Practical Wanderlust

Off-Beat Couple's Travel Blog

What not to do on a France road trip through Bordeaux, Avignon, Seillans, Provence, and the French Riviera!
Europe, Travel Stories & Fails

Winter Road Trip Through France: What Not to Do

Our off-season road trip through France was always doomed. It’s not just that Jeremy and I seem to attract disaster like magnets made of whatever the opposite of disaster is. But we have particularly awful luck when it comes to cars. But here we were, renting one in France in January. What could go wrong? … Everything, of course. This is the story of our doomed French road trip. Or as I like to call it, the story of the time we ran a BMW into into a medieval castle.

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  • I've gained 40lbs since I started travel blogging, 2.5 years ago. I'm closer to weighing 250lbs than I am to 200lbs. Most of my clothes from before our year-long honeymoon are now too small for me. The kicker is that before we left, I was SO sure we'd lose weight on the trip and return as svelte, ab-tastic versions of ourselves that I got rid of most of my bigger sized clothes, which probably would have fit me today 😄 . But here's the thing: even though I don't love not being able to wear most of my clothes, I don't feel bad about it - or about myself. This extra 40lbs is definitely not welcome to stay forever, but I don't look in the mirror and dislike what I see. I look in the mirror like "DAYUM girl you look fine AF! FLAWLESS, slayyyyyy!" (Yes: my internal monologue is every drunk white girl in a club bathroom.) . See, this extra 40 lbs came from all the amazing, delicious things I've enjoyed all over the world. It's 40 lbs of croissants and cheese in France, beer and chocolate in Belgium, pasta in Italy, tacos in Mexico, schnitzel in Austria, dumplings and goulash in the Czech Republic, eierpunsch and bratwurst in Germany, smørrebrød and gløgg in Denmark, gallo pinto in Costa Rica, arepas in Colombia, and nasi goreng in Indonesia. This is 40 lbs of things I enjoyed with the person I love. This is good, happy travel weight. . If you asked me 10 years ago whether "fat" was a bad word, I would've said yes, because I was still struggling with an eating disorder. I hadn't yet learned to love myself and embrace my body, flaws and imperfections and all. Today, I know that there's nothing wrong with fatness. I'm fat, and it's fine. I'm fat, and I'm happy. I'm fat, and I'm gorgeous and confident and living my best life. I'm fat, and I love going to the gym. I'm fat, and I love lifting and working out because I like feeling strong and healthy. All of these things coexist, and they're all an expression of my self love. . Have you ever picked up a few extra pounds of travel weight? What awesome foods and experiences contributed to that weight? Do you think you can make your peace with those extra pounds (even if you don't want them to stay forever)? Drop me a comment!
  • Every year around this time, we crave snow like CRAZY. ❄️You'd think that living in California would make us ultra-sensitive to cold, but actually, living in year-round 65 degree weather has only deepened our appreciation for that heavenly white powder. Er, I'm talking about snow, you guys, stay with me here. It's 2018, not 1985 ☃️ . Luckily, we don't have to travel too far to frolic around in the snow: we can drive 3 hours to the east and visit Lake Tahoe or Yosemite, two of the most beautiful places on earth at any time of the year which are particularly magical in the winter. Or, we can hop on a plane: 2 hours away are the Wasatch Mountains in Utah or the Cascade Mountains in the Pacific Northwest (because snow is always better when it's on a mountain). This photo may look a bit like it was taken in Germany, but actually, it's Leavenworth: a charming little Bavarian-themed town nestled in the mountains about 2 hours away from Seattle, Washington. . But weekend trips can only do so much to sustain our craving for the cold, so we also take a long trip over New Year which doubles as my birthday trip (January 7th, hayyy). While some folks travel to somewhere warm and sunny during the winter months, we've made it a habit to seek snow and holiday cheer. For the past few years, we've fled to Europe to stuff our faces with Christmas Market treats and mulled wine 🥨 This year, we're escaping to Canada to explore Montreal and Quebec City and hit the slopes in Banff. (Also to stuff our faces with poutine.) It just might be the coldest trip we've taken yet, so we're loading up on down jackets and wool sweaters and hoping for the best! . Do you seek out warm weather or crave snow this time of the year? Are you taking a holiday trip? Tell us about it in the comments!.#leavenworth #leavenworthwa #exploreleavenworth #visitleavenworth #bavarianvillage #washingtonstate#explorewashstate #cascadeloop #DameTraveler #wearetravelgirls #sheisnotlost #GirlsWhoTravel #girlslovetravel #sheexplores #WomenWhoExplore #radgirlslife #thetravelwomen #girlsvsglobe #femaletravelbloggers #girlsjustwannatravel #ladiesgoneglobal
