We have visited Medellin Colombia many times but our last visit we stayed for 6 months. When you mention Medellin Colombia the first thing people mention is Pablo Escobar and we noticed many locals did not like to hear his name at all. We went to visit Pablo Escobar's gravesite as well as the home where he was killed. We also visited the gravesite of Griselda Blanco because her grave is just a few feet away from Pablo's and she was the God mother of the whole operation. We stayed in Medellin throughout Christmas and New Years and they definitely celebrate and you can go and see the lights and decorations and it is amazing and there will be a lot of food truck vendors out there as well at the Festival of Lights. During the holidays be prepared to many businesses closing down for a couple of days but we were still able to order pizza so some places will still be open.There are also free walking tours available. While you are there you definitely have to visit Guatepe. We also visited one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Medellin Comuna 13 but we felt safe the entire time and loved watching the locals perform doing dances and the children even wanted to dance for us. The graffiti is out of this world and makes for great pictures. There are many snacks available for sale there and a small art museum. You can ride the cable cars and ride high up in the mountains. There are soccer games you can attend and they really take soccer serious, you will know when it's a game day because everyone and their mama will have on a soccer jersey that day. The nightlife scene is amazing and there is always something to do whether it's a club, bar, or a hookah lounge Medellin has a variety of things to do for those who love to party. We also did a fruit tour while there at a local market and it was so tasty. There are also plenty of places to shop in Medellin. Petty crime can take place as in any country you visit so be aware of your belongings and you should be fine. You can check out our experience on YouTube: Carolina Travel Queens

Crete Greece was an amazing experience and such a beautiful place. The people we met were extremely helpful and the waterfront in Heraklion is very beautiful. We took so many pictures while being there. The food is amazing and we already love Greek food so to actually have it in Greece was everything and the night life is pretty cool. The only thing we did not like about Crete was the airport, it is tiny old and very dirty and very hot but other than that it was a great place to visit.

We stayed in Playa Del Carmen for 6 months and it is definitely one our favorite places to visit. You fly in to the airport in Cancun Mexico and you can catch a taxi, shared van, or bus to Playa Del Carmen. We stayed near the beach and there are many activities to do such as going to the beach, snorkeling, jet skis, parasailaing, and many bars and restaurants are available to relax and have a great time. There are also a lot of tour companies located everywhere so it's easy to shop around for the best prices when looking to take a tour. We visited one of the 7 wonders of the world the Chichen Itza. We also rode ATVs, went zip lining, and swam in many different cenotes even one that was located inside a cave. We also did a lot of shopping while being in Playa Del Carmen. They even have a local Walmart which was great to buy things that we forgot before leaving the United States. The local shared vans called Collectivos can take you to and from Cancun Mexico which is located 45 minutes away and they charge about 5 USD each way for the trip and the vans run 24 hours a day. There are shared vans that will also take you to and from Tulum for about 4 USD each way and they run from 6 am to 11 pm daily so there are endless amounts of things to do while being in Playa Del Carmen. You can check out our experience on our YouTube channel: Carolina Travel Queens

First we want to say if you are planning to visit Ho Chi Minh being black just brace yourself..... Orginally we planned to stay in HCM for a month or two but that trip was cut very short. When we travel while abroad we generally don't stay in the touristy areas. For the best experience of the culture we generally try to divide our time up in the areas with the working class locals then we also stay in the higher luxury class areas. When we arrived to HCM we saw one black person at the airport... The first home we arrived to was in an alley way. Lots of traffic NON STOP!! At night the rats came out and they were huge! We ended our stay there very short and went to a different area it was much better but one thing didn't change about the experience in both areas..... The stares. we got stares from locals and/or other Asian tourist all the time. It was unbelievable!! I'm sure they were also shocked to see black people in that area as we saw zero the whole time. They pointed. They laughed. They took videos and photos.Walking past some locals they rubbed our skin and stared at their hands as if our color would rub off. We had one local walked around us doing a whole 360 just to stare!! We asked a local why does this happen and she begin to tell us that most people never seen many black people. She explained in her 23 years she has only seen one black person physically other than on TV. She also mentioned how Africans are in HCM selling drugs and scamming there so a lot of locals are very judgemental and assume we are Africans. We felt it wasn't cool to judge all different black people no matter what country they are from just because you have encountered a bad few. We explained to her how we have people ask for photos and she didn't believe us until she witnessed it for herself. She was overwhelmed for us!! LOL We also experienced locals telling us to get away from their food stall. Grab drivers cancel rides when they arrived and saw we were black even some Grab driver give us nasty customer service until he found out we were American then became extremely nice! HCM traffic was the scariest experience yet and the food wasn't our favorite although we did find a few things that we enjoyed. We traveled on the Mekong River which was a great experience and the people in the villages were even more shocked to see black people so they rubbed our skin, took photos, and even grabbed our hair without permission. It is very hard to teach kids stranger danger in HCM because they just snatched the kids to take a photo and rubbing all on their face and skin. At one point we had to tell them no. We feel more black people should get out to HCM and break these barriers and judgemental views. Show them that black is beautiful and we are more than the negative things they assume. Check out our YouTube on the food tour we took in Saigon which was definitely a highlight of our stay in Vietnam.

