jueves 10 de junioThe Inca Trail. First day. Accept no imitators. Actually you can at kast check the Inca Trail has a four month waiting list. Your unborn child has more chance of a season ticket at Anfield. This is largely because of the wet season mudslides and collapse of one of the train lines there's only two. Other jungle treks exist but we had the foresight to book in December and pay

Sorry folks having such a good time we haven't kept up to date but will do so over the next day or so.The boys felt very guilty at not stopping for us to do some shopping at Galway when we left Sligo so we stood our ground and we did serious RT and the boys took off to the Royal Sligo Golf Course to have a look at a true links course. All was achieved with RT and the boys were happy too.Headin

Well Here we are I had a Unexpected Surprise that has me starting my travel blog a week late. Befor the trip I read on the cruise ships information page that WiFi woulf be available onboard but I apparently didnt read the fine print. It was at a cost of .75 per minute and was also informed that the connection speeds at sea were very slow so I had to make the choice of spendig all of my Tshirt

Chris's SectionOur first impressions of Malaysia are positive ones. You can tell it's much more developed than other parts of SE Asia. We got the boat from Satun Thailand and made our way to the guesthouse we had chosen in Pantai Cenang Langkawi's biggest beach resort. The heavens opened and more biblical rain came down Asia really knows how to do rain We were shocked to discover our guesthou

This week is my school's anniversary which means that there's a lot of activities happening every day. During every recess the school hosts some kind of competition where grades get points and the winner earns the ultimate prize which I still don't know what it is. So far I've seen sports dance and games competitions among other crazy things. So you can believe me when I say that there is abs

Woke up on Tuesday for a tour of Quebec city. Skipped breakfast as we had too much food the night beforeThe citedal is beautiful and worth a visit. It is a Unesco world heretage site.The local guide was excellent and she had a voice that could possibly shatter glass at 50 paces.After the tour we had time to explore. The department store Simons and the railway hotel and roman catholic church.An e

So about a month ago i was sitting at work and thinking man i just came back from Cuba 2 months ago and i have to already get out of here. I asked my boyfriend if we can go on another trip he said it's too soon and too much money. So i started thinking why not go by myself. How did i come to the decision to go to Thailand Well i was looking at tours a group of people like myself to jo

Mongol Vs Conductor We had taken our seats and were waiting for the bus to fill when the old Mongolian got on. Every craggy feature on his wizened old face had a story to tell none more so than the large cleft in his left ear. Aimless incoherent mutterings fell from his toothless mouth. Here was a character who had many a battle behind him. Bent double he slowly lurched down the bus before li

Well I've had some ups and downs since i've moved to Australia. Leahanne and her roomie Karen were so awesome for letting me stay with them as long as I did but it was time to move on. I found a backpacker apartment to move into in the same area as Leahanne. It's an agency that has a couple of apartments and rents them out to backpackers and puts small groups and singles together. So I went to c

We arose early as we were leaving Tennant Creek to begin our long journey across the Great Artesian Basin to Mt Isa. The day was clear and cool and sun strike was the early problem. As we left town we were almost wiped out by a road train turning across our bow. This was really scary we came up to the lights and we had the right of way green light. Luckily Graham noticed this huge road train co

Hallo iedereen met veel goede zin publiceren wij onze blog genspireerd van onze avonturen uit Australi het is nogal een lap tekst geworden dus smeer nog even een broodje of zet koffie. Voor diegene die zich zelf met zijn hoofd op het toetsenbord vindt dat vinden wij niet erg zolang er maar een berichtje achter gelaten wordt. Veel plezier en de groeten van Jan Elise Roel AnkaZo'n vier ma

Today we stayed around Mt Isa in recovery mode after the long trip yesterday. The weather was clear but windy. It warmed up during the afternoon. This is very much a mining town the mines produce lead copper tin silver and gold. We walked up to Observation Hill along Rodeo Drive had lunch in a coffee shop had the windscreen fixed and then visited the Underground Hospital. This hospi

We started the day by calling Jodie to wish her a happy birthday Then we drove out to ldquothe creeksrdquo. The road was built at the top of the hills because at the bottom were the gold claims and also there was soft muskeg and other roadbuilding problems. We came to a park sign explaining roadhouses. It seems that a roadhouse was built almost every mile in the area providing food and s

