- 5 days ago
Traveling the world can look good on the 'gram, but there's
so much more to jettsetting than just giving your friends
FOMO. These three travel experts sit down for real-talk on
how they became travel experts, tips for traveling safely while
Black, snagging flights & hotels on a budget and all in style.
so much more to jettsetting than just giving your friends
FOMO. These three travel experts sit down for real-talk on
how they became travel experts, tips for traveling safely while
Black, snagging flights & hotels on a budget and all in style.
Category
🏖
TravelTranscript
00:00Hey, hey, what's good, Essence Festival, good to see you guys having a good day today.
00:11That's good.
00:12My name is Tim Johnson, I am one half of Black and Abroad, and this next conversation is
00:18very here and here to my heart, because it's all about traveling, which of course is my
00:24favorite subject.
00:25So, if you guys want to know Black and Abroad, we are a multi-level travel and lifestyle company
00:33that has been focused on redefining travel experiences for the Black traveler, and today
00:39this talented family is going to start off with my co-founder and the chief strategy officer
00:44for Black and Abroad, Eric Martin.
00:47Please give Eric a welcome.
00:55Next up, we have, over now, a travel missile.
00:58Morning, baby.
00:59There's so much manure.
01:00Tanika Renee.
01:01Give it up for Tanika Renee.
01:03And finally, we have traveling through Missouri and half of the famous love and first sight
01:10girl, LaNasia.
01:12Tell me, go on out, LaNasia.
01:14Welcome, everybody.
01:17Alright, so let's dive in.
01:18Let's go ahead and get to the ground T.
01:19Welcome, I'm traveling inside.
01:20So, I'm going to start with you.
01:21Tell us about when you first felt in love inside.
01:22Um, I think I traveled a bit before.
01:24I've been my partner, but I think I really fell in love with travel when I got to experience
01:26things that I really only saw on TV.
01:27You know, when I went to villages and I got to see how these people live.
01:30Um, and just, you know, I really felt in love with travel when I got to experience things
01:33that I really only saw on TV.
01:35You know, when I went to villages and I got to see how these people live, um, and just
01:39really those moments that you can only describe everything.
01:40So, for me that's kind of how I felt in love with travel, that I really felt in love with
01:43travel and I really felt in love with travel.
01:44And I really felt in love with travel when I got to experience things that I really only
01:48saw on TV.
01:49You know, when I went to villages and I got to see how these people live.
01:56Um, and just really those moments that you can only describe everything.
02:01So, for me, that's kind of how I come up with each other.
02:08I get it.
02:10He's going to fall in a moment, right?
02:12Like, once you get out there, you know that it's where you need to be, right?
02:17I'm not actually going to get it.
02:19But, Tanika, tell us a little bit more about what inspired you to go down.
02:24That's what was your love of traveling.
02:26So, like, how is, like, traveling?
02:29Growing up, I would watch all these events, movies, Indiana Jones, Laura Croft.
02:37I didn't see anybody that looked like me.
02:39I didn't see anyone.
02:40I didn't see anybody like that.
02:43And I went through a really bad breakup, and I was in a dark place.
02:49And I basically, I was like, I got to go.
02:52I don't care where I go.
02:54I just need to go someplace and process this.
02:57So, I went to Southeast Asia.
03:00My family, Biltro, they've never been anywhere.
03:04So, I left the night of Thanksgiving.
03:07And they thought I was crazy.
03:09They were calling my phone every day, every night, checking the phone game.
03:14But Southeast Asia changed my life.
03:17I found myself.
03:18I was crying.
03:20I was also, it was during my suicide.
03:23So, I was pouring down reading every day.
03:25But I needed that.
03:26I needed excellence.
03:27I found myself.
03:29I was empowered.
03:30I got to meet new people, drive these things.
03:34And I went full of love.
03:36Travel now, everything's amazing.
03:38And again, you said discovering yourself.
03:42So, one thing I know about travel is that I'm constantly rediscovering who I am, right?
03:48Like, it never stops and keeps figuring out who you are, how the world, and what that means, right?
03:52So, I know exactly how you do, and I know your family goes wild on Thanksgiving night, but you can't know.
