Last week I participated in a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists’ conference in Boston, Massachusetts. While I thoroughly enjoyed sharing my personal and professional experiences with travel with the group in attendance, I was even more excited to hear from my fellow panelists who had incredible stories and insights to share. (Charisse Jones from USA Today, Donna Battle Pierce who is a food editor at Upscale Magazine and the brains behind BlackAmericaCooks.com  and Hilary Crosley-Coker, a co-founder of Parlour Magazine were funny, smart and all around great people to spend some time with.  You should definitely peek at their work.)

In preparation for the panel I tried to put together a short video that would help to convey how I feel about travel in 2014. I wanted people to get a sense of how incredible the people on this planet can be. The news of late has been grim. I’ve heard from many people who are angry at one country or another; who are now afraid to fly; who question whether travel is still “worth it.”

Most of you already know how I feel about it, but I wanted to somehow,  in the few moments I had with this group, find a way to share that feeling – to show them that they should go despite the negative news and the fears that were holding them back.

The end result was this slideshow.

I hope you enjoy it.