Over the past eight years, my journey of getting to know a different culture and immersing myself in Korean traditions has proven to be an eye-opening and rewarding experience. During my time in South Korea, I’ve had the good fortune of making some wonderful Korean friends. However, amidst these connections, I’ve observed the existence of certain cultural barriers that sometimes make it challenging to forge deeper connections. It’s quite surprising that despite having a few close friendships, my exposure to Korean weddings has been limited to just one, visits to Korean homes have been infrequent, and meeting a Korean husband has been a rarity.
As a black female traveler, navigating the world can be daunting. From dealing with race and gender biases to expecting, but not always receiving respectful behavior. There are many factors to consider when traveling as a black woman. In this blog post, I will share some of my personal experiences and insights and offer tips and advice on how to make the most out of your travels as a black woman.
Living in South Korea as a black woman can be a challenging experience due to unique obstacles such as beauty standards that favor light skin, difficulties finding suitable clothing and hair products, and navigating stereotypes and discrimination. Despite these challenges, I remain committed to breaking down these prejudices by sharing my experiences and connecting with other black women.
I love Korean skincare products. But if I’m honest, before I moved to South Korea, if I washed my makeup off before bed, I was doing good. I wore lotion, but I didn’t have a skincare routine. Or I needed one. You wouldn’t know that now because I’m a skincare junkie. And while I don’t use all these products daily, here are some of my favorite Korean skincare (K-beauty) products for anti-aging, hyperpigmentation, and skin brightening.
Travel has always been one of the best military spouse benefits. Fortunately, the military creates opportunities for Military Spouses to Travel for Solo Fun. It’s the week of San Fermin in Pamplona, a.k .a . the Running of the Bulls, and it’s one of my fondest travel memories.
Being A Black Military Spouse in America I’ve traveled to approximately 60 countries in my life as a black military spouse and mother. Many of them alone. But most of them with two black boys in tow. People often ask …
What is it about dining alone that makes us scared? Some people won’t travel solo out of this fear alone. Well, not me. I actually like eating alone. But I know a lot of people that can’t do it. Is …
Most people would never consider me an introvert. And I’m not. But I don’t think I am an extrovert either. If I had to classify myself, I’m a thoughtful extrovert. Or an ambivert traveler– a combination of both. I’m just …
I am not a black blogger. I am a blogger who happens to be black. And I follow several travel bloggers for their unique perspectives on travel. I never cared what color they were. Unfortunately, too few of them are …
It was a pretty, but its not exactly what I expected. I thought I booked a room with a balcony. He scurried downstairs and brought up my reservation. In the center, it was very clear. I had booked the Lavender Room. He could see I was disappointed and offered to show me another room the following day.
She dimmed the lights and the room took on the appearance of a night club. It was 9am and the neon lights flooded down from the ceiling in geometric shapes that danced on the wooden floor. Meghan Trainor’s All About That Bass filtered down from the speakers on the forever cemented that song as the first song I danced to in a “Korean nightclub”.
I once referred to myself as an expat. But during a recent dinner party at my home, we welcomed “real” American Expats to a long promised and much appreciated home cooked meal.
Nope, not even close. Although… even though I am NOT rich, I may be the only black person they meet and I want to leave a positive impression. I often feel the need to over tip or otherwise over-compensate for my skin color. Its totally unnecessary because I’m not a hotel pig, I find myself doing things like straightening up the room so the maids don’t see any mess.