Do I chase the thrill of a fast-paced digital nomad lifestyle, or do I settle into a place that feels just right? This was the phenomenal question on Nyasha Franklin’s mind as she transitioned from digital nomadism to a more intentional, intuitive way of traveling. A global educator, art enthusiast, and founder of an Afro-diasporic travel business, World 2 the Whyze, Franklin has spent the past two years moving between Colombia, The Gambia, Mexico, and beyond—successfully and curiously exploring what connection and belonging can mean in a new place.
With a background in archaeology and Africana studies, Franklin is an expert in understanding that “home” isn’t just in the physical space—it’s a full-bodied sensation, a live community, and a relationship with earth and folks we surround ourselves with. In this interview, she reflects on her journey, the lessons of slow travel, and what home means in an era when digital nomadism is at an all-time high.
Stay tuned as ABC Realty explores her agency, the cultural richness she’s absorbed, and how slowing down can ultimately lead to deeper, more familiar travel.
Q: Could you introduce yourself and take us along your journey?
A: Hello everyone, my name is Nyasha Franklin and I help travelers become African diasporic explorers. My own journey launched me into nomadism essentially by traveling by myself to explore different places where there are Black people. I’m passionate about different cultures which has led me to be a semi-nomad. It’s kind of like wanting to be in more than one place that has a bunch of Black people and not tied to live in any of those places. It gets you thinking, should I stay?
Q: What was your introduction to digital nomadism, and what are some highs and lows?
A: Having a remote job helped me start domestically moving around in 2022. While working at a firm that had no office, you could live wherever in the U.S., you just had to tell where. So, I stayed at home for a couple of months until I was ready to leave. It was cold. It was snowing more than it does now. [That’s really important! If you can live, if you’re young enough to live at home and feel comfortable about it, and fortunate enough, stay and save your money. Don’t stay at home and just wander and spend all your savings. Even if it’s for a few months or for a year, try to have some savings so that you can move around and resettle.]
I couldn’t go anywhere with my laptop, so I picked up and left for New Orleans for two and a half months in February. While there, I was introduced to natural build outs that I wanted to explore in other places. I explored similar entities in LA for some weeks and stayed with friends.
After saving, I went to Colombia for the first time in July 2022, this is where slow traveling comes into play. I did a natural building workshop for almost a month. I don’t want to do that again, but I did it. Afterwards, I went to Cali for the Petronio Music Festival, which is where I met Alexia for the first time. I then looked at the tickets to Brazil and said, is this financially feasible for my plan? Instead, I really wanted to continue to learn how to build houses out of natural materials.
Ya know, when the apocalypse comes, it’s good to know how to build. It’s good to have skills to understand the structure of making a living shelter.
After Cali, I went to the Gambia for this masquerade festival that my mom had always shown me pictures, called the Kankurang Festival. Then, I started this pattern of going between the Gambia and Cali for two years. In the summer of 2023, I got to Mexico for the first time in the Gotan region. I was working and we were nomadic in that we had to move every few days. I lived with a host family that spoke only their indigenous language, but their son spoke Spanish so he and I were able to communicate. It allowed us to kind of be very nimble and flexible in a way that. And then you have to pack light!
Q: So you traveled to these different places, but what does home mean to you and how do you create a sense of home in each new place?
A: I’ve been thinking about that a lot recently because I’ve been struggling with loneliness in my actual home, where I’m actually from, where my actual family lives. I think it’s people, it’s your routine, the activities that make you feel like a person, like you’re alive, that you’re enjoying your living in the planet that we’re on, you know? Home was always the idea of coming back to New York, New York was always home for me. And now it feels like Colombia is home for me. My idea of home right now is a mix of people, activities, and routines where I feel a spark of familiarity that I choose.
Q: What are some ways that you ground yourself in a new location when you first arrive? Is there anything specific? For example, rituals, or is there anything you bring to help you get settled in?
