{"id":97185328,"date":"2017-02-20T16:58:48","date_gmt":"2017-02-20T16:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/?p=97185328"},"modified":"2018-02-22T18:12:40","modified_gmt":"2018-02-22T18:12:40","slug":"poverty-privilege-and-positivity-the-3-things-my-travels-have-taught-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/poverty-privilege-and-positivity-the-3-things-my-travels-have-taught-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Poverty, Privilege, and Positivity: The 3 Things My Travels Have Taught Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’re pleased to have travel blogger and photographer Erick Prince from minoritynomad.com<\/a> join us once again this Black History Month to share his views as an African-American traveler.<\/em><\/p>\n

I grew up during the height of the crack cocaine era in America. In my world (Cleveland, Ohio), I thought I had a clear perspective on poverty, privilege, and how others see me. I thought these things depended on economics, race, and where you live. But through travel, my eyes were opened to some amazing, and at times hard, truths:<\/p>\n

Poverty: It\u2019s everywhere and there\u2019s always someone worse off than you<\/h2>\n
\"an-old-woman-begs-in-the-old-town-of-sarajevo\"<\/a>

An elderly woman begs on the street in Sarajevo, Bosnia<\/p><\/div>\n

As I walked through the Old Center of Sarajevo, I saw an elderly woman passively begging on the street. The kind of woman I had likely walked past before. She was totally and utterly ignored. As I watched person after person, group after group, walk past her as if she wasn\u2019t there, I felt ashamed and frustrated. In the Dominican Republic, I visited schools where Haitian children waited to eat. Why? Because their parents couldn\u2019t find work to feed them at home. In Siem Reap, I was overwhelmed by beggars on the streets, bowing their heads in the dirt to beg for spare change.<\/p>\n

You might post on social media on your fancy smartphone about how broke you are, but you really have no idea what some people have to do to survive in other places around the world.<\/p>\n

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”I\u2019ve learned through travel that poverty isn\u2019t localized. It\u2019s a GLOBAL reality that needs to be addressed.” [\/perfectpullquote]<\/em><\/p>\n

Privilege: You\u2019ll find you have unrecognized advantages \u2013 both good and bad<\/h2>\n
\"thai-drag-queen\"<\/a>

A Thai drag queen at the Copenhagen Pride Festival, Denmark<\/p><\/div>\n

I was invited to attend a gay pride event as a straight ally. There, I learned that homosexuality is criminalized in 77 countries and the penalty is death in 10 of those. I\u2019ve met solo female travelers that have to constantly watch their drinks and how they dress to prevent sexual assaults. I\u2019ve been treated like a celebrity throughout Asia simply because I\u2019m black, being compared to President Obama and Kanye West.<\/p>\n

As a straight man, I don\u2019t need to be concerned with laws against homosexuality. As a man, I don\u2019t necessarily have to worry about the possibility of being sexually assaulted. As a black person, I\u2019m instantly \u201cfamiliar\u201d due to the prevalence of African-American culture around the world.<\/p>\n

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”Even though I\u2019m a minority in my own country, there are some privileges – both good and bad – \u00a0that I\u2019ve learned I have.” [\/perfectpullquote]<\/em><\/p>\n

Positivity: You can always count on the kindness of strangers<\/h2>\n
\"a-restaurateur-in-south-africa\"<\/a>

A wonderful and welcoming restaurateur in Cape Town, South Africa<\/p><\/div>\n

In October 2016, I became the godfather to my Romanian friend\u2019s twin son. I met my friend only two years ago, in Piatra Neamt, Romania. After being mistaken for a possible drug smuggler in Medan, Indonesia, I was given a private tour of Medan and its amazing culture by a small hotel owner who really went out of his way to make me feel welcome. In Santiago, Chile, a hospitable couch-surfing experience led me to meet a friend of my host – who I later fell in love with.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve served slightly over 10 years in the US military and I\u2019m proud to be an American. But sometimes in the US, we\u2019re taught to believe in an \u201cUs vs Them\u201d mentality. What I\u2019ve learned through travel is that, while the world does find us extremely confusing, we\u2019re always greeted with open arms.<\/p>\n

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”For me, the most<\/em> eye-opening thing I\u2019ve learned during my travels is that the world doesn\u2019t hate us and there are new friends to be made anywhere you go.”<\/em>[\/perfectpullquote]<\/p>\n

Too often we create echo chambers that reinforce our beliefs and views of the world, no matter how flawed and antiquated these beliefs and views are. But travel breaks that cycle. It forces us to elevate our thinking or at the very least be exposed to alternate views and ideas. Travel has made me a better person, and my only wish is that it does the same for you.<\/p>\n

You can check out more of Erick’s pictures in another special post right here<\/a>, or on Instagram (@minoritynomad)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’re pleased to have travel blogger and photographer Erick Prince from minoritynomad.com join us once again this Black History Month to share his views as an African-American traveler. I grew up during the height of the crack cocaine era in America. In my world (Cleveland, Ohio), I thought I had a clear perspective on poverty, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":97185338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2954,2115],"tags":[2668,2700],"class_list":["post-97185328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-black-history-month","category-personal-essays","tag-african-american-travel","tag-black-history-month"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97185328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/69"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97185328"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97185328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97185533,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97185328\/revisions\/97185533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97185338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97185328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97185328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97185328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}