Featured QTs - Studying Abroad In Greece

We love to hear from our @queertravelsociety instagram followers and are excited to feature them on our blog. Recently, @one_of_a_k1nd returned from studying abroad in Greece!  Here is their story...

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Summer 2015. I had the amazing opportunity to study abroad in Greece with my fellow cohorts from Oregon State University (Go Beavers!). Life was fast paced. I walked the streets of Athens, awed over the graffiti, visited historical sites, and tried tzatziki for the first time. 

I stood where democracy originated. I noticed people less concern with social life and more in tune with the political events occurring as they were in the middle of an economic meltdown.

On the island of MykonosI got a small taste of the friendly gay culture visiting a club named Jackie-O's and danced the night away with a few fellow (and handsome) Greecians. I dipped my toes in the water and inhaled a sense of unity on that island. People greeted each other with kindness, polite words and chuckled as I mispronounced a few words I had learned in their language.

As a queer traveler, for the first time (in a long time) I can say that I was not harassed or bothered in any sense on this trip. And for that, it made this trip that much more enjoyable. I loved the friendly space that the Greeks provided and I look forward to visiting them again with my family. 

Would I recommend visiting Greece, absolutely. A beautiful culture shock along with pride and solidarity for my LGBTQ community overseas.

Exclusive Interview: Wandering Wives

1. Why did you decide to sell everything and travel?

Traveling had always been part of our plan, but a few different circumstances led to us finally taking the plunge. In 2013 we lost Sian’s mum to cancer just six months before our wedding day. We were stuck in unsatisfying jobs that we didn’t enjoy and came really close to saddling ourselves with a mortgage. When Sian turned 30 we realized it was our last chance to qualify for the Australian working holiday visa. We decided it was now or never. We came to the conclusion that life is too short to spend time doing something that is making you miserable. So we made a huge u-turn, sold everything and hit the road!

2. How much money did you have saved up before your trip? Since you’re married, do you have a joint account and share in all financial decisions & expenses equally? Or do you keep things separate? On average, how much do you think you spend each day when you’re traveling?

We took around GB£15,000 (US$23,000 approx.) to support both of us for 18 months. This meant we didn’t need to work too much and allowed us to buy our camper van in Australia. We share a bank account and pay for everything from that. All of our wages go into the same account, it keeps it simple. Sian travelled with a friend in 2010 and they split everything equally. She found this was a real pain; having to figure out who owed what at the end of each day.

Daily expenses vary greatly - in rural Cambodia we probably spent US$15 between us for food and accommodations. Whereas in Australia we have spent as much as AU$400 (US$288) in a week on accommodations alone. The great thing about Asia is that it’s so cheap to treat yourself. For Emily's birthday we splashed out US$50 a night on a luxury hotel in Siem Reap. It felt like a big spend at the time but in Australia that can be the cost of a meal out.

3. What was the first place you traveled to?

Initially we wanted to go straight to Australia and have a stop over for a few days somewhere on the way. So we searched for the cheapest flight out of the UK and that took us to Hanoi, Vietnam (GB£365/US$562 each). As the Vietnamese visa was for 30 days we decided to make the most of it and stay for the full duration. We loved Vietnam so much that we decided to put off going to Australia and explore Cambodia. We started working for an NGO and ended up staying for four months. Five months after our “quick stopover” In Vietnam we finally made it to Australia.

Koh Rong, Cambodia

4. How do you tackle planning your trips? Is one person designated as the planner for the entire trip, or do you each have separate responsibilities when it comes to planning? Do you leverage each other’s strengths/weaknesses when it comes to travel planning?

We didn’t do too much planning before we left home. All we bought was one flight, visas for Vietnam and Australia and a one year backpackers insurance policy (don’t leave home without it!). Sian took the lead with the planning as she had been backpacking before, but mostly we just arrived at each place and followed our feet. It was challenging but in the end very relaxing to just go with the flow. Especially for Emily who normally needs to plan every detail.

Cape Range National Park, Western Australia

5. Do you have any travel items that you always bring with you and can’t live without?

We both left home with 40 litre backpacks and would strongly advise anyone traveling to take as little as possible. You can pick up everything you need on the road, with the added bonus of shopping locally. The bigger your bag is, the fuller it will be and you will resent carrying it. However there are some luxury items we always like to have to hand. Emily loves to read so her Kindle Paperwhite is essential. Sian can’t live without her music so has to have her iPod.

6. Do you ever get on each other’s nerves when you travel together? (For example: is one of you “messy” and the other a “neat freak”?) Do you ever spend time alone or take separate trips?

Before we left home we discussed the possibility of this, thinking we might need a break from each other every so often. However we found we get on surprisingly well considering we are together 24/7. We haven’t needed to be apart from one another, which is reassuring for us as newlyweds! Some aspects of our personalities did grate on each other at times; especially in the narrow confines of a camper van traveling across the empty landscape of outback Australia. However there is only so long that we can stay annoyed with each other! We are in it together and in the end, we are always on the same team.

