Patricka Hogue’s friends already called her “the nomad.” While he had visited dozens of countries (at the last count, at least 60), for 2012 he yearned for a community of black travel companions with whom he could share his travel experiences.
It was then that he ran into the Nomadness Travel tribe, a Facebook group, now with 37,000 members.
“I literally found my tribe,” he said.
Hogue and thousands of other black travelers have built communities, online and off, centered on globerotting. While they share restaurants and photos recommendations that induce envy, many members say that the groups have instill lasting friends and have led to marriages. In the worst cases, the groups have gone to action in times of crisis. In essence, groups encourage more black people to experience the world: only 49% of black Americans have traveled abroad, compared to 75% of white Americans, according to 2021 data from the PEW Research Center.
The founder of Nomadness Travel Tribe, Evita Robinson, who has traveled to about 40 countries, said she launched the group in 2011 with only 100 members to satisfy her own need to find a black travel community, and grew rapidly. Beyond connecting as an online community for travelers, Nomadness members and others often coordinate smaller group trips outside their online communities.
“It was beautiful to see these people, particularly the black and brown travelers of the millennial, join in an online house and then ventured into something that lived offline,” said Robinson, who is 40 years old and lives in Newark, New Jersey.
A cultural awakening
Hogue said that joining has had “a great impact on my life.”
After having temporarily lived in South Korea, Hogue returned to his hometown, New Orleans, in 2013 and felt “like a fish so of the water” after years of traveling. Since he joined Nomadness, he has traveled with members on five group trips, including a trip to India in March 2015, one of his favorites. The members received personalized Saris, visited Taj Mahal and attended Holi, a Hindu festival that celebrated love and rebirth.
“Finding this online travel community and people who also had, as, almost an insatiable curiosity about the world, was a breath of fresh air,” said Hogue, 43. “I didn’t feel so strange.”
Robinson said Nomadness launched to help break the racial, socioeconomic and religious barriers for global trips. Before social networks, international trips were strictly seen as a luxury, he said, and many black people grew up with feelings like “blacks do not go there.” But the emergence of companies such as Lyft and Airbnb has made trips accessible to more people, he said.
A way in which Robinson makes his trips accessible to travelers is offering payment plans. Nomadness trips on average cost between $ 2,000 and $ 3,500, before flights.
Hogue’s trip to India with Nomadness cost him $ 410, which included accommodation, meals and several activities, he said. Hogue said that the affordable prices of the organization allowed him to visit places like Bali, Costa Rica and South Africa.
In the Nomadness group, members share flight delays and travel recommendation requests. They also publish food and excursions and even updates about the new countries in which they live. Members also wonder about the Council about which countries are safe to travel; At this time, members favor Japan, Portugal and South Africa.
In 2016, Reggie Cumming, member of the National Brotherhood of Skiers, made a ski journey in Japan. While the group did not expect more than 12 people, around 180 appeared, which resulted in “literally the best week of my life,” said Cummings, who is from Atlanta. Shortly after, “The Black Travel Movement” began, which now has more than 539,000 members on Facebook.
“The platform was created so that we can tell our story and listen to stories from other cultures,” Cummings said. Its last publication in Black Travel Movement Group is a check-in for members traveling to Havana with the organization. Other group members often share photos of their favorite international travel destinations and request Recommendations for Travel Restaurants within the United States.
The trips with the black travel movement vary from $ 2,500 to $ 4,500, depending on the destination, said Cummings. Some popular places include Ghana, whose “year of return” in 2019 commemorated 400 years since the first group of African slaves arrived in Virginia. The one -year program encouraged many African Americans to visit; It was so popular that some travelers moved to Ghana.
In terms of excursions, Robinson said: “This is cultural immersion” for black travelers, especially those who travel to Africa. Visitors have dinner at local restaurants and buy in local stores, all of which help support the local community.
“I think this is the reason why Africa is exploiting, because people are realizing … Not everyone is safaris here as we have been thrown all our lives,” Robinson said. “There are parties. There are arts. There is a collective. There are ways to give back and volunteer. All that is in the reach of us as travelers. ”
The power of the community
Nomadness members have experienced their fair part of unexpected challenges abroad. But when bad things happen, “we appear when St hits the fan, literally,” Robinson said.
In 2015, a group of Nomadness members who visited a region outside the city of Panama participated in a van accident. Several people were injured and two members died. In four days, Nomadness members had raised tens of thousands of dollars to help pay for the invoices of the injured members and help others to return to the United States.
The community “joined unlike everything I had seen,” said Robinson. While the trip was not officially presented by Nomadness, Robinson flew to Panama with two other members because “these were our people and needed our help.”
“We introduce ourselves to each other,” Robinson said. “This is not just something social that you have seen on social networks. We are tangible in real life. “
Tushunda Wright, 42, community commitment leader for Nomadness, said: “You will be surprised how many times we have saved during difficult times. Not only deal with racism, but also, you know, if someone lost a passport [or] I’ve been robbed “.
During the last five years, the annual Nomadness Fest has been host of up to 600 color travelers, discussing a variety of themes, including the representation and accessibility of LGBTQ trips. Two main approaches to the group this year are the narration of stories and the aggregation of data for color travelers.
“Nomadness has been the root of so many friendships, relationships, marriages, business,” Hogue said. That, he added, is Black Joy’s epitome.
