#rempalaroundtheworld

Our Travel Blog

Countries

Cities

Miles Walked

blog posts

Welcome

We’re Stephen and Kristin Rempala. We’re both born and raised in the Midwest, and in May 2018, we quit our jobs, sold our cars, and left our home in Kansas City, MO. Join us while we spend the next year under-planning and making our way around the world.

Recent Adventures

Where we’ve been. What we’ve done. And follies along the way.

Day 320-331:
Stockholm

Day 308-319:
Buenos Aires

Day 304-307:
El Chaltén

rempalaroundtheworld

El Chaltén out of ten. Would go back. . Posted ab

El Chaltén out of ten. Would go back.
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Posted about our last hikes in Patagonia. Link in bio.
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#rempalaroundtheworld #elchaltén #patagonia #patagoniargentina #argentina #fitzroy

Perito Moreno Glacier. We recommend seeing it in p

Perito Moreno Glacier. We recommend seeing it in person. 🧳 ✈️
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Latest story in bio.

@planetalindohostel gave us one of the best hostel

@planetalindohostel gave us one of the best hostel views of our trip.
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Also, if you need a pick-me-up, shuffle the Argentina Top 50 playlist on Spotify. It’s a gem. Don’t hate that we rocked the Argentina tunes in Chile.
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#rempalaroundtheworld #atw #adventure #valparaíso #chile #hostellife

We may be back in the US, but there are still so m

We may be back in the US, but there are still so many stories to tell.
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@rcjhgoku has his first naked group bathing experience and we fall in love with Japanese cuisine. Japan blog is up and running. Link in bio.
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Thank you for an amazing adventure @csakumura @experienceyourself @_hurricanesandy @msakumura @ykk_kt @sleepykana .
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#japan #snowboarding #tokyo #rempalaroundtheworld #travelcouples #atw #fulltimetravel #arigato

Stephen here 👋 I’m not trying to brag, but I

Stephen here 👋 I’m not trying to brag, but I have packed my bag approximately 5,378,231 times this past year.
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It’s time to share my packing tips and tricks for carry-on travel. Hopefully you all out there will drop some knowledge on us as well.
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Check out the link in our bio. Around The World Packing Guide: Stephen’s Carry-On Edition.
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#packingtips #travelcouples #rempalaroundtheworld #carryon #carryonbag #travelhacks #atw #rtw #fulltimetravel #ospreyfarpoint40 #osprey #minimalisttravel #carryononly #carryontravel #packingcubes #ebagspackingcubes

Happy Earth Day 🌏. . We’ve experienced so muc

Happy Earth Day 🌏.
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We’ve experienced so much wonder but also so much that needs healing.
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She’s mighty and magnificent and damn is she resilient.
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#earthday #healtheplanet #reducenotrecycle #fulltimetravel #elchalten #glacier #endoftherainbow #ethicaltravel #aroundtheworld #atw #rempalaroundtheworld

It’s possible we have a new favorite animal. Loo

It’s possible we have a new favorite animal. Look at that cute little baby elephant!
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We had the opportunity to hang out at @mandalao_elephants where we saw baby Kit and learned about their mission to reintroduce him into the wild. It was an extraordinary experience.
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Luang Prabang may be one of our favorite cities in SE Asia.
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#elephants #babyelephants #laos #luangprabang #temples #mountphousi #rempalaroundtheworld #atw #travelcouples #mandalao #ethicalanimaltourism #animaltourism #ethicaltravel #savetheelephants #elephantsanctuary

Taking a slow boat from Thailand to Laos was one o

Taking a slow boat from Thailand to Laos was one of our most intriguing modes of transportation.
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We met many fellow travelers from around the world during this 2-day adventure.
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Shout out to @__thedadbod___ @danveira @kinghs.curiosities @emeliaburkee .
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A new blog post is up giving the essential information you need for the slow boat journey. Link in the bio.
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#slowboat #laos #thailand #rempalaroundtheworld #couplestravel #atw #mekongriver #pakbeng #boattravel

