I have been following the Nomadic Boys on Instagram for years – gawking at their amazing travel adventures and super cute relationship. Their pictures always inspired me to want to travel to wherever they were at the time. Last year at the World Trade Market in London, I ran into them I was like a total fan girl and ran up asking if they were THE nomadic boys. They were super nice and went along with all my requests for selfies and pictures! =) Then a few months later, they were in Toronto shooting a video about diversity and I had to pleasure of showing them around my hometown! We had such a great time and the video turned out amazing – less my awkward parts hehe.

As we celebrate Pride Month, here is a special Q&A with THE Nomadic Boys. 

Tell us a little about yourselves.

We are a gay couple, Stefan and Sebastien. We quit our jobs and London life in early 2014 to eat our way through Asia and have since made traveling a long-term lifestyle.

Stefan, 33, is a former lawyer, of Greek Cypriot origin, born and raised in London. Sebastien, 34, is an IT geek, originally from France but moved to London to work in the finance industry. London is where we met.

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 traveling a new lifestyle/career.

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 setup 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 2 things we both love are picking up recipes from each country we visit and trying to meet local gays and gain their point of view of the gay scene.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you pick?  Why?

Either Barcelona in Spain or Bangkok in Thailand. Both have amazing gay scenes, gorgeous weather and are transport hubs. Barcelona is an excellent transport hub for international flights and budget airlines across Europe. Bangkok is one of the main hubs in Asia for Air Asia flights. Also both have a strong foodie culture and are inexpensive to live in compared to other places we also love like London and New York.

Describe your dream vacation?

For Stefan, it’s adventure and city life. For Seb, it’s beaches and nature. We both love discovering new cuisines and exploring the gay scene of each place we visit. So our dream vacation is something that incorporates as much of this as possible.

What is one place you haven’t been to yet, but is at the top of your list.

We both dream of a big road trip in a large camper van around New Zealand for a few months. It’s high up on our bucket list and a destination we cannot wait to explore.

Are you openly gay to your friends, family, and co-workers?

Back when Stefan was a lawyer, he was outed before we came to the firm by a fellow colleague who knew him before, so the hard work was done for him. However for Seb, he worked in a very macho IT environment in London and was too afraid to come out to his colleagues. Instead, he kept up the pretense of a having a very demanding Greek girlfriend who never let him go to all their “lads bonding” weekend events!

Seb is very out and open to all his family and friends, who accept him and Stefan. Stefan is out to all his friends, but his family is more tricky. Coming out to his parents was difficult and they never accepted it. To the older members of his family we have a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and it is not spoken of. To the younger members of his family, they embrace it and love Sebastien.

How old were you when you came out to your family? Looking back, is there anything you’d have done differently? Do you wish you had told them sooner?

Seb was 18, after his mother discovered a gay porno in his wardrobe. There were a few tears, but they accepted it and moved on. There’s nothing he would have done differently. Stefan was 20 when he came out to himself, and quickly to his sister who he’s very close with. She’s been the rock in Stefan’s life and of course accepted it straightaway. Sadly, when Stefan told his parents at age 26 it didn’t go down very well. His mother passed away a few years ago from breast cancer and now his father in his 70s tolerates things, but remains homophobic. Stefan would either advise telling a younger Stefan to try to come out to himself earlier and work harder on impressing on his parents that sexuality is not a choice and a doctor is not required for these things.

Tell us something about your boyfriend. How is he to travel with.

Sebastien is an absolute gem and the most amazing human being on the planet. Traveling with him is the most fun I’ve ever had in my entire life – as long as he’s kept well nourished.

Unfortunately, some cultures are not as friendly as others when it comes to same sex couples. Have you come across any issues while traveling to other countries?

Countries which have a strong influence from religion are the ones most likely to be socially conservative, especially Islamic countries where being gay is illegal and can get you killed. In these countries we respect local traditions and don’t flaunt our sexuality publicly. In doing so, we’ve never had any problems.

What has been the friendliest country so far?

Canada! The clear world leader when it comes to LGBTQ rights. Also Spain. 

Has Instagram changed the way you travel?

Our Instagram started with our blog in early 2014 and we’ve since been posting a photo every 1-2 days religiously. As we’ve become more savvy with our technology, the standard of our photography has certainly improved. It used to be all about Facebook when we started, but over the years this has shifted more to Instagram, quickly becoming the #1 social media platform. We do certainly spend more time now taking photos we think will perform well on Instagram.

This or That – Travel Edition 

Fly or Road Trip

ROAD TRIP!

Walk or Uber

WALK

Airbnb or Hotel

Airbnb – Stefan; HOTEL – Princess Seby

Luxury hotel or camping

LUXURY HOTEL for Seby; camping for Stefan.

Sleep In or Wake Up Early

Seby – sleep in

Stefan – wake up early

Nature or City

Seby – nature

Stefan – city

Mountains or Beach

BEACH!

Summer destination or winter destination

Summer

Adventure or Relaxing

Seby relaxing

Stefan adventure

East Coast or West Coast

West Coast because we’ve not yet been there!

Resort or Cruise

Cruise

Fine dining or street food

Seb – fine dining

Stefan – street food

Planner or free spirit

Seb – planner

Stef – free spirit

One long trip or many short trips

Stefan – one long trip

Seby – many short trips

Seby and Stefan share their adventures as a gay couple on their blog – nomadicboys.com. Nomadic Boys is one of the largest gay travel blogs in the world. Follow the Nomadic Boys on Instagram @nomadicboys for more!