r/blacktravel

Travelers,

After 20 years, I finally retired the luggage set I bought from Ross when I was 18. It traveled everywhere with me and held up incredibly well. Last year, I decided to upgrade and purchased the NOBL All-In-One Carry-On and matching checked bag. Unfortunately, in less than 14 months, my checked bag developed a cracked corner and a dent, and the company hasn’t been willing to resolve the issue. So now I’m on the hunt for a new luggage brand! If you travel often, what luggage do you swear by? I’m looking for something durable, well-built, and backed by a company that stands behind its warranty. Drop your recommendations (and any brands I should avoid) in the comments!

I have been to 22 countries/territories in 4 continents and one of the most common question other Black travelers ask me if I wasn't afraid of traveling to all these places, not only because of standard safety concerns, but for race issues.

A while back a very young (20/21) gay Black man asked me for travel tips. He had a dream of traveling the world and I wanted to encourage him, but at the same time I didn't want him to think there was no danger out there (talking strictly about race issues here) so I ended up encouraging him to travel, but at the same time I didn't sugarcoat anything, I explained to him some countries are off-limits for people like us.

Now, when people ask me in general, I have three concepts that have helped a lot during this journey.

CONCEPT # 1: There isn't a single country on Earth without racism or some other form of discrimination. There isn't. If people from a country tell you their country is "racism free", run the other way. I prefer when people tell me the truth upfront so I know what to expect.

CONCEPT #2: This is a game of probabilities. Yes, there is racism all over the world, but I am going to give you some examples: where would a Black traveler have a higher chance of being the victim of racism: China or Colombia? what about Argentina vs Puerto Rico? or Poland vs Türkiye? Nobody would say racism is not present in Colombia, Puerto Rico or Türkiye, but the chances of suffering racism in China, Argentina and Poland are way higher.

CONCEPT # 3: The types of racism (even when comparing racist countries) are not the same. A few months ago I made a comment after another redditor said no country loves Black people. I replied "There's a difference between countries that don't love Black people and countries where you can be murdered for being Black". This matters. Micro-aggressions suck, but verbal violence is worse and the chances of being murdered for being Black is very real in countries like Argentina, Poland, Russia, Bulgaria, Chile or Morocco.

So yeah, this is my discussion for today.

Keep traveling, keep exploring, keep learning. You can do all of that while staying safe.

Just one note, I've met plenty of people (of all races) who have no interest in traveling for several reasons, that's fine too. In the case of Black people it is totally understandable to be scared of traveling since we live in an anti-Black world. So, if Black people decide traveling isn't for them, that's fine too.

For you guys who have lived in many countries-or who know about many countries- in the West, which do you think are the top 3 where black people are accepted and can thrive in terms of community (not only with other black people), equal access to opportunities etc. Don't forget about Australia and NZ if you have any experience/knowledge of those places.

Hey guys! I'm going to Japan in october and for money sake I may have to stay in a hostel while in Tokyo. Can any black women share their experience staying in one please? I've seen some mixed reviews, some people saying they're never had any issues and others saying things got weird but I can't find anything about ones in Japan specifically. I'm not SUPER worried about racism (microagressions are kinda inevitable being black lol) but I would image it could get pretty exhausting after a week. Is there anything like a black only hostel or something where guests share a house but get their own rooms? also, if you have any recs please drop those too please!

Will be going to Belgium and possibly Luxembourg or Amsterdam. How do I non-awkwardly ask someone to shoot me a flick lol

This is a bit different since I live here...but here goes...In 10 years I've gotten racist abuse 3 times, today was one of those times. I was walking with my wife from the gym, in Budapest Hungary. A group of teenagers rode past on scooters. One kid slowed down looked me in the eye and yelled (in bad English) "f you n-word". I'm grown, and pretty calm...but I am so furious.

So I got invited to Croatia for a Yacht Week trip and I was a excited but I had my doubts. I did some research people typically had great reviews and experiences .People even went as far as to say it couldn’t possibly be racist. Well whoever said Croatia couldn't possibly be racist is delusional. Within an hour of landing in Split I had two encounters immediately. First at an airport store while I was trying to purchase water. The cashier purposely ignored me while tripping over himself to serve everyone else. I patiently waited and even approached him with the water and was ignored. So l put the water back and left.
Secondly after arriving at a rather filthy Airbnb I was called the N word along with monkey sounds by the neighborhood children. Croatia literally never has to worry about seeing me again. I really wanted to love it but I couldn't. At just about every turn I was disappointed. I travel all the time and I'm from America so have experienced my fair share of micro aggressions but this was a bit ridiculous.l know they're typically aren't a lot of black tourists in the country but my goodness.
The Yacht week experience was cool, just not for me. My host and skipper were excellent but as for Croatia Baby they don’t ever have to worry about me again.