  • Instagram makes our lives look a little too perfect. It makes it look like we're forever traveling. Like I'm always wearing makeup, and my hair always looks halfway decent. Like Jeremy and I are forever gazing at one another with a mushy look in our eyes (that bit is semi accurate - we do make googly eyes at each other, like, a freakish amount). On Instagram, you only see the highlights, like last year in Prague when we rung in the New Year with Trdelnik and dumplings. But don't buy it: our lives aren't picture perfect. It's just that nobody wants to see us laying around on the couch covered in drool and crumbs, wearing stained sweatpants and watching our 8th episode of Marriage Bootcamp in a row (I just love trashy reality TV so, so much). But even if you can't see it on our feed, we hope our reality is reflected in our writing - both here and on our blog. We don't want you to look at our lives and think we're perfect. We want you to read our writing and think "oh my god, how are these two insanely clumsy, disaster prone humans even still alive?! And how are they STILL so bad at traveling?!?" Whether you're judging us for our constant mistakes or crying tears of camaraderie (we see you, fellow disaster prone travelers), we want you to know that we are just two very, very flawed people, who like, do cool stuff in cool places sometimes, but also make a zillion mistakes while we're doing it. We recorded a Podcast with World Nomads telling the story of some of our favorite disaster stories from our year-long honeymoon, like the time I was rescued off a waterfall, the time we tried to hike the Inca Trail and had to turn around and hike back, the time we got a BMW stuck in a medieval castle, the time my grandfather faked his own death, and the time I had to delay our flight home so I could get a shot in the butt on the very last day of our disastrous honeymoon. If you can make it through the amount of times I say "like" in the first minute, we think you'll enjoy it ;) The link is in our bio! Are you as disaster prone as we are? Does your Instagram feed Instagram makes our lives like your real life or like the best version of your life? Drop us a comment below!
  • Jeremy didn't grow up traveling. When we first met, he'd never left time zone where he was born. He'd always wanted to travel, but it felt impossibly far out of the realm of reality. But when I told him about about my wild plan to quit my job and take a year long backpacking trip, over drinks in a loud bar on date #2, I casually added "you can come too, if you want." He grinned and said "okay!" Little did he know that my crazy dream was a stone cold plan... . In the 2.5 years before our trip came to fruition, as we scrimped and saved and settled and merged our lives together, Jeremy began to blossom. He found his passion and calling. He went from working in a coffee shop to teaching high school here in Oakland. He evolved from a flailing 20-something to a dedicated, caring teacher helping guide underserved youth through some of the most crucial and challenging moments of their young lives. . When it came time to quit his new job to take our year-long honeymoon, he was excited about our adventure, but heartbroken to leave his kids. Over the next year, as we explored the world in all its wonder, my mind would go to storytelling and blogging - but Jeremy's would go to teaching. I would stay up late in our hostel dorm room typing up blog posts on my laptop, and Jeremy would be on the bunk bed above me, typing up lesson plans. . Seeing the world ignited my passion to help the readers of my blog travel; it ignited Jeremy's passion to help his kids learn & grow. I got to witness travel transform my partner, and it was one of the greatest joys of my life. Now, we get to share that joy with his kids. . FLYTE, the Foundation for Learning and Youth Travel Education, is sending 20 of Jeremy's amazing students with him to Colombia this summer - a dream come true! We are THRILLED - but we need your help. Starting today, #GivingTuesday, my goal is to raise $1,000 to cover food & flights for one student. Donating even just $10 will help empower Jeremy's kids and change their lives forever. Can you help us? Head to the link in my bio!.Have you ever experienced the transformative nature of travel? How did your first trip abroad change your life? Tell us about it in the comments!
