Traveling as a non-straight woman isn’t always easy. Whether or not you’re out and proud, some people just have ~excellent~ gaydars, and the moment they sense you land anywhere on the LGBTQ spectrum, the vibe can shift easily, and your experience may not be as pleasant as the internet had promised.
It can go from “Hey! Welcome to our town! What can we get you?” to “Oh sorry, we ran out of waffles” when you can CLEARLY see the waffles. The message is loud and clear: They just don’t want you in their restaurant, period. Actually, they probably don’t want you in their city, either.
Then there are people you come across whilst traveling, who might stare oh-so-creepily as you hold your partner’s hand and take cute selfies. You can’t tell if they want to vomit in front of you or do something worse. Yeah, the world is a painful and all too often dangerous place to be, sometimes.
But hey, don’t be discouraged. Today we spoke to eight super inspiring lesbian couples who travel the world out and proud! They shared with GO their favorite places to travel. Places where they feel safe to express their love for one another.
(All we want to do right now is book a one-way ticket to abroad, right now!)
Allie + Sam: Road tripping across California and exploring the Blue Mountains of Australia
Alexandra and Samantha met on Tinder. Yes folks, we just had to mention that. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be saying that” Sam says about the meeting on Tinder, “but here we are.”
They met in person at an art festival and are currently having the best trip of their lives road-tripping across California. “I feel so lucky to be able to spend all my time with someone I never get sick of” Sam shared with GO. When we asked Sam what her favorite trip was, she said it was the Blue Mountains, Australia trip the couple took together. “We rented an aged but sweet trailer off of Airbnb parked in someone’s back yard.”
Vesna + Georgia: Couch-surfing’ all around North America
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“We went to the same university and ended up playing for the same uni football team. We were friends for a short while but after going to a sports holiday trip in Barcelona, Spain, things leveled up and life became a lot better.”
Thanks to a college holiday trip, Vesna and Georgia realized what to do after college. “Our first trip was during the University summer holidays. We had itchy feet to travel so we decided to book a one-way ticket to Malaga, Spain,” the UK couple told GO. They’re currently exploring Asia and Australia and have been away from home for 15 months now.
When asked about their favorite trip ever, they both said it was in North America where they couch-surfed. A lot. “We met some of the best people and have some of the craziest stories!” Vesna and Georgia said. “We did things from having firework parties in someone’s back garden and staying in a famous comedian’s mansion to partying for a night in Tijuana, Mexico.” Can we just say, we’re a *little* jealous here.
Roxanne + Maartje: Exploring Malaysia
We got no troubles Life is the bubbles! . Under the sea together 🐠
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“The story of how we met is pretty funny. When we met, we were still heterosexual. After a year of being friends, we started to like-like each other.” The couple shared. “But how do you tell your best friend you’re in love with her? Moving into the same apartment didn’t help, so good thing Roxanne made the first move.”
After a Halloween theme park incident where one was scared as shit and the other one was the human shield, then friends Roxanne and Maartje became closer. And what started as a weekend trip in Rome converted these two into major travel bugs. According to Roxanne traveling with a significant other can be “challenging, but also so rewarding!”
Today, they’re exploring Malaysia, which is Roxanne’s fave trip, while Maartje loved their 2015 Florida trip. “I was doing my study abroad in Atlanta and Roxanne came to visit for a week. She arrived the day before my birthday and the day after my birthday, we started our road trip to Florida!” Maartje shared.
Gabi + Shanna: Adventures in Arizona
“We met at NYC Pride in 2015! We were both in the famous lesbian bar Cubbyhole, chatted, and from there, we followed each other on Instagram. One day I ( Shanna) got the courage to DM Gabi. She asked me on a date and the rest is history 😍”
Gabi and Shanna have been traveling together for almost 2 years now. When the couple met at the Cubbyhole, they immediately clicked. They described their Arizona trip as their “first real adventure as a couple” primarily because it was during that trip where they realized they could “travel with one another for life.” They also learned that both of them wanted more adventure and less relaxation. Hah! “We agreed on everything we wanted to do. We have the same travel mentality. We push each other to do things we’d never thought we could.” The adorable couple shared with GO.
