Romantic, Gay Toronto – The Nomadic Boys

Romantic, Gay Toronto - The Nomadic Boys

Toronto is an exciting city in Canada to visit. It has over 40 million visitors each year, and is home to 8,100 restaurants and bars. This is one of the most diverse places on our planet, with over 180 languages and dialects spoken.

Toronto is also a very fun place to come as a couple. We loved discovering the many touristic sites here, especially the CN Tower and the massive aquarium. Following our visit, we’ve put together our 5 favourite romantic things to do in Toronto to inspire your trip.

Romantic Dinner at the CN Tower

The CN Tower is one of the most iconic buildings in the city. It is one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, and when adding in the height of its antenna on top, it’s the tallest freestanding structure in the western hemisphere, standing proud at 553m/1,815ft. It was built in the 1960s by the Canadian National Railway (CN) because they wanted a communications tower tall enough so that any radio or TV communications from it would not be obstructed by the many other high-rise buildings in the city.

As well as being able to visit the tower for the best views across the city, it also has a revolving restaurant to dine at. We had one of our favourite romantic meals here at the tower’s 360 The Restaurant. The food is delicious, with a mix of fresh sea food, steaks and other local classics. Definitely one for a special occasion.

Get the Best Out of Your Business Class Flight – Nomadic Boys

Business Class Flights - The Nomadic Boys

This is a guest post by London based gay blogger, David Wides – The Travelling Mo:

After taking advantage of a great business class deal a few years ago, I have found it increasingly difficult to turn right on a long haul flight. So I now carefully craft my travelling plans based on getting good long haul business class flight deals, cos let’s face it- once you’ve put your feet up and sipped that first glass of champagne, you’re hooked! But nobody wants to pay top dollar for the privilege…

Friends and family are often envious of the deals I’ve bagged over the years, but it really isn’t that hard to do! These are my 5 top tips for getting the best business class flight deals.

This is where you have to do a little bit of reading. Many people don’t know much about the different points membership programmes available. You need to understand how these work in order to take best advantage of any deals and to secure the frequent flier status that will get you access to the best lounges, even when you’re flying economy.

Airline frequent flier programmes usually have a concept of an airline mile (earned based on the distance you travel and augmented by your class of travel or status) and status points (also earned based on where you travel augmented by class of travel). Status points determine your status with that airline (and with their alliance partners- more on that below) and that decides what benefits you get from the airline, which can include lounge access, upgrade vouchers and more. These can only be earned by flying with an airline (or their partners). Miles on the other hand can be earned by flying with an airline (or their partners) or by other ways of spending.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Gay Manchester – The Nomadic Boys

Gay Manchester - The Nomadic Boys

We love Manchester. It is such a cool city with a very liberal and progressive vibe. This is where Emmeline Pankhurst started the movement for women’s right to vote in the UK in the 1920s, and where The Vegetarian Society was born in the early 1800s. Manchester also has one of the largest student populations in Europe, and has historically maintained a very strong left-wing anti-aristocratic sentiment.

Manchester is located in Northwest England, just over 2 hours from London by train making it very easy to reach. Whenever we’re in London, we always try to come here for a weekend to party on Canal Street. This is one of the few places in the world we feel very safe about walking the streets in public holding hands.

Here’s our guide to gay Manchester, featuring the best bars, clubs, events and hotels to stay.

Manchester gay village: Canal Street

Manchester’s gay village is compact, with loads of gay bars and clubs. The main focal point is the pedestrianised Canal Street which runs along the Rochdale Canal, minutes walking distance from the city’s main train station: Manchester Piccadilly. You will recognise it from the original UK version of Queer as Folk where Stuart, Vince and Nathan prowled the streets on their nights out.

Most of the gay bars and clubs of Manchester are based in the few streets surrounding Canal Street. Saturday night is the best night to go partying, and Thursday another popular night because this is when the gay sports groups go out to socialise. On weekday evenings, particularly on Fridays, the crowds tend to come in two waves – the just-after-work crowd at around 5-7pm, then another wave at around 10/11pm.

