A Couple of Men
Gay Couple Travel Blog

Is this all real? What happened to the colorful, lively, and gay travel plans for 2020? How far ahead can we actually plan for the rest of the year? Or are we all just actors in one of those movies about end-time scenarios where we all will turn into zombies and will start taking over the world? No. We are living in a new reality facing a global threat, a microscopical one. It is April, still in the year 2020, and people all around the world have to adjust to a, for many of us, totally unknown situation. From one day to the other we were all not allowed to leave our own homes (just for necessary reasons), to see our own families and friends, and of course, to not being able to travel anymore.

Over the past weeks we have been thinking about what we could contribute to the Corona crisis as content creators owning and running our online gay travel magazine with over 65.000 monthly readers. We are certain, the only way we will all be able to get through this difficult, challenging, irritating and unsettling times is by going through it together. Because even in ‘normal’ times, we are stronger together. Therefore, we would like to introduce you to our LGBT Campaign on Couple of Men. In order to support fellow LGBT and gay couple operated companies and businesses related to travel, we are going to tell their stories and give them a platform to tell you about their experience with Corona and COVID-19. They will have the opportunity to give you tips on how to get through this together as an LGBT and gay couple, and, of course, to promote their businesses for the times after the crisis.

Getting through troubling times TOGETHER © Coupeofmen.com

Gay Travel: We’ll keep on travel blogging

The current times are difficult for any business, related especially to travel. Besides restrictions and travel bans that can be seen as more or less ‘leisure restrictions’, the new reality we are facing now is also affecting many people’s existential lives. Think about all the small privately run hotels, restaurants, bars, even events, and gay parties that are now ordered to close down or, in the ‘best’ way, are just able to serve fewer guests. That includes many LGBT operated businesses as well. And of course, for us travel writers and travel-related LGBT content creators hard times are coming, too. But there will come a time when we will be able to travel again, see new places and learn about different and diverse cultures. And although most of the trips and events for 2020 have to be postponed, we will continue to publish articles about past trips, share important moments on our social media channels, and keep you posted about most recent gay travel news.

What happened with our 2020 travel plans?

Florida, California, Germany, Sweden and Austria – all our travel plans have been canceled or postponed indefinitely. And all that although the year 2020 started so promising with exciting projects. We just learned that Pride Amsterdam, our home pride event, was canceled for the first time in its history. That is the case with almost all LGBT events for 2020 including Pride of the Americas in Fort Lauderdale, the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam, Euro Pride in Greece, as well as most of the pride and CSD events in Germany. Even the theme parks around the world are closed indefinitely, especially in the USA, home country of theme and rollercoaster parks. It almost feels like we are just skipping over the year 2020 and we will restart everything in 2021, hopefully one a more sustainable and environmental friendly way.

Our travel plans for 2020? Staying home and explore Amsterdam! © CoupleofMen.com

LGBT Campaign to support LGBT businesses

But what we’ll have to do now is to stand together because together we are stronger. That’s why we started our blog series to introduce you to LGBT couple operated companies and businesses to learn from their experiences and to find a way how we can support them for their future as part of the LGBT community. The first articles about gay couple hotel owners, lesbian couple photographers and a gay couple working in medical and health care are already online. The next days and weeks we will keep on introducing you to their couple stories. Please let us know if there are any LGBT couples that would like to be part of this campaign and are in need for support. We will gladly give them the opportunity to join!

How to beat the Corona Crisis? Together!

#1 Social Distancing = Physical Distancing

In order to flatten the curve, it is essential to reduce physical social contacts to a minimum. We are still seeing our friends, one at a time, doing long walks around Amsterdam, like our travel buddies Roxanne and Maartje. It is also a great way to see some so far unknown parts of the Dutch capital and gives us the opportunity to see the most important people in our lives right now. Of course, all of that happens with at least 1,5 meters of safety distance. And the measures seem to be affected. Already in Germany, the curve is flat and the reproduction factor is down to 0,7 (meaning: 1 infected person only infects 0,7 others). Let’s keep on doing it to keep the IC units empty and to save lives.

#2 Say ‘I love you’ – ‘I need you’ – ‘I am glad to be in this with you together’

For many of us, it is the first time to actually be together in a limited space. Working, living and loving together can get challenging, also in a relationship. A daily declaration of love is just what we need. We took this advise from Chris and Gus from Miami and can only recommend it. And even if it seems natural and obvious, appreciating it to be together is not only a nice thing to do but it also strengthens our relationship.

#3 Memories and future plans

In times like this where we are not able to travel, we love to take a walk down memory lane of our past adventures. Writing new blog articles, sort out photos and just enjoy talking about our travel highlights. Yesterday evening, for example, we talked about our Iceland trip, a 21-days road trip around the whole island. We really love that feeling to talk about our couple story getting inspired to start planning our next trip. Although we might just stay in the Netherlands and Germany this year, there will be new countries to explore in 2021. Which countries are on top of your bucket list?

#4 Click, read, like and share – It’s free!

An easy thing to do and support the LGBT community and their businesses at the same time FOR FREE is to read our blog articles, comment on them, share them and do the same with our posts on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and Facebook! Remember to do the same with all your other favorite online LGBT media. It’s time so support your heroes so they can once again support you after the crisis will come to an end.

LGBT & Gay Stories on Couple of Men © Coupleofmen.com