Life on the road as a gay couple
Nomadic Matt :. Hello, Auston! Tell everyone about yourself
Auston . David and I met in 05 when I was 23 at Arizona State University. We started quickly in 06 and was in 2010 In 08, I married a job in Chicago was offered, so we moved and started our ultimate our escape from normal life plan. Our original plan was to travel for a year and then returned to the US, but that never happened, and now we live in Spain. I work as a freelance engineer and a travel writer. We will continue. For our blog, TwoBadTourists.com where we recommend our readers with travel tips and stories about festivals, events and gay-friendly destinations
What inspired your trip to travel and write?
I have always been inspired by travel from a young age. I have always been motivated to travel and learn about other cultures. David traveled abroad many times for voluntary work in places such as Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Tanzania and Belize.
moving After Chicago, I knew that our stay would be temporary. As much as I loved the city, I could not deal with those brutal winter and wanted to move to the West Coast. The idea of traveling for a year suddenly came into my mind, and we immediately started to store in the hope that we could be on the road take a year actually. We left in May 2012 and planned by Central America, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia to travel. But after our trip was over in 2013, we decided to go abroad and continue to travel from our home base in Spain.
How did you save for your trip?
We saved possible for our trip in almost every respect. I have a strict budget and cut out all unnecessary luxuries like cable TV, eating, and buying new clothes. For a while I even clipped coupons - the bane of my existence! Every penny went into a savings account. The only trip we did at that time, was occasional trips home to Arizona back to visit family. We sold all our belongings and earned some extra money through higher things on eBay or Craigslist set. to get our final push enough held a garage sale for our trip. We went flyer in our parents neighborhoods and asked friends and family to donate all household items, they wanted to get rid of. Between two yard sales we generated an additional $ 1,500 in just one weekend.
But the biggest savers had to definitely get for almost free our flights. We had two paid around the world tickets via US Airways with four years worth of stored airline miles and on both flights $ 550 in taxes overall. At the end we saved almost 35,000 Total $, hoping that our savings would keep us on the road for a year. We met almost, this goal: the money lasted 11 months ago just
What advice on savings you have for others.?
really need to think about your priorities if you are on a long journey to save. If you are motivated, you can save by cutting daily spending a lot. If you frequently eat or a daily habit Starbucks, this cut, you can save a lot of money over time. You will probably need to save for a minimum of one year or more for a long trip, start as early to plan. It is best to have a total savings target for your trip and create a monthly spending budget, so you can track your progress. It might not be the most fun, but take the payoff of a long-term trip is worth the effort.
How did you stay on budget when you travel?
remain within budget, while can be difficult to travel, especially if you go as a couple. David and I have different ideas and values about how much money to spend and how much to cut. David is the donor, while I'm the saver. We fought a lot about this issue - the ever together in our 8 years and the stress of travel really threatened our relationship. The trick is, between making your money last time no cutting of the elements to find the right balance that will make your trip exciting and worthwhile. In general, we have to save in hostels or budget accommodation and even Couchsurfed money. We have the typical backpacker thing. Our own meals cooked, took public transportation, and always "pre-drink" in advance, before we went for a night of party
A lot of people say my site is on a solo trip too concentrated. As someone traveling as a couple, you have to be the case?
There is a space in the blogosphere for any type of travel. Of course, if you are traveling solo, you tend to write about traveling in this manner and it is your expertise. For me, I have mostly traveled with David, so I know the ins and outs of traveling together. Traveling as a couple has its own challenges, you are alone or not face when with friends. It can be both an experience, a relationship or strengthen that pulls you apart. I helped a lot of valuable information from the site, the plan my trip. I saved even $ 0 downloaded from Eurail passes from one of the e-books I. Fortunately, the planning process is compared to solo not so different as a couple for traveling, so the site is useful for either situation.
You and your partner are gay. Did you face on the road a lot of prejudice? If so, how they went with it?
