Ladies, Here's The Tea On The Best Places To Travel When We Finally Escape Quarantine
As Told To is a recurring segment on xoNecole where real women are given a platform to tell their stories in first-person narrative as told to a writer.
This is Shakeemah Smith's story, as told to Charmin Michelle.
As an avid solo female traveler, I absolutely cannot wait for my next adventure. And I'm sure that most would agree.
The Rona has us at her mercy, and the entire world is under quarantine until...well, I guess at this point, “further notice". Travel influencers and cabin fever-sufferers alike, are holding their breath, waiting on word that borders have reopened, making room for us all to make a mad dash for customs. Even people with little or no travel experience, will likely follow suit, as I predict that they'll suffer a “quarantine-induced epiphany", alluding them to the fact that they've taken travel for granted until now.
But when borders open, where is everyone headed to?
I wanna know, let's talk about it.
My name is Shakeemah Smith, affectionately known as The Passport Abuser, or your Expert Globetrotter. I've visited over 50 countries as a female solo traveler—which all evolved from the hundreds of times I grew frustrated with waiting on friends to travel with me.
I'm also Founder of "Travel Like A Bawse", an online course that focuses on teaching women the art of mastering solo world travel with confidence, safely, and without draining your bank account.
And with this being said, since the pandemic, I'm often asked to advise on what countries would be best to travel to when the world opens back up, so I decided to create a list of my personally approved places where we can vacation with ease.
When compiling this list, (and sitting around daydreaming of getting my next passport stamp), I considered the following three things:
- COVID cases in each country. I instead researched which countries/territories had the least amount of cases, yet were still open to tourism.
- Flight Prices. Because, of course.
- And how far away from home I wanted to travel once borders open. Extremely international travel is not something I would recommend, at least not for a while. There's too much uncertainty in place at the time, and I predict that that uncertainty is likely to hover for the remainder of the year. If you can't stay local, stay close.
And with considering all of the above, I focused my post-Rona travels list on the Caribbean. I mean, the weather is heavenly, the beaches are divine. The Caribbean would be a naturally perfect fit. What's even more amazing, when doing my research, data shows that COVID did not have a huge surge of cases at all in the region. And these countries are all also under five hours flying time from NYC.
So, pack those bags, sis! Here are the best, and safest, places to travel once allowed:
Aruba
Aruba is the first country in the Caribbean to announce its reopening, and plans to open between June 15th and July 1st. Flights to Aruba from NYC can be purchased for the first week of June for as little as $175. The country has also only had a mere 101 confirmed cases of COVID in the entire country.
Belize
Belize was the last country in all of the Americas to receive its first confirmed case of coronavirus. To date, Belize has only had 18 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the entire country, and is set to reopen its borders on July 1.
Nicaragua
Surprisingly, despite the pandemic, Nicaragua's borders have remained open since the onset of the first confirmed case of COVID in the country. Despite not closing its borders, Nicaragua only has 25 confirmed COVID cases to date, and tickets can be purchased for as little as $90 for the second week in July.
Puerto Rico and Hawaii
If you're ready to cure your cabin fever, but you're not ready to risk international travel, tropical paradise still awaits in Hawaii, or the beautiful island of Puerto Rico. Starting June 1st, Hawaii will reopen its borders to out-of-state residents, and Puerto Rico, will lift their 14-day quarantine requirement for tourists on May 25th.
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For more advice and travel tips from Shakeemah, you may follow her on Instagram at @thepassportabuser. You may also learn more about her next adventure and opportunities by visiting her website.
If you have a story you'd like to share but aren't sure about how to put it into words, contact us at submissions@xonecole.com with the subject "As Told To" for your story to be featured.
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Charmin Michelle is a southern native and creative spirit who works as a content marketer and events manager in Chicago. She enjoys traveling, #SummertimeChi, and the journey of mastering womanhood. Connect with her on Instagram @charminmichelle.
Smile, Sis! These Five Improvements Can Upgrade Your Oral Hygiene Instantly
This article is in partnership with Sensodyne.
Our teeth are connected to so many things - our nutrition, our confidence, and our overall mood. We often take for granted how important healthy teeth are, until issues like tooth sensitivity or gum recession come to remind us. Like most things related to our bodies, prevention is the best medicine. Here are five things you can do immediately to improve your oral hygiene, prevent tooth sensitivity, and avoid dental issues down the road.
1) Go Easy On the Rough Brushing: Brushing your teeth is and always will be priority number one in the oral hygiene department. No surprises there! However, there is such a thing as applying too much pressure when brushing…and that can lead to problems over time. Use a toothbrush with soft bristles and brush in smooth, circular motions. It may seem counterintuitive, but a gentle approach to brushing is the most effective way to clean those pearly whites without wearing away enamel and exposing sensitive areas of the teeth.
