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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ABOUT

Meet Lia & Jeremy

Recent Posts

  • Have you ever been dog sledding? 🐶 I tried it for the first time ever in Alta, Norway, north of the Arctic Circle. I wasn't sure what to expect: would the dogs be happy and healthy? How fast would we be going? Would there be like, a seatbelt? (Answers: yes, very, no.) . The first thing we did upon arriving at Trasti & Trine was suit up. I'd dutifully layered on my 53 wool base layers and 16 sweaters and pants, thinking that would be plenty. Lol, no. Norway Lesson #1: there's cold, and then there's ARCTIC cold - with wind chill. Yikes. So I zipped a snowsuit on over all 7276 of my layers - and added an extra pair of boots for good measure. Lia - 1, Frostbite - 0. . Next we harnessed up our dogs. I was given the names of my team and 4 harnesses and awkwardly crunched through the snow in my staypuft marshmallow man suit towards the holding pens, feeling nervous. Like, what if the dogs didn't WANT to wear their harnesses? Would I have to wrassle them? I am NOT the wrassling type. Luckily, the dogs were like "you put this paw in this strap, duh" and pretty much just dressed themselves. . By the time I had my 4 dogs suited, they were DYING to get out into the snow. If you've ever uttered the words "go for a walk" to a dog, you can imagine the scene - except these were muscular AF snow dogs. I think I saw one of them jump like 5 feet into the air and do a backflip. . My host stepped up onto the back of my sled to steer, I grabbed on to absolutely anything and everything I could, and we were off. Instantly, the barking and howling of the dogs gave way to quiet concentration. We whipped through trees and past mountains and ice rivers as the blue light of Polar Night reflected off the snow. If we had arrived later in the day, we might have been riding underneath the Northern Lights! . You can see a video of my dog sledding adventure in my Story Highlights, AND I've just published a new post with 35 jaw-dropping photos from my trip! The link is in my bio. . Would you like to try dog sledding? Would you be nervous like I was? Drop me a comment below!
  • Happy Valentine's Day! 🌹💗Today is my FAVORITE holiday. I love pink and hearts and a good excuse for crafts and unapologetically expressing love and affection. Jeremy and I are mush-tastic year round, but we take Valentine's Day as an opportunity to shamelessly shower everyone and everything around us in love and affection, too. Here are some of the different kinds of love that we'll be feeling sappy about today: . 💕Love for ourselves. We choose to put ourselves first and our relationship/each other second - that's the foundation of our happiness and the core foundation of our whole marriage. Today, we are feelin' all kinds of obsessed with our awesome selves! I hope you spend some time today doing sweet lil' things for yourself that bring you happiness. . 💕Love for each other. This is not new - we shower each other in disgusting mushy compliments all day, every day - but we ARE going out on a date tonight ... and then heading to a store to compete to see who can find the lamest, grossest, sappiest Valentine's Day card. We will then pay too much money for that card and then inflict the worst romantic poetry that we can come up with, exquisite corpse style. Stoked. . 💕Love for what we do. Jeremy loves his school and his co-teachers, but especially, he loves his students. Today he's celebrating his love for them with a party (they wanted wings, so we made them cookies too, because 18 year olds are the unhealthiest people on earth and can handle that sort of thing). . And as for me ... today I'm writing about a trip that I loved, and pouring my heart into my storytelling. It's reminding me both why I love travel, and why I feel so strongly about sharing that love with all of you! (It'll be up tomorrow, and I'm so excited to share it.) . 💕Oh, and one last mushy shout-out: LOVE FOR YOU! Yes, that's right: we truly love you all. Your DM's and support and comments and the fact that there are people out there who think we're as funny as we do (lol jk nobody thinks we're as funny as we do, that's impossible) all means the world to us, and we're so appreciative for you. So happy, happy Valentine's Day! What kinds of love are you celebrating today? 💋
  • Blogging has changed the way that I travel, for better and for worse. And one of the biggest changes is taking photos. Before blogging, I didn't really see a point in taking photos on my trips - nobody on my Facebook cared about my trip as much as I did, so why bother? Instead, Jeremy and I recorded special memories in journals and diaries, writing descriptions of the places we visited together. But we stopped writing in the journal as soon as we started the blog, mostly because I type a LOT faster than I write and get fewer hand cramps. Writing has always been my storytelling tool of choice, but I've learned in the past 3 years of blogging that visual storytelling can be just as captivating. exciting, and challenging. And the actual act of taking photos has made a huge difference in our travel style. These days, our trips include "taking photos" as an actual activity. We research a list of photo-worthy spots and then go out of our way just to see them. We spend hours standing at just the right spot at just the right time, waiting for crowds to clear or the family in the matching neon tracksuits to f**k off (there is somehow always a family wearing neon in the back of every photo we've ever taken). This is something I would NEVER have done if I didn't have a reason to or a platform to share them on. In fact, I probably would have scoffed haughtily at the very idea, probably while nursing a hand cramp from aggressive journalling. But these days, I've learned to appreciate the way that photography changes the way we travel. We take our time to stop and really LOOK. We see more little details, peer down more streets. We stand still, watching, while crowds pass us by. We take our time. We tell stories in snapshots. And we visit places we likely never would have before, like the top of Sulphur Mountain in Banff. We took the Banff Gondola up to the summit to catch the last rays of the sun sinking over the Canadian Rockies, watching clouds of snow roll into the valley below us, breathing in the frigid winter air and standing perfectly still. Snapping photos. And it was beautiful. Do you prioritize photos on your trips? Drop us a comment below!