Beautiful sunny 92 degree day in Wells NV. Decided to have the motorhome washed. Looking for fuel filter for motorhome hope to find in Salt Lake City. We crosssed 6967 elevation in Nevada. Message center displayed message of Reduced Engine Power and motorhome would not exceed 400 rpms. Pulled off after a few minutes message went away and engine seemed to run fine. Continued down the roa

Morning started early could not sleep. Up at 6am. After talking with Workhorse Service Center in Marietta GA head to WalMart to get air filter. Took wrong exit and wound up on gravel road with no space to turn entire rig around so we dropped the LilTruk and turned around. Aleta followed me back to WalMart we get the air filter and Aleta had a good laugh when my belt buckly kept getting

At The Berlin Wall: Germany 2007

1. On your blog’s home page, it states: “In 2007, Tony and Thomas decided to quit their jobs, leave the security of sedentary life behind, and travel the globe full time.” The three of us know there is a more important back-story. Was this the main reason why you decided to travel?

…You are right that there is an important back-story that strongly contributed to our decision to go nomadic.

What we say on our blog is true. One day, we simply decided we had had enough of sedentary life with all its complexities, complications and, most importantly, monotony. But you are right that there is an important back-story that strongly contributed to our decision to go nomadic.

Thomas and I are a bi-national gay couple. We have been together for over 17 years and this time has been filled with a series of legal and cultural hurdles, which have strongly contributed to our identity as contemporary nomads. For our first 8 years together, there was no real legal option for us to live together in the same country. We created our own solution by bouncing around between Africa, Europe, the U.S., and Central America.

After the laws in Germany changed, Thomas and I settled in Berlin where we attempted to establish a more grounded, traditional life. We quickly discovered our unconventional history made life in Germany quite a challenge. Imagine going into a job interview and trying to explain, “Well, I have had to bounce around the world to bypass visa restrictions which would have made my relationship with my partner impossible.” Not an easy sell, especially in Germany.

Rather than begging for acceptance and understanding, Thomas and I began to yearn for the freedom and sense of liberation that travel provides. We began to realize that we needed to return to our nomadic roots and, once again, we decided to create our own solutions. Our solution was to free ourselves from the limitations of any one country.

2. Dr. Lisa M. Nunn (San Diego University; San Diego, California) has been documenting your lives over the past 8 years in her “Excluded: Immigration Struggles of a Gay Bi-National Couple” video. Do you feel this venue has been helpful in getting the word out about the disparity in the U.S. immigration regulations?

Absolutely. The documentary follows us from the U.S. to Germany to Cambodia and details how our struggle evolved along the way. We discuss unjust immigration policies in the U.S., the pain of leaving my family in California behind, cultural challenges in Germany, and ultimately why we chose to go nomadic. We hope the documentary will help educate people on bi-national same-sex couples and, perhaps, challenge assumptions about controversial issues such as gay marriage and immigration policy.

You can view the documentary online at: http://www.excludedthemovie.com

3. What advice do you have for others in your situation?

I would say, for the immediate future, don’t sit around waiting for people to save you, save yourself.

I would say, for the immediate future, don’t sit around waiting for people to save you, save yourself. Once you and your partner are in a stable place, speak out and work to change unfair policies. However, always remember that this is your life, so make it as good as possible while you are working for change.

Gokyo Valley: Nepal 2007

Starting ContemporaryNomad.com was our way of bounding over the hurdles in one great leap. Actually, we don’t really discuss our immigration issues on ContemporaryNomad.com. Our web site and blog are about adventure, culture, travel, wildlife and the environment. It’s a space where we can define ourselves with exciting topics rather than dwell on the injustice we have experienced. It is our escape from all the garbage that we left behind. We are discovering it provides an escape for many other people as well.

4. Is this your first long-term trip or have you traveled through other parts of the world together?

I have always loved to travel. As a student, I studied and traveled in France, the Soviet Union, China, Morocco, and Taiwan. Thomas also did the classic InterRail trip through Western Europe as well as studying in the U.S.

