All About Traveling As A Woman Of Color By Travel Bloggers

Traveling as a woman is not easy and if it happens to be traveling as a woman of color, things can get a whole lot worse. Since traveling has become more common and acceptable – diversity has reached all the far-flung corners of the world. However, sadly this co-called diverse world does not treat diversity with open arms. Your color, gender, ethnicity, etc. influence the way you will be treated by the people while traveling.

I am a twenty something brown Pakistani girl and I have experienced discrimination first-hand numerous times while traveling between me and my white counterparts entirely on the basis of my color. The purpose of this article is not to vent about why and how my skin color makes me vulnerable or a potential threat to anyone but to highlight the ground realities of color discrimination that exists and are faced by many colored women travelers on a regular basis.

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Everything has its own pros and cons and so does traveling as a woman of color. To create a complete round-up on traveling as a woman of color – I collaborated with 8 travel bloggers who shared their some good and some not-so-good experiences while traveling as women of color.

Bruna from I Heart Brazil

As much as I love traveling, passing through airport check while traveling as a woman of color without being put aside for a more thorough inspection is a rarity. My husband, who is Dutch and white, never really thought about it before, but now he is often put aside for a check when traveling with me.

Back in Sao Paulo, Brazil, my skin color wasn’t a problem or a motive to be stopped at places, but as I traveled around Europe, I became more conscious that not everybody thinks the same because I stand out in most countries in the continent.

Note that it would be huge hypocrisy to say there’s no racism in Brazil, but because my skin isn’t dark and I thankfully have never seen a bad situation regarding someone’s ethnicity, I never really thought about it. And that’s a situation that happens way too often, unfortunately. 

I could go on and tell many other stories where my skin color played a significant role, either bad and good, of course. And although the world is slowly becoming a better place, I just wish the good stories could happen more often than the bad ones.

Alex from Schimiggy

My name is Alex and I am a dark-skinned Vietnamese woman. I live in the USA. I have been discriminated by my own Vietnamese people while traveling. The reason being that I don’t look so ‘Vietnamese’ for the people to recognize me as Vietnamese. They will say things like she’s a big girl, her skin is so dark or they will try to scam me until I start speaking Vietnamese. Then they realize that I probably understood everything they were saying and try to laugh it off. It’s very frustrating that it happens continuously wherever I go to in Vietnam. 

It makes me wonder if people in other countries are talking about me in a language I cannot understand. I might never know if anyone ever said anything good or bad right in front of me as I am not able to understand them. Moreover, traveling as a woman of color in SEA particularly if you have dark skin – makes you prone to a lot of unwanted attention from the locals. Despite South East Asia being extremely touristy, locals still get very intrigued by seeing anyone other than white travelers.

Esther from The Adventurous Feet

Traveling as a black woman from Uganda, I’ve had my own share of perks and hiccups while traveling as a woman of color. In the traveling world which is highly dominated by white counterparts,  I still have trouble being looked at as just a traveler.

Honestly, I am not someone who’s always looking out for racist actions or looks from people. I’m not sure if that makes me just naïve but I feel like it gives me a peace of mind not worrying about what others are going to think of me. Regardless of that, there are always some actions that stand out and become too obvious not to miss.

During my travels, the greatest challenge I’ve had so far as a woman of color is at the immigration desks of different airports. Even when I have the visa and everything required, I spend more minutes being scrutinized about literally everything which I rarely see happen to my white friends.  I guess the immigration officers always assume that since I am black, there is no way I can be traveling just as a tourist but rather escaping from my country with no intentions of going back.

It’s not always bad though, in some of the places I’ve traveled to especially where they rarely see black people, I’ve been welcomed and treated nicely by locals and many of them were so eager to take pictures with me. Though when I travel to black countries, many of them confuse me for a native (which is totally understandable) and when they talk to me in a language I don’t speak, I have to spend some good minutes explaining where I come from and all that.

Will all that stop me from traveling, absolutely not! My dream is to travel the world and I’m not going to stop because I face a few difficulties along the way.

Nabiha from Verses By A Voyager

Traveling as a woman of color, coming from a brown ethnicity isn’t always all roses. There are anxious days, days when you have to gather all the courage to speak to your parents about your new trip, there are tough days when you have to convince them to approve your trip to a not so safe destination and then there are happy days when you know someone back home is looking forward to your arrival. In brown households, parents are generally very conscious about their daughters traveling alone and therefore the idea of solo traveling doesn’t go very smooth. There is a hierarchy of approvals to be sought.

