The State Department is rolling out a new travel advisory system for every country in the world. The old system, frankly, sucked. Will its replacement be any better? The New Year will see the US State Department ushering in a new system of travel advisories for Americans contemplating trips abroad. It’s being described as a “tiered […]
Read MoreEgypt’s Black Pharaohs
The Nubians were the most ancient of African civilizations and among its most successful. They conquered Egypt, stymied Rome, and grew rich as merchants and mercenaries. Their men built cities. Their women led battles. And their descendants survive today. Remember when your grade-school teachers taught you all about the Black Africans who ruled Egypt for […]
Read MoreAFRICA: Ghana tries to return to the skies
For the third time since gaining independence in 1957, Ghana is moving to create its own airline. There are major implications for West Africa if it succeeds. Ghana is taking a third shot at establishing a national airline. A member of the government’s aviation ministry went public with that word last week at Kotoka International […]
Read MoreGhana: Your introduction to Africa
For a first visit to The Mother Continent, this English-speaking nation of proud and friendly West Africans, with its link to America’s slavery past and its comfort level with Black American expats, makes a sensible choice. You’ve made up your mind: You’re finally going to Africa. But where? That’s no small question, because Africa is […]
Read MorePoorism takes a life
[smartslider3 slider=7] A Spanish tourist in Rio de Janeiro is shot dead at a military police checkpoint while touring one of the city’s infamous hill slums called favelas. It calls into question the practice of using poverty as a tourist attraction. It happened this week. The victim was a 67-year-old woman whose car failed to […]
Read MoreTravel for the Senses: Taste
Second of an occasional series Long before there was ever such a thing as a “foodie,” people were traveling the world to escape from their culinary comfort zones and delight their tastebuds. When you come to see the world, come hungry. What are the memories we bring back from our travels? What we saw, wwhat […]
Read MoreTravel for the senses: Sound
First of an occasional series Music — any kind of music — is a great reason to travel. Say what you will about millennials and their successors — and let’s face it, most of us do. But the young Black Americans traveling the world today have figured out something that many of my generation still […]
Read MoreA grand tour of Africa? Yes
With a huge impetus from the African Union, an epic journey covering the length of the Mother Continent is going to become a practical reality in 2018. Back in the 1600s, when Europeans were busily “discovering” lands already populated by peoples of color, well-to-do families would send their kids on on a journey through Europe […]
Read MoreMore African wings to the US
Rwanda’s national airline is due to begin flights to the United States by the end of 2017. That’s good news for Americans wanting to visit East — and West Africa. If it happens. At present, seven African nations have airlines making direct flights between the Mother Continent and the United States: Angola | SonAir/Houston Express […]
Read MoreETHIOPIA: Africa’s Jerusalem
[smartslider3 slider=2] The rock-hewn churches of Ethiopia are solid proof that Black people have always been more than “hewers of wood and drawers of water.” Lalibela is a village of maybe 30,000 souls, wedged into the steep, rugged mountains of northern Ethiopia. If it’s not at or near the top of your bucket list of […]
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