BB&W On Location: Why College-Aged Black Girls Should Travel Abroad

 jazzyfae45 Best wishes for you getting to go abroad. :D

 Law Wanxi Thanks for sharing!

 Jamila 

"...the few blacks they see on TV are athletes or in entertainment, so thats what people were expecting."

And those stereotypes are not all positive, either.  

Any woman bright enough to read this blog would be able to crush, at least locally, those vile stereotypes beneath the jackbooted heel of the more pleasant reality she would bring to others around the globe.  Another positive effect of travel abroad.

 Brenda55 YES, YES, YES!  I have most DEFINITELY looked into that.  I hear its actually a lot of hard work but I think it would be so cool.

 Zindzi_Zenani On their ship we were on the crew was happy to be there and liked their working conditions.  The also remarked that they were working around people who were on vacation ans were happy to be there themselves. Oh BTW in addition to you salary you get tips from the vacationers.

 Brenda55 Yeah, I've never been on one but my mom has gone on several and she talked about how big a tip her group left their server at the end.  I can be argumentative in my personal life, but nobody I work with would ever guess that!  They're shocked to learn I'm an activist.  I can wear the mask WELL.  People would LOVE me.

Yeah, I need to get back on researching this.

 Brenda55 Great for those who are licensed massage therapists, aestheticians, etc.

 Brenda55 I have gone on a trip to NY recently with my sister. My Aunt paid for it. It was my first time traveling out of Georgia in years without the rest of my family. It was also my first time on a plane, and second time traveling out of state. The trip there was okay, but the trip back was awful. I will not fly again if I can help it. I was so scared at first. I almost didn't go, but I was glad I did. We're going to try to start having more vacations away from home.

 Courtney86 What happened wit the flight back?

 Brenda55 It was raining and snowing in NY, but not that heavily; it was a full flight, it was very hot on the plane, somebody smelled, the person next to me was snoring, there was a child crying and talking incessantly, I felt very cramped, and there was turbulence because the flight back was when all those tornadoes were occurring in the South, so it was not fun. I was about ready to run screaming off the plane when it finally landed in Hartsfieled-Jackson airport. I might have to take something to knock myself out if I ever had to take a plane overseas. The flight was only two hours, but I was ready to scream. lol

 Courtney86 Wow that does sound like the flight from hell.

 Brenda55 Yup, pretty bad. :)

 Brenda55 Yep, that's what I plan on doing...one step at a time! My parents have always shown me the importance of traveling..probably because My dad grew up in a military family and he was born in England..(I've been to Mexico..but never overseas).. but now that I'm not on their time or money anymore (I'm 22)...It's harder to get the funds on my own ..but somewhat liberating.

 MySmile Yes, I can watch Anthony Bourdain eat around the globe ALL DAY.

 Zindzi_Zenani haha YES, I love Anthony Bourdain!

 Courtney86 me too, that's my main problem. I can't even really do study abroad programs because they barely give me enough loan money to go to school here.  I love traveling and have so many places I want to go.

 MySmile  Courtney86 Ladies, if you haven't done so already set up a travel fund. It could be as little as $5 a week but hey Rome wasn't built in a day. Then get online and sign up for travel deals on various sites. For example you can do a trip watch on TripAdvisor and they will send you emails when plan tickets to a destination hit a certain price (just got one for San Diego to Barcelona for less than $800). Even if you don't have the money to travel now you will start seeing the trend of when prices drop for where you want to go and get an idea of how much you really need. I also just came across something called couch surfing, nicolenewblack mentioned on her blog. Sounds like an inexpensive way to seek out accommodations as well. 

 LadyLittlefoot That does sound like a good idea. I think I will try that. I also search for contests that have a free trip to an overseas destination.

 Courtney86 Here is the blog entry on couch surfing. http://www.nicoleisthenewblack.com/2012/02/couch-surfing-success-in-osaka-japan.html

 LadyLittlefoot  MySmile  Courtney86  nicolenewblack www.livingsocial.com is a GREAT website to sign up with; they offer great local deals on restaurants and social events and also wonderful travel deals. I've also noticed that www.hautelook.com also offers good travel deals.

