Greetings everyone! Meet Shenice!

Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Hi! I’m Shenice (Shibivia)—a Christian, wife, mom, entrepreneur, and business lending broker living in Bangkok, Thailand, with my family. I’m passionate about helping women take bold steps toward building sustainable income for their families. As an online business coach, I’ve helped entrepreneurs launch credible businesses, and now I’m focused on empowering more women to create location-independent incomes and embrace the freedom of living abroad.

How has travel impacted your life and how has it changed you and your family life?

Travel has impacted my life in so many ways, more so on a positive level. A quick backstory: I was born and raised in Jamaica and when I first came to the U.S., I was doing my thing, I  worked in different fields from restaurant to financial industry then became a flight attendant. But before I became a flight attendant I fell in love with travel when I did my first cruise out of the country. Then I started doing quick trips to Mexico then started to travel around Europe and I just love the way I felt traveling outside of America. At one point,  I was like, I have to figure out a way where I can do this more often and so that’s one of the reasons why I applied to become a flight attendant and also join the United States Air Force. Fast forward I started to get tired of the hustle and bustle; I wanted to travel more at a slow pace with my family. Travel has changed her life in the sense where we don’t worry about the same things we used to worry about in the U.S. For one, the safety, the food quality in this region. Living in Southeast Asia, the food is so much fresher. Getting fresh fruits and veggies is so much more accessible. Being able to walk to the market, I find that I’m moving my body more, I’m a lot healthier and there’s a true sense of community where we live. The neighbors and the villagers, the people in the village actually know us and they look out for us, they pause to hear how we’re actually doing versus just asking the question and not not really looking for a response. Living abroad, especially here in Thailand truly feels like home. I can even talk about healthcare. It’s really top-notch. It’s professional, fast-paced, affordable, just so many things have changed for the better since moving abroad.

What has been your most favorite travel experience and why?

I would say that my most favorite travel experience was when my husband and I visited Bali, Indonesia in 2022 right after I had quit my flight attendant job. The reason why I would say it was my most favorite travel experience was because it was the most therapeutic experience of my entire life. When we went to Bali, Indonesia, I went because I wanted a little break and escape. I had just quit my job and I was working on a business project as well, because that year I decided to dive into full-time entrepreneurship. I was working on a launch. It was overwhelming and when we went to Bali we did not end up having a SIM card (By the time we got around to doing it, we decided not to). So that meant while we were out, we were forced to be present unless we were at a cafe or by our Villa then we would have Wi-Fi. Other than that, we had no choice but to just be present. The nature of mama Bali is so healing; it’s so therapeutic, it’s something about Bali that is so different and unique. I’ve been to dozens of countries, but Bali definitely stood out during that time and I have to say that was probably my most favorite travel experience. We still even have relationships with some of the people that we have met in Bali. Bali has some of the sweetest kindest people ever and I’m happy that now I live in Thailand where I feel like I’m just a hop skip and a jump away. Being only a 4-hour flight from Bali is a dream come true.

Do you have any tips or advice for people who want to travel more? 

I would say people who want to travel more the advice that I would have for them is firstly do it for sure, don’t overthink it do it pick a place and just go because if we sit and overthink things, we will find every reason in the book why we should not go to a place. I would also say to make a list of your dream country. If you don’t know or if you’ve never really traveled, and you don’t know where to go and what to expect in those in different countries, think about the things that make you happy. What do you love to experience? For example, is it sunshine? Is it palm trees and Cool Breeze? Is it the beach? Do you want to be around kind people?  Are you ready to immerse in a culture where the language is different? What are your goals and then make a list of those countries you can research? Make a list of those countries from highest priority to least ,then start researching those countries and just go! Start planning and create a budget for that and every month set aside something small even if it’s $100 every single month just for that travel fund. As a Jamaican, there’s a saying that Jamaicans use that says every “Mickle mek a Muckle” – meaning every small contribution. contributes to something greater. Another advice is don’t sit around and wait for people to travel with you. I know a lot of us sometimes prefer not to travel alone or by ourselves, but if you absolutely cannot find anyone to travel with you, I say go alone but of course take safety precautions like letting family members and friends know where you’re going, registering with the US Travel Global Immigration and connecting with International groups. There are many groups on Facebook and like WhatsApp groups that you can connect with other people and then you can possibly just meet up with other like-minded women or like-minded people who are currently traveling in that community in that country and do it safely. 

What are the must have items in your packing list?

Must haves on my pocket list is a phone charging power bank of course, you never know when your phone is going to die while you’re traveling and you don’t want that to happen especially when you’re in a new country and your place. Citronella keeps the bugs and the mosquitoes away. You can just dilute it with water and it will literally Save the Day.Universal Power Adapter, Travel and medical Insurance For International Travel, activated charcoal, probiotics, International eSIM Data Service (Avoid Roaming Fees!), water bottle with built-in filter. 

Why do you think it’s important for families to travel?

I think that it is important for families to travel because it can create bonds and build deeper bonds. Also for children you are expanding their horizons and they are learning different perspectives in life and realizing that where they were born or grew up, is not the only way of living. There’s not one way to living and exposing your children to travel in different cultures can teach them so much and then being able to be in different rooms with anyone where they can hold a conversation because they’ve been exposed to so much in travel versus being in a room and have no idea what people from different parts of the world are talking about. History, social studies and cultural studies doesn’t have to be taught just from a book. I feel like the best place for it to be taught is through travel and through immersing yourself in different cultures there’s nothing like it. I would love for more women to build up the confidence to do just that; travel with their children and not feel like it’s Out Of Reach – not feel like because they have children now, they can’t do it. Yes mama! You too can travel, live your dream life and explore the world with your children.

Where can people follow your travel journeys?

People can follow my travel Journey on my YouTube channel mainly at Shibivia D’Empress also on Tiktok at Shibivia and Facebook Shibivia D’empress and Instagram the_shenicebryant.