The assumption that English is the natural language of travel says less about communication and more about who gets to move through the world with ease. When Western travelers - including Europeans whose first language is not English - treat English as a global default, they are projecting a regional logic onto contexts where it does not apply. Within Europe, English functions as a practical intermediary language. It allows people from different countries to communicate acros

Travel photography has always been about curiosity. Wanting to document what feels different, unfamiliar, or visually striking is not, by itself, a moral failure. When people photograph children while traveling, many genuinely believe they are capturing joy, spontaneity, or a glimpse of what childhood is like somewhere else in the world. That intention may be real. But intention is not the same thing as responsibility, especially once images enter the internet. The issue is n

Tourism likes to present itself as an economic lifeline. A benevolent industry that “brings jobs,” “injects money,” and “creates opportunities” for local communities. This narrative is repeated so often that it has hardened into common sense. But it is also deeply misleading. In most places that are now framed as “tourism-dependent,” local communities did not organically evolve into that condition. They were pushed there. Dependence on tourism is not a natural economic outcom

Conscious tourism is not a trend, a lifestyle label, or a marketing concept designed to make travel consumption feel more ethical. It is a response to a structural problem that has been building for decades: the transformation of travel into an extractive industry that treats places as disposable backdrops and communities as secondary to visitor demand. Tourism has long been framed as an unquestionable good, driven by growth metrics, visitor numbers, and short-term economic g

Airbnb was once celebrated as a symbol of the so-called “sharing economy,” a promise of cultural exchange and supplemental income that seemed harmless enough. Yet in cities across the world, the platform has become an accelerant of a housing crisis whose consequences fall almost exclusively on the people who actually live in those cities. The combination of predatory tourism models and the rise of digital nomadism - marketed as a liberating lifestyle - has reshaped urban hous

It presents itself as neutral, cosmopolitan, even aspirational - an elegant label for people who choose to live abroad. But look closely, and the veneer cracks. “Expat” is not a synonym for immigrant. It is a  racial, economic, and geopolitical marker  - a linguistic loophole designed so that certain groups (almost always white, Western, and passport-privileged) never have to be mistaken for the very people they spend a lifetime othering. In practice, “expat” is the colonizer

To be clear: this isn’t about individual blame, but about systems. Digital nomadism exists within global inequalities it didn’t invent, but actively benefits from.

Hi. I’m Aurora! I’m Brazilian. I'm the Founder of The Better Place. I’ve been traveling this world for a while now. And I'd love to talk to you.

We need to talk. About that photo. You know the one: the wrinkled grandma sitting on a doorstep, the barefoot kid smiling at your camera, the dusty street with crumbling walls. All dressed up in a dramatic black and white filter and posted on Instagram with a caption like “Humbled by the simplicity of life here.” [LAUGHS IN LATINA]