Traveling the World Solo As a Black Female Blogger, Episode 14 of Travel + Leisure's New Podcast

Have you been itching to travel alone but don't know where to start? Don't fret, on this week's episode of Let's Go Together, the first podcast from Travel + Leisure, we have a guest who can help you get started.

Gloria Antanmo, who goes by Glo, joins host extraordinaire Kellee Edwards on the lucky 13th installment of the podcast to talk about her experience as a Black woman who loves to travel solo.

Glo, who runs The Blog Abroad, first ventured into solo travel during a semester abroad in the UK, seeing it as her only ticket to travel. "For me, especially as a Black woman, I was like, this is going to be the one and only chance that I'm going to leave this country," Glo told Edwards. But fast forward to today and Glo — who has now traveled to 81 countries — paints a very different picture. "I'm a travel blogger, business coach, educator, and everything in between."

In the episode, Glo and Edwards talk about the difficulties of solo travel for women. "As women, we have to navigate the world with a little bit more street smarts than probably the average male," she explained. And they go further by discussing the perceptions of Black women who traverse the world on their own. "Immediately, I'm combating all of these stereotypes and these images that people have, not only seeing a solo woman travel, but a solo Black woman."

But, of course, she also shares the joy she finds in solo travel — despite being alone. "I think there's still a really big misinterpretation between traveling solo versus feeling alone," Glo told Edwards. "And I promise you traveling solo you will never feel alone, especially if you carry [an] energy that's inviting. I actually make more friends when I'm solo."

Over the course of their conversation, Edwards and Glo discuss some of her favorite places to visit, recount some wild moments — from hitchhiking in the Balkans to clubbing in Latvia — and how her successful blog and business came to be.

Hear more from Glo on Let's Go Together, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.