We were lucky to make very little prejudices during our annual trip. But we special steps have to avoid problems when traveling to places like Africa or Asia, where gay rights do not exist. In fact, while most of our trip we did not wear our wedding because we did not want to call attention to ourselves. In extreme cases, such as during our time in Africa we had basic stories about how we knew to do so today, simply friends traveling together to be made. There was a time when I was caught in a very awkward situation, while a bus in Ghana. A local was very intrigued that we were Ghana to visit and wanted to know all about our personal lives. It ended in a conversation full of lies untwisting that become particularly troublesome. I immediately turned my Facebook profile completely private after this incident. There were also a couple of times in Africa, where we were forced to book a room with two single beds, as we were two guys together.
What advice do you have for other LGBT travelers
Being gay never should be a reason not to travel. As long as you take the right precautions, you can still make the most out of your trip, while staying safe. If you are traveling to the less developed countries, it is important to know how LGBT people are treated in this country. For Americans Travel.state.gov is an excellent resource that for the LGBT travelers date information on offers. It is also a good idea to remember to respect other cultures, if you're visiting, even if you are not with their laws or customs disagree. For example, if you are traveling in a religious or conservative country, you need not to be extremely careful to be in person, loving. This may not only locals uncomfortable, but it can actually endanger your safety in some places.
What advice would you have for others trying to do what you have done?
The abundant amount of information available to passengers can create a challenge sometimes, when trying to sift through everything. I have months of research just to decide what to pack for our trip. I thought everything was perfect, but within a few weeks of traveling, I realized that my priorities were different from the others and I end up buying more clothes and shoes, while recommended on the road than any. With that said, the best advice is to plan your trip well, but also changes to be willing to be flexible and make as you decide what is or is not important.
What was the hardest part about traveling?
the hardest part for me during our annual trip was constantly on the move. It was amazing to see, and all the places we experience traveling, but the inconsistency that occurs a result difficult. If I had a house, I had a routine. But if you remain constantly in new places, you never know, in order to circumvent the availability of facilities or how. Sometimes we would spend an hour trying to find just one supermarket to cook a simple meal.
Now that our year of being nomads is over, I have a good balance, but always new challenges. Since we are in Europe now live expats, it's to try the constant struggle to obtain a visa. David and I first applied for a long-term visa in France, as we moved for the first time to Europe. But now that we have decided to live in Spain, trying to get a residence visa, is a big pain. If same-sex marriage were legal in our home state of Arizona, we could have applied together as spouses, as David his visa obtained English in Spain to teach. But since our marriage was never legally recognized, I have in my own application that much more difficult, expensive and time consuming.
The easiest?
Ironically I thought to do the hardest part of our journey, our things and get away from all the US would sell, but that quickly turned to be the simplest, from. Once we made to get rid of all the decision, my shoulders had lifted a weight. There was no longer worry about where we would store our stuff, how we would move across the country or how much it would cost. Knowing that the only important things were, what had I carried on his back a cool feeling, and it was freeing to know this, that I could pick up at any time and go somewhere else.
life in Madrid was easy. David always wanted to live here, and I wanted to improve my Spanish. Plus, there's a thriving gay community with some of the best gay nightlife in Madrid and many gay-friendly accommodations for LGBT travelers.
Any parting advice?
I hear all too often from the people they wish they could do what I do and how happy they say I am. But the reality is that I made a life decision - a drastic life decision - which allows me to travel and to live the way I want. Most people are not willing to take this step. And the truth is that most middle-class people from developed countries have just as much opportunity as we do. The difference is that we seized it.
Many people (especially Americans) say that they can not travel because of school, work or family. But my advice to people is to think about what is ultimately important. Who says you do not travel because of work? Have you ever asked for more time to your business from? Why can not travel with a family? If it is too expensive, try home to avoid paying for swapping accommodation. Can not afford international flights? Log earned for a credit card at the airline miles. There are so many ways to make a possibility to travel, but the number one problem people have is to recognize that they can do it. So if I can rely on a last piece of advice, it would be to change your perception and tell yourself that you can travel. Challenge yourself and find a way to do it.
you can read about Auston and David on her blog TwoBadTourists.com more. They cover a lot of LGBT issues on their website and have some wonderful advice for travelers on the subject.
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