  • Copenhagen was the very first stop on the European leg of our year-long honeymoon - meant to soothe our frazzled nerves after the Machu Picchu Disaster (tl;dr: we couldn't hike the Inca Trail and we lost out on $1600 bucks, and yes, we're STILL salty about it). But Copenhagen was the exact opposite of Peru, and it was exactly what we needed. Our plane touched down in early December and we immediately fell in love with the entire city. . We loved the winding cobblestone streets. We loved the snow and cold, which were a welcome change after 4 months of sunny South America. We loved the fancy coffee and the stick-to-your-ribs holiday food and the Hans Christian Anderson references and the way some words sounded kind of like English, but garbled. We loved that everyone spoke English, so we were never fully lost or completely confused (another welcome respite after 4 months of half-baked Spanish practice). We loved that everyone rode their bikes everywhere, although we kept getting honked at for being in the way (whoops). We loved Tivoli Gardens, the amusement park in the middle of the city. We loved the weirdness of Christiania, the anarchist commune that coexists in the middle of the city. We loved the fairytale castles. We loved the hygge. But most of all, we loved the Christmas Markets. Ohhhhh, the Christmas Markets! . This is the famous Nyhavn Canal in Copenhagen: a harbor and shipyard flanked by colorful pastel townhouses covered in rows and rows of little windows. During the winter, Nyhavn is home to a Christmas Market - just like pretty much every other street in Copenhagen. Yep, it's magical. (Psst: our Copenhagen Travel Guide is on the blog). Scroll to the right to see Parliament, a castle, and Tivoli Gardens! . Now that it's officially Christmas Time, I can finally start flooding your feed with wintery photos from previous trips. Which means I get to relive each of those experiences! And we all know that's the real reason why we all use Instagram, right? ... Right?? . Do you travel over the holidays? Tell me about your favorite Christmas trip! Where did you go? What did you love about it? Drop us a comment below!
  • Well, folks, it's time. We've got a set of super dorky matching Christmas PJs, we sang a bunch of carols with our family, and the non-profit Christmas Tree lots are out under the highways here in Oakland, which can only mean one thing: THE HOLIDAYS ARE HERE! 🎄🎀🎁🎉 . We're going to get a tree this week and decorate it, but first, we have to actually buy real decorations. For the past 4 years - since we first started buying Christmas trees together each year - we've just been decorating with like, lights and random bits of stuff? Like random pieces of things that we saved, or found lying around, or picked up for cheap at our favorite used craft supplies store. Most of which definitely aren't ornaments. Or decorations at all. . I'm kind of being generous, actually: for 2 years, our tree topper was an old Maker's Mark wax seal (the logic: it's red. Wtf, us?). For the next 2 years, we just stuck a Santa Hat on top and called it a day. . Why didn't we just suck it up and go to a store and buy real Christmas Decorations? IDK, it seemed frivolous and we wanted to spend that money on travel instead of stuff. So we had a trash tree. For years. This is what happens when you get too addicted to travel, people! Anyway, we've finally straightened out our priorities and realized that seasonal decorations make us really, really happy, which is worth spending our money on - especially since we don't actually get seasons here otherwise. . In addition to our tree, each year we travel to find Christmas for 2 weeks during Jeremy's holiday break. Last year we visited Hallstatt, Austria, pictured here - a Christmas fairytale village! This year, we're heading to one of the coldest, snowiest places we could think of: Canada! 🇨🇦 . We'll also be attempting to make home renditions of some of our favorite Christmas foods and drinks from around the world which remind us of Christmas travels from previous years, like Eierpunsch and Feuerzangenbowle and Gløgg. OK, I guess we're mostly attempting to make drinks from abroad... 🍵 . Do you have a Christmas tradition that marks the coming of the holidays every year? Drop us a comment below!
