about Soul
Lapland, Finland
OUR TEAM
McArthur Stephen - Having traveled to 48 states, 20 countries and over 80 cities worldwide I'd say traveling is surely in my DNA. Traveling for me isn't a vacation it's an experience. Experiences such as chatting with local fishermen at 5am in Bali, learning how to read Egyptian hieroglyphs inside the Great Pyramids in Egypt, or donating school supplies to school kids in Cuba. I want to be immersed in the culture but also want them to take pieces from me as well. Pieces such as respect and honor. This exchange has allowed me to make friends literally around the globe. SOUL travel now allows me to bring others along for these experiences. We laugh, we cook, we explore and we control the narrative that black people can travel internationally and give back. So grab a bag and your passport and get ready to "soar outside ur limits" #soultravel Let's go!
OUR TEAM
Soul Travel was officially created in Havana, Cuba in 2017. While on a group trip organized by myself and my co-creators McArthur Stephen, and Dr. Tiffenia Archie, we thought about creating an official travel group that served a purpose. While heading to an excursion in a beautiful classic Chey we came up with the name Soul Travel. Soul is an acronym that means Soar Outside Ur Limits. We wanted to create a travel group that allowed people to come together and explore the world that would be considered to be outside the norm. We are a travel group that focuses on community, networking, and giving back. We encourage each other to go beyond the boundaries we set for ourselves and live life to the fullest.
Will you join us and Soar outside of Ur limits with Soul Travel?
Silver Vann
Changing the narrative for the African American traveler has always been important to me. My love of traveling has allowed me to travel to over 10% of the world which equates to 33 countries. My trademark has always been going places where people don't look like me or even speak my language. This has involved me visiting Finaland where the weather was -22°, and sand sledding in Dubai where the weather was over 111° in the same year. Forming a group of black travelers that share in this desire to explore the world while networking internationally is the foundation of Soul travel. Whether its networking with grad students in Mumbai, riding a train overnight to see Santa at the artic circle(yes, it's a thing), or learning Arabic in Morroco. I want these experiences to push our members beyond their wildest dreams. These life changing experiences enhance the global perspective of the traveler and everyone connected to them. Every trip we take makes our village stronger. If you're ready to "sour outside ur limits", network with a diverse group of African Americans, and travel at the same time.... Let's Go! Let's Soar! #soultravel
Dr. Tiffenia Archie
As a young child, I was always interested in social justice. I did not have the language for it at the time but I knew I wanted to make the world a better place for everybody. I wanted a world where there was no racism, no sexism, no classism, etc… and I wanted to understand how these things existed on both a micro/personal and macro/societal level. This desire ultimately led me to undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Sociology and a Doctorate in Sociology. I loved studying these ideas and concepts from an academic perspective but I quickly realized that I could be a stronger advocate for social justice if I had a better understanding of how these things operated in the world beyond my bubble in Pennsylvania. I also knew I had to work on my own assumptions and biases and develop myself as a person. Travel became the vehicle to do those things.
My first trip abroad was to London and Paris during my graduate school years and I learned so much about myself and the world around me; in particular the lens in which I was viewed as an African-American Muslim woman. It was a lens that was radically different in London than it was in Paris. It was a transformative experience that fueled my desire to see as much of the world as possible to become the best person that I could be.
To date, I’ve been to 4 continents and 20 countries so I have much more to see but I never imagined as a child that I’d travel to places like the Czech Republic, Austria, Sweden, Finland, South Africa, Dubai and Maldives all in the same year. I also hope to inspire others who look like me to consider travel and to push themselves outside their limits because, when we are able to soar outside our limits, we are able to grow as human beings.
McArthur Stephen
Having traveled to 48 states, 20 countries and over 80 cities worldwide I'd say traveling is surely in my DNA. Traveling for me isn't a vacation it's an experience. Experiences such as chatting with local fishermen at 5am in Bali, learning how to read Egyptian hieroglyphs inside the Great Pyramids in Egypt, or donating school supplies to school kids in Cuba. I want to be immersed in the culture but also want them to take pieces from me as well. Pieces such as respect and honor. This exchange has allowed me to make friends literally around the globe. SOUL travel now allows me to bring others along for these experiences. We laugh, we cook, we explore and we control the narrative that black people can travel internationally and give back. So grab a bag and your passport and get ready to "soar outside ur limits" #soultravel Let's go!