03:59So, Gary, you know me?
04:04We got to do this.
04:05So, can you break down to the audience why we decided to watch Live and Abroad, and why we're different than other platforms that are out there in this space?
04:16Yeah.
04:17The first thing I have to say is that we'll be first starting back in 2015.
04:22It was a market share, an entire market share of high travelers that was open up.
04:28You know, at the time, there was a $45 billion industry, this was back in 2015, right?
04:38And we realized that, as a collective, we spent so much money in the industry, and we were being overlooked, and we were being overlooked in the marketing opportunities, and we were being overlooked in hotels, airlines, right?
04:52But companies, more, if they did, specifically toward us, they didn't do it the right way, and it was very insensitive, it was very, I think it was, you know, we see a lot of situations where it was implied that it could be a hard person in the marketing event, but it could, you know, it might not be, and they were afraid to be explicit about speaking directly to us.
05:15You know, it could be a lot of people just talking about this matter, so they just almost like, there's this small benefit that comes with marketing or allowing black people to be open up and enjoy themselves in your established, whatever, your restaurant or whatever.
05:30So, we came together and said, we're going to be, and we're going to be calling them out to do it for any of them, if there's a lot of excellent entertainment folks.
05:38And it'll be, and we'll be able to see them if we need to be, to show them how they do it in the right way.
05:45And so, our idea was more, and I don't know where what they literally had gone out in the air since then we've come to grow the market from $45 million in 2015 to over $109 million in 2019, right before the pandemic.
06:02And it's been still one of the fastest group of nations in the entire industry.
06:07So, I can keep this the same thing that we've made from home.
06:10And I just don't suspect that we're, like, all of us in this place that have been working together to make this happen.
06:16So, we're making numbers right into the same thing as well.
06:19So, it's just, it's a bad decision even with the pandemic.
06:23And I don't know if you remember when we first got out into the world and really trying to make change with our business.
06:32We had a lot of respect because we had the word blank in the name of our company.
06:36And it was like, why would you do that?
06:39Why wouldn't you want to have everyone have access to it?
06:42And it's like, if we see the value of it, speaking directly to our community, we don't see it as a niche.
06:48And it's us.
06:49So, we know that the money is there.
06:52And if we want to market our records to our people, why are you going to have to stop that, right?
06:57But have we got a lot of respect for just being very foreign and direct about black experience in the world?
07:06And how do we want to make you feel in the world when they were traveling?
07:10Because there were a lot of different, right?
07:12So, I think you spoke about not seeing your friend was saying when you were just difficult to resolve the world from places.
07:18And now we're all here to help change their guard.
07:21Because we've all been in these situations where, you know, they're taking a voice of yes,
07:26it doesn't look like it's doing it.
07:28So, shout out to everybody.
07:31Thank you for doing that.
07:32Well, let's get into it.
07:34All right.
07:35Traveling online.
07:36It shouldn't be a thing, but this is a thing, right?
07:40So, Tanika, I'm going to start with you.
07:43Tell us about any challenges that you may have faced as a black traveler and as a black woman traveler.
07:51I would say one of the biggest challenges is getting older, the voices in my head that were blocking me from going to certain places.
08:06You know, I would create these narratives.
08:11I've never seen nobody in China.
08:15They don't like us.
08:16I'm not going to China.
08:17Or create the narrative that I'm not somebody who is not there for me to be.
08:23And I realized that a lot of those voices comes from our ancestors.
08:29So, basically, you know, during segregation and back in the day, we needed to travel because we couldn't.
08:38And, you know, when everyone started on road trips, we weren't taking road trips because we were scared of our safety.
08:46So, at that time, you know, everyone else in America, they were exploring.
08:55They were out there trying new things.
08:57They were going on adventures.
08:59But beings of this thing are still scared.
09:02So, I realized, okay, most places that are in my head, that's my great grandmother.
09:09You know, my grandmother, when I found her home, I was going to Brazil.
09:16And she calls me, she's like, oh, I had a dream.
09:19You know, make sure you do this and make sure you do that.
09:22And I had to black out her fears.
09:25Because when I went to Brazil, I had them walking up.
09:29And they loved my skin color.
