Different from our previous time on the road in so many ways, we spent this week outside of the van, entirely surrounded by family, old and new, for my mum’s wedding at a beachfront resort in Puerto Vallarta. It was everything I could have hoped for her and such a wonderful time with family in th[...]
Baja is one of the best destinations in the world for vanlife— whether it's road-tripping down the peninsula in a converted van or just posting up for months at a beautiful beach in an RV, thousands of yearly travellers make Baja their home away from home. And yet, so few of these travell[...]
For our last week in Baja, we drove north from Cabo along the wild Pacific Coast to explore Todos Santos, which ended up being one of our favourite destinations on the peninsula. It was genuinely difficult to tear ourselves away from the beaches, whales, and sea turtles— but we had a ferry to cat[...]
Enjoying our time in Cabo Pulmo National Park so much last week (and missing it the moment we drove away), we ended up driving right back up to Baja’s East Cape at the start of this week and sacrificing time in the busy resort centres of San José del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas. It was the best deci[...]
For all the fascinating marine life and incredible creatures who inhabit the Sea of Cortez, perhaps none is more impressive than the whale shark (tiburón ballena, en español), a plankton-feeding carpet shark whose calm grace and striking beauty belie its almost incomprehensible size. Rea[...]
Starting off with a visit to the only place I’d ever been in Baja before (and a big part of why I pushed so hard to bring the van down here in the first place— charming little La Ventana), this was an incredibly full week of kayaking and snorkelling in Cabo Pulmo National Park on the East Cape.[...]
Travelling deeper into the heart of Baja California Sur, we discovered several of the peninsula’s best beaches and experienced some true magic in between. From kayaking right out of our van door into the crystal-clear Bahía Concepción to swimming alongside enormous whale sharks in the Bay o[...]
Our first full week in Baja was every bit as magical as we might have hoped, and perhaps even more so— it was an incredible blend of secluded beaches whose quiet bays teemed with marine life, vibrant cactus gardens extending all the way to the water’s edge, ancient cobbled towns, and palm-fring[...]
Bordering the southern USA for a whopping 2,000 miles, Mexico presents one of the best (and easiest) opportunities for North Americans to experience international vanlife— and yet so many travellers are intimidated by the permit process, the border crossing, and the perceived difficulty of drivi[...]
As a condition of driving your vehicle into Mexico (the Baja Peninsula OR mainland), you are required to obtain a Mexican auto insurance policy that, at minimum, covers third-party liability. When that vehicle is a valuable van or camper (and especially your home), it's even more vital to have a co[...]
After weeks of intensive preparation, we crossed the border into Mexico this week and spent a magical few days exploring the northern section of Baja California, slowly heading south from Mexicali to San Felipe. It’s safe to say we’ve been suitably impressed by the wild beauty of the penins[...]
As we near the end of the month and our border crossing into Baja California, Mexico, we’ve been busier than ever trying to finalise packing in the van, attend to some small but important maintenance, and organise paperwork for our travels through Mexico. As excited as I am to finally transi[...]
By mid-November, we wrapped up an amazing few weeks in New Mexico with an adventure through wild badlands and then travelled across several states en route to our ultimate goal of Nevada (and southern California shortly thereafter). It was really our last week of proper travelling in the U[...]
New Mexico is all about blended diversity. Situated at the confluence of the southern Rocky Mountains and the southwest desert, it is one of the most geographically spectacular places in the country, but also one of the most culturally unique— Native American traditions and hispanic influence con[...]
Although we’d already been enjoying our time in New Mexico up until this point, it was unquestionably this week that impressed us most and cemented innumerable sites and experiences among our trip highlights. From one of the country’s youngest national parks to riverside hot springs and beachfr[...]
Travelling deeper into New Mexico, we definitely enjoyed the warmer days and above-freezing nights that had brought us down here in the first place, but also the unexpected autumn beauty of the desert and all the incredible Nuevo Mexicana cuisine we could eat. For a last-ditch effort to escape the[...]
Nestled in the centre of the American Rockies and with the highest average elevation of any US state, Colorado is a mecca for epic outdoor adventures, from its dense concentration of windy 14ers and world-class ski resorts to its scalding natural hot springs and sprawling alpine deserts. W[...]
Our final week in Colorado was spent at two amazing national parks, neither of which were part of our original plan. Although missing a lot of hiking in the Rockies has been disappointing, the reimagined route was incredibly beautiful and totally new for both of us— perhaps it all worked out bett[...]
Now that the snow has really started to fall in Colorado, we spent the week trying to occupy ourselves indoors. Of course that entailed visiting a few breweries from Silverthorne to Glenwood Springs, but more importantly, it also included long afternoons spent in hot springs and even a relaxing eve[...]
We spent much of this week making our way from Denver to Boulder to Fort Collins, visiting more breweries than are possible to count (although of course I did count and we are up to #95), eating heaps of wonderful food, and chatting to everyone we met along the way. By Friday, we joined the cro[...]