Welcome to our blog

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Hi folks:
A funny thing happened when I was reading the Lonely Planet one time. In a European country book, the authors provided advice on how to "fit in" and "look like a local". They recommended things like not wearing a fanny pack, for example. I thought this was interesting because this particular European country had a paucity of dark-skinned people like me. So, fitting in wasn't an option. I thought to myself that as much as I love the Lonely Planet (located in Oakland, CA), they seemed to have forgotten that Asian, Black, and other people of color travel the world; and it is impossible to "fit in" or "look like a local." So, this blog is dedicated to people who, by their very phenotype, will stand out in a country or city. We provide some of our experiences and advice on how to navigate given that you may or may not stand out.

Deanne and Ariette are friends of mine (Rob). Deanne and I met Ariette for the first time in Thailand. Since then, we have been in some regular contact. A lot has happened in our lives. The one thing that bound us together was that Ariette and Deanne are multilingual and have traveled the world. The other thing that bound us was that I am African American, Deanne is Jamaican, and Ariette is a New York Columbian. Each country that we visited presented interesting experiences and challenges because of how we looked; and sometimes we were challenged because of how well we spoke the lingua franca; other times we had interesting experiences simply because we were from the United States.

We hope that you enjoy reading about our travels as much I we enjoy writing about them. We will be writing from three parts of the U.S. and from wherever in the world we are at that point in time. We will begin will some recollections and work our way to the present day.

Hasta luego!

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