night. "I took this 2 years ago," he says. He scrolls to the right. "Now look." There's a shroud of filmy white fog in the photo. "I took this just a second later, and there wasn't any fog that night." 😱 (Mind you, this interaction came out of NOWHERE.) The barista, pouring coffee, casually nods. "Yep, that square's haunted, just like the rest of the town." And just like that, we're all swapping ghost stories over coffee. We fell in love with Savannah right then and there.⁣ .⁣ It wasn't the only time we made friends with strangers, either. During our trip, a local in a bright red cocktail dress chatted with us at dinner - for THREE HOURS. Our walking tour guide felt like our new BFF. Two different girls complimented my hair AND my outfit (Savannah is really good for the ego). It's no wonder Savannah's nickname is The Hostess City - we felt SO welcomed! (Keep in mind: we're socially awkward AF.) . Oh, and as for those ghost stories? We've got LOTS more to tell you about that ...⁣ .⁣ Do you strike up conversations with locals when you visit? Tell us your favorite stories about meeting locals on your travels in the comments below! . Disclaimer: This trip was #sponsored by @VisitSavannah⁣
  • Beauty & pain often coexist. They're frequently roomies, sharing space together within people or in art. Sometimes we even find them living together in the places we visit. One of the best examples of beauty coexisting with pain is in the South.⁣ .⁣ The South is home to one of the USA's richest histories and several of its most stunning cities. It also has the best food - sorry but that's not up for debate, cuz we all know it's true. ⁣But the South is also home base for one of the darkest and most horrific chapters of US history.⁣ .⁣ Savannah, Georgia was Jeremy's first time visiting a Southern city, and it was one of the most beautiful places either of us have ever seen. The historic downtown is lined with ancient oak trees dripping with Spanish moss. Fragrant azalea blooms - a Savannah springtime signature - perfume the streets. And then there's the architecture: stunning, historic, and flawlessly restored. The whole city looks like a postcard, or a movie set (which is why so many movies are filmed here).⁣ .⁣ This is the kind of place that you fall in love with, the kind of place that makes you want to write books and movies set here, featuring the city in as a central character. We were hooked.⁣ .⁣ But Savannah's beauty, like much of the historic South, came at a steep cost. As we wandered through Savannah's shaded squares (all 22 of them) admiring its beauty, we were also grieving. Much of this gorgeous city was built by enslaved people. Its wealth was gleaned from plantations, from selling enslaved humans and enforcing human bondage. And so Savannah is home to both incredible beauty and unspeakable pain.⁣ .⁣ But in spite of this complexity - or maybe because of its balance - we fell in love with Savannah HARD. You guys, this place is incredible. Amazing. Fascinating. And insanely unique.⁣ .⁣ Over the next few weeks, we'll be sharing photos and stories about our trip to Savannah. We can't wait to tell you all about why we're so obsessed with it!⁣ .⁣ Have you visited a place that's home to both beauty and pain? Tell us about it in the comments! . Disclaimer: our trip was #sponsored by @visitsavannah
  • Instagram vs. Reality 🌴Swipe right to witness me falling on my a** despite literally holding onto a bannister🤣⁣ .⁣ I spent a few days last week hanging out in Florida with my mom. We relaxed by the pool. We went to the gym (my mom's cardio class kicked my butt, y'all). We went on long walks together through nature preserves. My mom identified 2876762 species of exotic Floridian birds through her binoculars while I made up ridiculous bird names in my head and giggled to myself (check out my faves in my new Instagram Story highlight). . And you know the best part? We didn't even fight or argue ONCE. I know I'm 29 years old and a fully grown woman, but that is unheard of. My teenaged self would be SHOOKETH. Teenaged Lia did not have calm, peaceful parental relationships. Teenaged Lia was no walk in the park. She was dealing with trauma via lashing out and rebelling, and she was not an easy kid to parent.⁣ .⁣ But for once, teenaged Lia didn't come up. Instead, we sipped wine and nibbled on cheese and crackers together like grown-up adults. We shared memories about my late grandmother. We went shopping at my mom's favorite thrift store. We got our nails done. And we spent several hours together taking photos of me getting in and out of the pool, arching my back ~just so~ to achieve maximum booty-pop, and falling on my a** like a gorgeous yet graceless sack of potatoes. . We didn't talk about how teenaged Lia used to wear shirts over her bathing suit out of shame, or the many ways in which she rebelled and lashed out, or the trauma she suffered. Teenaged Lia wasn't around this trip. Just grown-up Lia, who feels confident and beautiful in a bikini and has been working on embracing her natural hair texture (curly girl method, y'all). . We just hung out together. And it was really, really nice.⁣ .⁣ Any other grown-a** adults finally getting to the stage where they can spend time with their parents without argueing (or still struggling to get there)? I can relate HARD, so drop me a comment below!⁣
