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.

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.

One of the best things to happen in terms of entry, is the mandate for clear, security-approved stadium bags. They are not my first fashion choice when it comes to bags, but they are practical and affordable for the occasion. Let me show you how I pack my festival bag.

As you well know from this blog, when I travel, I am all in for excursions, walking tours, beach days and whatever else keeps me out and about and moving. Effective sweat and odor protection is mandatory because I must smell good at all times. SheaMoisture has introduced its first-ever antiperspirant deodorant collection specifically designed for rich melanin skin, ensuring you stay fresh all day, every day.

Sampan is a modern Asian restaurant offering a unique experience through its small plates concept. Instead of ordering a single entree, it's infinitely better to try and even share several dishes mixed and matched from different sections of the menu. The Kim Chee Fried Rice and Crispy Shrimp are to die for among other delicious menu items.

Philadelphia is one of the first places I traveled solo as a young adult. This time, years later, I was going to The Roots Picnic for the first time to experience artists like Jill Scott, Fantasia, Lil Wayne, and of course The Roots live. I hadn’t been to the City of Brotherly Love in a bit, so I had a chance to visit new spots like Sampan and old favorites like Reading Terminal Market.

Just the thought of flowers makes me happy, but imagine 55 acres of nothing but exquisite blooms. I was in heaven. For $23 per person, it’s a stunning place to grab great photos and enjoy a beautiful day of fresh air and flowers with family and friends.

All I needed to hear was furniture and art to know that I wanted to go to High Point Market in North Carolina this year. I was attending in support of my cousin Norman Wyatt Jr., an artist and designer who debuted his premier furniture collection of over 150 items with StyleCraft Home Collection. Unbeknownst to me, nearly 80,000 people gather every year at this event to admire and consume collections and pieces from artists and designers around the world.

As daunting as the idea of solo travel may seem, this post is your compass for crafting the perfect itinerary for your next adventure. Embarking on solo trips is an opportunity to explore the world on your own terms and make the most of the time you have.

Elegant Cuizines is a completely dairy-free restaurant that also caters to the vegan and gluten free communities. Chef Headen’s recipes are vegetable heavy and soy, salt, and sugar free. If you’re thinking no to all of that, rethink your presumptions. Immediately. This collection of dishes will outmatch some of your most coveted favorites from any other restaurant and, on top of that, will be infinitely healthier for you.

California is just golden for experiencing the best of what nature has to offer. I was absolutely smitten by the stunning landscapes in this coastal paradise, and I would easily recommend it for outdoor lovers who can appreciate any opportunity to see God’s artistic hand at work.

I wanted to step into thirty pushing the limits of courage and what better way to do that than to cross off a bucket list item with a thrilling skydiving adventure.

As I free fell through the sky for 45-55 seconds, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of liberation wash over me. The rush of adrenaline, the moment you leap, the wind in your face—it's an experience unlike any other.