99. Eulanda Shead Osagiede; Travel's Colonial History, Japanese Kimonos and Tanzanian Seaweed Collectors

Award-winning travel and food blogger from Hey! Dip Your Toes In Eulanda Shead Osagiede grew up in Colorado, balancing beautiful forests and mountains with growing gang violence and police oppression, studied dance in New York City then moved to the UK. We talk the Colonial history of travel writing, #BlackLivesMatter, the challenges of being a minority in a very white industry, Japan’s beautiful Kimonos, luxurious Moroccan hammans, the Caribbean and the Tanzanian seaweed collector who changed her perception.
 
On this episode we cover:
 
It being an ‘interesting’ time for travel
An American locked down in Beckenham SE London
Being ‘sick’ of walks in beautiful areas
Being born on an air force base in Illinois
Spending her formative years in Colorado
Moving to New York to study dance
A study abroad opportunity igniting her passion for travel
Doing a Masters in Choreography and Dance Technology
How the Hey Dip Your Toes In blog snowballed
Navigating her way through Colorado forest at night
Growing up with gang violence 90s Colorado
Communities being marginalised
Black Lives Matter and the current movement
Shootings at cultural festivals and events
Having to hide in the basement as bullets fired through the window
Having the back window of her car shot out
Developing a fear of authority and police
Loving how Black Lives Matter is being supported
Celebrating the amplification of black voices
Attending the London protest or ‘peace walk’
How even talking about blackness when she was growing up was taboo
Travel journalism having a Colonia-esque history - white men writing books
How being black has had to inform her travel writing work
Travel writing needing to be de-colonised
The San Diego man who was surprised she was ‘so eloquent’
Feeling like a curiosity in other places
How white fellow journalists can question their experiences
Being regularly detained by customs
Lisa arguing with ‘all lives matter’ posters on social media
Japan being very welcoming and wonderful
Wearing a beautiful Kimono
Feeling at home in the Caribbean
‘Skin folk are kin folk’ not always being true
The luxurious Banyan Tree in Northern Morocco
How Moroccans really know how to give a good bath
The ethics and integrity of travel writing
The place in Madeira she couldn’t bring herself to write about
The panel host who introduced her by saying something about her hair
Influencers, v bloggers, v journalists
How people don’t have to have a set title things days
Lockdown affecting her emotional wellbeing
Losing a lot of work ultimately meaning expansion
The seaweed collector in Tanzania who changed her perception
How important it is to have everyone’s voice on the table in travel writing