Kaitlin + Stephanie: Almost every inch of Costa Rica and Madrid, Spain
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Kaitlin was teaching dance and fitness classes in Vancouver circa 2010 “I (Steph) was mainly into taking hip hop classes, but when I saw who was teaching, I branched out and took some jazz and ballet.”
This model-photographer tandem has been traveling for as long as they can remember and just last year, they decided to take it full-time. The two met at a dancing studio with Steph branching out from her hip hop class to jazz and ballet when she saw the teacher that caught her eye.
“This summer we spent a month in Costa Rica. The locals were very welcoming!” Kaitlin shared about her favorite trip ever. Stephanie, on the other hand, loved their Europe adventure. “Last fall, we did a 3-month trip around the U.K. and Europe. We brought our small dog along and we couldn’t believe how dog-friendly Madrid was.”
Mel + Constance: The romantic honeymoon in Ireland
Still not over these cliffs but head over heels for this lady.
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Mel was teaching English in Korea and Constance was there for a family visit. The couple told GO, “we decided to get coffee while we were on the other side of the world.”
From a coffee-shop chat in Korea where they met, these two ended up being a couple and traveling in Bali, which is probably on the bucket list of every nomad. The place is just gorgeous and you wouldn’t think there’s WiFi in certain spots. Like total farmlands. “We were real travel novices at the time. Eating, adventuring, being travel buddies was a new and, sometimes, anxiety-inducing experience.” Mel and Con told GO.
They now travel extensively and they agree that their honeymoon in Ireland was the best trip yet. “It may be cliché but the scenery, food, and intimacy made the whole thing magical. We loved road tripping peninsulas and exploring cliffs!” they shared. And perhaps, the best part of it was staying at a quaint Airbnb “eating pizza and drinking wine.” After all, nothing beats a pizza and wine pairing. Well maybe meeting the love of your life, does. Maybe.
Taylor + Stepanie: Coromandel, New Zealand and Marseille, France
Texas couple Taylor and Stephanie met when they were both working with high-risk teenage girls. It wasn’t long before they fell for each other.
The duo is now backpacking in the Mediterranean and are currently teaching English in Spain. Stephanie shared that her best trip ever was when they WOOF’d in Coromandel, New Zealand. The “magic waterfalls that left” them in awe, and just the thought of magical waterfalls, leaves us in awe too.
For Taylor, it was in France. “We had a cute little sea side cabin on the outskirts of Marseille” she shared. “I picked up my ukulele and starting playing a song I had wrote for Steph. As we were singing along and dancing, I got down on my knee and asked her to marry me. She began to cry and said Yes!!”
Oh yeah. That happened, too.
Kelly and Mar: Los Angeles, California and their first ever New York City trip as a couple
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“We met on Twitter! As cheesy as this sounds, I saw Mar’s Icon photo and I instantly was drawn to her.” Kelly shared with GO. “I immediately noticed that she was extremely beautiful! After a tiny bit of stalking I felt compelled to send her a message. We only lived about an hour and a half from each other, so I drove down to where she lived and I took her on our first date in St. Petersburg, Florida.” Mar added.
Photographers, Kelly and Mar have been traveling together for over two years now. Their first trip was a fun road trip from South Florida to the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee. But their best trips include LA, and New York.
“My most favorite trip together would be Los Angeles, California. Originally, we weren’t planning on going, it was extremely spontaneous! We purchased our plane tickets only 5 days before jetting off.” Kelly shared. For Mar, the New York trip was the best. “We went around and tried to hit as many coffee spots as we could.” These two will surely hit more cities soon!
So, ladies. Tell us. What are your favorite travel spots?