21 Black Women You Should Take Travel Tips From

I wanted to try and make this post lighthearted and endearing but I was never good at faking the funk. There are hundreds of protests around the USA, Canada and the world right now against police brutality and the treatment of Black people. To pretend like I can just go about my day writing cutesy blog topics is not real, that’s a cover up. Just like everyday issues, travel is very political. One can’t just disassociate themselves from what has been going on and is going on with the treatment of Black men and women by police. And if you CAN disassociate yourself? Well, perhaps my blog isn’t for you and you can kindly close this page.

Here’s the thing about travel right, it is set within its own privileges. This can range from who has money to afford travel, which passport do you carry, what your physical abilities are, which gender you identify with and most definitely, what the colour of your skin is.

I get asked frequently, ‘Mirna is ______ safe to travel to?’.

It’s a tricky question because it really depends on who is asking. I acknowledge that traveling under a Canadian passport and as an able-bodied, white woman who speaks fluent English (the lingua franca of the traveling world I think) – what MY experience is in a city most likely will not be the experience a Black woman would have in the same city. That’s a horrible reality and I lack the depth to help Black women navigate those situations because I have not been through them. However, there are many Black women who travel the world and take the leaps. They have the experience and knowledge to write and speak on their experiences while traveling.

With that being said, I thought it would be a good idea to amplify the voices of some of those amazing Black women. They all travel and write about it, vlog about it or have a podcast about it, and you should check them out. Since 2020 is basically a wash for travel, it made sense to make it a list of 21! We are here looking forward to the future okay?

Also, take this time to note that I asked every single one of them for permission to post and they were gracious enough to allow me to write this blog post including them. Thank you ladies! And thank you to my best friend Sherry who designed the featured image for this blog post, it couldn’t be more perfect.

I tried to add the little (or a lot) I may know about the person or their content for each of them and also, some of my favourite posts done by them.

---

Global Carnivalist

Website: https://globalcarnivalist.com/

I really like Globey, I was lucky to meet her a couple of years ago at Carnival in Jamaica. One of my favourite posts by her was the recap of her travel to Morocco (and not only because of the superb outfits) and her recap of a trip to Haiti, because I’d really like to go visit there as well. Very envious!

---

Cruising Cocoa

Website: https://www.cruisingcocoa.com/

There’s definitely some bias here as I know KJ personally and she’s even cooler in person, if that’s possible. Imagine someone who is good at everything they do? Yeah, them ones. What I really like about her is that I’d follow along her posts on Instagram to see what being on a cruise ship was like. I’ve never been on one so her insight was great because she’s young and whole time I thought being on a cruise would be way more boring.

---

Ten Out Ah Ten

Website: https://tenoutahten.wordpress.com/

I recently met Tenille at Trinidad Carnival while she was just standing beautifully in a large fete crowd and I was mid-way through a drunken stupor. What a way to meet right? Well I know I really started reading her posts when she was traveling in Ghana and posting all the amazing content there. I’d try to post some of her fancy pants work for big publications, but the post I like by her was her rundown of what ten things prepared her for 2019. It’s amazing that with what is happening in 2020, we all probably could have used those same things to prepare as well for a totally different year.

---

Brooke On a Break

Website: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi2PtY9qmAYBGgYw4qw40-g/videos

Okay so I’ve never met Brooke in person right, but I started following her because she was the first person whose video I saw on getting your dental work done in Turkey. We’ve talked a couple of times, in different time zones since she is across the pond. She helped me with some of my planning to go get my own teeth done in Turkey as well and I am super grateful for her. I will say, my favourite video of hers is when she went to Croatia for Fresh Island Festival. If you need a good laugh and good insight, definitely watch that video!

---

Lenubienne

Website: https://lenubienne.contently.com/

Ah, the woman I imagine is a twin that I haven’t been fortunate to meet yet. That is Fernanda. This woman is gold I tell you, GOLD. Not only does she discuss travel, but she exudes the kind of confidence we all wish we had. With the specific topic of this blog post, I feel her post about traveling as a Black woman abroad would be most relevant and a must-read.