A: I do a lot of research online about places and people that I might agree with as a community member. That’s always my first go to: try to understand the landscape, organizations that are around, interesting people. Most importantly, I need to figure out where I’m going to get in contact with the community, with people that I can feel like I can relate to.
For example, in New Orleans, I understood that Congo Square has a drum circle every Sunday. So, I knew that if I want to find other people like that, I need to go there. I met this old man and I ended up hanging out with the old man all the time. I would go to certain events with him and I met other friends, which was really nice.
I try to say yes to people, almost like saying yes to a bunch of strangers and saying, “you know what, I’m not going to be a homebody right now. Until I meet the people that I need to meet, I’m going to try to say yes,” All the people I have met, they have been my most recent rituals. It’s not truly ritualized, not a system, but I try to do a little research. If the research can’t get me to where I need to go, then say yes. With the people that feel like they’re going to bring me in the direction of where I need to be, then I can start making movies.
Q: How do you envision your future as you’re planning on stepping away from digital digital nomadism? And what’s next for you?
A: I think the nomad is fun to do when we’re young and frightful. When you feel like you don’t have any ties anywhere, it’s useful to try it. My next step is feeling comfortable with being somewhere for a year or two years. I’m not opposed to stopping completely being a nomad, but I wouldn’t want to do it so fast. If I get into grad school, I’d live there for two years. Afterwards, I want to find a place that I can call home. It can feel confusing and unsure at times, but when I’m ready and I need to settle down in a place to call home, I can. I’m kind of in a homebody mode now. Visiting is one thing, but to live, it’s hard enough to leave your own home state and your safety net to go to another country, let alone another language. To live happily as a person, for me, I need to have a place where there’s a full community, a salsa [dance] community, and a culture of women being able to go out alone and it not be weird.
Q: How is your travel business, World 2 the Whyze going? And how does it focus on Black communities and the diaspora?
A: My own trips to Colombia is what inspires me to start this venture. My previous trips allowed me to understand that as Black people, we need more platforms that encourage us to appreciate our contributions. Whether it’s our labor, our culture, our philosophies, our spiritual contributions, we have been creating the world in the past. Despite this new contemporary world that has been dominated by Europeans, we need to have platforms that encourage us to understand those contributions and celebrate them.
I learned that was a problem while in New Orleans when an elder man verbalized the idea that unfortunately, we always think our stuff is crappy until somebody else wants to commercialize it. Not just buy it, but to commercialize, turn it into an industry or bring it into their industry. And when I thought about it I was so sad and journaled about it. And I did the same in The Gambia. I was just seeing Black people breaking their backs to get somewhere, or to survive, or become recognized as “a useful person” and the institutions are at large, with sometimes borrowed social capital.
When I went to Colombia for the first time, I had a great time because I went to the Petronio Music Festival. I met these musicians [Alborada de Timbiqui) ]from the coast and they realized, oh, “you should come to our hometown one day, and if you like music, you’re gonna love coming to our town.” And the rest is history. I take trips out there with the music group and folks interested in participating. I have successfully brought two groups to the coast of Colombia.
What does home mean to you? How do you create home?
I have been struggling being back home. I think “home” is people, it’s routine. The activities that make you feel alive, enjoying living on the planet were living. Colombia now feels like home, a sense of adult self is someone who is attaching the idea of home is a different place. Mix of activities, people, routines, where I feel a spark of familiarity. Sometimes things seem like a given, but now as an adult we have agency. When I choose to be familiar in a place, it grows and we can grow out of it.
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From building mud houses in Colombia, to immersing herself into Mayan communities in Mexico, Franklin’s journey shows that home isn’t just a place—it’s the connections we build along the way. By slowing down, she’s found deeper meaning in travel, embracing community and belonging wherever she lands.
Follow Nyasha’s journey and explore her travel services through World 2 the Whyze, where she curates meaningful, Afro-diasporic travel experiences for both students and those interested in a Black Sabbatical. Stay connected as ABC Realty continues to explore what home means in an ever-changing world.