7. What is the most challenging part of being full-time travelers & what do you do to deal with those challenges?

It is difficult to travel constantly because you feel like you need to always be on the go incase you miss something, but you need down time too. Quite often we crave home comforts, but then we remember that we’ve sold our belongings and don’t have any! We did some house sitting in Australia which gave us some respite from always being on the move and the luxury of a sofa. Sometimes we feel far away from family and that is hard for us, but we Skype and call home often.

Geikie Gorge National Park, Western Australia

8. Do you have any side hustles or extra sources of income? If so, please explain.

We work as we need to, but we don’t have any form of consistent income.

9. When you travel, do you eat out every day? If not, how do you go about balancing eating out & buying groceries/making your own meals?

We ate out most of the time in Asia, even in Cambodia when we rented an apartment with a kitchen. We tried cooking a few times but it got so hot! Eating out was a lot easier and it was so cheap. In Australia we cooked most of the time, using a one ring gas burner at the back of our camper van. The cost of living there makes it difficult to eat out unless you are earning a salary. We ate a lot of pasta and vegetables, typical cheap and cheerful meals. If it rained while we were in our van it was impossible to cook as we needed to be outside. We had a few miserable meals consisting of cereal bars and packets of crisps. But in the end we worked out it was better for our morale to splash out on a cheap pub meal and sit in the warmth.

Phu Quoc, Vietnam and Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia

10. Have you been able to SAVE any money while traveling? If so, do you have any tips for budgeting/saving while traveling that you can share?

Wages in Australia are really good, we were surprised to find how much we could get paid on minimum wage. We worked for 4 months over Christmas in a shopping centre on the gold coast, we got around AU$23 an hour, $37 on Sundays and $50 on public holidays, it was insane how much money we made. We managed to lease a place to stay, restock our clothing and have enough money to socialise with friends. We still managed save AU$8000, which was a real boost for the next part of our trip.

Three Sisters - New South Wales, Australia

11. Have you ever been harassed or discriminated against while traveling? If so, please explain. (if you have a specific story/example you can give, that would be great!)

We try to keep our PDA’s to a minimum until we know the lay of the land. We haven’t had many problems due to our sexuality, except for the odd raised eyebrow when we explain we booked a double bed, not two singles. We did feel a little discriminated against on a trip we took to Halong Bay in Vietnam. We booked a double bed on the two night boat trip but were put in a room with single beds. Other couples who were not married got the doubles, purely because they were mixed sex couples. It was only a small boat and no one would have wanted to switch rooms so it wasn't worth kicking up a fuss, but we felt pretty annoyed about it. In Asia Sian quite often gets mistaken for a boy and called sir, this can lead to hilarious apologies and is more comical than offensive.

12. Have you ever pretended that you were straight to get through a certain situation while traveling? Again, if you have a specific example, please share.

Traveling in India can be really hard work as a woman. At lot of Indian men see a white female as a green light and will try their luck. Whilst traveling in India in 2010 Sian was harassed and groped a few times on public transport. She quickly found out that inventing a fictional husband and children helped to keep advances from strange men at bay.

13. Are there any cities you’ve traveled to that have been extra LGBT friendly and made you feel more comfortable about being openly affectionate?

We loved being in Sydney for Mardi Gras, the whole city was so welcoming and friendly! We also had a really positive experience with our hotel on honeymoon in Rhodes. We emailed ahead to tell them it was our honeymoon and they upgraded us to a more expensive suite and with a bottle of champagne and a thoughtful card congratulating us on our marriage.

The Grotto - Great Ocean Road, Victoria, Australia

14. Can you share a few of your favorite “travel hacks” with us?

We’re pretty useless with travel hacks! We would suggest leaving room for a well stocked first aid kit, and remember to take it with you on day trips. Another good tip is to use a site like Currency Fair when transferring large amounts of money into local currency. It is much cheaper than regular banks and you can save a small fortune.

Check them out for yourself:

Blog: wanderingwives.net

Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter: @wanderingwives

How Much A Weekend in Puerto Rico ACTUALLY Costs

This past weekend, my girlfriend and I decided to take a trip off-island. We hopped on an 18-minute flight from St. Thomas to Puerto Rico for a three-day trip. Neither of us had ever been to Puerto Rico before, so we were excited to travel someplace new together.

Starting out, my girlfriend and I had a very clear picture about how much money we wanted to spend. We weren't willing to break the bank for a 3-day trip, but we also didn't want to be so frugal that we couldn't enjoy our time; we still wanted it to feel like a vacation. 

We agreed that $500 each ($1,000 total) was all that we were comfortable spending. To be clear, we wanted this amount to cover absolutely everything.

