| March 7th, 2018

Young, Black, and Well Traveled

By: journeymagazine

By| Ricardo Brown

In recent years, there has been an exciting surge of African-Americans traveling and exploring the world. Black people are taking the opportunity to visit countries outside of the United States to see what other cultures have to offer.

Jarveal Baker was someone that took notice of that a few years ago. Jarveal is a graduate of Florida A&M University’s School of Business. “I was working overseas in London, and I would always see groups of black women; I would go speak with them, and they would always say that they decided to come here, so we started to save the money, plan the trip, and here we are. Then I started to wonder why black men didn’t do the same,” Jarveal questioned his friends. Asking them why they didn’t take the time to travel to other countries outside of the United States. There answer was simple, they didn’t know how –  if someone were planning the trip then they would go. That was the birth of the black travel group Passports Tatted.

Founded by Baker and his longtime friend, Kevin Noble (also a graduate of FAMU), Passports Tatted seeks to inspire men of color to travel internationally.  Passports Tatted has developed a community of men who love to travel and believes doing so. This initiative will not only expose you to different cultures, cuisines, and climates, but it will also provide opportunities to see the world, bond, and create lifelong memories.

Passports Tatted has taken five international trips thus far. The first official trip was to Toronto, Ontario in Canada in 2013. Six men attended, and it lasted a full week. The next journey was to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in 2014, followed by Costa Rica in 2015, Thailand in 2016, and most recently the Netherlands and Germany in 2017. With every trip the number of participants increase. The 2017 trip to the Netherlands and Germany had a total of 30 Black men. “In 2013, we decided to go to Toronto where we had a great time learning about poutine, living it up at the Drake Hotel, and meeting random women on the street,” laughed Jarveal on the success of the initial trip. “In all, the entire experience was great. This was just the first of many.” 

Kevin Noble said, “Brazil was definitely one of the wildest trips we’ve been on. Can’t wait to see what next year has in store!”

Passports Tatted has garnered the attention of people across the country and especially black women. “From all the pictures and videos that they post it looks like it’s a really great time, said Katherina Brown, a FAMU Graduate, and avid traveler. “I would love the opportunity to go on a trip with them.”

This led to the creation of Passports Tatted Too, where both men and women that love to travel will experience the world together. When they opened the registration for the co-ed trip to Jamaica for this summer, over 600 women attempted to register for the trip.

This will be the first time Passports Tatted will go on two trips in one year; the second will be to Ghana, and registration is open now and filling up. Don’t miss out on the chance to travel with Passports Tatted.