Hey, what's up y'all. It's Kim with workhardtravelwell.com.
Thanks for checking out my YouTube channel.
On this video, I'm going to talk about eight destinations
that I recommend for black travelers to visit.
Here is a little twist, it's going to be the solo travel edition.
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There are already so many great videos out there about this topic.
There is one video from Glo from The Blog Abroad
who talks about the five most African-American-friendly countries.
Also, Stephanie Perry has a video called Countries Where Black Travelers Feel Welcome.
I wanted to add my perspective about countries and destinations
where I felt safe as traveling alone, traveling solo.
What it's like to travel solo as a black woman.
Why I travel solo? Why do people travel alone?
I get a lot of different mixed opinions when I talk about traveling solo.
Some people think that it's weird and some people haven't had a chance to do it yet
and are on the fence about it.
You have some like me who love it.
I love to travel solo.
I got to a place where I was just tired of waiting on other people.
Now that we're in COVID, can you imagine what would have happened
if I would have waited on other people?
Last year, I had a chance to visit so many great destinations
and a majority of them were by myself and out of the country.
Housekeeping.
I will start off by saying that these are recommendations
from either my experiences or things that I've heard from other travelers.
When we talk about best places for solo travel and safety,
it's all about how you handle yourself and what things you do
to make sure that you are safe in those environments.
Let's go ahead and get into the best countries and destinations for black travelers,
especially if you're looking to travel solo.
Number one, Thailand.
Thailand is probably on everyone's list on best places for black travelers
because the people there are so friendly.
When I visited, I actually flew out there solo,
but met some friends there.
While we were there, everyone was very friendly,
a little too friendly at times.
If you've not experienced going into a country in Asia,
most of the times, you're followed around
with locals trying to take photos of you and stuff like that.
In Thailand, it's just the culture.
Just everyone there was very welcoming to black travelers.
Our tour guide, we used her for one tour,
but she helped us out throughout the trip and connecting us with other tour guides.
I would definitely recommend Thailand, either Bangkok or you could go to also Phuket.
Either of those places are very welcoming to black travelers
and it's very safe to travel alone,
especially if you're traveling alone as a black woman.
Now, I'm going to slide this destination
that a lot of people probably think of this next destination as being unsafe,
but I did travel to this destination and that is number two, Cartagena, Columbia.
I visited Cartagena while traveling solo.
One of the things that I liked is it's very close to the US.
I was able to take a very inexpensive flight using JetBlue.
I'm not sure I will use them again. Anyway, I took a very last minute trip,
and it was still not as expensive as it should have been for last minute.
I went over there for a pre-birthday celebration.
No one could get the time off, so you know what? I made the trip.
People there were very friendly. I stayed within the old Walled City.
Everyone there was very friendly. I don't speak a lot of Spanish.
I speak a little [SPANISH LANGUAGE] [CHUCKLES].
Hey, y'all. It's Kim with workhardtravelwell.com.
I'm giving you a quick look at the beautiful city.
The hotel staff arranged for me to have a driver.
Whenever I needed to take a taxi, they communicated with the taxi driver,
and so I felt very safe. I was able to walk around.
This looks like the beginning of a scary movie.
Should I go in there or should I run away.
What do you all think?
I'm going to peek head and see what's going on?
Went on tours with two people in Cartagena.
One is the Real Cartagena, which is a tour company there.
Also, Freddy Paz is a tour guide there. Both of those companies made me feel very safe.
And the locals made me feel safe.
You always have to be cautious when we talk about safety.
There was just small instances when I was in Cartagena.
Being at one of the street carts outside, I remember asking if they had chicken.
This guy said, "Oh, no, they don't have it right now.
Tomorrow or something," whatever he said.
Then, I walked off, but then, I guess because I let him know that I was looking for chicken,
he decided to ask me if I wanted to tell me about
or show me some good restaurants with chicken.
I said, "No, thanks," and kept it moving.
Instead of my intended destination or direction I had started out with,
I went somewhere else in case he wanted to follow me.
Also, I was outside of my hotel, so I didn't want to go directly into my hotel.
Even though the hotel I stayed in made sure that everyone was a guest
and checked in and things like that, I didn't want to take any chances.
Number three, Accra, Ghana.
Everyone flock to Ghana because of The Year of Return.
That's where African-Americans went to Ghana to learn about Ghana,
to just travel back to Ghana and to the roots.
It is noted one of the best destinations for black travelers,
as well as it is noted for being safe for solo travelers and black women who travel alone.
Number four, Iceland, Reykjavik.
Although, you will not see a lot of black locals in Iceland,
a lot of people asked me about that, so I wanted to get that out of the way,
but it is noted as one of the safest countries according to the Global Peace Index.
If you're looking for a place to travel solo and that is somewhat friendly to black travelers,
I visited Reykjavik Iceland.
I have a few videos on what it was like to travel to Reykjavik,
what the Blue Lagoon was like and things like that.
You can check those out below in the description.
Number five, Victoria Falls in Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Victoria Falls is one of the largest falls in the world.
Victoria Falls is also one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
I had a chance to visit Victoria Falls alone.
I went on a solo trip there.
This was another destination where the hotel really took care of me.
They scheduled the airport transfer and the driver was very friendly.
Everyone at the hotel was friendly.
I stayed at the Victoria Safari Lodge on the Zimbabwe side.
One thing about that is you can fly into Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwe side VFA,
or you can fly into the Zambian side.
It's all about cost, all about what you're looking to do.
There is a way to get a visa and actually walk across the bridge,
ride across the bridge and go to each country.
