Who hasn’t had the fantasy of meeting someone special and going off to get lost with them? Well, Stefan and Sebastien, the married couple behind the popular travel blog for LGBTQ+ vacationers, The Nomadic Boys, did just that. The two met in 2009 in a gay bar in London while both were slogging away at unfulfilling jobs, Stefan as a lawyer, Sebastien in financial services. Love came first, then came wanderlust. In 2014, after years of planning and saving, they quit their jobs and hit the road, traveling across Asia for the better part of two years. To chart their course, they kept a blog. It grew into one of the most heavily trafficked travel blogs for rainbow travel. Stef, now 40, and Seb, 41, are still its primary contributors. Now they travel for a living and live for travel.
I met you guys for the first time in June, 2019, on Playa de las Balmins, that fabulous nude gay beach in Sitges, Spain. What are your “Top Five Picks for LGBTQ+ Travel” this summer?
Assuming you want to have a very, very, very gay party experience, then we’d suggest:
Fire Island for Pines Party, July 21 to 23.
Barcelona for Circuit Festival, August 5 to 13.
Mykonos for XLSIOR Festival, August 16 to 23.
Provincetown for Ptown Carnival, August 12 to 19.
Malta, as Valletta, the Maltese capital, will be hosting EuroPride, September 7 to 17.
June is Pride Month, with Pride celebrations happening all over the world. Where would you recommend as a great Pride celebration after Pride Month is over?
Reykjavik Pride, August 8 to 13. Iceland is also an incredible destination and August an ideal time to visit.
If you want to continue the partying, there are a few gay party cruises happening — Atlantis and La Demence.
Also, some of the largest and exciting Pride events happen after Pride Month in July/August — such as Madrid Pride, London, Brighton, Manchester, Amsterdam.
Gay cruises and lesbian resorts are great, but the rainbow travel industry does not offer too many choices for mixed groups of gay men, lesbians, and trans/nonbinary travelers altogether. What recommendations do you have for mixed groups?
We’ve found that any of the large brand hotels are used to welcoming LGBTQ travelers. If in any doubt, then we recommend calling or emailing ahead to check they’re ok to host you. Most are, but we’ve had some pretty nasty responses from a few. One hotel brand that welcomes everything in the LGBTQ family is Axel Hotel, who market themselves as “hetero friendly.”
The Nomadic Boys celebrates the life of the traveler. But what about putting down roots? Name a few places you have visited that you felt strongly, “Let’s stay and live here!”
Bangkok, Thailand
Madrid, Spain
Cyprus (Stefan’s ethnic roots)
Lyon, France (Seby’s country of origin)
You have done some great features on the top 10 gay bars to hit in different cities. Many people say the queer bar is dead or dying. What makes a memorable queer bar experience that’ll keep ‘em coming?
Fun and unique events like Drag Show Watch Parties, Eurovision in May. Burlesque and drag shows. Also, competitions like “Best Legs” or “Best Ass” we’ve seen at places like Woody’s in Toronto.
Another favorite is Glass House in Brick Lane, East London, an excellent queer space, which is a bar, but also hosts events like drag queen story time, poetry nights, book launches, and pottery classes.
Next year June, 2024, will mark the 10-year anniversary of your first big travel experience as couple – a 19-month trip around Asia – which launched the Nomadic Boys blog. How are you planning on celebrating this milestone?
Thanks for spotting that! We have a big trip to Australia and New Zealand planned – neither of us has ever been, so we’re super excited about this.
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