Our dog Benny turns 8 years old today 🎉 . If yo

Our dog Benny turns 8 years old today 🎉
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If you see him, make sure to wish him “Happy Birthday” and give him a hug 🤗 He likes walks, peanut butter jars, antlers, and his special couch spot.
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If you didn’t already know, our dogs are with our family while we are on this wild adventure, and we miss them terribly. We can’t wait to get back to see these ding dongs.
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#dogs #puppy #dogbirthday #rempalaroundtheworld #coupleswhotravel #atw #wemissscouttoo #dogsofinstagram #travelpets #goodboys #bestboy

Torres del Paine. 45 miles. 3 days. Incredible. .

Torres del Paine. 45 miles. 3 days. Incredible.
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Some of our hiking highlights include:
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PUMA! Yes we spotted a PUMA in the first ten minutes of our first hike. He was about 30 feet away, walking toward us, parallel to the trail. No photos because he surprised us and I had no idea what I was supposed to do if he approached (eye contact and loud noise, btw).
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Water. So much powerful water. (Definitely securely positioned at the top of my list for most powerful element @_hurricanesandy). For me the best part was refilling our water bottles straight from nature, which 100% fulfilled my childhood dreams of living in the wild (@rebeccarains31)
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Snow Slides. While hiking through a forested area we heard a distant but loud roar that sounded like a low flying plane. When we finally reached a viewpoint and heard it again I saw that it wasn’t a plane at all...it was snow sliding from a glacier in the distance. One of the most awesome things I’ve ever witnessed.
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Other Wildlife: lots of foxes, a giant woodpecker, condors, guanacos (kind of like a llama), and lots of humans in very expensive technical hiking gear that is intended to give them the survival characteristics of animals.
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On our last hike we left camp at 5:30 am in order to catch the last catamaran to the park entrance in time. We didn’t see another person on the trail for hours.
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I am still surprised we were able to thru hike with the little gear (and let’s be honest, experience) we had. We had the proper clothes, but absolutely nothing we needed to camp. Luckily, @experienceyourself and @csakumura did this hike last year and they helped us understand some of the logistics we weren’t able to easily find online.
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We booked equipped campsites which provided a tent and sleeping bags, so we really only needed a camping stove kit (which we rented from our guesthouse).
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Other than that, we each carried a backpack with a change of clothes, some toiletries, the food we’d need for three days, and we were all set. .
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#torresdelpaine #thruhiking #hikepatagonia #patagonia #chile #travelchile #pumasinchile #rempalaroundtheworld #pumawatch #torresdelpainewildlife #powerofnature #fulltimetravel

Good night Santiago 😘. Only a couple more of th

Good night Santiago 😘. Only a couple more of these stellar sunsets before we make some moves.
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Patagonia here we come.
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#santiago #chile #southamericantravels #fulltimetravel #atw #rempalaroundtheworld #travelcouples #sunset #travelsouthamerica #sunsettimelapse #chiletravel #nofiltersky #timelapse #marcachile

I know it isn’t really fair that we’ve been in

I know it isn’t really fair that we’ve been in warm weather for 10 months and had to miss the worst winter KC has had in years, so we added a little snow to our trip. But it was in Japan. And we got to snowboard in it.
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Check out my little write up about the time we spent last month snowboarding at Rusutsu Resort (link in bio)
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#adventuretravel #travelcouples #snowboardjapan #rusutsuresort #rempalaroundtheworld #naturetravel #atw #fulltimetravel #chasingsnow #chasingwinter

Oh you mean I’m supposed to look? . Really happy

Oh you mean I’m supposed to look?
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Really happy Stephen’s cousins came all the way to meet us to travel for a week. 👏🏼👏🏼🙌🏼
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Chile is a bit harder to navigate than New Zealand but my Spanish is coming back better than I thought!
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Our route is Santiago->San Jose de Maipo (hiking)->Santa Cruz (wine)->Valparaiso (culture)->Santiago...all in FIVE DAYS.
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#fulltimetravel #southamerica #chile #naturetravel #travelcouples #rempalaroundtheworld #atw

