About Us
Hey! I’m Lia. I grew up in Louisville, and though I’ve travelled all over the world, I’ve never found anywhere as special.
Growing up on a farm on the outskirts of Louisville (horses and all), I saw Louisville as the big city. I never dreamed that one day my life path might take me far away from here – all over the world, in fact. But I knew one thing: Louisville would always be my home. No matter how far away I travelled, nowhere else called to me the way Louisville does. So, I moved back home after a decade away to start a family here – and to share my love for Louisville with all of y’all.
The Story of Let’s Go Louisville
I moved away from Louisville to attend college – though I didn’t go too far. I ended up at IU Bloomington (Go Hoosiers!) and spent almost every weekend back home with my friends in Louisville.
When I graduated, though, I moved all the way across the country and ended up in San Francisco, pursuing my dream to work in the fashion industry! Cue Emily-in-Paris style montage, but with me and like, some barking harbor seals and clam chowder in a sourdough breadbowl, trying to figure out how to use public transportation.
It was at this point that I met my now-husband and my life started going a little off the well-planned path I’d envisioned. 5 years after entering the corporate world I was sick of it.
So, I quit – and I took off on a year-long honeymoon. (Psst: Later on, I wrote a book about that experience to help anyone dreaming of taking the leap – it’s called How to Quit Your Job & Travel.)
Which was a lot of fun – though mostly a total disaster. And also, led to me starting a travel blog called Practical Wanderlust. By the time we returned from our adventure – ready to settle back down and live out of anything larger than a backpack – we had a growing audience. Over the next 6 years, the site became one of the most popular travel blogs in the world, giving me some truly incredible, once-in-a-lifetime travel opportunities. I still pinch myself that this was the actual life I lived, y’all.
All good things come to an end though, and for me, the end came right around March 13, 2020. Remember that day? The day we well went home to shelter in place “just for a couple of weeks?” Ha.
Well, you can imagine how running a travel blog during a pandemic was. Spoilers: not great. And not too long after that, we found ourselves flying to Louisville to escape the raging fires in California.
And that’s when we saw a stunning Victorian home in the heart of a historic neighborhood. It felt like home, and that’s when we knew it was time to move back to Louisville. So, we bought it!
Fast forward just a couple of years, and we’re happily settled back home again – with one chaotic, silly toddler and one extremely anxious dog in tow!
It was time to settle in and put down deep roots. I’d spent most of the last decade telling stories about places all over the world, and I was ready to tell stories about my favorite place of all: Louisville.
So I started this site to help visitors explore this city that I love so much. And together with my husband – who’d spent the last decade teaching – we started a venture that combined both of our passions: a food tour company called Louisville Food Tours.
These days, you’ll typically find us out walking around town, telling our favorite stories about Louisville – served up alongside our favorite dishes, in our favorite restaurants.
We can’t wait to show you around our city!
But I can’t do It alone….
I started this blog right around the same time as I had a baby. And started a food tour company. Which means … I have my hands majorly full! Luckily, I’ve got help – and a best friend with an English degree!
You’ll see a few names of other locals, friends sand neighbors on the site who have helped me out by writing us articles (psst: want to write for us? get in touch!). Below are a few of the names you’ll probably see the most (er, they also happen to be my best friend and my husband):
Meet Richie
Editor-In-Chief & Social Media Manager
Richie Goff was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky and graduated from the University of Louisville with a degree in English and linguistics.
Richie is also the Editor in Chief of Practical Wanderlust, and has been best friends with Lia since some point in early high school that neither of them can remember!
Richie enjoys theatre and acting, playing the ukulele, and growing flowers.
Meet Jeremy
Contributing Writer
After growing up on the beach in California, Jeremy met and married a girl from Louisville. They travelled the world together, but after about 800 trips to Kentucky and countless pints of Comfy Cow, she finally convinced him to move to Louisville.
One Victorian home and a baby later, Jeremy’s a Louisvillian now.
Jeremy spent a decade in the classroom as an educator and is the co-founder of the Practical Wanderlust travel blog, co-host of the Practical Wanderlust Podcast, co-founder and the lead tour guide and producer of tours for Louisville Food Tours.