---

Two Dora’s in a Pod

Website: https://anchor.fm/twodorasinapod

I love that this is a podcast! I actually don’t know too many travel podcasts since people usually want to see all the pretty (and bad) but don’t necessarily want to just hear it, even though you should. Definitely need to engage with them on the Twodoras Twitter and if I may recommend one specific post they had, ‘The Truth About Travel.’ Raw. Honest. Opinionated. Take a listen.

---

WanderWomxn Travels

Website: https://medium.com/@JannaZinzi

Janna has one of those @ names that you always remember. Her timeline is filled with social justice, travel and lots of culture. If I could name the blog post you absolutely must read from her page it is the one about Intuition Doesn’t Lie. The entire post is beautiful and makes you think a lot but, that final sentence in it says: What inner wisdom does your intuition and your heart want to offer you? Make space for it: it is our truest ally, friend and partner. Like I said, a must read.

---

TravelEatSlay

Website: http://traveleatslay.com/

Okay so I’ve most definitely got the eat and the travel down right? One thing I don’t ever do when traveling is slay. I mostly look like a comfy university student when I travel so I don’t think I’ve slayed a day in my life. But this is why across the pond you have the wonderful women from traveleatslay. I especially like their site because they have Q&A’s with various travelers from around the world and you get to have many perspectives instead of just one. I would suggest reading the whole darn site, but my personal favourite is the Strangers to Travel Buddies post. To me, there really is no greater experience in travel than making travel buddies! Love it.

---

Travel With Tolu

Website: https://travelwithtolu.com/

If you want to see a CLEAAAAAN site, you should go check this website. You can tell Tolu took time and made this site not only clean, but super visually appealing. I like pages where I won’t enter and automatically exit because there’s too much going on. A seamless experience is appreciated and visiting her site you will get that. I read a lot of her posts because she goes to places I want to/have gone to as well, but my favourite was the Afronation Portugal 2019 post. First reason is because I’m jealous, it looked like a heck of an experience and second because she gives an awesome breakdown of costs and lots of nice pictures. Go check that out.

---

Elaisha Jade

Website: https://www.elaishajade.com/

Another super clean and visually appealing site I like to frequent. Elaisha and I just recently had a little chat on our opinions on a certain European city. It is that exact conversation why a blog post like this is needed. What I thought was pertinent to my trip there vs. what she experienced was pretty varied. A post I would suggest on there is the one about Facing Her Fears to go Mountain Biking in Switzerland. I’m a big fan of any blog post that begins with ‘I didn’t die‘, plus I don’t know how to ride a bike. My kinda post.

---

Nite Views

Website: https://www.niteviews.com/

Ellie, my fellow Torontonian traveler. She isn’t only a travel blogger, she actually went to school for tourism – she is the REAL DEAL. I like her because she also dabbles in the solo travel lifestyle and I will always be a cheerleader for women who venture abroad alone. Don’t wait for people, go do it. Yesss. She has a post about traveling solo to Caye Caulker, Belize. This is a destination I’ve been personally eyeing for a long time, so the fact that she did it solo is even better. Informational read!

---

MegFabulous

Website: https://megfabulous.com/

If I had to take a wild guess from my memory, I think I began following Meg when she did a post about her trip to Singapore. We both had done the Kuala Lumpur, Bali and Singapore lineup in our respective travels so there was a lot to talk about. However, none of these were my favourite post from her. She did one on her trip to Santiago, Chile and I vividly remember the beautiful photos she’d post from the trip and reading the post itself. Santiago wasn’t on my travel list/goals at all until I read this, I love cities that are best explored on foot.

---

NSKL Online / I Eat Solo

Website: https://www.instagram.com/NSKL/ / https://www.instagram.com/IEatSolo/

This is the Instagram page you want to be looking at. Beautiful costumes on a beautiful woman. Do you need any other reason? One of my favourite carnivalist women on Twitter with not one but TWO YouTube channels and TWO Instagram pages. If you like to eat (yes, this is my kind of place) then make sure to check out her Eat Solo Instagram page as well.

