Meet Stephanie

Hola, I’m Stephanie Granados. I was born and raised in New York and I am a proud Colombian! So far I've traveled to over 20 countries and the majority of those trips have been as a solo traveler.

I’m so grateful to say that travel has been part of my life thanks to my parents. Both of my parents come from very humble beginnings in Bogota, Colombia. They both were the first in their families to move to the United States to seek better opportunities. Once they met, dated, and eventually got married in New York, their goal was always to chase the “American Dream.” They certainly achieved that when they moved out of the Bronx, buying their first home in Yonkers and then moving into their second home in Hartsdale. My first international trip was as a one year old to Colombia to celebrate my first birthday. Later on, instead of having a traditional quinceañera party, I opted to go on a trip with my cousins to the Bahamas! 

Although my parents gave us an upbringing they didn’t have, they always reminded us about their struggles and to always appreciate what we have. As we traveled once a year thanks to their timeshare at that time, my parents would always make it a point that to whatever destination we visit, to go and see how locals live. If we stayed in a nice hotel/resort, they would make it part of the itinerary to take a day trip to learn about the culture and history of that destination, try local cuisine, buy from local markets, and just explore outside of developed areas. I truly appreciate looking back on those trips because it’s influenced how I like to travel. My favorite trips have always included deep-diving into the culture, forming friendships with locals, shopping at local markets, and trying all the different cuisines.

Once my parents divorced all those family trips stopped. On paper, you may think my upbringing was all rainbows and butterflies but I struggled with many things. As a first-generation kid, I always struggled with not being “American” enough nor being “Latina” enough. I think many first-generation kids feel like an in-betweener when growing up within two different cultures. My home life was very toxic, I witnessed domestic violence countless times. I had to call the police many times and just having to be around negative energy the majority of the time was not fun. Once my parents divorced was finalized, soon after my mom had to sell the house we grew up in. She could no longer afford the mortgage on her own. Having so-called “everything” to then go to nothing was such an eye-opener and that changed everything for me. I don't hold value in material things anymore because that can be taken away at any time. I now find value in experiences because you will always have that no matter what.

A few years down the line, I felt like something was missing in my life. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was but I was craving travel again. I haven’t traveled at all for many years at this point. I wanted to go to Europe and was planning a trip with my best friend. After many failed attempts on coordinating dates, figuring out schedules, and planning this itinerary that never was finalized, I realized this trip is never going to happen. I’ve always been into watching YouTube videos, I used to make beauty tutorials back in the day. I was all about makeup back then, but I somehow stumbled upon a few YouTubers on a trip in Europe and all of them were uploading daily videos of their experience. I was so intrigued and fell down this rabbit hole of searching travel videos. I started to research the company these YouTubers used for their trips and found out this company did group tours all over the world. After researching for months I pulled the plug and booked a MONTH LONG TRIP to Europe without telling anyone. I asked myself, Why am I waiting around for someone to go on this trip with me? Why am I depending on someone else's schedule? What’s the point of planning a trip with someone if they eventually are not going to make it happen? So that’s when I decided to go by myself. This would be my first ever trip with no family or friends. 

Once I told my family and friends, literally no one believed I was going to go through with it. No one I knew has ever gone to Europe before. It was always a far-out thought of actually traveling to Europe because everyone always said it's expensive. As the trip was getting closer and closer, people were trying to discourage me from going on this trip. Saying it’s too dangerous for girls, you shouldn’t travel alone, you’re not going to have a good time, and so forth. My anxiety hit me the day of my trip and I was freaking out before heading to the airport. I was thinking, what did I get myself into? I got on the plane and jetted off to Europe for a month and it truly changed my life. I met so many amazing people, had the time of my life, and it just made my wanderlust explode because I caught the travel bug. I grew so much from that experience that it also changed my perspective on my life.

Since returning from that trip, I have continued to travel solo. No one was going to hold me back from seeing the world. If people wanted to join me, great. If not, I was going to make those trips happen regardless. I started my blog, Youtube channel, and Instagram, Wanderlust Beauty Dreams, to share my adventures, give travel tips, and inspire those who want to see the world. At the time I noticed that the travel blogging world lacked diversity. There wasn’t much representation especially when it came to Latinx travelers. I think overall our community has a mindset of following one straight path in life. It’s okay to venture off and follow a new path, we all have different journeys. As a first-generation college graduate, I’ve broken the barriers my family fought for when coming to the United States. I hope to continue to break barriers wherever life takes me and hope to bring my family along for the ride. I want to encourage more of the Latinx community to travel more and be that representation. Our travel dollars matter and needs more recognition within the travel industry. 

We live in an age of total access to information and resources. There are so many ways to achieve all your goals and dreams. If you want to travel to be part of your lifestyle, it’s possible. Instead of buying designer items, going out to eat/drink every weekend, or having the latest gadgets, cut back on those costs for a couple of months. Pick up another job on the weekends to save up more money if you have to. There are many ways to achieve that extra cash flow to go on these trips. Also researching locations that can stretch your dollar for a longer period, staying in hostels, and traveling on the offseason. Finding ways to get to your goals is what makes you more of a proactive person as opposed to someone who just talks about one day going on these trips. It’s just up to you to make it happen at the end of the day!