  • "There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing," says some quote that I heard once. I have no idea who said it, but it's 100% accurate! I've been frolicking in freezing (& below freezing) cold weather all month long, and even though California has made me soft, I've nailed my strategy for cold weather dressing. Allow me to take out my cobweb-covered college degree in Fashion Design, dust it off, and share some next-level cold weather apparel tips with you. 🎓🧣 . My first tip for dressing for the cold is to carefully choose the closest layer of clothing to your skin (because that insulating layer of chub only goes so far). My favorite insulating base layer is merino wool. It's is a naturally high performance textile that keeps you warm when it's cold out and keeps you cool when it's hot out. It also stays warm when wet, so even if you get sweaty under your coat or snow falls down your collar (ugh), you'll still be toasty warm! Merino wool is super soft (NOT scratchy) and naturally anti-bacterial, so you can wear it for 2 weeks straight and nobody will ever know (we uh, tested this... for science). My base layer is a merino wool shirt, leggings, 2 pairs of socks, and 2 pairs of gloves.🧤 . If you're not into feeling like you're being hugged by a sheep for whatever reason, hemp has similar properties and is incredibly environmentally friendly. Silk is also a great insulator. Natural textiles are some of the most high tech fabrics on the planet! But make sure you DO NOT wear a fabric like cotton that won't keep you warm if it gets wet.👎 . Once you've got a nice warm base layer, you'll need 1-2 more layers on top and bottom. On top of your 2-3 layers of clothing is the next most important piece: your coat! 🧥 I love packable goose down: it's lightweight, travel friendly, and insanely warm. Add a pair of warm, weatherproof boots, a hat & scarf, and you're ready for the snow!.We've got a comprehensive guide to cold weather packing (and how to pack it all in a carry-on) on the blog, including the specific items we wear and recommend. The link is in our bio! . Do you have any questions about dressing for the cold? How about tips? Drop 'em below!
  • Snow-topped mountains. Hot springs. Ski resorts and cozy lodges. Dog sledding and sleigh rides underneath the Northern Lights. Wait, hang on - where am I talking about now? (Pssst: it's CANADA!) 🇨🇦 . Most of the photos of Banff on Instagram are from warmer months. But Banff National Park is a winter wonderland for outdoor adventure lovers and snow sports enthusiasts (or just like, people who really like frolicking in the snow, eating poutine, and maybe befriending a caribou or moose). You can go ice-walking through river canyons with giant, frozen waterfalls looming over your year. You can play ice hockey on a lake in front of a castle. You can eat braised elk poutine and maple taffy EVERY SINGLE DAY (spoilers: this is exactly what we did). . Visiting during Banff’s winter season will show you a sparkling, icy, snow-dusted side of the Canadian Rockies – all with fewer crowds and cheaper prices! And I've just published a MASSIVE guide with everything you need to know to plan a winter trip to Banff, including what to pack, where to stay, where to eat, and 12 of the best things to do during your visit! The link is in my profile - grab a hot chocolate and get cozy, cuz it's a juicy guide! . I have been fortunate enough to visit a BUNCH of snowy, amazing destinations this month, and it makes my heart so happy. I'm writing this from a cozy cabin in Lake Tahoe as snow swirls outside, so I'm right where I'm meant to be.❄❤ Where are you this weekend? Drop me a comment below! . . . #thecanadacollective #explorecanada #travelcanada #canadasworld #banffnationalpark #canadianrockies #parkscanada #mybanff #explorebanff #roundtheworld #exploretheworld #instapassport#explorecanada #parkscanada #albertaviews #banffcanada #canadagram #discovercanada #canadaeh #beautifulcanada #livelovecanada #canada_true #MyTinyAtlas #TravelAwesome #travelstagram #liveoutdoors #MostDeserving #themountainsarecalling #adventurenthusiasts #best_streetview
  • Meet my friend, Johann. 🦌 Johann is a reindeer living in Norway's Arctic Tundra. Also, he definitely isn't named Johann, I just have a habit of naming every animal I meet and he gave off sort of a "Johann-esque" kind of vibe. . I'd love to tell you all about the magical time that I had hanging out with Johann, feeding him pellets and brushing his soft downy reindeer fur and laughing together about how my hair was frozen because it was -30 degrees outside. But that's not what happened. . You see, Johann is not yet domesticated, and as a result is very shy around people. A few days before I met him, was living a happy reindeer life in the wild, not realizing that his very existence was made possible by indigenous Sámi Reindeer Herders who spend countless hours moving his herd from place to place so that they stay safe from predators and well fed. . So Johann is still adapting to life as a domestic reindeer. His herders will spend a week or so getting to know him, walking him on a leash, and feeding him pellets while he learns that they mean him no harm. And so because Johann wasn't comfortable around me, I