Expat Connections.

Saigon Market. Photo by Jenise Holloway.

I don't know how many of you have ever considered living abroad or maybe perhaps you are currently an expat, but I was just nosing around a bit and came up with this interesting list of links. It's only logical that lots of travel could eventually lead to living abroad at some point so I thought I'd list a two good sites here:

http://www.ExpatExchange.com/ - Has discussion forums and a pretty extensive resource guide.

http://www.Expatica.com/ - "Find a job or a house, check out business in our English-only listings, and get the information you need in the areas of education, health and finance."


If you have any links that might fit in on this list, feel free to post links in comments.

Free Travel! Application deadline: February 18th, 2008.

Looking for a way to take an all expense paid trip? Checkout The Experiment in International Living. Basically it's a chaperone opportunity in which you take a group of students overseas for the summer.

"The Experiment in International Living offers dynamic summer programs for high school students in 27 countries around the world. For 75 years, Experiment programs have provided transformational learning experiences to tens of thousands of young people. These groundbreaking summer abroad programs help students develop a profound understanding of a different culture, language, and world view, as well as the capacity to see their own lives and country in a much broader perspective."

How to Apply to Become a Leader:
Those interested in becoming group leaders should do one of the following:
Call us at (800) 345-2929 (toll free in the US) or (802) 257-7751
Download a PDF of the Leader Application and mail it to us
Apply Online

The application includes:
* a personal profile
* short essay questions
* a case study
* a brief Leader biography
* a "Dear Family" letter (written in the language(s) of the country(s) to which you are applying)
* Three (3) references

The Group Leader application deadline is Monday, February 18, 2008.

Completed applications will be reviewed through March and early April. Those who qualify will be scheduled for an interview. The process of making final decisions will begin in May.

Special thanks to Elaine Lee at http://www.ugogurl.com/ for this great trip tip!

"The People Could Fly Project".

I've been meaning to post about this project for ages, but time just got away from me. If you've never been to their blog--go now! The project is so amazing and inspiring. And best of all you can contribute to help them complete their documentary!

Project Description:

The People Could Fly Project is a documentary arts project focusing on the dreams of young people across the African Diaspora. It follows the adventures of five sisters, ages of 7 to 21 as they travel across the US, Africa, and South America talking to young people about their dreams and visions for themselves and the world. Their work will culminate in a docu-narrative film about the journey.

As the daughters of an airline employee they've been able to fly many places, but felt it was imperative to share their experiences with others and to talk and engage with young people around the world about the power of their own dreams, their own abilities to make them reality, and thus their own ability to fly.

They have traveled to New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Jena, LA, Connecticut, Detroit, Virginia, Nashville, TN; Washington, DC; and Mississippi talking, filming, photographing, and interviewing people of all ages about their dreams and are on the way to many other places.

They were inspired by a folktale told in the Americas about Africans enslaved who sprout wings and fly away. The story is found in children's book author Virginia Hamilton's "The People Could Fly".

The online segment of their journey with photos, video clips, and writing can be found at:

http://thepeoplecouldfly.blogspot.com/

Contribute to help pay for their travels and the completion of their documentary! Contributions of $50 or more receive a signed and matted 8x10 photograph from Djibouti taken by Intisar Abioto.

Summer Vacation in Costa Rica?

The good folks over at Costa Rica Tours are at it again! They were kind enough to send me an email update that included information about their next BLACK HERITAGE TOUR IN COSTA RICA which is scheduled for August 27-September 2, 2008.

"Explore this rich heritage as we savor all the sights, sounds and flavors that are uniquely Black Costa Rican."

HIGHLIGHTS:
-- Participate in the annual Black Heritage celebration on the Caribbean coast;

-- Meet members of local civic organizations for dinner and a cross-cultural exchange in Limon.

-- Attend a special presentation on Black History in Costa Rica and the role of Marcus Garvey, the UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association), and the Black Star Line Steamship Company.

-- Enjoy two nights at a mountain lodge in Turrialba where you can take a moderate hike in the rainforest to Guayabo National Monument, Costa Rica's most important archaeological ruin dating to 1,000 BC, or learn how to prepare traditional foods from Costa Rica's best-known African-Caribbean chef.


