What If Your Itinerary Included the Truth?
A travel brochure for those tired of historical fiction disguised as fact.
By Leroy Adams
Welcome to The Truth Tour.
We know you came here for the beaches, the food, and the Instagrammable history. Yet imagine for a moment your itinerary looked a little different. Imagine that instead of curated myths and colonial charm, your guide handed you something real:
“Today, we’ll walk the cobblestones where the enslaved were marched to ships, not where generals were toasted.”
“Tomorrow, we’ll visit the mansion, not for its architecture, but to read the wills that divided families into property.”
“And on your final day, we’ll visit a museum. Not the kind that dusts off the past, but one that puts empire on trial.”
Too much for a vacation? Maybe. But what if truth is the only stamp that matters?
“What a President Said” vs. “What History Knows”
What happens when the most powerful man in the world moonlights as a travel agent?
You get a brochure soaked in delusion, whitewashing, and strategic amnesia.
Imagine planning your next trip using quotes not from historians, locals, or lived experience, but from a U.S. president known for revisionist history and headline-grabbing falsehoods.
The result?
Brochure #1: Ukraine
“Come see the birthplace of war. According to our records, they started it.
Don’t worry about the invasion, the tanks, or the footage. Just pack your bags and blame the victim. Our tour comes with complimentary gaslighting and a free map signed by Putin himself.”
But what history knows: Ukraine was invaded, and its sovereignty violated, by an imperial force with global ambitions. The war wasn’t started by Ukraine. It started with silence, erasure, and the slow creep of authoritarianism into common sense.
Brochure #2: South Africa
“Witness white suffering up close. In this upside-down world, Black South Africans have the power now and and they’re making life hard for the real victims.
This tour offers exclusive visits to private farms, tales of ‘reverse apartheid,’ and special refugee status upon return.”
But what history knows: Apartheid was a brutal regime built on white supremacy, segregation, and dispossession. Land was stolen, bodies were broken, families erased. Today’s inequities stem not from Black retaliation, but from unaddressed colonial theft and systemic delay of justice.
Brochure #3: Palestine (or what he calls the ‘Riviera’)
“Explore the untouched Riviera of the Middle East. Think white sand, palm trees, and no history worth remembering.
No mention of the Nakba. No maps with Palestinian borders. No stories about checkpoints, raids, or generational trauma. Just beachfront property waiting for a new name.”
But what history knows: Palestine is not uninhabited land waiting to be renamed. It is the site of dispossession, displacement, and daily resistance. What one man calls a Riviera, millions remember as home.
This is what happens when power rewrites the itinerary.
What if we flipped the brochure?
What if your itinerary included the truth?
The Truth Tour: Rewriting the Itinerary
Welcome to Truth Tours.
Stop 1: Johannesburg, South Africa
Visit the Apartheid Museum, where you won’t find bloodied white bodies piled in the streets or generational wealth destroyed by institutionalized racism. You will, however, find the legacy of land theft, resource denial, and Black resilience in the face of engineered poverty.
Stop 2: Ramallah, Palestine
Meet a family living under occupation. Walk a street where GPS won’t guide you, but memory and resistance will. This isn’t “the Riviera.” This is what it looks like when people try to hold onto dignity with checkpoints at every corner.
Stop 3: Alabama, USA
Stand inside the Legacy Museum. The soil is rich with stories that textbooks leave out. You’ll read names not taught in schools and walk beneath markers etched with lives lost to lynching.
Why Staying Home Aids Erasure
You don’t have to be a President to push erasure. You just have to be indifferent.
Every time we skip the uncomfortable truth, every time we let tourism become escapism (from the truth), we play a role in silencing the very stories we claim to care about.
The irony? Travelers are some of the most curious, open-hearted people in the world. But curiosity without courage is just sightseeing. If your passport gets stamped, but your understanding doesn’t—what did you really collect?
Final Boarding Call
So we ask again—what if your itinerary included the truth?
We must not only be consumers of the cultures and places we visit. As visitors—people who have the privilege of experiencing the lives and stories of others—we have a responsibility to become protectors of their truth.
What greater purpose could there be than using the gift of travel to honor the histories we encounter and the people who carry them?