Meet Cynthia

I have been on a plane since I was three months old. Growing up with a single mother, she always made an effort to show me where our family was from, La Isla del Encanto, specifically, Barrio Tejas, Humacao, Puerto Rico. My mother, grandmother, and I visited the island at least once or twice a year. Therefore, airports, planes, and airplane food always seem to excite me. However, traveling to other places than Puerto Rico and Florida never came to mind.

Fast forward when it was time to select a college, the idea of a traditional campus life with a dorm at a forty thousand dollar a year university was a fantasy but not my reality. I decided on a less expensive college in Manhattan instead of committing to years of debt. John Jay College of Criminal Justice was not exactly what I wanted but I later came to appreciate every second of it. I knew I was not going to get the college experience many of my catholic high school peers decided on, but I was going to obtain my degree and study abroad. Study abroad was the only experience I looked forward too. As a freshman, I applied and I was accepted to a study abroad program in Greece. Sadly, I decided not to go. I felt it was too early in my college career to attend and the finances were not there yet. 

Junior year was the year. I received an email from a new study abroad program in Genoa, Italy and I applied. I knew it was time to adventure out of my shell, but little did I know getting my first passport would guide me to see the world. Thanks to my part time job at Bloomingdale’s and a scholarship, I went to Italy. The study abroad program consisted of two sociology classes at the University of Genoa, unless pizza, pasta and gelato, free time to visit cities like Florence, Milan, Rome, and the meeting of the fabulous founder of Sueños De Una Viajera, Zeline.

After the program ended, I was grateful for the experience and the new friends I made. Italy was exposure to the old world, a culture shock and lastly, an experience I would recommend to any college student. Nonetheless, I had my senior year of college to complete and decided to pursue my Masters in Public Administration. In other words, life was continuing and traveling abroad was not in the plan. 

Shortly after completing my masters, I got my first real job. I never thought in a million years my new coworkers would be my travel buddies. We started with a road trip to Niagara Falls to then a quick trip to New Orleans to then seeing the world. In addition, getting my first car allowed me to travel to neighboring states such as Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Five years later, I have had the pleasure of visiting 14 states, 14 countries and 6 continents. I have been blessed with the funds, couponing and saving skills, the vacation time, and friends/travel buddies to see so much of this beautiful world.

I never thought I would be able to say I have been to South Africa, Australia or even Argentina but I have. So never say never. My single household upbringing in NYCHA in a borough that is constantly belittled did not define my life or my travels. My name is Cynthia. I am a 5’1 little lady from El Bronx traveling the world, one country at a time. 

Meet Joanna

A story of travel, spirituality, and love of la cultura. Joanna Lydia is embracing her culture and traveling home to Puerto Rico has reconnected Joanna to her afro latinidad and ancestors - meet Joanna Founder + Host of the podcast @brujasofnyc

My name is Joanna Lydia, a Puertorriqueña from New York. I am an artist and lover of universe who has set out on a lifelong spiritual journey. At the age of 16, my tarot cards were read by a wise elderly Puerto Rican woman who told me I’d be “the voice of our people.” That reading manifested into a podcast 12 years later that I named “Brujas of NYC” to guide me on this spiritual journey to help people with my gifts, be a voice, spread knowledge about Latin Culture and Women Empowerment. ⁣⁣

The word Bruja was chosen to represent Strong, Powerful, Magical Women as I view myself and all women around me. Bruja is a term that I earned on this journey through experience, from my Afro-Latina culture, my Afro-Latina grandmother, her teachings and those of my ancestors.

Growing up 3rd generation Hispanic, unfortunately, it was difficult for me to learn about my culture because my parents were born in the United States. Turning to my grandmother was my only hope in staying connected with my heritage and calling. She spoke about the island and how beautiful it is. How you can feel the love of our ancestors in the air you breathe. It was something I dreamt about as a little girl, yearning to be with my island.

Setting out to Puerto Rico was long overdue, but life happens and the universe teaches us lessons, sometimes in really harsh ways. I woke up one morning still going through an emotional and rough path, I realized this was the perfect opportunity to go. I booked my flight that night along with an Airbnb and the rest is history. 

The highlight of my trip was meditating in El Yunque Forest. Being one with nature, letting all the emotions that weighed me downpour out and feeling true peace for the first time. I felt the love and energy of all my ancestors around me and it is something I will cherish for the rest of my life. 

I connected with so many beautiful people, experienced all of where my family came from, learned more about my spirituality and of course all the questions I had about my culture were answered. My advice to anyone who has hopes and dreams of visiting a country, even if it’s not spiritual, is to stop making excuses and book the trip. The only thing holding you back is yourself. 

Connect with Joanna Lydia via our Comunidad Viajerx! Follow her on the below accounts:

Sunday’s on Apple Podcast + Spotify: 

Instagram + Twitter: @brujasofnyc

www.linktr.ee/brujasofnyc