-- Visit the Tayutic Hacienda - a coffee and sugar cane plantation with historical significance as part of traditional Hispanic culture. It also has some of the most beautiful scenery in the county;
-- Relax at a beach resort on the Southern Caribbean Coast, named by Outside Magazine Travel Guide as "one of the seven best beaches in the world."

-- Have a lobster dinner at the area's most popular beach restaurant and take a Canopy Tour (optional) on a zipline through Gandoca-Manzanillo National Park.

-- Shop for crafts in Puerto Viejo and Moravia, and enjoy a traditional Costa Rican dinner at a popular entertainment center in San Jose.

I've never taken their tour, but this last e-mail was very tempting. And at under $1600 for a week long adventure, it really does sound like something to consider. Maybe it's time to dust off my passport and head for warmer weather!

Seeking Black Travel Bloggers!

It's so strange. I've been scouring Blogger for other blogs by Black Travelers and oddly enough I haven't really been that successful, so I'm calling on you for help. If you're a Black Traveler with a blog, or you regularly read a blog that would be of interest to black travelers, why not send me a link?

Goofing around by the Toronto Space needle. May 2007.

For 2007 my goal is to connect to more Black Travel bloggers and to add them to this blogs blog roll. So let's get started! Feel free to post your links in comments or drop me an e-mail at info@blacktravels.com. Don't be shy. I love to hear from people to drop my the BlackTravels.com website and blog.

And in the meantime, Happy Holidays and Happy Travels!

Seeking Black Women Travel Writers.

I found this "call" on SkyeView-A Sistah’s View Of The World.

If you're interested, drop them an e-mail. Maybe it's not to late to contribute!

BLACK WOMEN TRAVEL (edited volume)

Dear Colleagues,

Travel writing traditionally has been a white male genre - white men writing about the rest of the world, often their colonies, or ex-colonies. Over the last fifty years, men of color have joined this fraternity: V.S. Naipaul, Richard Wright and Caryl Phillips are prominent examples, challenging its traditional Eurocentrisim. The catalog of women’s travel is also growing, with works by such authors as Robyn Davidson, Rosemary Mahoney and Mary South. But the voices of black women travelers remain largely unheard. Black women travel, and this volume aims to give voice and visibility to their travels and to their experiences and interpretations of the world. Contributors’ are invited to recount their experiences with humor as well as creative and incisive analysis.

The editors of this volume are two black women - one an African American woman from Ohio and the other an African woman from Nigeria - who have traveled extensively, learning and having adventures along their journeys. Sometimes their experiences were dangerous, sometimes hilarious, sometimes they felt that they were witnessing history. Sometimes they were students, sometimes researchers, sometimes practitioners and sometimes just plain tourists. They combine humor, incisive social and political commentary and more traditional travel journaling.

The goal of this volume is to present snap shots of the world, as different late twentieth century historical moments, from the perspective, and through the eyes of black women from around the world.

If you are interested in participating in this exciting venture, we invite you to submit an abstract to the co-editors, Lynette Jackson (lajackson@uic.edu) and Anene Ejikeme (Aejikeme@trinity.edu).

Abstracts are due November 3 and completed papers March 28, 2008.

Please feel free to circulate this call for abstracts/essays.

Best wishes,

Anene Ejikeme

Department of History

Trinity University

San Antonio, TX 78212

(210) 999-7897(210) 999-8334

Aejikeme@trinity.edu

Morocco is a Rainbow - A Poetic Reality.

An excerpt from BlackTravels.com written by Linda Fletcher.

Traveling to different parts of the world or to different parts of the country broadens our scope of reality. If we are open minded and receptive we can experience the spiritual dimensions of travel in that not only does our physical body travel but also our soul. As I grow older I find myself adding up remembered events, places, people and experiences that remain in the recesses of my mind. I conjure up these past pleasures, enlightened insights and lessons that have enhanced, changed or moved my life further into being who I am. I have been thinking a lot about travel and realizing its depth and importance in that not only does ones perspective broaden but that also new dimensions are opened.

Lately I have become aware that I remember my travel experiences the most as if they were yesterday and in vivid details. Many years ago I traveled to Morocco and it was a beautiful soul awakening experience. This experience remains permanently in my gaze of remembered pleasant experiences. Morocco is a place where for centuries the East has met the West. I enjoyed meeting people that are living within their own tradition dating back thousands of years before the West came into existence.

