Today we’d like to introduce you to La India Santos
Hi La India , thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I began traveling with family around 10 years old. When I was 12 years old, I had a fascination with Costa Rica. I wasn’t sure why, but I had a strong desire to visit Costa Rica and I would tell my mother all the time. I researched programs on my own and found a program that allowed me to go to Costa Rica and study Spanish. At the age of 14, I set off to Costa Rica with a company called Amerispan. My mother decided I was mature enough for the independent program instead of the supervised one. I lived with a host family for 3 weeks, and was able to come and go as I pleased. I also attended school everyday for Spanish lessons. While in Costa Rica, a classmate of mine told me about a program called Amigos de las Americas. It is a program that send youth to Latin American communities to assist with community initiatives and projects as volunteers. I had to wait until I was 16, however, at 16 years old I attended training for a few months in New York to do the program. I was assigned to a rural community in Barahona, Dominican Republic where I lived as a volunteer for 2 months. I worked on the “Because I am a Girl” initiative headed by Plan International. I became very passionate about girls education and children’s rights.
I went on to get a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish, and decided to return to the Dominican Republic to study abroad. While there, I studied at PUCMM in Santiago and volunteered at the Center for the Blind where I worked with adults with blindness & visual impairments. I knew I had a passion for travel and during college I went went on to do service learning projects in Trinidad & Tobago as well as Honduras.
I had a passion for international education, and I continued my studies at the University of Pennsylvania to get my Master’s in International Educational Development. A requirement of the program was completing an international internship. I went on to do my internship at Sesame Workshop India in New Delhi, India. This was the true start of what made me the world traveler I am today.
Living in India gave me a strong backbone. It was my first true experience with culture shock and my internship experience did not go well. I also witnessed the biggest gap between rich and poor that I had ever seen. Though it was difficult, India gave me so much and taught me a lot. I went on to do my first real solo travel journey to Vietnam and Malaysia before going back home to the USA. I had the best time and truly fell in love with solo travel. I had decided to start a blog to share my experiences and would share my blogs via Facebook. Phirst Klass was a name given to me by my sorority, so I decided on “Flying Phirst Klass”. For me, phirst klass didn’t mean “luxury travel” as many people assume. For me, it meant first class experiences and viewpoints. I emphasized traveling the world to learn about culture, people, and even about oneself. I pride myself in traveling to less travel destinations and learning people’s customs, traditions, and daily life.
After my solo travel experience. I continued to travel and returned back to the Dominican Republic after graduation. I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go career wise, but I knew I needed travel. This is when the pandemic hit . I was stuck in the DR until I was finally able to get home with the help of family and locals. My travel dreams were put on hold.
Fast forward to today, I have traveled to almost 40 countries. A good portion has been with my phenomenal husband who has never allowed me to put my travel dreams on hold. We enjoy adventure travel such as hiking volcanos as well as cultural experiences like staying in a Maasai village in Kenya. I hope to restart my blog writing to share the stories of those I have learned from around the world. I want to continue to grow my YouTube channel to showcase authentic travel experiences, and I create content to educate and inspire. Travel will always be my true passion. I don’t think I would ever let it go. There’s so much more of the world to see!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I struggled and still struggle with the believe that the traditional path is the best way to a secure life. The idea that you should secure a job in a well paying career and work your way up. However, travel has really put life in perspective for me. It has taught me to cherish happiness above all. Money will come and go. As long as I am responsible, healthy and happy that’s all that matters. I value family time and new experiences over work and money. I struggle with trying to get other people to understand, but I have never heard of anyone regretting travel. I have only heard of people regretting working so hard and not being able to travel.
Additionally, I struggle with how I can grow in the most authentic way on my platforms. I think it’s important to be ethical and that we have a moral responsibility to be not only truthful, but cautious in how we share about other places and cultures. These are people’s lives, traditions and customs. It is so important to be aware of how we are spreading information and certain perspectives. I have not been very interested in click bait for my videos or negative viewpoints. I hope to continue to highlight positive experiences about places society has taught us to fear.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a travel content creator focusing on authentic and unique experiences. I enjoy highlighting adventurous activities, cultural experiences, and daily life of others in different parts of the world. I am known for solo travel, adventure travel and cultural travel. I have stayed with different tribes, camped on volcanos, and solo traveled to a number of countries.
I am most proud of my ability to share my experiences of less traveled destinations in a positive light and receiving so many thanks and heartfelt excitement from citizens of those countries. They get excited to see that a foreigner has visited their country and truly sought out all of the reasons they love their home.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
Thai is a difficulty question to answer because so much has happened and changed so quickly. I think social media has been helpful in showing how easily attainable travel is for many people. I think people are more inspired than ever to explore our world. In the next 5-10 years, I think many more people will have passports ( especially in the USA). I also think that travel content by creators will be the main source of information for those seeking vacation and travel experiences.
Additionally, I think there have been and will be consequences. Over tourism has been an issue for places that need to be environmentally cared for due to what people have seen from content on their screens. Certain places gain incredible amounts of popularity in shorts amounts of time and it negatively affects the locals, the environment and even the culture. I hope responsible travel continues to grow and the behavior towards it changes and grows too.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Flyingphirstklass.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/flyingphirstklass/
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/flyingphirstklass
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@flyingphirstklass