Moreover, brown households are very family-oriented and the conformance to the idea of a regular job is the norm. The concept of ditching your regular job for traveling isn’t very much appreciated and this again adds to the difficulty. However, the bright side is the more love and care which comes with the restrictions and laws. The best remedy to cure the nostalgia of a trip is to look forward to the people waiting for you at the place you all call home.

There are many other elements associated with traveling as a woman in color. Back in 2015, during the famous London tube strike, I was traveling on a bus in London around midnight with a friend. A guy boarded the bus and yelled at two of us saying, “Illegal immigrants”. This was perhaps my first unpleasant experience in London. My friend wore a scarf and we both are brown girls. I assumed it was mainly because of her scarf and we both being brown that we had this experience.

Corritta from Its A Family World

Being a woman of color, it is always interesting to see the looks I get when I travel. The most positive experience that I had was in Beijing, China. It was expected that I would stick out in China as an African American woman from the United States. I was talking to my tour guide who was telling us information about the Temple of Heaven.

After his speech, he asked, “how did you get your hair like that?” I thought it was an interesting question because he was so intrigued by my hair. He wanted to touch it and see how it felt and if it was indeed my real hair. I told him that it naturally grew this way and I just get it twisted every few weeks. He said, “your hair is unique and beautiful, we have nothing like that here in China; everyone same”.  That simple exchange made me smile.   

For other women of color who love to travel my advice would be to be yourself. There is no one else in the world like you. You may go to areas in the world where you are not completely accepted and that is okay because you are unique and beautiful in your own way. 

Christen from Travel Wander Grow

Traveling as a woman of color has always been an interesting experience, and the experiences that have stuck with me the most have occurred in countries in Asia. Which, I do believe, is simply because there are not many black people who travel there (at least not yet!).

Here are a few of my most memorable examples – While traveling in Turkey, I had a bathroom attendant stop me on my way out to examine my big hair – all while mumbling very excitedly in Turkish. In Thailand, I received comments and arm strokes from people admiring my skin tone and braids. In India, I received very intense stares and some surprise photos – but only if my hair was in its natural state

What I’ve learned from all of this is that people are usually generally curious about what they don’t know, so I don’t let any of it bother me. My recommendation to other traveling women of color is to keep an open mind and be open to sharing your culture with the people you encounter. Also, as a woman of color from the US, most of the world may actually be safer for you than home (which is a little sad to say).

Zinara from NatnZin

I’m from the tiny island of Sri Lanka. I travel outside the country as a solo woman. I’m often perceived as an Indian (as my appearance is similar), and I tend to be identified with the stereotyping of the Indian travelers. It’s not common to see brown women traveling alone, so people would ask me why I am traveling without a companion or where my husband is. In Sri Lanka, it’s incredibly rare to see local solo female travelers.

I haven’t yet traveled alone in Sri Lanka as sexual harassment for local women is quite high. And such cases are often neglected. For my fellow women of color, I have one thing to say, cover the Earth before it covers you. A general rule is to not wander alone at night no matter where in the world you are. Don’t let social misconceptions stop you from doing what you love. Break all the barriers and have fun!

Danielle from Live In 10 Countries

I travel with my partner, who is southeast Asian, on almost every trip I take. She is Australian, but now living in the UK and that amount of moving around means you get used to culture clashes and sometimes meeting people who aren’t too used to diversity.

We’ve never had visa or immigration issues because of it, but we have grown tired of people assuming she couldn’t speak English (it’s her first language). When we get frustrated by misconceptions about where she’s from, we show photos of her home and it becomes a talking point.

If you’re a female traveler and you’re not white, the first thing to say is that there’s no need to worry too much. There’s no place for closed minds in travel. Be prepared to have open and honest conversations about this topic. A good way to open up the debate is to ask about local stereotypes – every place has these!

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I hope this article has helped any colored woman to not give up on her dreams of traveling intimidated by the harsh reality of color discrimination in this world. Traveling as a woman of color is never going to be easy or straightforward but I consider all the rough experiences as a part of the game, which has certainly helped me become a stronger person in some way and I hope it does the same to you!

Happy travels 🙂

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