  • Happy Thanksgiving for anyone celebrating! We're spending today stuffing our faces, feeling guilty about celebrating such a flawed holiday, soaking up all the nostalgia of holiday traditions that keeps us celebrating every year even though we know better, and gushing about all the things we're grateful for. Here are some of the things we're feeling grateful for today: . 💝 We're grateful for our marriage. We both have big, stupid crushes on each other and every day we wake up thrilled to be able to spend our whole lives together. We're disgustingly in love and it's super gross, unless you're us, in which case it's awesome. . 💝 We're grateful that we both get to spend our days doing what we love. It's so rare to actually LOVE your job, and we both genuinely wake up excited to go to work because we're equally passionate about what we do. That's pretty freakin' amazing. . 💝 We're grateful that we're able to live in the Bay Area. Being able to afford to stay here is no small feat, and it's is kind of a crazy place to be at times, but we love where we live. . 💝 We're grateful for our community: our amazing friends and family who love us, support us, and celebrate our success right alongside us. . 💝 We're grateful for our online community: yep, that's all y'all! Our friends spread all over the world, our readers, social followers, and subscribers... you all support us every day. You send us messages telling us how we've helped you. You email us compliments and comments that make us smile and give us that warm fuzzy feeling. We have a whole folder in our email tagged "nice things from readers" and honestly, sometimes those emails get me through frustrating days. You all, our readers, help us to do what we love, live where we live, and continue to explore the world together. We love all of you so much! . Now that we've gushed all over the place, how about you? What are you feeling grateful for today, big or small? Drop us a comment below!
  • Hi, we’re Lia and Jeremy, and we’re coffee snobs. Everyone: Hi, Lia and Jeremy. . Our coffee snobbery didn’t happen overnight. We each worked for YEARS to hone our ability to say things like “Hmmmm, I’m getting strawberry jam with vanilla on the finish” un-ironically while we sip our single origin pour-overs and twiddle our collective mustaches. Oh yeah. We’re BIG ol’ douches. Jeremy was actually a barista when we met, which also explains why we got married so quickly. . We are hashtag blessed here at home in the Bay Area to have no shortage of incredible coffee shops. Between Oakland and San Francisco, every few blocks there's a specialty coffee shop serving up light roasted deliciousness. . When we’re fortunate enough to travel to a place with great coffee – like Lima or Copenhagen or all of Colombia – we’re in HEAVEN. Our two favorite things combined. Life is good. All is right with the world. Heaven is a place in earth. . But sometimes … every once in a while … we go somewhere that does not have good coffee. *shiver* Oooooh, the struggle is so real you guys, I can hear you crying with empathy all the way from here. Wait, is that …laughter?! . Here’s the thing: when you’re a coffee snob, nothing starts your day off worse than having to drink that awful cheap coffee swill that tastes like bitter lighter fluid. Ugh. No. I'd rather forgo my caffeine fix than drink bitter, gross coffee. That's the level of douchery I'm at, people. . Thankfully, I've developed a few coping mechanisms that enable me to drink excellent coffee no matter where I am in the world. And I wrote up a whole post about it! So if you've got a coffee snob who loves to travel in your life (my kindred spirit!) click on through to the link in my bio and boom, Christmas Shopping done. (Or like, send it to them so they can send it along to whoever will actually be buying them stuff this year). You'll also find links to some of my fave travel gear, conveniently pictured here 🧥👖👢 . Are you a coffee snob? If not, what are you a snob about? Come onnnn, everyone's got something. Fess up in the comments! This is a judgement-free zone ;)

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