That's going to come later.
Let me know if you're interested in that in the comments below.
While I was there, I met other black travelers, other black families.
I went on a tour of the Falls.
Thankfully, my tour group was a black family from the US.
They were so welcoming.
Everyone there, even the locals are very welcoming.
I actually met other black solo travelers while I was on the Sunset Cruise there
and got to hang out with other black women solo travelers in Victoria Falls.
Not only is there the Falls, you have other things there.
There are tours that you can take and even going into Botswana, stuff like that.
I would definitely recommend Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, or Zambian side.
In Victoria Falls, I felt safe while I was solo traveling.
You just have to watch out for kind of negotiations and things like that
because you're American.
Sometimes I did notice the taxi drivers would try to charge me a little bit more,
but I already knew before I got there what it should be.
If they didn't, I'd just walk.
Then, of course, they're like, "Oh no, no, we can do it for that price."
That's anywhere you probably run into it though.
Number six, and while we're on African destinations,
let's keep on going to Cape Town, South Africa.
For the most part, all of the countries and destinations that I've visited by myself,
I've had a great experience except for one that I talk about in a separate video,
one of my biggest travel mistakes I've made so far.
Cape Town, people there were very friendly.
Tour guides were very friendly. I felt safe there.
I felt safer than I did in the destination that I had just talked about
that you should check out the other video.
With all South African countries, as a solo traveler,
you have to be on top of things.
There's just things you should pay attention to.
When you're in South Africa, don't bring a lot of attention to yourself.
I noticed that when I was flying my drone, I actually didn't feel that safe flying it only
only because drones bring a lot of attention to you anyway,
but people on the beaches,
locals would come to me and ask for money and things like that.
There are areas of South Africa, of Cape town that are definitely not safe for solo travel.
Like I said, you have to really, really be on your guard,
be mindful of what you're wearing, what kind of purse you're carrying,
things like that.
That's with all the trips.
Definitely, in South Africa, while I was in Cape Town by myself, I actually--
The first day, I did a personal tour with a driver.
The hotel linked me with him.
The tour basically all around Cape Point area and Boulders Beach.
I went to the Table Mountain.
I just made up my own itinerary and gave it to the driver and the hotel.
I'm just like, "How much of this can we fit in?"
It was an eight-hour tour. That was my first day.
I didn't really feel safe at night going out just because in the Hilton Hotel
they basically said, "Don't go out around here."
I was already shaken up from what happened earlier in the trip.
I didn't venture to that.
Other days, I went on a wine tour.
Actually, I was like the fifth wheel on a wine tour.
Also, I did go out to dinner one night where there was a local band playing.
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That was an okay experience.
The only thing that I didn't like is guys kept walking by like, "Where are your friends?"
I tried to ignore them.
I'm not going to be like, "I don't have any friends here."
I did have an older white guy who asked me to have dinner with him.
If you know me, you know the answer to that.
I also explored the V&A Waterfront.
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As well as Biscuit Mill, which they opened up for entertainment.
There is shopping there regularly, but on Saturdays, they have--
Basically, it's like a market for food,
souvenirs, live entertainment, drinks, everything.
It was a really neat experience.
I definitely would recommend Cape Town.
This next destination is somewhere that I felt safe traveling alone,
but it may not be everyone's cup of tea for a solo trip.
As a Black traveler, I felt safe and welcomed.
It is number seven, Turks and Caicos, Provo.
I visited there solo.
The reason why I say it might not be a good idea for everyone for a solo trip
is because the cost of visiting Turks and Caicos is expensive.
I went to the grocery store. I'll give you an example.
I think a gallon of water there was $6.
Pringles was $3 to $4. Everything was expensive.
This is US dollars. That was my first international solo trip.
I felt so safe there. I even rented a car.
I was able to get around. It was advised in one of my research to rent a car
because there's not a lot of taxis, if any, there.
I used my offline maps to get around.
I actually met people while I was there.
I don't know if I can tell you say that I use my real name.
I met some people while I was there, I even got proposed to while I was there.
It was just so relaxing to just chill on the beach,
get a massage in your room, stuff like that.
Those are one of the vacations that, "Okay, this is a true treat for myself."
It was actually cheap to get there.
The reason I decided on this is because at the time,
a package to go to California from Atlanta
versus a package from Atlanta to Turks and Caicos was about the same.
What I didn't know at the time was the cost of things,
but LA is also expensive as well.
I would recommend Turks and Caicos for Black travelers.
It is an African-American friendly destination.
Number eight is Paris.
France is another destination where I felt safe.
The locals were friendly to Black Americans.
When I went to Paris last year, they were telling us how awful number 45 is.
Even though it's the city of love, I feel you can still have a good time there
as a solo Black traveler.
You will still feel welcome there.
There's so many different cultures, backgrounds all in Paris
and so many things to do just beyond the Eiffel Tower, even going to Versailles.
That was the highlight.
In Paris, there's a lot of launching places for getting on a quick train ride
and going to Brussels, Belgium or anywhere in Belgium.
I recommend Paris as far as being a place for Black travelers to feel safe,
especially if you're traveling alone, Paris is a good destination.
Those are a few of the destinations that I recommend for Black solo travelers,
Black women travelers, Black travelers to visit.
Check out the description of this video.
I have a free guide for tips for planning a trip for solo travel
as well as the best websites and best discounts available for traveling solo.
Thanks for watching this video.
If you found it helpful, please leave me a comment.
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As I mentioned earlier, I post weekly videos around travel,
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