Dear Pennies & Pens,
In this post, I’ll be talking about travel blogging, but first let’s get something out of the way.
So even though the Coronavirus is out here killing everyone’s travel vibe and actual people (May all victims Rest In Peace), I wanted to write a post about why I love to travel. Why? Because the Coronavirus will hopefully be contained so we can all go back to traveling the globe. But in the meantime, it’s important that we remember why we like traveling in the first place.
The news of the Coronavirus has everyone scared (as we should be) but we can’t let the negativity of this virus stop us from traveling and inking the life we’ve always wanted. We will ink every page of the globe. Who’s with me?!
My parents inspired my love of travel
My love of travel began when I was a child. You see, my parents always emphasized travel. As Black Baby Boomers, they weren’t able to travel much as kids or teens. It wasn’t until they were adults that they could travel freely.
You see both of my parents are from the South — specifically, Georgia. And as we all know from American history, the South was very segregated. Additionally, racism and segregation was prevalent throughout the US. So it wasn’t safe for Black people to travel until the 1980s.
Furthermore, my parents grew up in rural Georgia. As kids, they worked on their parents’ farms with their siblings. So they didn’t have the time, and let’s be blunt, the money to travel.
But once they graduated from college and married, my parents began traveling the globe. They’ve been to San Francisco, Napa, Boston, North & South Carolina, Florida, Maine, Alaska, Toronto and more. Throughout the years, they’ve traveled as a couple or with us (their kids). In essence, my parents inspired my love of travel because they literally showed me how travel can expand your mind and give you an unique experience.
Traveling while growing up
As I just mentioned, we went on many family vacations while growing up. Since my Dad is an entrepreneur with his own business and my Mom was a teacher, we had the flexibility and freedom to travel. We went on vacation during spring break and summer, not to mention visiting family over the holidays.
This is why I get antsy if I don’t travel every few months. I love Dallas but nothing excites me more than traveling. I am always planning my next trip. That’s why travel blogging is my jam.
Anyhoo, while growing up, we went to a variety of places. My favorites were Maine, Wisconsin, Gatlinburg, and the Smoky Mountains. Some of my best childhood memories are those road trips and flights. Traveling together gave us the chance to bond and be closer as a family.
Traveling as a young adult + college student
My most epic young adult trip was my first trip to Europe. I went on a school trip to Europe the summer before my senior year in high school. That trip was absolutely amazing!!!
We went to Paris, Madrid, Florence, Venice, Rome, Salzburg and Munich. It was truly an incredible experience. One of my silliest youthful antics happened while in Venice.
My Mom had given me her credit card in case of an emergency and little young, dumb, spoiled Penny bought a Gucci bag. A $385 Gucci bag. Yikes. Needless to say, I was grounded until the end of eternity when I got home.
Once I finished high school and went away to Hampton University for college, I made friends who also love to travel. My main running buddy was my BFF Renee who funny enough is still traveling the globe with me. Check out Cruising thru Cali to learn more.
While at Hampton, I somehow managed to go to Miami twice, the Bahamas, Myrtle Beach and Atlanta. I would work throughout the summer and save all of my money to travel. Since I couldn’t afford to fly for most of these trips, my friends and I would rent cars and drive.
Traveling as an Adult means blogging about travel
After graduating from college, I knew I wanted to continue to travel. However, as I say in The Loudest Pen Ever, I had: No Pennies! No Pennies! No Pennies! So hmm how was I going to travel and ink the life I’ve always wanted?!
Simple: by blogging about it. You see, before I started creating travel content, I had already been blogging for about 6 years. So I knew that if I could get a fashion brand to send me clothes and beauty brands to send me free products to sample, I could definitely work with hotels, restaurants, airlines, etc.
Furthermore, travel blogging would give me the ability to travel frequently without always having to foot the bill. Working with sponsors helps me save or make money while still creating valuable content for my audience. It’s a win/win/win.
Traveling to Produce Travel Guides
After a few years of travel blogging, I decided to take it a step further and start producing digital travel guides under ISLP (my creative production company). I did this because even with sponsorship, traveling was getting expensive so I needed to find a way to monetize my trips.
By creating a product to sell to my audience, I could do just that. I decided to produce digital travel guides so that readers would be able to download the content to their smartphone or tablet to read while on the plane, in the bus, at home, etc. My vision was for the content to be easily accessible.
I am pleased to say that ISLP has now produced and released two travel guides: Cruising thru Cali and Chillin in Chi-Town. Cruising thru Cali and Chillin in Chi-Town are dedicated to offering insight on what to see, what to do and what to eat while in LA, San Francisco, Napa and Chicago by featuring Vegan restaurants, multicultural art, breweries and dispensaries.
We’re currently working on three more: Cruizing thru the Mile High (Denver), Penny in Portland (Portland, OR) and Coolin in Copenhagen (Copenhagen, Denmark). Stay tuned to the page for the release, or fill out the form at the bottom of this post to be notified!
Why I love to travel
In the video below, I talk about why I love to travel. I talk about how traveling gives you the chance to experience new things, eat delicious food, sample tasty drinks, as well as meeting new people and making friends.
Check out the inkvideo and let me know your thoughts in the comments.
And there it is. de la Pen…All Pen Everything. With us, keeping it real never goes wrong.
PS Sign up to get notified when the new digital travel guides are released!