  • Happy Birthday to this handsome fella!🎉🎂 My life partner turns 31 today, and frankly I think he's getting better every day. Like cheese. Or wine. Except unlike cheese or wine, there isn't like ... an expiration date ... also, nobody will be consuming my husband. This metaphor is getting away from me, actually 😖 . The point is that my husband is getting more handsome, wise, and clever every day. He's also getting a little creakier and starting to make some old man noises that we've never heard before 🤣 but I love those old man noises, just like I love the friendly crinkles around his eyes when he smiles. ⁣Part of marriage is witnessing the person you love change as they get older, which I think is fun and exciting and beautiful.⁣ .⁣ Over the past 5 years, Jeremy and I have grown together from two reckless 20-somethings into 2 grown-up adults who do things like purchase furniture and contemplate raising humans together. I've watched Jeremy mature from an unsure 25-year-old to a confident 31 year old who is at least mature enough to be in charge of a large group of teenagers every day. I've watched him put in the difficult work of analyzing lessons learned from his own life and communicating those lessons with clarity and empathy to his 17 year old students - a feat of emotional maturity and patience that I appreciate every day in our partnership. And I've watched him learn that questioning himself is not a weakness, but a strength - a necessary skill for growth and improvement. Witnessing Jeremy's growth inspires my own, and our partnership enriches both of us to become stronger, healthier, happier individuals.⁣ .⁣ ⁣ So happy birthday to my life partner, my life-long crush, and my personal obsession in human form (yep, it's gross, I know). I feel so privileged to wake up next to you every day and so lucky to get to share your life and witness your growth. I know I tell you mushy stuff every day, so I know you already know this, but just in case: you are my entire universe, and I love you like, a stupid huge amount.⁣
  • I'm gonna be real with y'all: this photo looked a lot better in my head than it does in real life - because the version in my head looks like what I found on Instagram. You see, on Instagram, most versions of this shot show the mountain centered in between the temple gates, via what I can only assume is mountain-moving magic. Many photos also show this beautiful reflected water instead of a patch of sand and spotty grass (how?!). And a few of them seem not to be featuring the traditional Balinese temple garb, those colorful scarves tied around our waists (gonna chalk that one up to disrespect, tbh).⁣ .⁣ Honestly, I'm not quite sure how everyone else achieved their photos, but I've long ago made my peace with the fact that our travels are rarely picture-perfect. They're much more likely to be off-centered and a little less than idyllic, and they've never been what I'd describe as "aspirational." . I mean, y'all... literally anyone can take this photo. You just take a taxi to Lempuyang Temple, rent a scarf, walk up a couple flights of stairs, and stand in a line. This isn't a photo of a a deep, soulful moment during our travels. It's just a cool photo. ⁣ .⁣ And while cool photos are great and all, and also like ... half of my job, they don't depict the best moments during our travels. Because the best moments are never picture-perfect. The best moments are sharing a conversation at a restaurant with a total stranger. They're taking the wrong bus and ending up somewhere unexpectedly rad. They're exploring dark alleys just to see where they might lead, trying weird food that we can't pronounce, and practicing the local language with our taxi driver. They're the time Jeremy crashed our motorbike in the middle of the night in the Ubud monkey forest, cutting his leg up and scaring us both half to death (OK, that one actually sucked at the time, but now it's one of our favorite stories about visiting Ubud). . The point is: travel is rarely picture perfect. And that's totally, completely, and utterly OK.⁣ .⁣ Do you ever try to get that "Instagram perfect" photo and end up with something else entirely? Drop us a comment!
  • Ubud, Bali is one of the most lush, green places we've ever been. I think we could have happily lived there for a while, befriending monkeys (JK they're adorable but they're f**king evil) and working at boujie coffee shops and visiting temples (everything in Bali looked like a temple) and eating plates of Nasi Goreng and going to traditional dance performances at the Royal Palace each night. 2 weeks in Bali was definitely not enough, even though we visited 3 different spots - Ubud, Amed, and the Nusa islands! (Psst: our full itinerary is on the blog if you're planning a trip of your own - link in bio).⁣ .⁣ This particular view is on the outskirts of town by the entrance to a beautiful temple (Pura Gunung Lebah Temple) and the start of Ubud's best short hike, the Campuhan Ridge Walk. The 2 hour hike takes you along the top of a stunning ridge through the jungle and looking out over rice fields, and halfway through you'll reach a cafe. Let me just say that I love hikes that have a cafe in the middle of them. That's the best thing ever!.Sadly we didn't complete the hike ourselves because we are lazy humans who are incapable of walking up early in the morning to do anything, especially on vacation, so by the time we made it to this stunning viewpoint and the start of the hike the sun was blazingly hot. So don't be us: wake up early, y'all!⁣ .⁣ We love visiting places that are lush & green - do you have suggestions for us? Where have you been that's gorgeously green?
  • #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.⁣

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