In a couple of weeks, I will travel internationally for the first time since May 2020, when I unexpectedly left life in Honduras and came to the United States. In the preparation I brim with bittersweet emotion: soberness knowing people and places are forever changed, and enthusiasm at seeing loved ones again.

Before 2020, thoughtful leaders had long invited us to consider the impact of travel (passport privilege, environmental impact, accessibility, community power) and to shift our practices to align with our values. Learning from them is broadening the way I view travel and leading me to try out alternate modes. Amidst the countless creative experiences out there, here are a few I’ve taken part of in recent years:

Support museums across the world with a virtual tour

Growing up in a metropolitan area with free admission to acclaimed museums, I rarely heard anyone question how these institutions came to “own” pieces from around the world. Now I know that many museum’s collections contain objects looted from North and South American indigenous, African, Asian, and Latin American communities. In fact, an estimated ninety percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s cultural heritage artifacts (sculptures, jewelry, household tools, etc) reside outside the continent. I surge with indignation at the thought of these museums amassing endowments while those in formerly-colonized countries receive fewer resources. The act of repatriation of stolen cultural heritage will require government-level accords, but with a virtual tour of a museum like Museo Ixchel del Traje Indígena in Guatemala, I take steps toward a fuller lens of history and culture (hopefully soon, we’ll be able to support by purchasing tickets virtually).

Embrace a hands-on learning opportunity

When I realized that I’d mostly explored new interests from the past two years in private, I searched for online classes to share my hobbies with friends. A few weeks later, I was on Zoom kneading dough to make manti, Turkish dumplings, alongside sixty other eager learners. The instructor, a Turkish cookbook author, charmed us with tales from childhood and tips on creasing dumpling folds. A friend from another part of the US joined, and the majority of us left our cameras on as we frowned over saucepans, and reached for salt, comfortable among strangers. Classes abound from sign language to Irish dancing to meeting and drawing a llama with a former Disney animator, and I’m looking forward to this series of cooking classes led by migrant chefs.

Opt for grassroots guide resources

My first travels were through books, sometimes quite literally guidebooks (or was I the only one in high school who used the Lonely Planet guide to France to map out the bakeries I wanted to visit?). But their emphasis on physical monuments also prioritizes the stories of those in power, at least in the US when the vast majority of monuments, memorials, and parks are dedicated to white men. To see into overlooked histories of existence and persistence—queer, Black, and more, I instead turn to community-centered books and self-guided audio tours. In past visits to Chicago, I’ve loved the book Lifting as They Climbed, which features forty-eight Black women from the city’s South Side: activists, artists, and educators “who organized to make the city work better for themselves, their loved ones, and their communities.”

Support a guide, virtually

Jokingly tell your crew to pack a bag because several companies will now set you up with guides for a live walk on video call through their city (I’ve even seen some live bike rides!). This upcoming week, some friends and I will be trying out the experience by “visiting” one of the Cinque Terre villages in Italy, whose cliffside pastel houses and winding cobbled streets have long fascinated me. During our hour together, the guide has promised to show us “panoramic views, local life, and traditions.”

I hope these ideas and more get us closer to an expansive view of travel that is accessible across finances and the different ways our bodies move and learn, while positively impacting our environment and communities. Whether you are close or far from home, and whether you go solo, call up a homebody relative, or invite a lonely friend, may your travels surprise and sculpt you.

Comfort Sampong

Comfort Sampong’s heart is sparked by fried plantains, tropical foliage and the stories of women thriving and creating a way out of no way. She graduated in 2018 with majors in economics and international development. Now she lives in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, where she works on English communications for the Association for a More Just Society, a Honduran non-profit fighting for justice and peace.