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Culture July 30, 2018
You'll thank us later.
via Pexels/@rawpixelNot all travel influencers are content with merely posting gorgeous photos of themselves and their surroundings. Some of them also share deeply personal stories of their journeys through blog posts and articles. These anecdotes can inspire and teach us how to be better travelers. Sure, we all want advice on how to travel on a budget, and how to get the most out of our experiences while traveling. However, there’s one key way we can all be better travelers: consider how to be a little less basic.
The word “basic” used to have a relatively harmless connotation. Plain white shirts were basic. Black socks were basic. But now, “basic” is defined by virtue of a person’s outfits or their behavior. And, by extension, women who travel can now be basic, too,
According to travel influencer Kiona — no last name, like Cher — the definition of a “basic” is someone who, while traveling, “unflinchingly (upholds) the status quo and stereotypes of their country without even realizing it.” This term is useful in that it can teach how to be nicer, more aware and more ethical while traveling. Let’s hear from Kiona and two other travel influencers to check your basic instincts and offer sound travel advice.
Let’s start out with Kiona, because the name of her blog is probably why you clicked on this article to begin with. Traveling abroad shed a light on foreign perceptions of U.S. Americans, who are, sadly, often perceived as basic! She wants to help readers recognize and change those stereotypes. There are, evidently, several ways to be basic while traveling: what you wear, how you behave on a plane, how you post about your travels on social media, cultural appropriation … the list goes on and on.
Kiona injects plenty of her own opinions and judgments within these articles. Traveling with a hard rolling suitcase isn’t “basic,” but to her it is. She delivers her advice in a tongue-in-cheek manner. After all, she calls herself the “#1 Basic Bitch.” Furthermore, all she’s trying to do is to ensure that your behavior as a traveler isn’t basic because “a basic bitch takes more from the experience than he/she gives back.”
Kiona’s blog also brings fresh voices to the table on mainstream media platforms. For example, these articles shed light on what it’s like to travel while Native, or as a queer person or as a Muslim. Peppered with poignant anecdotes, she also offers destination-specific information. For example, there’s an article that details her real-life struggle with making a long-distance relationship work amidst tricky U.S.-Cuban relations. She even has content about careers in travel and teaching abroad. As a bonus, her online publication has a nonprofit component which donates proceeds to local volunteer projects.
Thank you, Kiona, for helping us all be a little less basic on our travels. After all, travel makes you a better person.
Needless to say, the other two travel influencers on this list are also anything but basic.
Meet Gloria Atanmo, whose blog is titled “Chronicles of an Adventure Junkie.” She booked a one-way ticket to Europe in 2013 and has lived as a digital nomad ever since. Atanmo shares her struggles of paying off student loans, traveling while black and as a solo female. She also shares experiencing pressure from her family to go to medical school and find a husband.
Despite these challenges, she’s managed to travel to more than 70 countries, publish a book and make the leap to full-time travel blogging as a career. But her blog isn’t just a celebration of her accomplishments. It also contains valuable tips and advice for fellow travelers. For example, she opens up about “the good, the bad, and the ugly sides of influencer marketing,” offers a group trip to Portugal that includes a workshop on travel photography, and how to get a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certificate.
Oneika Raymond is so far away from the definition of basic that we can’t even see her. She was born in Toronto, lives in New York City, and has traveled to more than 100 countries to date. In addition to creating content for her award-winning website, Oneika the Traveller, she’s a journalist who’s written for and been featured in Condé Nast Traveler, Lonely Planet, National Geographic Traveler and many more outlets. She’s also worked as an ambassador for global and travel brands. Currently, she’s the in-house travel expert for the Canadian nationally broadcast breakfast news program “Your Morning.” Her website freely shares her opinions, her perspectives on traveling while black and detailed accounts of the impressive quantity and range of places she’s been.
If that’s not enough, she also hosts not one but two Travel Channel shows. Talk about #travelgoals. One is called “Big City, Little Budget.” If you’re planning on traveling to San Francisco, New York City or Texas, check out her tips for these places on the show!
The second show she hosts is called “One Bag and You’re Out.” This show offers tips on how to pack one bag for several different situations: studying abroad, traveling as a couple, going on a weekend trip abroad and traveling for a month, to name a few.
So, there you have it! Three travel influencers who can inspire us, teach us how to travel, and more importantly, teach us how to travel better. Be sure to follow these #WomenThatDo to track their trails!