09:31And they looked better like my sister.
09:34And they go, I love them, I love them.
09:36You know, they love us.
09:38Like, travel, it will change your life.
09:40It's so empowering.
09:42But, yes, there are a lot of fears and there's a lot of things that are awesome here in America.
09:49You've got to worry about walking around.
09:51Like, see the world.
09:52Like, the hardest thing that's been in Latin America.
09:55We all see the world.
09:58And I don't want to add to that.
10:00I don't mean, yeah, yeah, yeah.
10:01She jumped on a lot of ground.
10:03I don't mean, I don't know.
10:04I don't know.
10:05I don't know what happened to that.
10:06But, you know, you're in it like, we were just talking about a bad experience.
10:10So we just got back from France last week.
10:13And I heard the hardest that I flagged down a camp.
10:17Like, family, you know, three, four, five.
10:20Passing people, it starts to everybody else in the life.
10:23And you think of the room, you might have a full zoom.
10:26It must be a bad look.
10:27You think of, like, a time over at night, we'll just share it.
10:31And, you know, we're just coming back on the more simple.
10:34So, you know, that's the bad side of it.
10:37And the other side of it, like, the stereotype thing is,
10:40using this for advantage.
10:42So, if they see me walking down the street,
10:44a lot of the signs they collect the information,
10:46just like they have here in the U.S.
10:48And I just use it to my benefit.
10:50And I don't mess with me the exact thing I want.
10:52And so it's in it.
10:53So it's in it.
10:54So it's in it.
10:55So it's in it.
10:56It's in it.
10:57It's in it.
10:58It's in it.
10:59It's in it.
11:00It's in it.
11:01It's in it.
11:02It's in it.
11:03It's in it.
11:04It's in it.
11:05It's in it.
11:06It's in it.
11:07It's in it.
11:08And even, you know,
11:09it's a little bit of a problem.
11:10It's out there.
11:11A lot like the 90% of the room that we experience,
11:14I'll play that 10% of that.
11:16And so, you know, unfortunately,
11:18that's something that we're going to do,
11:19that is back there.
11:20But just from a collective perspective,
11:23it's a lot more, a lot more,
11:25a lot more productive with the room that there are,
11:27so think about it now.
11:29One of my memories that I love to share with people when they're used to doing my job is because the first thing is that we're about something happening to them outside, right?
11:40And I got a point of respect for some times, like, major girl, you're from filming.
11:45Like, something is happening to you on the block, like, is the world as dangerous no matter where you're at.
11:52And then, on the flip side of that, there are places that you would expect to be dangerous that are the most peaceful countries in the world.
12:00Ghana, for example, is one of the safest countries in the world.
12:04But if you listen to what he is talking about countries in Africa, in general, not even specifying the principal companies, but just as a whole,
12:13because that is a place that is a lot of danger and people starving, and that's just not the case.
12:20So, you know, you really don't know these things until you go for yourself and find out.
12:25And the other thing to remember is that outside of America, the majority of the world is black or brown.
12:31So, you're going to be immediately walking into spaces where you are the majority a lot of times, especially Brazil.
12:39But this is the largest population of black people in the world, so you're only to, you know, the continent of Africa.
12:48So, you're going to be in a space where you see a lot of people that look like you.
12:53You go to Ghana or Brazil.
12:55You may not see white people for days, you see them, right?
12:58So, yeah, this is a comfort that you wouldn't expect you to have outside the world that is very much there.
13:05But, alright, so, talking about traveling, well, let's talk about traveling with Spanish, right?
13:11And spreading some of the things that you guys did to make stuff a little bit easier, a little bit cheaper.
13:19Because inflation is inflating every other day.
13:23I don't know what y'all think it does, but my man just hitting me up there sometimes.
13:28So, how can we save money? What is the tips and tricks that you guys use out in the world?
13:36So, one of the things that I swear by is a travel credit card.
13:42I don't know if you guys have any, but we use our credit card for everything.
13:48And when you use it for any record points, you use the points.
13:51I can tell you how many free hotels, flights, upgrades on seating that we've got just from using our travel cards.
13:59And that's one thing I would most definitely say.
14:01Another thing, especially right now, is I would say travel in the low seasons.