refrained from touching him, as pettable and adorable as he looked with his little face and his little horns and those big eyes. Instead, I left him some pellets and took a zillion photos of him from a reasonable distance. . The Sami people have been living in the arctic of modern-day Norway, Finland, Sweden and Russia for thousands of years, practicing reindeer husbandry and herding. Today, only about 2,800 Sami reindeer herders remain, working together to keep their traditions (and their herds) alive. On my trip to Norway, I was lucky enough to spend 3 days in the tundra getting to know a family of Sámi reindeer herders and learning about the choices they make every day to preserve their heritage and culture. Today (Feb 6) is Sami National Day, a holiday celebrated by all Sami people across their various country borders. Happy Sami National Day! . Did you know that there are still indigenous people living in the arctic tundra? Have you ever met a reindeer? Drop your comments and questions below! . #visitnatives #visitnorway #impacttravelalliance
  • Let's talk about facing your fears. And the time I jumped into the freezing cold Oslo fjord in the middle of January..I'm not typically the most courageous person. In fact, I'm terrified like 99% of the time, whether my fears are justified or - more often - completely fabricated. So when we arrived in Norway and were informed that our very first activity would be to visit a traditional Norwegian sauna and a dip in the freezing cold Oslo fjord, I was like😱😬 . But even though I was terrified of that cold, salty water, I wanted to try it. Not because I am a brave person who enjoys adventures and adrenaline rushes (I absolutely do not). But more because I like to be able to say that I tried something before I put it on my "I definitely hate this" list. I find that this is the best and most practical way to avoid FOMO. (I am a very exciting person, clearly.) And where else can you have this kind of experience? I was even MORE afraid of missing out. . Well, to my extreme surprise, I actually LOVED it. Your body gets a hormone rush going from very hot to extremely cold, so that as soon as you're out of the water, you feel like it was the best thing ever and you totally want to do it again. You can swipe to the right to see my face as my legs hit that cold water 😂 . Many years ago, I was also afraid of wearing a swimsuit in public. I wore t-shirts over my bikini. I was terrified of my own body, of the scrutiny I felt it invited and deserved. But today, I've spent over 10 years in recovery from an eating disorder that nearly killed me, and I'm happy to say that I no longer give a second thought to stripping down to my bikini (and posting photos of it on the internet). I've also entirely stopped caring about what other people think about my body. If you watch my stories yesterday, you'll know why this is relevant..So I want to leave you with this: ladies, it doesn't matter if you're beautiful or healthy. Your worth is not tied your appearance or your size or your health. You're amazing and wonderful regardless of your physical appearance or your abilities. So face your fears - and dive in! 🌊 . Would you be down to try the sauna + fjord plunge? Drop me a comment!
  • It's finally February, which means it's time to start celebrating my FAVORITE holiday: Valentine's Day! 💕 I know this holiday gets a bad rep for being a "Hallmark Holiday" or for being too focused on romantic love. But I don't Valentine's Day as a romantic holiday. To me, it's a holiday meant for celebrating LOVE, in all of its many forms! So I'm on a one-woman mission to bring this holiday back, because giving your mom or BFF a heart-shaped card that says "I love you" is how this holiday should REALLY be celebrated. *Steps on soapbox* . On Valentine's Day, Jeremy and I do celebrate together in our usual disgustingly mushy way ... but I also celebrate love for myself. For my friends and family. For my community. For my career and my blog (I know that's kinda lame but... y'all, I REALLY love what I do). Valentine's Day is the day that I celebrate all of the things that I love, and I practice outpouring that love... usually in the form of kitschy handmade gifts and cutesy baked goods that I found on Pinterest and subsequently butchered (psst, anyone know if Nailed It is casting for their next season? I'm a shoe-in). . Valentine's Day is one of my favorite crafty holidays, and this year we're even decorating our apartment in as many pink and white and red things as we could find (and sticking hearts on anything that isn't the right color). Everything about Valentine's Day makes me happy and excited!.So it's no wonder that I fell in LOVE with this adorable little alley in Oslo, Norway. Red buildings, white snow? All that's missing is a giant pink heart. If I was better at this whole Instagram thing I guess I would have magically produced a heart-shaped balloon or an inflatable inner-tube or something. But I'm not, soooo I guess we'll all just have to pretend. . Do you celebrate Valentine's Day the way that I do? If not, who or what do you LOVE that you could practice celebrating this year? #visitnorway #visitoslo #impacttravelalliance

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