When Thomas and I first met in 1993, we took off on an extraordinary 18-month overland journey from Germany to South Africa via Eastern Europe and the Middle East. It was this trip that really cemented our love for travel and defined us as serious adventurers. We crossed the Sudan in mid-summer, explored post-communist Eritrea and Ethiopia, witnessed the atrocities in Rwanda from the neighboring countries of Uganda and Zaire, and saw the final remnants of apartheid crumble in a newly independent South Africa. It was an amazing and life-altering journey.

With the Himba Tribe: Namibia 1995

In 2001, we spent five months in Central America traveling between Belize and Nicaragua. In 2003, we spent three months in Madagascar, a country we had desperately wanted to visit during our trans-Africa trip. In addition to these longer trips, Thomas and I have traveled extensively in the U.S. and Europe.

I have traveled to 78 countries and Thomas has traveled to 57 countries. But these numbers are rather meaningless to us. What we are truly proud of is the depth of our travels. We have spent large amounts of time in many of the countries we have visited and have had the opportunity to explore some of the world’s most remote regions. For example, we spent 15 months in India criss-crossing the country detailing its diversity on our blog. Moreover, we have visited many countries several times taking in new regions on each visit.

5. Having traveled through several countries, has the bi-national gay couple relationship created additional problems for either of you?

We have experienced the most obvious anti-gay sentiment in the U.S. One of our worst experiences took place in Wyoming. We were stopped by police in a speed-trap for going two miles an hour over the speed limit. The police realized we were a couple when they discovered the car was registered in both our names. The police became quite threatening and we were seriously worried for our safety. It’s a long story, but we made it out of there in one piece.

Interestingly, in the Islamic world and conservative India, we experienced very few problems because men traveling together and sharing rooms is such a normal part of the cultures.

On a couple of occasions in Central America, we were denied hotel rooms, but that wasn’t a huge problem. Interestingly, in the Islamic world and conservative India, we experienced very few problems because men traveling together and sharing rooms is such a normal part of the cultures.

And we experienced an interesting bi-national problem organizing a trip to Tibet, which had nothing to do with being gay. While we were in Kathmandu, we wanted to make a quick return trip to Lhasa. At that time, the Chinese government was requiring people to join escorted tours, but bizarrely they would not allow people with different nationalities to join the same tour. They wanted us to hire two separate jeeps, two separate drivers, and two official Chinese “guides.” In a weird twist of irony, heterosexual bi-national couples were having the same problem.

6. Changing “horses” – what has been the highlight of your travels thus far?

Wow, that’s hard to answer because we have had so many incredible experiences. We were exceptionally lucky to be able to explore the Omo region in southwestern Ethiopia right after the country opened up for independent travel. We are both very into wildlife so the mountain gorillas in Zaire, tigers in India, and whale sharks here in the Philippines are all major highlights. In 2007, we managed to travel to Mount Kailash in western Tibet, which was the realization of a twenty- year dream for me. All of our Himalayan treks qualify as highlights: trans-Zanskar, the Annapurna Circuit and the Everest region. I think we have a hundred highlights.

7. Where do your journeys lead you from here?

Good question, we have no idea where we are going to be next month.

Wreck Dive in Puerto Galera: Philippines 2010

8. Thomas: Which one of you is the better diver? (LOL! Trick question.)

I want to say I am, but I have recently been called an air-sucking pig during a forum discussion about the pros and cons of a certain dive shop. I have to agree that Tony uses less air, but does that make him a better diver?

9. Tony: Same (trick) question.

Clearly I am Although Thomas has an amazing ability to spot perfectly camouflaged scorpion fish. And he found an amazing black frogfish the other day that I NEVER would have seen!

You can follow Tony & Thomas (or Thomas & Tony, take your pick) at ContemporaryNomad.

Editor’s notes: All photographs courtesy of ContemporaryNomad.

© Gretchen for TravelBlogs, 2010. |
Dart Strikes Map: An Interview with Tony and Thomas |
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Post categories: Interviews
Post tags: activism, Africa, Asia, bi-national couples, Central America, cultural experiences, Europe, living abroad, long-term travel, Middle East, United States

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Hey thanks for your comments. Glad you're all enjoying the blogsThe towels we had used to soak up the rain on the roof of our slideout on the camper have finally dried after nine days The day started sunny and warm. We set out from Chicken on the gravel part of the Taylor Highway. The Milepost warns that all goldbearing ground in this area has been claimed. Do not pan in streams or trespass o