Travel Crush Tuesday: Ghislaine
Photo Source: Ghislaine and Instagram
Welcome to Travel Crush Tuesday!
Who says you have to quit your job to travel the world? Who says you can’t have both? Certainly, not this Tuesday’s Travel Crush. Meet Dr. Ghislaine Lewis, who shows us that we can be career women and live out our travel dreams. This unstoppable woman is the pinnacle of having it all.
Tell us about yourself! Who are you? Where are you from? What do you do? What inspires you to travel?
Dr. Ghislaine Lewis, I am an academic, I work at the University of Lynchburg where I am an associate professor of Communication Studies and I co-chair Africana Studies.
I am also actively involved in the nonprofit sector in our community. I am the director for a local nonprofit called the Pierce Street Gateway and President for the Central Virginia Academy for Nonprofit Excellence. I also serve on the board of the Link Project and am on the exhibition committee for the Legacy Museum of African American History.
I was born in Guyana and spent my teenage years in Jamaica and I currently live in the United States. I have been lucky enough to travel to and work in 40 countries and I have an extended bucket list of places to see.
I think that travel is the best education, it allows you to learn about art and culture in a way that exceeds what you can learn from a book or a magazine. Travel is my reset, it allows me to center myself, particularly as I think about my place in the world.
What was the very first moment you fell in love with travel and caught the travel bug?
I was fortunate enough to be able to travel as a child but I think I honed my love of travel post graduate school when I moved to the Cayman Islands. Cayman was so serene and so different from a lot of the other islands I had visited, it definitely made me think about all of the places around the globe that I could add to my bucket list. Since then, I have been on so many amazing adventures, I am in awe of the experiences I have been able to have. Those experiences I think also make me a more aware and compassionate teacher, colleague and friend.
How do you make frequent travel your reality?
I prioritize travel in my life. It truly is the way I am able to relax and reset. One of the perks of academia is conferences, so I always choose at least one in a city or country I haven’t visited before.
If you had a ticket to go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
The Maldives is at the top of my bucket list. I really should have gone when I lived in Asia, but I saw the documentary The Island President a few years ago, and committed myself to going before the effects of climate change ravage the islands.
If you had to stay in one place forever, which destination would you choose and why?
Anguilla is the place I would choose to stay forever. I always say that if heaven was a physical place, I imagine that’s where it would be. I spent 10 days in Anguilla in 2017 and fell in love with the culture, the people and the beauty of the island. It truly is the place where I have felt most at peace.
Where can folks find you other than Instagram?
You can find keep up with my travels on my blog, www.travelandedit.com.
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