{"id":52166,"date":"2022-01-26T11:24:24","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T10:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/?p=52166"},"modified":"2022-01-26T11:25:43","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T10:25:43","slug":"how-a-travel-blogger-built-a-community-of-muslim-travellers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travindy.com\/news\/2022\/01\/how-a-travel-blogger-built-a-community-of-muslim-travellers\/","title":{"rendered":"How a travel blogger built a community of Muslim travellers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"How
Muslim travellers around the world report a range of issues in common, including facing discrimination from other travellers and security officials\u00a0\u00a9 Stocksy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

O<\/span>n one of Elena Nikolova\u2019s first trips as a Muslim, she realized travel for her had changed forever. Visiting\u00a0Bulgaria<\/a>\u00a0from the\u00a0United Kingdom<\/a>, she saw how her new halal diet was at odds with her pork-heavy, Bulgarian-Greek upbringing. It wasn\u2019t long before Nikolova also noticed she was getting extra checks at the airport and more attention once she landed because of her hijab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI realized that whether we wanted it or not, there is prejudice against those who wear a hijab,\u201d Nikolova said. \u201cI realized that kind of puts Muslims off traveling.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since she converted to Islam in 2009, Nikolova has worked to make travel more accessible and comfortable for Muslims. A lover of deals, she began to share cheap fares and travel hacks on social media to encourage others in her new community to travel too. As a student in the UK, she often booked the longest layovers possible on her way back home to Greece<\/a> just so she could explore new places. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An online forum for advocating Muslim travel <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon the urging of a friend, Nikolova transformed her expertise into the blog Muslim Travel Girl<\/a> in 2013, with the goal of helping Muslims travel while being confident in their identities and without breaking the bank. Right away, she started receiving questions related to airport security and whether certain countries were welcoming to Muslims. Her readers, mostly based in North America<\/a> and Europe<\/a>, were apprehensive. One of Muslim Travel Girl\u2019s most popular videos<\/a>, for example, is on navigating airports as a hijab-wearing Muslim woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building a comfort zone<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThroughout the past seven years, we’ve gone through [issues with] the media and Muslims, and the hijab and problems with women traveling,\u201d she said. \u201cThe whole point of a Muslim travel blog is to help and encourage those people, to give them the resources to actually find destination information.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While other resources exist, Nikolova says it was especially hard to find information that spoke directly to the experience of traveling as a Muslim when she started the blog. \u201cEven though travel [for Muslims] in general is not so different, we have some differences, like [needing] places to pray or [specific] food to eat,\u201d she said. \u201cNot every Muslim needs these, but it should be there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is an excerpt from an article by Juhie Bhatia, originally published by Lonely Planet. <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elena Nikolova converted to Islam in 2009. Four years later, she channelled her wanderlust into a new endeavour: helping other Muslims travel the world. Muslim Travel Girl is now one of the largest Muslim-friendly blogs in the West.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":52168,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,2667,534,265,573,3255],"tags":[2565],"yoast_head":"\nHow a travel blogger built a community of Muslim travellers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Elena Nikolova converted to Islam in 2009. Four years later, she channelled her wanderlust into a new endeavour: helping other Muslims travel the world. 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