Uplifting the travel stories of individuals that are the first in their family to travel outside their community.
Hola! My name is Serina Bravo and I am a proud first-generation (first-gen) college student and traveler. Something I learned shortly after being the first in my immediate family to graduate from college, is that the first-gen identity doesn’t go away. It can show up in different ways such as being the first in your immediate family to enter the professional work environment (first-gen professional), first in your immediate family to travel outside your community (first-gen traveler), or being the first in your immediate family to buy a house (first-gen homeowner).
My interest for connecting the first-gen identity and traveling emerged from my own experience of being the first in my immediate family to travel overseas. As I prepared to travel to Thailand, I researched everything on my own such as international flights, visas, passports, foreign currency, and more. I experienced traveler’s guilt because many people will never have the opportunity to visit another country and immerse themselves in another culture. Navigating this experience and subsequent mixed emotions, mirrored the traits and emotions I felt (and continue to feel) as a first-gen student.
My hope is that this website serves as a space to highlight the travel stories of first-gen travelers, share resources and tips for future and current first-gen travelers, unpack the emotions, thoughts, and intersecting identities of first-gen travelers, and continue to empower the trailblazer that you are. Whether you are the first in your family to travel to a different state, country, study abroad, and more, this space is for you.