Here's a look into our wallet:
Item                                                                       Cost
Taxi to/from St. Thomas Airport.........................$20.00
Flight from St. Thomas to  Puerto Rico.............$184.20
Flight from Puerto Rico to St. Thomas..............$154.20
Hotel...........................................................................$227.24
Rental Car..................................................................$113.62
1 bottle of water at St. Thomas Airport...............$3.25
1 paleta (popsicle).....................................................$3.40
2 tickets to tour the fort...........................................$10.00
1 bottle of water at the fort......................................$1.55
Lunch at St. Germain................................................$45.00
9 postcards..................................................................$3.35
Coffee............................................................................$8.00
Dinner at Ali Baba......................................................$63.00
Casino...........................................................................$10.00
CVS (cereal, milk and orange juice)......................$8.40
1 lemonade and 1 water in the rainforest.............$5.00
Sushi delivered to the hotel.....................................$64.67
Gas for rental car........................................................$12.36
TOTAL: $937.24

1. Transportation

As we expected, our largest expense was transportation, because it included our flights to and from Puerto Rico. We spent $169.20 each on flights. For ground transportation, it was imperative that we rented a car because taxis in Puerto Rico are very expensive and they would have eaten up our whole budget. Since we did not want to rely on public transportation, I did some research and found a cheap car rental that charged only $7.00 per day (bonus: they had shuttle service to and from the airport!). But, when we added up the insurance, taxes, and other ridiculous fees, our total came to $113.62. Taking into account gas and other nominal fees, the total amount we spent on transportation came to $484.38.

2. Accommodations

When it came to choosing a hotel, I quickly learned that a cute modern suite in downtown Old San Juan would break the budget. Also, places downtown either don't have parking, or they charge around $20 per night to park your car in their lot. Instead, I found a place that was about a 10-minute drive from Condado (the center of nightlife in PR). For 2 nights, our total came to $227.24. In all honesty, there were some ups and downs to the hotel (it was actually a condo that rented out individual units for a minimum 2-night stay). There wasn't any type of housekeeping service (no extra towels on demand, and no one to make the bed after our first night), and the location wasn't exactly what we wanted. But on the flipside, the room was spacious, clean, and quiet - it had everything we needed. A pleasant surprise was that It also had an incredible ocean view and a view of the marina.

3. Food

Buying inexpensive food in Puerto Rico is not a problem. However, we wanted our trip to be romantic and we love eating out...so we went a little overboard in this category, and our total food expenditure came to $194.27. When deciding where to eat, we took two different approaches. Sometimes we bought street food as we came across it and other times we searched on Yelp or Tripadvisor for the highest rated and most popular restaurants nearby. Our favorite meal of the trip was at a cute little bistro tucked away in Old San Juan called St. Germain Bistro & Cafe. They had the most delicious sandwiches, and the ambiance was so relaxing!

4. Souvenirs/Gifts

Casey really wanted to buy postcards to send home and authentic Puerto Rican coffee. I wanted a new sarong, but I wasn't quite able to find what I was looking for when we were shopping...so I spent (and lost) my souvenir money (a whopping $10.00) at the casino instead. Our total for this category came to $21.35.

After all this, our grand total was $937.24 - $62.76 under budget! We were delighted that we were able to keep our expenses under the amount we had agreed upon. We knew that we could have done better - we did not need to spend $70.00 for each of our fancy dinners - but, the time and effort we spent towards planning our trip ahead of time paid off! We met our goal without having to sacrifice certain luxuries (such as our modern hotel room and after-hike lunch overlooking the rainforest).

Now, we can start saving for our next trip!

Check it out for yourself:

St. Germain Bistro & Cafe
156 Calle Sol
San Juan, Puerto Rico, 00901
Instagram: @stgermainpr

Dear TSA, My Body Is Not An Anomaly

“Sir or ma’am or whatever, please step over here,” were not the words I wanted to hear from a blue-clad TSA agent twice my size as I was moving through the security line at Denver International Airport.

I was running late for my flight to Washington, D.C., where I was to start my summer legal internship with the National LGBTQ Task Force. My excitement for the trip was promptly squelched as the giant, red-faced man shouted, loudly enough for the whole terminal to hear, “We have anomalies in the chest and groin area. Private screening, female agent requested.”

Perfect, I thought. I could feel my neck getting hot, and I looked down and away from the other people in line behind me who had suddenly been alerted to my “otherness.”  

Despite having changed my name and gender marker on my Colorado driver’s license a few months earlier, I still wasn’t always read as male at this point in time. My voice had only just deepened, and my facial hair was a far cry from the beard I now regularly wear.

Hustling to grab my carry-on and shoes, two TSA agents escorted me to a private room with fogged glass walls and a small table. Once inside the room, the agents started speaking quietly to themselves. I stood awkwardly, adjusted my shirt, opened and closed my fists.

“Sir, we need to know what’s in your pants.” 

...

You can read the full article by Carl Charles on The Advocate posted here.

Originally posted on October 1, 2015.