---

Liberty Leave

Website: https://www.libertyleave.com/

Let’s quickly talk about Danica, okay? If and when I grow up, I hope to be as good with marketing and blogging as she is. This is like the BOSS of it. Along with her amazing Watch Danica Work site, the Libery Leave story and page are really something to dive into. I think the best post you can read on there right now is her experience traveling solo in Asia while COVID was basically getting going. It is a whirlwind of a blog post and although I’m sorry this happened during her travels, I’m grateful she documented all of if so thoroughly for the rest of us to read.

---

Cinelliverse

Website: https://www.youtube.com/c/cinelliverse

Trigger warning, if you have recently eaten a cheeseburger or a whole pizza, like I did, maybe this isn’t the moment to go look at Cinelli’s YouTube channel or her Instagram. But once you get over your food coma, you MUST go look at her photos and videos. I believe I started following along in her journeys because I swear she was always in Tel-Aviv and I really wanted to visit there, still do. If I could recommend any specific video of hers that stood out to me it was the Spice Mas 2019 one. Another experience I’d like to have one day that she was able to take the viewers through. Magical.

---

My Breaking Views

Website: https://mybreakingviews.com/

Another super clean and easy to navigate site. Adebola not only has My Breaking Views to run, but she is also the co-founder of Black Travel Creators. Wonderwoman, basically. She has a post about What She Hates About Traveling and there was definitely some points in there I can identify with, and I’m sure all of you could as well. Go take a read.

---

Sandra Manjie

Website: https://sandramanjie.com/

I dare you to find a single more beautiful landing page than Sandra’s. It’s okay, I’ll wait. The colours and the themes are so vivid and the photos from her Carnival travels are epic! I really like her blog because she posts a lot about budgets and I think money conversations are imperative when trying to do all kinds of travel, especially Carnival. Naturally, because of that topic, my post to suggest you all read from her blog is 8 Money-Saving Strategies for Travel. Learn something, do something.

---

Tina Ware

Website: https://tinaware.com/blog/

Look, a whole published author on the list. Wowzers. Yep, that’s Justina. She wrote a book, has a blog and is one of those wonderful humanitarians that actually gives a damn about the world. If there is any post of hers I would really encourage all of you to read it’s a recap of her time spent Volunteering in Dominica. Heads up, it is not long but it is a bit of a tear jerker.

---

Bahamianista

Website: https://bahamianista.com/

Cris might be one of the sweetest human beings on this planet that I just haven’t had the pleasure to meet in person, yet. I actually believe she may be the sole reason people from the Bahamas began one day requesting itineraries from me. She put me on and I will be forever grateful to her for supporting. I will give another trigger warning for checking her Instagram out because she is fit as heck and you will regret the last XL french fry you just ate before seeing the page. The blog post of hers I’d tell you to check out is the 7 Reasons Why Sugar Mas Should Be Your First Carnival for 2021. I didn’t know much about Sugar Mas, but she broke it down and if you’re considering it – go read this post!

---

The Travelin’ Geo

Website: http://www.thetravelingeo.com/

I don’t know a darn thing about geology, but she explained some things to me last summer when I visited Pamukkale and she mentioned PERHAPS I shouldn’t be walking on limestone barefoot. Wish I knew that before. This is your go-to for geo tours. I didn’t even know what those were prior to Tweeting back and forth with her. Now most of our back and forth is about our love of 90 Day Fiance shenanigans and the occasional conversation on some things I’ve said about my homeland. She’s brilliant and I hope she can put everyone on more in geology information, when we are all allowed back outside. Also, check her IG if you like plants. (I know many of you have recently become plant parents!)

---

Wonders of Wanders

Website: https://www.wondersofwanders.com/

Davida is another wonderful blogger from across the pond. On her website there is tons of information about the places she has been to and even a section for a podcast. But do you know what the absolute best part of her website is, for me? There is a section called ‘One Day, Three Ways‘ – it isn’t ONE specific blog post, it is many of them. I am someone who loves day trips to places and she has some awesome examples of them on this page. Really a woman after my own heart. Go visit for a day, or three different ways 🙂

---

There they are, 21 of them and you better go read and subscribe to them all!

Twenty one travelers, wanderers and different perspectives. I know you’re all sitting at home doing nothing or ‘working from home‘ – since we may not be allowed to touch planes safely for the rest of 2020, you have the time to go support and plot out what you’re currently daydreaming about.

• Mirna