 LadyLittlefoot Thank you :)

 LadyLittlefoot  Courtney86  nicolenewblack Thank you! I will definitely start putting a little money aside. I'm going to check all of those sites out. I'm a scaredy cat when it comes to traveling alone to another country (I love the idea though and I'm going to bring myself to do it one day..I'm just scared of crime and stuff.and I don't really trust random people like that....I'm a big old baby...)..so I have to check out the safest options.

This is a great suggestion. I put a little away each month so that I can travel internationally or domestically each year. If i plan it out right I can do both in a year. Do not discount going to another State! We are so large and diverse and I have been surprised by traveling through the US. I only have a few States left to check off my list.

 reem11  MySmile  Courtney86 I don't know. I should look into that. I think my school might offer a program, but I do go to a technical school and I am in the Web Design program. I don't know if that makes a difference or not. I do qualify for Pell and Hope, and it has paid for everything. That is the only way I was able to go to college.

 reem11  MySmile  Courtney86 I'm not sure what my school offers for the study abroad program (I'll look into it) but I do not qualify for Pell Grants. I only qualify for loans because FAFSA thinks my parents make too much money. Even though my dad makes a certain amount..I'm pretty independent...The only thing my dad did lately was cosign for my apartment...I do not get money from my parents..even though I'm still technically a dependent...I did file my own taxes for the 1st time this year though (in addition to my dad filing his taxes). The government also doesn't seem to understand that I was not an only child and my parents still have mortgage payments, etc..so there's no room for them to be spending all of their money on me. I know people who get way more money for school than I do (mostly from single parent homes) and their parents bought them a car, give them money, etc....so I don't think they should base it solely off of your parents income.   I actually think I might be able to find a better deal looking for trips on my own rather than doing study abroad.

MySmile If your school allows you to use a third party provider check out www.diversityabroad.com. They have a large study abroad scholarship database. This way you can a find a program that offers a scholarship that could cover the amount of what you could have received from a Pell Grant.

 MySmile Depending on the exchange rate, it could be cheaper for you to study abroad!

 Alana 2 That is a good point, I have to check that out.

@Brenda55 Sorry for the irritating errors. My iPhone hates me! Anyway, 3 week vacation? That sounds absolutely amazing! Are you sure you're not from Europe? Since when do Americans vacation abroad for such extending periods?

 Wanderlust   Brenda55 We are retired. 

Funny you should mention Americans and vacation time.  Hubby and I had the pleasure of sitting down to dinner on board Celebrity's Silhouette hosted by officer responsible for hotel operations of the ship. It was a formal affair to showcase the various wines the ship offers and how to pair them with food. I.E. our kind of meal.

 The table talk turned to marketing and where Celebrity sees growth in the future. It turns out that the seven day cruise is king in America because of the limited vacation time Americans have. In fact most of the people we sailed with last week,we were on a 12 day voyage, were from Europe most of the others were the over 65 crowd.

Our host pointed out that European have enough time to travel to the US, sail to the islands and then fly back and still have vacation time left over.

 Brenda55 *smh*  That's a shame.  I was thinking about that a lot when I got back from living abroad.  We spend five out of seven days AT WORK.  Most of the time, working for someone else who can and will fire us at the drop of a hat.  We're with our families maybe 5 hours out of a 24 hour day.  

THIS AIN'T LIVING.

 Zindzi_Zenani I know which is why I retired at age 50 when I had the chance.  Work got in the way of living.

 Brenda55 

I was listening to a travel show about a year ago and they were saying that now was a good time to take cruises because the poor economy has led to empty ships and lower prices.  They were also saying that many older people were just cruising full time because they take pretty good care of you and it is cheaper than assisted living.  My only cruises have been on navy ships and those weren't very relaxing.

 Brice Cameron That was one of the reason we booked the first cruise. There are great deals to be found out there. Top of the line ships are sailing nearly full however but deals can be found.  I guess as a former navy guy the last kind of vacation you would want is at sea.

 As for the assisted living bit.  That does happen but you need to be in good health to do that since medical care is very limited on a ship.