Why Travel Needs Women Of Color
We’ve stood in front of the magazine rack in an airport terminal. We’ve scanned rows of glossy magazine covers, hoping a few would pop out at us with pages of far-off destinations and photographs of...
View ArticleHeartbreak & Self-Deportation
The day Rodolfo deported himself from the United States of America, Donald Trump was voted into office. Together we left the dark of our tree-lined street in New York City before dawn to catch the...
View ArticleMy Tokyo Travel Experience
I believe goals are more than a hashtag, and for years, I had a personal goal of traveling to 30 countries by my 30th birthday—October 26, 2016. I had reached 29 countries by the end of summer, just...
View ArticleHow I Managed Travel Anxiety on My First International Trip
My husband and I were in the middle of Mexico City International Airport, attempting to decipher the words “Puerta 7” through squinted eyes and smudged glasses in order to check in for our flight back...
View ArticleGet Away to the Mediterranean Lisbon
Portugal’s coastal capital, Lisbon, is a sun-drenched Mediterranean city that still retains the charm of being a little off the beaten path. Sharing the Iberian Peninsula with Spain to its east,...
View ArticleBiking through Small-Town USA as a Brown Woman
When I decided to ride my bicycle across the country, my family and friends were worried for me. How would a small brown woman be treated? How would a daughter of immigrants bike across Small Town,...
View ArticleHow to Travel with a Chronic Illness
Although traveling is often depicted as an activity for unencumbered and carefree folks, those with chronic illnesses shouldn’t be left out. With some thoughtful strategies and planning, you’ll find...
View ArticleOh, the Places You Will Pee!
“But where’s the nearest public bathroom?” It’s an honest and genuine question for women backpackers in a world where the idea that women must be genteel and even a little cloistered from the vagaries...
View ArticleIn All Ways but One: An Undocumented Immigrant’s American Experience
I stood in my Atlanta living room with the energetic two-year-old I was nannying the summer of 2012. He climbed on the couch and slid off, thumping to the carpeted floor, only to get up and do it...
View ArticleWhat Travel Has Taught Me about Fear
Travel has taught me that the pitch-black night of the Sahara does not yield to the sunlight until it is good and ready. And when it does, the darkness gives way so fast that you would think this...
View ArticleBlack Remigration in the South
In 2008, I moved to Southern California. That November, I waited in temperate weather at my designated polling place, a light-brown grade school, to vote for Barack Obama. I was as hype as a little kid...
View ArticleTravel 101 for Fat Babes
When I talk to fat babes about travel there is one word that presides over our conversations: anxiety. What if the seats on the plane are too small? What if I sit next to someone who gives me side-eye...
View ArticleQueer Dating while Traveling Abroad Is Possible
International dating can be daunting. Being abroad requires adjusting to a new culture and acclimating to a new place. Dating can feel like adding fuel to the fire of stepping out of your comfort zone....
View ArticleGoing Solo: My European Traveling Experience
Travel can strain even the strongest relationships. The common wisdom is to travel only with people with whom you’d gladly spend a night in a filthy bus station—friends who can lift your spirits even...
View ArticleFinding a Little Piece of Home in Puerto Vallarta
Rumor has it that my mom and I are two of the three Viets who call Puerto Vallarta home. I’ve never met the third; my mom just alludes to her mysteriously, like she’s some kind of cryptid. We don’t see...
View ArticleEpisode 1: We Belong Here
Ep. 1 Transcript More from Virgie Tovar on OSG BABECAMP & Travel Photos by Virgie Tovar Lisbon, Portugal Photos by Nneya Richards I’ve accidentally melted my flatiron. Just go Team Natural....
View ArticleLatina Love in the Deep South
It’s rainy—a Tuesday night in Alabama—and I’m supposed to be writing about dating in the Deep South. Instead, I lie on my bed and listen to cars race past my window, and hear splashes of water as each...
View ArticleSt. Patrick’s Day in Butte, Montana
Butte, Montana, is one of the most Irish small cities in America, and Saint Patrick’s Day is an event. My partner, Miles, claimed that Butte is home to the country’s biggest celebration of this...
View ArticleConnecting with Women of Color Travelers through Social Media
Whether you don’t yet have your first passport stamp or you’re already exhausting all those “Places You Must See Before You Die” lists, there are travelers just like you looking for like-minded...
View ArticleHow Writing about My Homeland Brought Me Home After Moving Abroad
I was in self-exile from the country of my birth for almost a decade, but Sri Lanka never left my consciousness while I was moving and settling abroad. My first novel is about my home country, a story...
View ArticleReconnecting with Nature on Cayo Costa
Our destination was four nautical miles from the west coast of Florida: Cayo Costa, a small island accessible only by boat. Getting there meant a flight to Miami, driving across the southern tip of the...
View ArticleBeing an Expat Made Me Reexamine Identity Politics
“But where are you from ursprünglich? China? Japan?” They’re asking me where I’m originally from. Since moving to Munich, Germany, more than five years ago, this has been a somewhat common follow-up...
View ArticleGynopedia: Women’s Health Care Resources Wherever You Travel
Packing for travel has always been a challenge for me. What if you stay longer than intended? Or an occasion arises and you don’t have the right outfit to wear? How many shoes do you need for a...
View ArticleSeeing Myself: Traveling, Home & Self Identity
As I was growing up in a community of color in the Bronx, I felt assured of my self-identity in large part because everyone around me identified in a similar way. I grew up with many other children of...
View ArticleThe Solo Woman’s Guide to the Ultimate Southwest Road Trip
Stunning desert panoramas. Frighteningly beautiful night skies. Canyons, cactus, Route 66. Breaking Bad! The American Southwest is one of the most visually captivating places on earth. If you’ve ever...
View ArticleFinding Abuela’s Arepas in the American Southwest
The Puerto Rican arepa is a humble disk of fried dough made to sop up sauce from arroz con habichuelas or carne bif (rice and beans and canned corned beef, respectively, for the uninitiated). Nearly...
View ArticleLost in the Sky: A Pilot’s First Solo Flight
As a child, I was notorious for wandering off, especially during travel with my family. On one of these occasions, an airline pilot saved the day. I wasn’t lost in the sky: he had invited me into the...
View ArticleLearning How to Travel after Trauma
Even seasoned adventurers can find their confidence shaken after experiencing trauma during travel. It is 3 in the morning, and I am stumbling back to my hostel on the one main street in town,...
View ArticleSeeing Myself in “Girls Trip”
For decades there have been movies that have centered on the unending and devoted friendships between women. Beaches, Thelma & Louise, Bridesmaids, and even Britney Spears’s film debut in the road...
View ArticleHands Off: Things I Wish I’d Said to the Flight Attendant Who Touched My Hair
My friends and family asked if I was nervous about traveling to South Africa with my boyfriend to meet his family over Christmas. I wasn’t. What I was anxious about was getting there, which involved 28...
View ArticleArt in the Family: A Tradition at the Santa Fe Indian Market
The morning I left for the Santa Fe Indian Market, my husband discovered that my gas tank was leaking. But we are Mvskoke (Creek)—and we knew we could find help from one of our many relatives. No...
View ArticleWhat Is Travel Safety for Women of Color in a Racist, Sexist World?
For better or worse, I enjoy my own company more than others’, especially when I’m traveling. I vividly remember the first time 15-year-old me reconsidered travel safety from the cold shoulder of a...
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