About
I am Kay(la), a thirty year old, Virginia based travel blogger. At the end of the road, I would hope I can say I have lived a thousand lives as a lover, creator, teacher, and explorer.
I have grown into womanhood with strength, grace, and a zest for life that I never could have imagined. Travel has fostered much of my curiosity, self-awareness, and passion, and I want to share that with you.
My Travel Philosophy
The truth sets us free. Travel does too.
Travel is largely about exploring and reaching for new and different experiences that transform and elevate who we are. Black women have long been defined by our capacity to care for and prioritize others, to exhibit resilience in the face of struggle, and to find identity in assimilation. In many ways, Black women have transcended stereotypes and continue to eclipse societal ideas of us in a way that allows us to solely define who we are. Traveling, whether in girl groups or solo, is just one medium by which Black women are breaking barriers. Whether or not the world accepts us, the reality is that we are continually finding the essence of who we are- our truth.
One of Miami Beach’s most iconic and Instagram-worthy attractions is its collection of colorful lifeguard towers. On my recent trip, I set out to walk the length of Miami Beach to see as many of these artistic structures as I could. I managed to visit nine of them, but with 36 of them scattered along the shoreline, there’s plenty left to explore.
Miami is an ideal vacation for escapism without having to leave the country. The combination of bold colors, warm sun, and being by the water is truly undefeated.
For a week, I walked around absorbing as much of this kind of energy as I could, hoping to bottle a bit of it to return to Virginia with me. I look at the photos I captured and they feel like a whispered memory from an old friend, vibrant and alive, yet just out of reach until next time.
When I first saw that Pharrell Williams was collaborating with David Grutman to open the Goodtime Hotel in 2021, I immediately added it to the list of places I wanted to stay—partly because Pharrell is a fellow Virginia native and partly because I fell in love with the aesthetic. It just seemed like, well, a good time.
After spending a week there, I thought I would clue you in—is it really the ultimate "good time" as the name suggests? Here's what I loved and then a few things that caught me off guard.
Something I never really considered about seeing art across the country is how much culture and geographic location can influence the collection of work shown at a museum. At Perez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), I was introduced to the work of several Latinx artists, a group whom I’ve not had the privilege of seeing much in museums before now.
Nestled in a relatively quiet area of downtown Miami, lies a quaint Vietnamese restaurant called Tâm Tâm. I had never knowingly had Vietnamese food, but one look at the menu and I knew it was a place I needed to be. If you could measure a restaurant's worth by entry, the line outside suggests an upcoming acclaimed experience. Modest in size, Tâm Tâm is the definition of a local treasure and the kind of place I prefer to find myself when it comes to food.
Chicago is full of food gems, and each time I visit the city, I make it a point to try new restaurants, preferably black-owned. Chicago is a city in which you’ll find many Southern restaurants because The Great Migration brought the food I’m so accustomed to in Virginia up north and then across the country. Dining at these restaurants always feels familiar in that way, but I also have come to expect and enjoy the surprises that evolution and a geographical change can bring to such classic and time-honored dishes.
Big Jones in Chicago was mentioned on one of my favorite Netflix series High on the Hog, so you know I had to add it to my list. If you can find any type of cuisine in Chicago, it’s Southern food, thanks to the great migration, and Big Jones beautifully marries tradition with a fresh approach to Southern cuisine.
Eating a black-owned restaurants whenever I travel feels particularly important to me, because it’s an experience that makes me feel at home and reminds me of my culture. We may all be in different places, but food connects us by the continuation of traditions that define Southern cooking, and I’ll always be grateful to places like Virtue for that.
Chicago is really a vibe and somewhere you can go many times and never have the same experience. Like every city, there are just some things you absolutely must do while visiting. Here are the top seven I recommend based on what I enjoyed most.
The Latest From The Blog
The More You Know
TRAVEL RESOURCES
Photo Walks
Miami is an ideal vacation for escapism without having to leave the country. The combination of bold colors, warm sun, and being by the water is truly undefeated.
For a week, I walked around absorbing as much of this kind of energy as I could, hoping to bottle a bit of it to return to Virginia with me. I look at the photos I captured and they feel like a whispered memory from an old friend, vibrant and alive, yet just out of reach until next time.
It’s dynamic. It’s kaleidoscopic. It’s spirited. It’s San Juan La Laguna. From the time I stepped off the boat onto the dock, I could feel the vibration of the village. It appeared that more people were arriving than leaving, and that was both simultaneously a good indication that I would love it but that I also might have an itch to stay.