The Gay Village is also the focal point of Manchester Gay Pride, which is one of our favourite Pride events. It is the largest annual gay event in Manchester, taking place on the last week of August. It is definitely worth planning your trip around if you’re in the UK in August.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at The Nomadic Boys

Manchester Gay Travel Resources

Gay Phuket – The Nomadic Boys

gay Phuket - The Nomadic Boys

We love Thailand. It’s got it all – best beaches, terrific food and the gay scene of Bangkok we think one of the most fun in the world.

Phuket is one of the most popular gay destinations to visit in Thailand, with a large gay scene in Patong. This large Thai island is also an excellent transport hub, with many international airlines flying here, making it very accessible.

These are our 5 favourite things to do in gay Phuket.

Gay bars and clubs in Phuket

The Paradise Complex in Patong is the focal point for the gay life of Phuket, with most of the gar bars and clubs. This is where you’ll want to come for a gay fun night out.

Most of the bars have a free show every evening, but guests are expected to buy at least one drink. They generally get busy from around 10pm when they start putting on street performances to attract customers. By midnight most of the gay bars in Phuket are crowded, especially on weekends. Some of the best hangouts of Patong include:

Boat Bar: this is one of our favourite gay bars in Patong, which we came to every night during our stay. It’s open everyday, with at least 2 cabaret shows taking place every evening, the first at midnight, then again at 1:30am.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at The Nomadic Boys

Thailand Gay Travel Resources

Queer Inverness in the Scottish Highlands – The Nomadic Boys

Queer Inverness - The Nomadic Boys

“Stefan your crotch is completely showing under your kilt – be careful!”

Oh crap! Well, you try squatting down trying to position the tripod camera correctly, clad in a Scottish kilt worn “authentically”…!

The Scottish highlands is the stereotypical image of Scotland you imagine, with rolling hills, mountains towering over large glittering lochs and lots of thick lush green woodland. This is the place where the Scottish kilt originated from, haggis is a local specialty and of course a mythical monster resides. These are our 9 best things to do in the Scottish highlands, which you need to add to your Scotland bucket list.

RENT A KILT: and parade around Inverness Castle

Scottish kilts actually originated right here in the highlands near Inverness back in the 1500s. Back then they were traditionally worn in battle by the Scottish Highlanders. Interestingly, they were last worn in active combat in the 1940s during WW2 when the Royal Highland Regiment fought against the German army.

Today kilts are the official national dress of Scotland, worn mainly at state functions, also at weddings, funerals, festivals, and of course by curious tourists… And for anyone wondering, yes, of course we wore them “traditionally” – it would simply be rude not to! You can rent kilts for the day from many shops in central Inverness like Chisholms, then parade around the beautiful Inverness Castle.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at The Nomadic Boys

LOCATION Gay Travel Resources

Gay Toronto Clubs and Bars – The Nomadic Boys

Gay Toronto Clubs and Bars - The Nomadic Boys

We love the scene in gay Toronto. It is home to Canada’s largest gay community and welcomes visitors from all walks of life.

Just like the gay scene of Montreal, the gay village of Toronto is huge. It is located at the intersection of Church and Wellesley Streets, and therefore nicknamed the “Church and Wellesley Village”. This is where the majority of the best gay bars, clubs, restaurants, cafes and clothing stores can be found. It is also ground zero for the annual Pride week in the summer, which is one of the largest pride festivals in the world.

These are our 5 favourite gay Toronto bars and clubs, which you can also check out in our vlog about gay Toronto at the end of this article.

Woody’s

Woody’s is an institution in Toronto. From the outside it looks like 2 separate bars: Woody’s and Sailor’s. Inside, they connect and merge as one. This iss the staple go-to bar to start the night, with some of the funniest drag shows in town. It’s been around since 1989 making it the first bar in the village.

We love their “best” competitions on the weekends like best chest and best ass, where contestants are judged and winners based on who gets the loudest applause from the audience.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at The Nomadic Boys

Toronto Gay Travel Resources

Gay India – The Nomadic Boys

Gay India - The Nomadic Boys

We spent several months travelling in India as a gay couple, from North to South, and absolutely loved it.

