A New Journey

E aí?

Getting to Rio was a trip in itself. I flew from Houston to Orlando, which should have been simple, but my Frontier flight was delayed three hours. I was already stressed thinking I was going to miss my connection and ruin the trip before it even started—and honestly, something always goes wrong when I fly Frontier, so it was very on brand. Fun fact: if you are going to Brazil, you need a visa and you have to print it. You cannot show it on your phone at all. And trust me, I took that VERY seriously. I applied early, got approved in two business days, and made sure we had multiple copies printed in color AND black and white. Organized. Prepared. Responsible… I just forgot to pack mine.

My Second Solo Trip!

When I pulled up to my hostel, Sunzal Surf Garden, I immediately felt like I had walked into someone else’s established friend group. There were people outside playing beer pong, music going, everyone already in conversation, and within the first few minutes I realized I was the only Black girl there.

Tokyo: How I Accidentally Cut a Day Off My Own Trip

Somewhere between booking flights and mentally mapping out my time in Japan, I made a mistake. A big one. Because of the massive time difference between Houston and Tokyo, I completely mixed up my dates. I genuinely thought I would be in Tokyo for a full extra day. That illusion came crashing down about twelve hours before my flight when I got a notification reminding me to check into my hotel while I was still very much in Houston. That’s when I realized I had booked my hotel for an extra night I wouldn’t be there for, no refund of course, and scheduled excursions for a day that quite literally did not exist in my itinerary. This is not something that usually happens to me, and unfortunately, this one was fully my fault.

The Last Leg

After hours on that long train ride from Nice to Barcelona, we finally made it to the city I think I’d secretly been anticipating the most. Something in me just knew a childhood dream was about to be activated. Barcelona was where my Cheetah Girls 2 fantasy was waiting, and I was absolutely ready to live out my cheetahlicious moment.

Arrival in Nice

We left Genoa heading to Nice and somehow missed our bus! Not because we were late, but because the stops weren’t clearly labeled. It wasn’t just us either; a whole group of people had to reschedule. With no internet and no clue what to do next, we scrambled to figure it out and eventually found another one that would take us there. We came to accept that our luck with buses this summer was just not great (shoutout to Strasbourg!).

Italy in Five Stops

Italy was one of the highlights of my Euro summer, and it did not disappoint. From the bustling streets of Milan to the serene pebble beaches of Portofino, each city had its own personality, moments that made me laugh, and moments that made me sweat, sometimes literally.

Getting There: The Unexpected Struggle

I visited Switzerland right after spending time in Paris and getting there was, in short, a journey. We traveled by both train and bus, but our connection into Zürich turned into one of the worst travel experiences I’ve ever had.

Are you happy to be in Paris? OUI!

After a dreamy solo moment in Malta, I landed in Paris to meet up with my bestie Deashia for the kickoff of our Euro summer — and let me tell you, it was 5 days of croissants, confusion, and convincing ourselves we were fluent in French.

How traveling solo in Malta turned into the perfect mix of peace, culture, and fun!

I’ll be honest—I had barely heard of Malta before I booked this trip. It ended up being my “in-between” stop after Marrakech and before linking with my bestie in Paris. I literally typed “London” into Google Flights with no destination and hit search. When Malta popped up as one of the cheapest options, I was intrigued and clicked wondering, what’s the vibe there?

The only other contender was Amsterdam—went there as a kid and wouldn’t have minded a rerun—but Malta was giving beach, calm, solo traveler won’t get lost energy. Sold.

Marrakech was never part of the plan.

But some of the best chapters in life are unplanned, right? What started as a spontaneous addition to the itinerary turned into one of the most eye-opening, beautiful experiences of my life — and I got to share it all with my mom.

London: Day 1 – Jet lag, Tea, & Beyoncé

I flew from Miami to London Gatwick—a smooth 9-hour flight, surprisingly, coming from someone with plane anxiety (I know... a traveler with plane anxiety, lol). Thankfully, I had all the leg space in the world thanks to my exit row seat, which made the flight so much better. The meal on board was... well, basically a glorified cup noodle, but honestly, with all that extra legroom, I barely minded.

Mexico City Gave Everything (Except Clean Ice)

This past March (2025), I took a spring break trip to Mexico City with my best friend and a friend from work—both of whom, fun fact, also happen to be teachers at my school. Honestly, there wasn’t a super deep reason why we picked CDMX. We had just heard great things, flights were affordable, and my travel buddies are both bilingual in Spanish (shoutout to them because that made me feel a lot more secure). So we booked it.