Backdropped by volcanos and sitting almost directly atop tectonic plates, Antigua is compassed and enchanting where everything you see feels like picture inside of picture inside of picture. No more than a simple overlay of grids, this colonial town is easy to navigate and charming enough to be drawn into exploring every nook and cranny. More than anything, I found myself in awe at the natural beauty of Guatemalan people and amazed at reclamation after disaster.
Stacks of fruit. Heaps of seaweed. Rustic furniture. Raw charm. Tulum is naturally beautiful in the way a place or thing doesn’t have to try hard to be anything but what it is. Being here urges you to acknowledge the balance between ancient and neo-bohemia. What you see is what you get. No more. No less. Take it or leave it.
Every time I’ve visited an island, I’m always overwhelmingly enthralled with the existence of color from the architecture to the food to the people. It is incredibly hard for me to strike a balance between being in the moment and wanting to capture everything as a photographer so that I don’t forget what my eyes saw and my heart felt. At least for a couple of hours, I walked and took in the beauty of this foreign land. Here is what I saw.
The Most Beautiful Wrinkle In Time
Guatemala
Guatemala, also known as the “Place of Many Trees,” is a mountainous carpet of green splashed with the color of ancient culture and years of guarded tradition. Home to three UNESCO World Heritage sites, including the city of Antigua, Guatemala is both simple and complex. Earthy and reverential. Rugged and delicate.
It’s dynamic. It’s kaleidoscopic. It’s spirited. It’s San Juan La Laguna. From the time I stepped off the boat onto the dock, I could feel the vibration of the village. It appeared that more people were arriving than leaving, and that was both simultaneously a good indication that I would love it but that I also might have an itch to stay.
For centuries, Mayan women have kept alive the tradition of weaving that produces some of the most globally recognized textiles. At a glance, it may appear these clothing pieces are fairly similar, but coming to understanding the history and culture of Guatemala and having the opportunity to take a closer look at textiles from several villages, you can glean that these textiles are far more complex and representative of more than you can imagine.
Backdropped by volcanos and sitting almost directly atop tectonic plates, Antigua is compassed and enchanting where everything you see feels like picture inside of picture inside of picture. No more than a simple overlay of grids, this colonial town is easy to navigate and charming enough to be drawn into exploring every nook and cranny. More than anything, I found myself in awe at the natural beauty of Guatemalan people and amazed at reclamation after disaster.
There are at least eleven villages surrounding Lake Atitlán, and you might visit them all for different reasons. I made it to four during my latest trip to Guatemala, and was amazed at how each village could be described as having its very own personality: Panajachel with its familiar vibe, illusory San Juan La Laguna, beguiling San Pedro, and reticent Santiago.
Guatemala is a Central American country just underneath Mexico that is home to Mayan culture, volcanoes, delicious coffee and so much more. It is one of the largest countries in Central America and hosts the most populous urban area, Guatemala City. There is so much to explore in Guatemala, but here are ten things I learned while there that I found most interesting.
Guatemala is fairly simple to navigate, even with limited Spanish. It can be as cheap or as expensive as you’d like depending on how you travel, but it’s important to note that your money can go a long way here. Convenient transportation like tuc tucs and chicken buses or meals at the local market rather than at restaurants are both ways to stretch your money.
Aside from visits to local markets and Mayan villages, taking a Guatemalan cooking class was as cinematic as it sounds. When I think about travel, food is almost synonymous, and it presents a unique opportunity to understand the history and culture of a new place through its best dishes.
Good Hotel is a former private mansion and sustainable property in central city Antigua that began as a charitable organization years ago and evolved into several properties in different countries. While I fell in love with the design of the property, I also knew I wanted to stay because I greatly appreciated that the chain invests in the local community in a number of ways.
If you look up things to do in Guatemala, Chichicastenango Market will undoubtedly come up, as it’s one of the biggest and most beautiful markets in Central America. It has long been a trading post and place of value for the Mayan people and represents a sort of all-encompassing independence from the way they sell their goods to the way they practice a religion that was once punishable to the way that what truly is everyday and mundane for natives seems both requisite and monumental to outsiders.
A Hearty and Energetic City Warm With Proud Spirit and Welcoming Affection
The Bahamas
More than any other destination, I found a home in Nassau, The Bahamas. Entering the city is like a warm embrace that you didn’t know you needed but now don’t want to live without. This island of 275,000 people is teeming with pride and undeniable character that draws you in with great delight almost immediately. Charming locals, food with robust flavor, and crystal clear beaches all make Nassau the brilliant vacation destination that it is.
Jamaica is a breathtaking country, and while there, I learned so much about the culture including the flag's symbolism, the origins of jerk food, of which I had my fill, and of course I heard the music of the great Bob Marley.