We visited world famous monuments like the Taj Mahal and stunning palaces across Rajasthan. We were in awe at the intense spirituality in Varanasi, chilled in the popular backwaters of Kerala, and loved all the delicious Indian food we tried. But our absolute highlight was the people. The Indians stole our heart. As well as being full of charm and character, they were very hospitable and never disrespectful to us. We found them to be welcoming, curious, very friendly, and eager to show off their country to these two foreigners.

On the face of it, India does not appear to be very gay friendly, particularly as the Supreme Court ruled in 2013 to uphold the colonial laws dating back to 1861 banning sex between two consenting men. Whilst this law was decriminalised by the High Court of Delhi in 2009, it was subsequently overturned by the Supreme Court because the judges concluded that such an amendment should be left to parliament to decide, and not the judiciary. The law is thankfully being reviewed again in the Supreme Court – a testament to how strong the LGTBQ community is in India.

In practice, gay relationships do of course exist and thrive in India, as they do in any other country. However, social norms in India tend to discourage public display of affection no matter sexual orientation.

But do the maths – this is a country with a population of over 1.3 billion people, which means statistically there are around 130 million gay boys waiting to welcome you.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at The Nomadic Boys

India Gay Travel Resources

Gay Vancouver – The Nomadic Boys

Gay Vancouver - The Nomadic Boys

Greenpeace, Ryan Reynolds and Botox – what do they all have in common? They’re all from/invented in Vancouver!

This is Canada’s very cool city located right on the country’s far Western coast in the Province of British Columbia. The city is also famous for being extremely welcoming and accepting to everyone: we frequently saw many same sex couples walking the streets hand in hand all across town, and we definitely felt comfortable doing the same.

We loved the scene of gay Vancouver a lot, and have put together our guide of the best bars, clubs, events, hotels and more.

Vancouver Gay Village: Davie Street

Vancouver’s gay village, also known as the Davie Village, is the heart of the city’s LGBTQ community. It is based mainly along Davie Street between Jervis Street and Burrard Street. This is where the majority of the gay bars, clubs, fashion outlets, faces and saunas are. Although it’s not as big as the gay scene of Montreal or Toronto, it’s just as fun.

There is also a more bohemian area popular with the lesbian community of the city at Commercial Drive, called “The Drive” over in East Vancouver, which we did not visit so have not covered in this guide.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Vancouver Gay Travel Resources

Gay Travel Bloggers You Should Be Following – The Nomadic Boys

Gay Travel Bloggers

Couple of Men

Karl and Daan are absolutely gorgeous together. Their branding is also so on point. Every image they produce is very iconic of gay love. The boys are based in Amsterdam. Karl is originally German and Daan is Dutch. We met the boys during the Whistler Gay ski week near Vancouver in Canada.

Check out Karl and Daan’s blog: Couple of Men

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Gay Whistler – The Nomadic Boys

Gay Whistler - The Nomadic Boys

What do you get when you mix together a bunch of gay boys, a giant rainbow flag and a huge pile of Canadian snow? The Whistler Pride and Ski Festival of course!

We were very excited to attend the 26th annual Whistler Pride week in January 2018. We love skiing, especially gay ski festivals as they always have the best parties.

Where is Whistler?

Whistler is a small town north of Vancouver in the British Columbia province of Canada. It’s famous for having one of the largest ski resorts in North America and for hosting some of the events of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

The town is surrounded by two mountains: Whistler (2,184m/7,165ft) and Blackcomb (2,436m/7992ft). There are over 200 marked ski trails in between the two mountains, catering to all difficulty levels: green for beginners, blue for intermediate, black for advanced and double blacks for people who are just plain mad!

The Whistler Pride and Ski Festival is one of the biggest and best LGBTQ ski events in North America. We absolutely loved it and highly recommend it to all gay travellers seeking out a gay ski event to attend. To show you just how awesome it was, here are our 5 amazing things to do during the Whistler Pride week.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Whistler Gay Travel Resources