Team Tourist or Team Traveler??

Ricki Stevenson, The owner of the Black Paris tour company, mentioned the difference in being a tourist and a traveler. A traveler...travels and researched the language, cultural dress, history, even the government policy. What I picked up is that a traveler immerses themselves in the culture, respecting its differences and similarities to their own.  A tourist visits a place, picks up an "I (heart)__" t-shirt, without trying to learn the culture, and goes home unchanged. In preparing to go to France I quickly learned some rudimentary French. I couldn't have given a lecture on French history or anything, but I was able to introduce myself and communicate that I didn't understand something in French.  I also made an effort to always speak the French that I knew.  When stuck, I reverted back to English or even Spanish as that is my unofficial second-ish language.
After hearing the tourist vs traveler spiel, I said to myself "Kendra T is gonna be a Traveler!"

REVIEW | The Black Paris Tour: Paris, France

On my most recent...and first... trip to Paris, I joined the "Black Paris Tour". I always take a tour on vacation and this one was very different. It highlighted facts, monuments, and the obscurity of the presence of Africans and African-Americans in Paris. It was like viewing the city through a Black lens-so-to-speak.  In case you haven't noticed in my profile picture, I am Black...Brownish actually, but you get the point.  In all of my research before going to Paris, I learned of the history of the majority such as multiple aristocratic "Louises" but not about the Count General Alexandre Dumas. It's interesting to see the perception of Africans and slavery by the French vs English vs Americans vs Africans.
My Video "The Black Paris Tour Review" on my Youtube channel shows some highlights of the tour, including an interview with the founder/tour guide Ricki Stevenson:

www.blackparistour.com

My day job....I'm keeping it

My day job is as a Speech-Language Pathologist. I enjoy it and am good at it.  How do I know I'm good? Well, people tell me! And, I see results in my students and clients. And back to "I enjoy it", if I like practicing, I must be good...right?  There have been many "Can I ask you a quick question about my (insert child name here)?" conversations that I've been pulled into to discuss all things speech and language.  These conversations in which I try to answer questions, ease concerns, and try to offer functional advice to loved ones, have happened at the grocery story, gym locker room, even the massage table. I was on the massage table by the way, and since then have resolved to never mention being an SLP in the name of relaxation. I read somewhere that some high percentage of Americans will change careers half-way through their working lives.  The stats are vague but the main point is that most people change their minds about what they want to do with their time.  Luckily, I've chosen a field that is very diverse in its opportunities, and so is my specific job.  I've explored several "side-hustle" options, and the travel videos is the most recent of those options.  But traveling is a hobby that I want to get paid to do.  Even still, I'm keeping my day job!  

Working with my Pre-K kiddos. Sorry, I have to withhold their cuteness from the general public.

Blah Blah Blah, why Blog?

I started a Youtube channel to chronicle and share a trip I took for my 30th birthday. That trip entitled "30th Solo Road trip"-which I know is misleading, was the first of a few things. 1) It was my first solo trip and 2) first real road trip (with multiples stops). 3)  It also was the first trip with my #1 sidekick, Sonny the dog, who is also a natural traveler. When I made my first stop, I took out my new Galaxy tab and made a quick video showing my perspective. I emailed, then posted privately to my YT channel. My network of friends asked for more videos and I obliged them. Since then I've gotten an IPAD and accessories, and started editing my footage.  I'm still learning along the way but making the travel videos has become a hobby, and a good way to inform about my trips without repeating the same stories.  I am no Ipod player...repeat repeat repeat.  So....what kind of posts would you like to see in a travel video? landscape Footage, interviews with the locals, eating the cuisine, and/or standing on my head in front of of national monuments??? I'm still working on that last one in yoga.