The Hidden Labor of Traveling While Fat, Queer, and Disabled

Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown get into the often-overlooked politics of travel — from queer safety and fat-body accessibility to the colonial mindset baked into Western travel culture. They explore how identity shapes every aspect of a trip, why travel is both a privilege and a political act, and what it actually looks like to show up in someone else's space with humility, curiosity, and respect.

In This Episode, We Get Into:

• How Taina and her wife navigate travel as queer, fat-bodied, disabled women of color — including the research they do before choosing a destination
• The exhausting labor of traveling with multiple marginalized identities: wheelchair assistance, medications, masking, claustrophobia, seatbelt extenders, and more
• Why Europe — despite its appeal — can be deeply inaccessible for fat and disabled travelers, and why the Americans with Disabilities Act is actually one of the US's most important pieces of legislation
• The colonial mindset embedded in how Americans (especially wealthy white Americans) show up abroad — from demanding McDonald's in Peru to being obnoxiously loud in spaces that have different cultural norms
• How the cost of air travel continues to widen the gap between the haves and have-nots, and what it means when only the most elite get to see the world
• The difference between curating your travel experience and showing up as an entitled American tourist who expects to be accommodated
• Becky's life-changing high school trip to the USSR — and why she believes international travel at a formative age is one of the greatest gifts a young person can receive
• Taina's experience at a travel company in LA, and some of the most entitled client behavior she witnessed firsthand
• Why "different" is a better word than "weird" — and how Becky is teaching her 10-year-old son to navigate cultural difference with curiosity instead of judgment
• How Hawaiians and other communities are pushing back against tourism — and why some destinations are now off Becky's bucket list entirely

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