Glacial Facials are all the rage. . . . #nzcamperv

Glacial Facials are all the rage.
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#nzcampervan #nzsouthisland #nztourism #naturalskincare #glacialfacial #alpinenightcreme #hippiescanthelpit #naturetravel #rtw #travelcouplelife #mtcook #hookerlake

I don’t believe we ever properly introduced our

I don’t believe we ever properly introduced our camper van.
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Her name is Moana and we will be spending two weeks together. She used to be a delivery van for a hospital. We have been reassured that Moana was not an ambulance and did not transport bodies in any way.
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We booked this self-contained beauty through Mighway, which is a peer to peer platform where you can rent from private owners.
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#mighway #campervan #nzcampervan #campervanlicious #nzsouthisland #nztourism #fulltimetravel #travelcouples #rempalaroundtheworld #campervanlife #sheep #atw #selfcontained

Day #1 of that camper van life. Not quite used to

Day #1 of that camper van life. Not quite used to driving on the left hand side of the road yet, but we’ll get there.
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#campervan #newzealand #kaikoura #lookout #atw #fulltimetravel #travelcouples #rempalaroundtheworld #campervanlife #campervanlicious #mighway #naturetravel #nzcampervan #nzsouthisland #nztourism

Sydney ❤️ . We only had four days to explore S

Sydney ❤️
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We only had four days to explore Sydney but this city blew me away! The beaches, the harbor, the parks, the history... and special shoutout to their fantastic public transit that was one of the easiest and most comprehensive on our trip. We were able to get everywhere we wanted, and as a bonus, on Sundays you can ride all the transit you want - trains, buses, and ferries - for $1.93 USD.
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We visited the Opera House on Valentine’s Day, did the coastal walk from Coogee to Bondi, explored Watson’s Bay, met up with two different friends of friends (so great to meet you @georgina_healy and @katiemo_), found a little piece of home during brunch at @kansascityshufflesyd, walked the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and took a tour of the area called The Rocks which was settled by the convicts who were sent to Australia by the British (not so bad of a punishment if you ask me....).
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#sydney #sydneyoperahouse #australiatravel #fulltimetravel #rempalaroundtheworld #travelcouples #bondibeach #watsonsbay #atw #NSWpublictransit #sydneytrains #opalcard

Looking for a place to stay in Hakuba? Master Kash

Looking for a place to stay in Hakuba? Master Kashiwa has it all. Delicious food, traditional Japanese rooms, and onsens. What more could you ask for?
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We’re in love with Japanese food. Check out our dinner at the guesthouse (Kashiwabara Country Inn).
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#hakuba #japanesefood #rempalaroundtheworld #atw #coupleswhotravel #fulltimetravel #japan #chasingwinter #tourjapan #snowtravel

Before heading to Hakuba for our second round of s

Before heading to Hakuba for our second round of snowboarding, we spent a morning at the Snow Monkey Park which is located less than an hour from Nagano.
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The official name of these monkeys is the Japanese macaque. They’re commonly called snow monkeys because they live in areas that have snow on the ground for much of the year. No other primate lives further north or in a colder climate than these guys.
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When it gets really cold, you can see them take a dip in the nearby hot springs, or onsen, to warm up.
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#snowmonkeys #japanesemacaque #snowmonkeypark #tourjapan #rempalaroundtheworld #travelcouplelife #snowtravel #chasingwinter #fulltimetravel #nagano #hakuba

No snow in the forecast yesterday, so we decided t

No snow in the forecast yesterday, so we decided to take a field trip. Hopped on a train for two hours from #Hakuba to #Matsumoto to see this castle that has been standing for over 400 years.
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Don’t worry about @where_next_ on the ground. She’s fine.
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#samurai #castle #train #rempalaroundtheworld #fulltimetravel #atw #coupleswhotravel #japantravelphoto #aroundtheworldtrip

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