The spiritual experience of the Sufis was everywhere - a visual presence, and I could see how Rembrandt was inspired by this part of the world. I could see the rainbow everywhere within my gaze, and it reminded me of Rembrandt's hidden rainbows beneath his famous paintings that influenced Europe's enlightenment.

Many of the experiences that I had while in Morocco are not easily described within a western cultural context; mainly because Morocco is ancient and predates Europe. It is a very spiritual reality - where souls are not static from consumerism, and the population has evolved as a unit; as a genetic pool of gradual variation.

I remember vividly the rich vibrant colors that were constantly set in motion in many shades of orange, reddish earth tones, blues and browns. I can still remember the henna dyed palms, hands and fingers as Moroccans went through their daily activities. Also I remember the many smells of tangerines and spearmint. The rainbow was apparent everywhere and it seemed to be a part of the culture as a reminder that life is light and that color is reflected in many dimensions and enters into our very collective being. I could see everywhere within my gaze the shifting flow of colors reflected from the sun's radiant light and the Moroccan people interacting with colors, shape, light and forms in their environment that was enhanced by songs, chants, callings and prayers.

I can remember riding on one of the local busses and looking out the window and seeing people wearing colorful clothes that looked softly meshed that blended into the terrain. The people looked as if they were softly painted into their environment as if painted by a painter as they wore coral and onyx jewelry. Their hands and hair were dyed with henna in beautiful patterns of art. I saw sheepherders blending into the terrain. I did not want to speak English because I felt that it would be an intrusion upon this sacred space and moment.

I can remember an old Arab man stretching out as if he was stretching out to God, the open spaces around him, relaxing and smoking hashish. I walked through the Atlas Mountains and I saw stars in the sky that seemed so close but yet distant. I felt ancient wisdom all around me as an old Arabic man said to me when I told him that I was an African American that, "the African American was the soul of America", as he laid stretched out under the stars.

I can still feel the aura of Tangier, Marrakech, Rabat, Tifni and the many veils of serenity in shades of black and deep blue indigo. I can never forget the smiles of the Berbers and dozing off on a bus ride and waking up and seeing an Arabic man smiling at me as if he had been guarding my sleep with prayer and meditation.

I learned the art and the many lessons of seeing each other softly and with warm contentions. I learned that our eyes can teach us about life and the many truths that lay before us waiting to be unfolded through ones' gaze upon the horizon and within ones soul and the soul of others. We can witness life through vision aided and enhancement by sight and smell.

I met people that communicated starting from a place of similarity rather than from differences. I felt the embrace of Islam in its splendor and that there was poetry to its existence. I saw poetry as the women and men worked. They moved like sculpture gliding in union with the physical environment. Through the display of cultural, beauty and art the culture of the Moroccan people touched my soul with their flow of gentle meditative energy that moved from one person to another like a gentle sea.

I looked into their eyes and I saw a unity of similarity flowing through time and that genetics had united them through the soft glow in their deep dark eyes. Reality seemed to be laid bare with no pretenses. I feel honored in experiencing this culture and this place in time. I felt a glimpse of their spiritual haven. It made me feel the indefiniteness of time, space and spirituality and that Morocco is a place to rest ones soul indefinitely in time.

Marketing to Black Travelers.

Photo of Kalin Thomas while visiting CapeTown, South Africa.

I recently ran across this old article from Black Enterprise Magazine. The first sentence reads:

"African American travelers, with an estimated $25 billion in travel spending power, are a rapidly growing market that is increasingly gaining the attention of the $440 billion U.S. travel industry."

I would love to see the updated statistics on how many Blacks are traveling each year and where they choose as their destinations. It's a 1997 article but, a decent one that worth the read. I wonder how much of that $25 billion is spent on international travel. If anyone runs across statistics on Black international travel, please post a link in comments.

Black Travelers Join the Club.

Members of Black Ski Inc., a travel group, gather after biking in Maryland.