14:06Right now, everybody especially is going to Europe, so I'm not going to go.
14:10I would say if you want to budget our travel, I will go when it's maybe a little bit colder.
14:15It might not be the most ideal weather, you know, but low seasons is definitely going to be cheaper prices as far as travel is concerned.
14:25And should also be responsible with their credit card.
14:29Right?
14:30Yeah.
14:31That's the key, because you lose the benefit of the card.
14:34You're not using it responsibly.
14:35It only works if you find things that automatically obtain, but you'll break the cash anyway, right?
14:42So, if you find something that you just don't hit me, just eat the way of whatever benefit was there in the first place.
14:48So, should also be responsible if you've got to handle things without your strengths.
14:54All right.
14:55What do you want to ask me?
14:57Um, so, when I travel, I try to take more to one country at a time.
15:02So, I take advantage of layovers.
15:04So, let's say, let's say one of Kenya.
15:09No, actually, let's say one is India, and then the flight of Kenya Airlines.
15:14So, Kenya Airlines is the national airline of Kenya.
15:18So, most of the national airlines, they allow me to take advantage of layovers.
15:25And they can also extend layovers.
15:27So, if you're going to leave, it's a four-hour layover.
15:31If you want to extend it for another day, they usually allow you to do it for free.
15:36So, I don't know if I'm going to say it's a name.
15:38I'll be stressed.
15:39I'll continue to go over to the drone's banner.
15:41Stay there for four or three days.
15:43And I'm not seeing an extra.
15:45I'm actually getting a discount in flight, because layover flights tends to be a little cheaper than direct flights.
15:53So, now, I have to see the same countries for the price of one.
15:59You just fell on the ground twice.
16:01My name is everyone.
16:03I love luxury, and I like saving money, so.
16:06That's right.
16:07Alright, luxury.
16:08I'm good, but cheap as a man.
16:09Yeah.
16:10I love it.
16:11And I feel like how you embrace it.
16:12How about right here?
16:13No, it's pretty much the same.
16:14But I like to do, like, those flight deals.
16:17No flight deals.
16:18I'm a flight deal type of person.
16:19So, I'm a deal over destinations.
16:21I'm gonna sign up.
16:22Like, here, where I go.
16:23I just look at you.
16:24So, the more I can do, then I go to this book.
16:26It's called theflightdeal.com.
16:28You know, you use our mail search.
16:30Yeah.
16:31Theflightdeal.com.
16:33I mean, I just bought a real website.
16:35It's a YouTube resume from Atlanta for, like, 192.
16:38I swear.
16:40November 13.
16:41Theflightdeal.com.
16:42So, I've got a lot of fun.
16:43Theflightdeal.com.
16:44It's a blog blog.
16:45It's a blog blog.
16:46It's their deal alert.
16:48F-A-R-A-D-E-A-L-A-L-A-L-A-L-A-L-A-L-A-L-A-L-A-L-A-L-A-L-A-L-A-L-A-L-A-L-A-L-A-L-A-L-A-L-A-L.
16:53And what it is, is they're on their blog.
16:56Throughout the day, they post those flying games.
16:58They might be glitched in the air.
17:00They have English.
17:01That's a different conversation.
17:02But, um, some of them are just sick.
17:04What it means.
17:05And we, um, look at the website.
17:07The website.
17:08The website.
17:09The website.
17:10The website.
17:11The website.
17:12The website.
17:13The website.
17:14The website.
17:15The website.
17:16The website.
17:17The website.
17:18The website.
17:19The website.
17:20And, um, secretflight.com.
17:21Oh, that's the library.
17:22Yeah.
17:23Yeah.
17:24And, you know, Skiblai.
17:25Do you use Skiblai?
17:26Yeah, Skiblai.
17:27But you gotta be careful with your bag.
17:28You know, sometimes, you know, it might get different.
17:30Just, if you use Skiblai, just break your own.
17:32No, you're just at the bank.
17:34And, and, be careful with Skiblai.
17:36And, this summer, I'm praising this for traveling right now.
17:39Because, you might not know where you wanted to go.
17:42But, it really changed this language.
17:43You might not have to experience that.
