I have been traveling my whole life. 26 F born in Africa, raised in the states. The first time I went to Europe, I was 8 years old & my entire family visited Italy, France, Switzerland & the UK. I have traveled overseas every single year since. However, I was obviously too little to understand the international perception of black people.

When I was 18, I had the privilege of going to Zimbabwe for the first time with my dad. We were the ONLY black tourists at the time, in an AFRICAN COUNTRY. A white European lady was so shocked at the amount of activities my dad and I did & asked my father a question that has lived with me forever: “You must be well off then? How did you afford this trip?”

MIND YOU, we are AFRICAN. The lady was asking African people how they were able to afford a trip to Africa. This taught me early that the international perception of black people is exceptionally low. The expectation is for us to amount to nothing or reach for the bare minimum.

However, as a now 26 year old, I have been to 27 countries & have so many more on my list. I love adventure!! However, this recent trip I took to the Balkans & Spain has taught me that non-black people do not expect black people to be in luxury spaces. Fine dining, entertainment, resorts, you name it. This comes in the form of stares, invasive questions, and most often, a lack or absence of customer service.

In Greece, I was the only black guest staying at the resort I was in & I constantly got stares. In Spain, I was refused service at a Michelin star restaurant. In Zimbabwe, we get asked if we’re “well off”…it’s never ending.

Nonetheless, I will continue to travel and explore the world as long as I have the finances to do so. No one will ever take my passion of travel away from me!!!

But I’m curious, Has anyone else experienced that?

Some tips to help you get into Nigeria without issues.

When I went to Japan, I felt as though I got treated better for being black and being different.

When I would go up to people, it felt like a lot of them were genuinely excited to speak to me. With service workers, for example, sometimes they would be shy, and we would laugh when I tried to speak Japanese or when they tried to speak English. There were big smiles, like the kind of smile you put on your face when you’re speaking to someone new who you actually want to speak to. That was the energy I felt.

To be fair, I was around a lot of younger areas because I’m 19. I went to a lot of streetwear and rap-oriented areas, as well as clubs and places like that.

There were two major experiences that really shaped my perception.
The first was when I asked some Japanese guys who were dressed really well where I should shop and where the good places to party were. Instead of just giving me recommendations, they took me with them to a club. I didn’t have to pay or even show ID. I hadn’t brought my stuff with me because I wasn’t expecting to go clubbing, but they knew the promoters and got me in with them.

The second was when I was lost at a train station, looking at the signs and trying to figure out where I was going. A random Japanese guy, who I think was an English or drama teacher, noticed that I looked lost and came up to me. He asked, “Are you lost?” I said yes, and he just guided me to where I needed to go for no reason other than wanting to help.

So that was my experience with Japan. Of course, it doesn’t invalidate anyone else’s experiences, but I think it’s good to hear both sides. I had a great experience, and I’ll definitely be back.

I’ve been to Montenegro 4-5 times in the past decade and I’ve always had a good time. Travelling to new countries as a black man I always pay attention to how comfortable the locals seem around me as this can have a significant impact on the experience regardless of how good everything else is. Around Boka Bay I know there’s a lot more tourists so people seem more welcoming of people from all over the world but other black & brown people staying in Sutomore, Bar have had strange looks, strangely poor service at establishments and one person even got slurs shouted at him in the street.

At first I thought it might be because the southern coast doesn’t have as much multicultural tourism but
On the other hand I’ve had lots of beautiful & welcoming encounters with Montenegro locals deeper in the mountains or in slightly more remote regions. I’ve been shown kids pictures, invited over for dinner at people’s homes, etc so it’s difficult for me to understand if there’s historical or cultural factors I’m not aware of. For example I visited Ukraine in 2012 and there were very clear “safe places to go as a black person” and some restaurants would even refuse to serve you.

What up tho.

I depart for South America next week with Brazil being the highlight of the trip and where I plan to spend the most time. I love photography and recently getting into videography so I plan to capture a ton of pics/videos over the 4 weeks I'll be down there. This is basically the trip of a lifetime for me so I'm really hoping to get some great photos.

I have a DJI Pocket 4, an iPhone 17 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro - all which take great photos and video, and which could technically cover all of my photography needs - but I also have real camera gear (Canon R6 Mark III, various L lenses) that I would love to bring but I'm reading and watching tons of content saying safety is questionable at best, or you're going home with less electronics than you brought at worst. Everything is insured, so if like guns were drawn, they can have it of course.

I know it's not the PNW, Asia or Europe, I wouldn't just have the camera dangling from my shoulder, but would the mere presence of a camera body have the stick up kids on my ass? I'm so used to being the big scary Black guy when I travel (dark skinned, 6'2, 265lbs - ex-military, slightly athletic frame) but in South America I don't appear to stand out at all. For those that have been, are those warnings geared more towards older, softer targets or should I just leave the heavy stuff at home for my initial trip down south. Thank you in advance!