I found this interesting article over at the Washington Post about Black travel clubs:
"Black Travelers Join the Club. African Americans Looking for Great Adventures -- And a Sense of Family -- Find Both in Organized Groups." It's definitely worth a read if you are interested in group travel or tours.

Crazy Tours of Krakow, Poland.

This morning I clicked over to yahoo, and imagine my delight and surprise when I saw one of the main headlines: Poland's Showcase of Communism Becomes Offbeat Tourist Draw. I knew right away it could be none other than Crazy Guides Communist Tours. Most people don't think Poland when they think of planning a European vacation, but the history and architecture alone is worth the trip.

Since my husband and I very much enjoyed the tour we took with them, I thought I'd repost here write-up from our weekend trip to Krakow in July:

So eventhough I should have been home finishing stuff for my show that opens on Thursday, my husband and I spent the weekend in Poland of all places. Krakow to be exact....or Cracow.

We met up with Kasia and Kelly my pals from NYC and later we were joined by their friends from Berlin, Timo and Franka. Kasia was in Poland visiting her family and of course we were more than happy to all meet up. And what a time we had!

Friday night we got in late after taking 2 different buses and a very bumpy flight. We were too late to join everyone for dinner so FrenchBoy and I headed to Rynek Glowny to check it out. We soon realised that "Krakow" means "party" in Polish.

The square was absolutely packed with revelers of all ages drinking enormous Polish beers at one of the hundred or so terrace cafes. I could have sworn I even saw the Virgin Mary do a shot of Żubrówka .

After dinner and a few very affordable cocktails we stumbled back to our hotel room and drifted off into a deep sleep only to be awaken at 3 AM by the group of drunk hooligans singing in the hotel hallway. One of many early morning impromptu sing-alongs to take place over the course of the weekend.

Saturday morning we headed over to meet Kasia & Kelly at their swank hotel. And since our free breakfast looked like this:

we decided that the buffet breakfast in their hotel restaurant was a better option.

After I finished my 2 glasses of Prosecco we were off to the famous Salt Mines of Wieliczka which was just bizarre and quite hilarious. But if it's good enough for the Pope, Copernicus, Goethe, and Chopin ...well then I guess it was good enough for us too.

Salty Mary:

Salty Gnomes:

Salty Jesus:

About 1.5 hours into the tour we couldn't take it anymore so we escaped the mines. In my humble opinion, you an only look at salt for so long.

Later that evening we all met up again for the annual Wianki Festival which used to be based on a very charming ancient Polish celebration on St. John’s Day that involved young girls floating wreaths of flowers and magic herbs with lit candles down the Vistula (Wisla) river. But apparently that was too old fashioned so the whole thing got upgraded to performances by 80's popstars and a mind-blowingly long fireworks display upon the riverbank opposite the Royal Wawel Castle.

Yes folks---I saw Bananarama live in concert in Krakow. And those Poles can really shake it!

After about 2 hours of sitting on wet grass watching a few musical acts we headed up to Kasia and Kelly's swank hotel room which had a panoramic view of all the events.

Sunday was our last day in Krakow, so French Boy and I made the best of it by taking a "Crazy Communist Tour" of the Nowa Huta district of Krakow.

Our guide Jacob picked us up at the hotel and wisked us away to the historic communist district that was originally gifted to Krakow by Stalin himself. It later came to be one of the centers of revolution and resistance within Poland, leading to the eventual overthrow of the communist government.

The Crazy Guides is run by a group of young guys who really know their history. We met up with another group led by Bartek and so we actually had the advantage of hearing two very different perspectives on the history of Communism in Poland. (If I remember correctly, Bartek studied Economics and Jacob studied Sociology.) The whole thing was just a real treat.

After our crazy tour we headed back to the hotel to change for our fancy dinner reservations at Wierzynek Restaurant which has been in business since 1364. (No that is not a typo.) It was crazy old-fashioned fancy. The hostesses wore ball gowns and the waiters brought us our main courses wearing white gloves.

Then just when you thought it couldn't get any better the four waiters revealed our dinner entrees by by lifting the sterling-silver plate dome thingies in one perfectly choreographed motion.

After dinner we headed over to the very un-touristy Kazimierz neighborhood to hang out at a local bar----where apparently drinks are free. We each got a glass of something and the total came to $7.

I love Krakow.