17:45And, one thing here.
17:47You brought up a great point.
17:48This is how we kind of live.
17:50With destination time.
17:52We think for.
17:53Where we kind of want to touch the community towards.
17:57Is.
17:58You said.
17:59Tell.
18:00The destination.
18:01Right.
18:02Because when we plan to tell.
18:03We actually do.
18:04We'll reverse first.
18:05Right.
18:06We do destination.
18:07So, look.
18:08Look at.
18:09Look at that.
18:10You want to go here.
18:11And, hotels.
18:12And, all that stuff in order.
18:13And, you know.
18:14We'll book this life.
18:15Right.
18:16Going in reverse.
18:17Find the cheapest life.
18:18Right.
18:19Because, if you're like.
18:20Oh, I want to go.
18:21To Cancun.
18:22Which you really want.
18:23Is to go to.
18:24A place where the beach.
18:25Right.
18:26So, just put up.
18:27The idea.
18:28What that means.
18:29Is not necessarily Cancun.
18:30Because, I want to be chilling.
18:31When the water is clear.
18:32And, I got a coconut.
18:33And, alcohol in it.
18:34Right.
18:35That's what you really want.
18:36So, that's connected.
18:37In so many places.
18:38In the world.
18:39So, looking at it that way.
18:40And, I just want to be on the beach.
18:42What are the deals.
18:43For beach locations.
18:44Let that be the thing.
18:45And, it takes.
18:46And, it's not an experience.
18:48Some of my favorite destinations.
18:50Were because.
18:51It was cheap.
18:52And, I was like.
18:53I'm tired.
18:54I'll never expect.
18:55Guatemala to be.
18:56One of my favorite places.
18:57Because, my house.
18:58I'm taking it.
18:59It was a $126 round trip.
19:00To close to my house.
19:01And, you see.
19:02And, I'm saying.
19:03Turning them down.
19:04To.
19:05Because, everywhere.
19:06On my trip.
19:07On my radar.
19:08But, $126.
19:09On my trip.
19:10It's always.
19:11On my radar.
19:12So.
19:13Go for the deals first.
19:14And, you know.
19:15You have far more experience.
19:16And, in the portal.
19:17You won't make it.
19:18It's just something.
19:19But.
19:20But.
19:21You guys.
19:22Give us.
19:23Great tips.
19:24If you wanted anything else.
19:25And, I saw.
19:26I just want to say one thing.
19:27Y'all.
19:28Don't.
19:29Do not.
19:30Be scared.
19:31Like.
19:32The world.
19:33Is ours.
19:34It might be.
19:35I don't want to say.
19:36What I mean.
19:37If you've been looking at.
19:38The world.
19:39Is they play group.
19:40A scene.
19:41And, you know.
19:42And, I think that.
19:43Some of you.
19:44And, I think that.
19:45The opinion on you.
19:46Is like.
19:47We.
19:48We're sometimes afraid.
19:49To do things.
19:50You just.
19:51We don't.
19:52Have that.
19:53Some memory.
19:54It's just.
19:55That's okay.
19:56Than any other.
19:57People.
19:58Right.
19:59Um.
20:00Not to say.
20:01That we're better.
20:02Of course.
20:03But, I'm just saying.
20:04Like.
20:05It's just as much.
20:06Our world.
20:07As it is.
20:08Anybody else.
20:09Talking to us.
20:10To our world.
20:11History.
20:12Is.
20:13And, our world.
20:14History.
20:15Is.
20:16Is.
20:17You're.
20:18A whole.
20:19History.
20:20And, that's.
20:21It's a whole.
20:22Priest.
20:23That's what I had to say, that's the end of my t-t-t.
20:28So you guys, this has been such a dope conversation,
20:32so I'm glad we're able to share our experiences with the world,
20:36and to our communities, especially on this stage.
20:39I hope you guys all took away something from this conversation as well.
20:43And I'm glad to see you all lined up for me,
20:46going through security, but next place where
20:49you had Sean come up to me and tell me that you take the deal first.
20:54You don't care what a coconut is, right?
20:57You look at the camera, the cheap route trip.
20:59And until next time, peace out. Love you guys.
Comments