Chiang Mai is definitely one of our favorite places to go for many reasons. Chiang Mai is totally different from Bangkok. It's much more calmer and slower. Greatly compared to the north vs south in America. The food is DELICIOUS!!! It actually taste better in Chiang Mai. The temples are beautiful and well taken care of. There's so much to do in Chiang Mai. While we were there for a month we went to Tiger Kingdom well worth the visit and you can view tips about it on our YouTube channel (Carolina Travel Queens). You can also visit the sticky waterfall, do zip line, ATV, or visit Chiang Rai white temple. The most eventful moment in Chiang Mai for us was going to the elephant farm where we became the elephant trainer for the day checking their health,feeding, bathing,and riding the elephant bareback up the mountain. What an amazing experience!!! While visiting you may also seek opportunities to network and meet the black expats living there that gather often and have events on a weekly basis.We would recommend Chiang Mai and always excited to go back.

Bangkok Thailand is amazing and a very busy place almost remind us of being in New York City. Thailand is great when it comes to the variety of foods and they are seasoned to perfection. Our favorite is the Pad Thai and Mango sticky rice. We love seafood and there are endless amounts of all you can eat seafood BBQ resturants. The seafood BBQ restaurants are set up like a buffet with all fresh seafood from crabs, fish, scallops, clams, mussels, oysters, crab sticks, blood cockles, chicken, and live prawns. They have sides to choose from like fried rice, pasta, sushi, and dessert. They give you a grill to cook the food at your table and there is no time limit on the amount of food you want to cook and eat. They even have spices to season your food and free drinks and for a very low price of 9-10 US dollars per person. The food is so fresh the prawns are still swimming in the water and you catch them and place them on ice before cooking them. The street food is very cheap less than 2 US dollars depending on the dish and many pasta dishes contain shrimp, chicken, or tofu whatever you prefer. There are many American food chains there as well for those that begin to miss the food from back home but the menu even at McDonald's can be slightly different with items you may have never seen before like fried chicken and rice. Thailand is at the top of our list when it comes to the best food while being in a Asian countries. You can watch us cook Thai food while in Thailand or view the seafood BBQ on our YouTube channel. Check out our experiences abroad as well as Mukbangs abroad on our YouTube channel: Carolina Travel Queens

Siem Reap Cambodia was a very interesting place to visit and we got stares being black but not nearly as many as we did in other countries in Asia so it was fine. We felt safe the entire time and we stayed for almost a month. Cambodia uses the U.S. dollar and the Cambodian riel is used only for change because they do not have coins and the U.S. Dollars have to be in good condition or they will not accept it. We can't stress how important it is to check your bills for rips or folds if you are happy with the change someone gives you ask them for a better bill before you leave the store. Everyone kept asking if we were from Africa because we are black and they were shocked when we stated we were Americans but this happens all over Asia so it wasn't a problem. When going to the tourist spots especially visiting the Angkor Wat temples many Asians especially the Chinese will ask to take pictures with you, they literally stood in line and waited or they will take photos of you taking photos of yourself. Better yet sneak a photo by standing in front of you to take a photo really quick with you in the background while your standing there. Cambodia is more focused on the hustle of making a dollar and we noticed less staring than in neighboring Asian countries but noticed many scams especially the one with the mom holding a baby asking you to buy formula. They want you to buy an extremely high price formula and then they return it and the store owner and the mom both split the money so beware!! We had read about it before arriving and were shocked when we were approached by a woman holding a baby. Transportation is easy to come by and is generally Grab or a tuk tuk and you can't walk a block without someone asking you if you need a ride in a tuk tuk. The nightlife is cool on Pub Street it's lots of food, rolled ice cream, music, bars. It's actually cheaper to get drunk off the synthetic alcohol than it is to eat! The food is cheaper when you are in areas not frequented by tourist. We ate less street food in Cambodia due to sanitary conditions and our comfort levels but the restaurants seemed fine and we even came across a Happy Pizza where they place something extra in your pizza which shocked us that those establishments even openly exsist! Cambodia is still developing just 10yrs ago there was one street light and all dirt roads! There's still dirt roads but more roads are developing while staying there the power went out in the whole city for about 1-2 hrs but a local explained to us that when this happens they are happy because that means a new village is now on the grid. We have been to a few countries in Asia and Cambodia enjoyed the fact that many didn't stare as if we were a science experiment like other Asian countries but we enjoyed the experience although food wise it is definitely not on our top list. We did not come across many other black people during our stay in Cambodia not even when being in tourist areas maybe 1 or 2 and sometimes we were the only black people we seen but if you haven't been to Cambodia you should definitely go and get the experience of a lifetime. Check out our experience in Cambodia at Happy Pizza Or Angkor Waton our YouTube channel. And follow us on Instagram: Carolina Travel Queens

Going to Belize was quite an experience for us. The water is a beautiful teal blue the food was delicious perfectly seasoned as expected. On this experience for us in Belize we learned a lot about the good, bad, and the ugly of things from the locals perspective. Belize is very poor. Once you pass the tourist area you quickly will see lots of homelessness, very very small shack homes that with one hard blow of the wind will apart. Furniture hanging out the home due to the size. The locals talk about the huge Chinese presence that is coming to do business in the country and taking over. They have gated stores set up around and their prejudice vibes that they give off is a problem to the locals. The local driver we had spoke how many schools there have no AC and they charge tuition therefore there is a huge drop out rate. In certain neighborhoods when it is dark if one doesn't own a car and they are walking they could be arrested in an effort to keep poor locals away from wealthier individuals and foreigners homes to keep them safe. He even showed us a place where he stated in Belize to this day they still hang as capital punishment. We felt safe the entire time in the country we love when our money goes far! and the beaches were so smooth. It was breathtaking! It was definitely a great experience although at times you may not know how to feel because you are excepted because when abroad many see that you are an American first that happens to be black yet the locals that are black get mistreated which makes you mad because in our mind we are Black and proud!in our case just so happen to be American. Check out our weekly Vlogs on YouTube and Instagram: Carolina Travel Queens