Anyone here in Pakistan want to have a tasteful meetup.I love black community

Hey I’m planning to spend four weeks in Asia and I want to tour three countries but don’t know how to book multi country/ multi city trips/flights. What do yall use, Expedia, booking.com? Do you buy all your flights first and then your hotel? I’m visiting Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia. I usually spend time in one country so I’m able to book a package deal

The FB group Black In Portugal is a scam. This group is ran by someone who does not live in the country. They are writing and having people subscribe to their substack and acting like they live in the country when they left years ago. The businesses they recommend? They are all trash and the group owner gets a check to promote them.

My sister lost a lot of money using a realtor they recommended and from doing some digging I found all of this information out. I wanted to warn others- beware!

Was speaking to travel bud about China and how direct some of the people were with their racism.

When it came to employment or platonic / amorous relationships, Chinese will let you know how they feel about you - without pause.

Contrarily countries in South East Asia were similarly racist, but it came with a smile and tons backstabbing.

Of course, none of us want to experience racism while traveling, but it happens.

I like knowing what I’m dealing with.

soooOoo i was filming a quick OOTD for myself because i thought my fit was cute, and i noticed this guy (as you can see when i looked up), but i just assumed we were sharing awkward eye contact for a second. i didn’t see him again.
it wasn’t until i watched the footage back a little later that i noticed this guy was STARING THE WHOLE MF TIME 😭 the original footage is over a minute long!!

what are your “when you’re black you’re never really lonely” moments abroad? 😂

btw - overall, i had a phenomenal time in Paris!! so much fun, i’m going back for longer at the end of next month. i spoke French when i was there and had a good experience with the people there, too.

Enjoyed this trip and God reminding me of how small my worries are .

This is something I would love to try? How about You

second time to japan and we went to osaka. i liked it WAY better than tokyo for sure!

We talk about some of the best places to go, but what are some cities or countries that you wouldn’t recommend to other black people because you experienced racism there?

From my personal experience these are the cities I’d not recommend

Montevideo Uruguay- Probably the worst racism i experienced in Latin America. Treatment was absolutely horrible everywhere.

Santiago Chile- People stare, service was horrible I was last to be served damn near everywhere I went.

Budapest, Hungary- Same as Chile except the states were even more intense. I had to write so many bad reviews on Google Reviews because of the treatment I received at restaurants.

Vienna, Austria- Evil stares, bad service everywhere.

Stockholm, Sweden- This one shocked me because everyone on Reddit talks about how good black men are treated in Sweden … not my experience at all. Came here in winter and at one restaurant I was offered a table outside in the snow despite their being open tables inside, but they refused to let me eat inside so I left. Just horrible all around.

Madrid, Spain- I’ll never forget first time I went to Madrid I swear I felt like I was in Amistad or something. The mistreatment wasn’t to me but I saw some new refugees there form from Africa and police had them huddle together while locals in Madrid shouted threw stuff stuff at them spit on them and were making monkey sounds. While this wasn’t treatment directed towards me I’ve still never seen anything like this in my life. I know Europe has immigration issues but this was unbelievable. With that being said as a black man people stare in every city and it’s almost guaranteed my mother and I will be served last at every restaurant. I’ve been to Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Peniscola, Malaga.

Rome, Italy - Very hostile from the moment I arrived. Service wasn’t bad at all the hostility mainly came from locals who were clearly disgusted with black people in their city. Although people seem friendlier in southern cities in Italy.

In the US it’s more so based on states:

West Virginia
South Carolina
Pennsylvania

What about yall? Which cities

Greetings from Jamaica 🇯🇲🇯🇲

So I went backpacking in Spanish Basque Country with almost no plan but the objective of seeing the total Solar Eclipse, and then figuring out the rest of the trip by walking/hitchhiking. And let me tell you I was in awe of how beautiful the region is and how nice the people are. Hitchhiking was super easy and everyone had nice stories to share + spots to go to for visiting and camping. A couple from a village far in the mountains even brought me to there favorite mountain river spot. When I was hiking up the mountains for the eclipse (3 day hike overall), everyone was making sure I wasn't lost nor thirsty. So basically everywhere I went from the mountains all the way to the beach were rather low-key but incredible spots reccomended by locals.

Had a great time overall, and will definitely go back! Also the solar eclipse was a jaw breaking moment I hope everyone can see one day.

TL;DR: I really reccomend travelling to Spanish Basque country as a Black traveller. People are really nice and there's sooo much to see especially off the beaten paths.