AFTER an initial meeting at GAY Bar in Soho, London, it wasn’t long before Stefan and Sebastien were a couple and had decided to travel the world together.
Today the pair have been an item for six years and their website www.nomadicboys.com has become one of the most visited travel blogs around. Their mission is to share with readers the unique romantic, culinary and outdoor adventures they experience in the countries they visit as well as give advice on travel for other members of the gay community.
Of course, their gay following is huge but the pair are sure to and do excite a broad range of travel enthusiast from far and wide. From the review section on their site which offers insight into everything from hotels to cruise ship liners to their world recipes there is something for every type of traveller from the gap year backpacker to the seasoned tourist.
Read our exclusive interview in which the pair who share some of the highlights of their travels to date and explain what it means to them to be role models for members of the gay community around the world.
How did you meet and how long was it before you decided to quit your jobs and start travelling the world?
We first set eyes on each other on Tuesday 24th February 2009 at the GAY bar in Soho, London. Sebastien was meeting friends to talk about moving to Spain to start a new life and Stefan was meeting a work colleague about a possible career move. We were too shy to speak to one another and it was Stefan’s friend who helped break the ice. The rest is history.
We have been together for over six years. After two years, we bought our flat together, renovated it and enjoyed a happy life in London. We figured if we can survive that, then surely we can survive travelling together long term.
Sebastien was on the verge of leaving London and Stefan had hit a lull in his legal career and was looking for something new. We talked about moving to new places long term and earning money along the way to fund this and to make long-term travelling a new lifestyle/career.
In around 2012, we agreed to go for it and start in Asia. So, we started planning and saving up and set 2014 as the year we would be financially ready to leave London.
We set up the blog before we left London in June 2014. It was a mutual decision and has become our baby.
The blog has been an excellent way to keep a record of our travels. It’s great because it forces us to be more involved with our travels, such as what we are eating, when and why was a particular building built and making a strong effort to meet locals.
The main two things we both love are picking up recipes from each country we visit (http://nomadicboys.com/category/world-recipes) and trying to meet local gays and gain their point of view of the gay scene: http://nomadicboys.com/category/gay-stories.
Since we set up the blog, it has grown exponentially in terms of traffic and followers, particularly amongst the LGBTQ community. We have recently started to be contacted by hotels, tour companies and other tourist related businesses offering sponsorship and advertising.
The pair’s natural way with each other ensure they are always able to get the perfect picture while on their travels.
What have been some of the highlights of your travels to date?
Every country is so diverse with something incredible to offer, whether it’s the scenery, people, food etc.
The Komodo National Park in Indonesia particularly blew us away. This is where you come to visit the largest reptiles in the world – the famous Komodo Dragons. In addition, the underwater world is stunning! This was some of the best scuba diving we’ve ever done, with a plethora of tropical fish, sharks and turtles in every dive.
http://nomadicboys.com/diving-komodo-national-park-indonesia
The scenery around Mongolia’s Gobi Desert felt like you’re on another planet. It’s like nothing we’ve ever experienced before, ranging from sand dunes to dramatic limestone cliff formations. The same with the landscape across the Himalayas during the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal and coping with the altitude at 5,416 metres (17,769 feet) up high.
http://nomadicboys.com/gobi-desert-tour
http://nomadicboys.com/crossing-thorong-la-pass
The Filipino hospitality is well known throughout the world and this made the Philippines particularly special to us – not to mention the thousands of deserted islands waiting to be discovered.
http://nomadicboys.com/gay-friendly-travel-guide-palawan-island
Thailand, Vietnam and Sri Lanka blew our minds in terms of food. The Sri Lankans make a curry out of anything, whether it’s a pineapple, jack fruit or aubergine and unlike Indian curries, use less ghee so it’s not as heavy. Vietnamese noodle dishes set us into a culinary frenzy and of course Thai street food is renowned for its fiery curries, salads and pad Thais.
http://nomadicboys.com/traditional-foods-of-vietnam
http://nomadicboys.com/sri-lankan-food
http://nomadicboys.com/our-favourite-street-food-in-thailand
And of course for gay scene, you can’t beat the gay life of Silom in Bangkok.
http://nomadicboys.com/gay-bangkok
What have been any dangers you’ve come across?
The scariest will always be the Trans Siberian. Stefan is more up for roughing it and has travelled alone extensively before, particularly in Latin America. For Sebastien however, this was his first big trip outside of Europe and from home comforts. Stefan’s goal was to ‘break’ Sebastien into the world of backpacking by throwing him in the deep end and starting with the famous week-long train journey. That’s one week of no washing and roughing it on a train. It’s awesome, but those tantrums from the Frenchman throughout the experience were the scariest thing we’ve encountered so far on our travels.
When you travel the world with the one you love every experience no matter how small or large is shared.
For other gay travellers what words of advice would you give when travelling? Have you sadly ever experienced any negative reactions when checking into hotels together for example?
We’ve never experienced problems checking into hotels because we always call/email ahead to tell them we are a gay couple and want a double bed. Often the front desk staff get confused and give us two single beds, so we waste time going back to complain, but nothing more serious than that.
We are considerate, discreet and respectful to the local culture when we travel, so we’ve not invited the opportunity for outright homophobia. At worst, people think we are brothers travelling together and don’t bat an eyelid. The most annoying is the whole “are you sure you want a double bed??!!”
We’ve experienced elements of homophobia where we’ve had to tiptoe around the evil GAY word (!). For example, we were interviewed by a government owned radio station in Malaysia where the DJ was well known as being out and was hilariously camp. However, we had to avoid any reference to being gay when on air. It led to a lot of tongue in cheek humour and innuendos, but it still had to be constrained and carefully ‘managed’.
http://nomadicboys.com/that-time-we-were-interviewed-on-malaysian-national-radio-traxx-fm
Accepting who you are as well as the lives others choose to live is key in the underlying ethos of the Nomadic Boys blog.
You’re an inspiration for equality and to all those who are encouraged to express themselves by your openness and honesty. How important is knowing you could be changing the lives of other gay people as well as the ideologies of those who had not been so open to certain lifestyles in the past?
It is very important and we think for all LGBTQ travellers who are fortunate to be from progressive countries, we should use this opportunity not to ignore countries with poor LGBTQ records, but to go over there as a positive visible symbol to not only show we are “normal”, but more importantly to help the local gay community and businesses there more than anything.
How can brands and organisations get behind your message and work with you through your website and their own media outlets?
You can see our full details in our Work With Us section and we’re always open to any conversation:
https://nomadicboys.com/work-with-us/
Where are you currently and what exciting plans do you have for the year ahead?
We are back home in Europe looking for a home base to work more solidly on the business side of the blog and focusing on shorter trips closer to home. That being said, we’re craving to get back to Asia!
