Travelers

Hello everyone, it’s so good to see you again!

Did you all have a great summer? We sure did 🙂

Welcome to the September edition of Blogger Spotlight On!

We are so happy to introduce you this month’s guests Stefan and Sébastien, better known as Nomadic Boys!

Stefan is at the back with the purple mono fin and Sébastien at the front with the bright green one 🙂

I’ve recently started following their adventures in Southeast Asia and it looks like they are having a fabulous time so I thought it would be great to interview them and am super happy they agreed!

Let’s learn more about them shall we?

Please tell us about yourselves (How did you meet etc) 🙂

Hi guys! We are gay couple travelling Stefan and Sébastien. We quit our jobs and London life last year to eat our way around Asia and ideally want to make travelling a long-term lifestyle.

Stefan, 33 is a former lawyer, of Greek Cypriot origin, born and raised in London. Sébastien, also 33, is an IT geek, originally from France but moved to London to work in the finance industry.

At the Puu Jih Syh Temple, Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia Borneo, August 2015

We first met on Tuesday 24^th February 2009 at the GAY bar in Soho, London. Sébastien 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 6 years. After 2 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.

You are both enthusiastic world travelers, when did you travel for the first time and where was it?

Stefan started travelling when he was 18 and inter railed around Europe with friends. He later took a gap year in between university and starting law school in 2005 to volunteer and backpack his way around South America.

Stefan with friends at the top of Machu Picchu, Peru, May 2005

Sébastien always had a dream of being whisked away from his hometown in France by a Latin lover to exotic locations far away. He came to London initially to improve his English in 2006 and stayed for a few years. In 2009 he was so set on moving to Spain or Latin America to find said Latin lover, but he instead met Stefan. Initially Sébastien thought Stefan could be this Latin lover, but he turned out to be a Greek (which was still ok) with a strong British accent (hmmmm…!)

A cheeky Sebastien with policeman at London Pride, June 2011

Sébastien nonetheless stuck with Stefan. Over the course of our 6 years relationship, we’ve done a lot of travelling throughout Europe and a few trips to Asia.

A few years ago we agreed that long-term travelling was a mutual dream, so we saved and planned for many years and in June 2014 we quit our jobs and lives in London to eat our way around Asia.

Leaving London in June 2015

Where are you living right now and what can you tell us about the city/country?

At the moment we are travelling in Indonesia and right now we’ve just set foot on Gili Trawangan island near Lombok to celebrate Stefan’s 9^th 25^th birthday (he’s not accepting turning 33).

There are 3 small Gili Islands: Trawangan, Air and Memo. Trawangan is the largest of the 3 (you can cycle the entire island in around 10 minutes by bike, to give you an idea of size).

Trawangan is the more popular and touristy of the three, but has some great snorkelling and diving trips. The aim is to re-create a better shot of Stefan with a turtle or shark for his birthday:

Stefan with Shakira the shark near Komodo island, Indonesia, Sept 2015

Stefan with Trisha the Turtle near Komodo island, Indonesia, Sept 2015

Tell us about your blog and how long have you been in the travel community?

We set up the blog just before we left London in June 2014 and she has since 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.

Over the past year it has grown exponentially, particularly in the gay community and we’ve started to work with brands who wish to tap into this market. An example was the Mandala Spa on Boracay island in the Philippines, who wanted us to help promote their “Rainbow Package”:

Mandala Spa promoting the Rainbow Package, Boracay, the Philippines, June 2015

The main 2 things we both love are picking up recipes from each country we visit https://nomadicboys.com/category/world-recipes and trying to meet local gays and gain their point of view of the gay scene: https://nomadicboys.com/category/gay-stories

Another food fight about to break out, Sandakan, Malaysia Borneo, August 2015

What important advice would you give anyone who has not had the chance to go and explore our beautiful planet?

Do it! The main obstacle is always the barriers you set. Obviously carefully planning is necessary, particularly saving and where travelling stands with your life objectives.

We saved for over 3 years before we felt financially ready to pack it all in and we’d each hit a stage in our careers where we really started to question what the point of it was aim for something more fulfilling.

Bonus questions:

What are your future plans?

We plan to visit Latin America in the New Year: Asia’s been good to our budget. But we do want to start earning money and continuing to travel long-term, making a career of it. That’s the dream and slowly our Nomadic Boys blog is taking us in this direction.

A room with a view Stefan working on the blog, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia Borneo, August 2015