This is not only one of my top 2 places to travel (tied with Iceland), but it’s also one of my top places to travel while black. There is a huge african influence in Colombia and it shows. Despite the fact that I am not Colombian, I felt right at home here and it was beautiful to see. Pro Tip: While Cartagena is BEAUTIFUL, if you have the time (i.e more than 3 days in Colombia), check out some of the otber parts of the country (I want to Medellin and the Cocora Valley/coffee country - I’d recommend the cheap/quick domestic flights if you’re short on time/don’t want to be on a bus for 8 hours). The food is bomb, the people are kind, the airbnbs and hostels are cute and cheap. I’d definitely return here again, there’s so much more of the country I need to see!

I went here for a week with another friend. We are both black females. - The Food was bland, but fine. Nothing to write home about (the Paprika spice is like a catfish. It looks good but doesn't taste like much) - Party life there is amazing. When you go you should utilize the Budapest Boat Party (https://www.budapestboatparty.com), not only do they have awesome boat parties, but the same company also has a bunch of other activities like bar crawls that let you meet people and take you to some pretty cool, eclectic bars (I remember one looking like a combination funhouse/dungeon. It was one of my favorite memories.) They also have some hostels there known for partying. I'd say that partying is probably one of the best parts about Budapest tbh. - If you're black, people are gonna stare at you. HARD. And make noises. And act like they just saw an alien spaceship land on earth. Half will be racist, ALL will be in awe. - You can forget about having phone service. I usually do an internal pass, but it was so shit I just turned it off and relied on wifi in my Airbnb (definitely do an Airbnb by the way) - Transportation: arrange this in advance. the language barrier is pretty difficult there. I arrived a day before my friend and getting to the airbnb was HARD. I know for a fact my taxi insanely overcharged me. - In terms of things to do, there's not TOO, TOO much to do. You could spend 3 days there and be more than fine. One day at the baths, One doing historic things, One day recovering from a hangover. I was meeting my friend who I hadn't seen in over a year who lives in Paris so the 7 days we were there was awesome. But usually, Budapest is something people do in a couple days as part of another trip. - Would I return? I would def recommend going there at least once, but also, once is all you need. It's not one of those places like London where you could return over and over and over again.

I have so much to say about Iceland, but I will try and keep this concise with bullets! (spoiler alert, this is one of my top 2 favorite trips): - ADVENTURE: Iceland is by far one of the most breathtaking places I have ever been. The natural sites there are UNDEFEATED. The landscapes are beautiful AND diverse. One minute there's lava rocks, then there's natural hot springs, then there's glaciers and black beaches, then there's green hills. PRO tip: Bring a water bottle and drink fresh water from the springs (literally from the ground/waterfall if you can). It's the best thing you'll ever taste. - PARTIES: Soooo I went to Iceland in August, during the weekend of a major festival called Þjóðhátíð (https://www.dalurinn.is/en). This was probably the best decision ever. While you don't get to see the Northern lights, you DO get to be there for an epic festival that happens only once a year and draws 10s of thousands of Icelanders to the beautiful Westman Islands. This festival is seeping with Icelandic culture. In fact, we were like the only two non-Iceland people on the whole island. People were shocked we knew about it. Basically, it's a whole weekend of drinking and debauchery in the valley of a mountain on an island, and on the last day they light the valley on fire and sing Icelandic folk songs. I could go on for days about this, so just Google it to learn more. If you do want to go, however, book early. The whole entire island was booked (hotels, airbnbs, hostels, EVERYTHING) by the time I went to book so I had to stay on the mainland near the ferry (as did thousands of others.) This experience + the weather alone (it's fall temperature at this time) is the reason why I recommend everyone to go when I went. - WEATHER: As mentioned above, I went in August so the weather was jussst right. We needed jackets, but they were fall jackets vs the serious winter gear my friends needed when they went in December. - TRANSPORTATION: I highly recommend getting a car. If you stay in Reykjavik your whole time there, you're seriously playing yourself. I personally didn't go the tours route, and to be honest, the freedom was amazing and driving through the country was as much an experience as the actual sites. We had 9 days there so we made it prettyyyy far (about 12 hours from Reykjavik in total - no we did not drive that in one day, we stopped at all the sites along the way) - SITES TO SEE: Puffins at Dyrhólaey, The Golden Circle, Jokulsarlon, Vik Black Sand Beach, Reykjavik on the weekend, the Blue Lagoon, Skogafoss (my FAVE), Seljalandsfoss waterfall - FOOD: People warned me that food in Iceland was expensive, but I underestimated that by far. Luckily, my friend had the sense to make us get PB&J supplies from Bonus (an affordable, popular super market there). It also helped for those long days on the road (prepare for hours of driving.) But seriously, subway is like $20. The cheapest thing to eat is $6 fries. My best find while there was an Icelandic Street Food spot in Reykjavik. They had $20 for this mashed potato and fish dish (The ONLY tasty thing I had while there) and it was unlimited refills of food until you were full. - LODGING: Whatever you can find. It's a small country, so the options outside of Reykjavik start getting pretttyyy limited (but also pretty cool.) Airbnbs will be the name of the game and the hosts are usually super hospitable. One of our hosts had dinner waiting when we arrived. One of our airbnbs were located at the foot of a beautiful mountain. So when it comes to where to stay, go with the flow and get what you can on this one. Try and map out your route and pick places that make sense chronologically along the way.