2) Use A Desensitizing Toothpaste: As everyone knows, mouth pain can be highly uncomfortable; but tooth sensitivity is a whole different beast. Hot weather favorites like ice cream and popsicles have the ability to trigger tooth sensitivity, which might make you want to stay away from icy foods altogether. But as always, prevention is the best medicine here. Switching to a toothpaste like Sensodyne’s Sensitivity & Gum toothpaste specifically designed for sensitive teeth will help build a protective layer over sensitive areas of the tooth. Over time, those sharp sensations that occur with extremely cold foods will subside, and you’ll be back to treating yourself to your icy faves like this one!
3) Floss, Rinse, Brush. (And In That Order!): Have you ever heard the saying, “It’s not what you do, but how you do it”? Well, the same thing applies to taking care of your teeth. Even if you are flossing and brushing religiously, you could be missing out on some of the benefits simply because you aren’t doing so in the right order. Flossing is best to do before brushing because it removes food particles and plaque from places your toothbrush can’t reach. After a proper flossing sesh, it is important to rinse out your mouth with water after. Finally, you can whip out your toothbrush and get to brushing. Though many of us commonly rinse with water after brushing to remove excess toothpaste, it may not be the best thing for our teeth. That’s because fluoride, the active ingredient in toothpaste that protects your enamel, works best when it gets to sit on the teeth and continue working its magic. Rinsing with water after brushing doesn’t let the toothpaste go to work like it really can. Changing up your order may take some getting used to, but over time, you’ll see the difference.
4) Stay Hydrated: Upping your water supply is a no-fail way to level up your health overall, and your teeth are no exception to this rule. Drinking water not only helps maintain a healthy pH balance in your mouth, but it also washes away residue and acids that can cause enamel erosion. It also helps you steer clear of dry mouth, which is a gateway to bad breath. And who needs that?
5) Show Your Gums Some Love: When it comes to improving your smile, you may be laser-focused on getting your teeth whiter, straighter, and overall healthier. Rightfully so, as these are all attributes of a megawatt smile; but you certainly don’t want to leave gum health out of the equation. If you neglect your gums, you’ll start to notice the effects of plaque buildup, which can irritate the gums and cause gingivitis, the earliest stage of gum disease. Seeing blood while brushing and flossing is a tell-tale sign that your gums are suffering. You may also experience gum recession — a condition where the gum tissue surrounding your teeth pulls back, exposing more of your tooth. Brushing at least twice a day with a gum-protecting toothpaste like Sensodyne Sensitivity and Gum, coupled with regular dentist visits, will keep your gums shining as bright as those pearly whites.
Oprah Winfrey On Never Experiencing Imposter Syndrome: 'I Had To Look It Up'
If you’ve ever wondered what type of mindset it takes to reach icon status like Oprah Winfrey, it’s probably best to start by knowing which one she’s managed to avoid over her long-standing career.
And let’s just say imposter syndrome didn’t make the cut.
While promoting her new book, Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier, with her co-author Arthur C. Brooks, Oprah shared in an interview with People that when it comes to imposter syndrome, it’s one emotion she hasn’t experienced.
"I don't have any of that imposter feelings that so many people have," she says. "I didn't even understand it, I had to look it up."
According to the acclaimed talk-show host and media mogul, she attributes this to her early life experiences, specifically the impact of her father's influence as a child. "I remember as a young girl being a strong orator in the national competition for speaking and winning the local championships, then the state championships. And then placing, I think it was No. 3 or something, in the nationals," Winfrey shares.
"And I remember after every contest, the families whose kids were just in the contest were going to celebrate and their families were all excited. My father's thing was, 'Get your coat.'"
She continues, "I learned, in all these years, every exciting thing that would happen to me it was always, that's good, get your coat. Get your coat. I don't know if that was ingrained in my personality or I just learned that nobody's going to be excited about it, so you might as well just get your coat and go. I don't have high highs and I don't have low lows. Which is a good thing, because no matter what I'm going through, I know I'm going to come out of it and be okay."
Impostor syndrome, also known as impostor phenomenon, is a psychological perspective of persistent self-doubt and the feeling of being a fraud despite evidence of one's competence, skills, or accomplishments. People experiencing imposter syndrome often believe that their success is due to luck or external factors rather than their own abilities and fear that others will eventually discover that they are not as capable or knowledgeable as they appear to be.
With over 40 years of accolades and history-making impact, it’s clear that Winfrey doesn’t shy away from the fact that her success is due to her hard work and diligence, with everything in her life being that of what she earned — which she finds deep value in: “the ability to live in the space of true appreciation for a life, not just well lived, but well-earned."
From coming from the lineage of an enslaved great-grandfather who earned 80 acres of land in exchange for labor, to becoming the first Black woman billionaire in the world without the foundation of generational wealth, Winfrey beams proudly at her ability to shift her and her family’s legacy for the better.
"I didn't have a grandfather, a great-grandfather who could give me land. But now...I am able to have my own and to know that I work for it. And it wasn't a husband that did it. It wasn't a brother or an uncle, or whatever did it, but I did it," Winfrey says.
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Featured image by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images
