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Category: Travel Stories

Day Trip to Boquillas del Carmen, Mexico from Big Bend National Park

Day Trip to Boquillas del Carmen, Mexico from Big Bend National Park

A Day in the Border Town of Boquillas del Carmen We’ve already established that Big Bend National Park in Texas is one of the most diverse, beautiful, and all-around kick-ass awesome parks we’ve been to yet. As I mentioned in my last post, a highlight of our time in Big Bend was taking a day trip across the border to the town of Boquillas del Carmen (often referred to as just Boquillas) in Mexico. The trip included a rowboat ride,…

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Hiking the Ice Age Trail in Winter

Hiking the Ice Age Trail in Winter

Imagine a picturesque winter wonderland in the forest. Soft flakes falling from an inky gray sky. Snow dappled trees gently creaking and groaning. Rolling hills covered in fresh white powder. Add a few well clothing-layered strangers stumbling and tumbling up and down said hills and you have the setting for our hike on the Ice Age Trail last month. Pin this post for later > Reconnecting with our Home State Since leaving Portland to begin our nomadic journey almost two…

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2018 Re-cap and 2019 Travel Plans & Goals

2018 Re-cap and 2019 Travel Plans & Goals

It’s that time again—time to reflect on what the last 365 days have brought and start planning for the next year of adventure. Unless it’s a leap year, then you’re thinking about 366 days. Does anyone else also think that leap year is so very strange? Here I am—getting off-track already. Let’s talk about some 2019 travel plans and goals, shall we? The project manager in me loves a good list so last year I compiled all our travel plans…

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Our First Descend on Bend

Our First Descend on Bend

When we hit the road in Stan the Tan Van after our European travels, we realized something—this isn’t just a trip or a “gap year” for us anymore. This is how we live our life. I think that’s why we were so excited to attend Descend on Bend 2018. We were very interested in meeting more people in the vanlife community. Through social medial we know there’s a lot of folks out there, but since we’re all mobile we don’t…

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Fall in The Rockies

Fall in The Rockies

Phew! It’s been a busy 7 weeks since we hit the road again in Stan the Tan Van. You already know about hiking the Badlands or as Tom likes to call them, the Radlands (Instagram stories peeps, you know what I’m talking about). This week we’re sharing an update on exactly what we’ve been up to and announcing some changes to the blog. Pin this post for later > Fall in and Around the Rocky Mountains After spending time in…

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Hospitals, Haunts, and a lot of Hobbling: A Story of a Travel Injury in Palermo

Hospitals, Haunts, and a lot of Hobbling: A Story of a Travel Injury in Palermo

Sicily. A place I’ve always wanted to visit. This desire may have stemmed from my vision of sitting at a small table in a mountain village and gorging myself on local cuisine, fresh olives, and carafes of wine. Maybe I was intrigued by the 50 times I watched Michael Corleone spend two years there—his father’s homeland and birthplace of the mafia. Or maybe I just wanted to see how you ride a train to an island. Whatever it was that…

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A Nightmare in Nice: Our Worst Rental Experience

A Nightmare in Nice: Our Worst Rental Experience

This week’s blog post is set in the lovely seaside city of Nice, France. A destination known for its azure Mediterranean water, beach-front promenade, and vibrant architecture. Unfortunately, that’s not what this post is about—sorry to disappoint. Our posts from Europe lately have focused on all the wonderful things to do, so today we’re mixing it up. Yes, guys it’s time for another installment of mishaps and misadventures on the road with Tom and Liana. Or perhaps I should say…

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7 Mistakes We Made in Paris (and How to Avoid Them)

7 Mistakes We Made in Paris (and How to Avoid Them)

I didn’t initially love Paris. There, I said it. As wildly unpopular as this opinion is likely to be, it’s the honest truth. In all fairness to the City of Light, my experiences in the first few days were hampered by enormous jet lag (seriously felt like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man) and a severe case of culture shock. Oddly enough, the culture shock wasn’t so much the foreign location, as it was the lightning fast pace of a big…

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7 Things We Learned from a Year of Travel

7 Things We Learned from a Year of Travel

It’s hard to believe that a year has passed since we packed up the few remaining things we own and left our beloved Portland for the open road. This has undoubtedly been the biggest year of travel and change in our lives. With our one-year travel anniversary (or should I say vanniversary?) upon us, we’ve been thinking a lot about what we’ve learned and what’s different than a year ago. Our goal on this blog is not only to share…

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How We Accidentally Became Minimalists

How We Accidentally Became Minimalists

5 years ago, if you told me that today I’d be a minimalist living in a van, I would’ve laughed my ass off and said, “No way!” Living in van? Maybe—at least temporarily. But Minimalism? Isn’t that for people who like modern furniture and dress all in black and white? That’s definitely not me. For years Tom talked about living in a tiny home. I was adamant that we couldn’t live that way. We needed space, and a giant dining…

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