The time of year has come, when love, peace, and togetherness are defining our days with the whole family, friends and, of course, with your partner(s). Additional to all the presents, gifts, and arrangements to surprise loved ones, time together is the most valuable gift we can give to each other. And this became painfully clear this year since we cannot see, hug, kiss, and be close to one another during Christmas.
This year was challenging for all of us, again. A tiny thing set course to disrupt our “normal” lives and plunged the world into chaos. Working, traveling, being social – all the things that define our daily lives were about to change from one moment to another. We like to call it the years of the long pause. After the first shock, life seemed to return to almost normal during the summer months. We could even travel for about two months – our trip to Austria for the Oink Lake Festival and a one-month trip to the United States including New York – Dutchess County, Las Vegas and Florida.
Our biggest adventure so far, however, was buying an apartment in Amsterdam together this year. Months of viewings, arranging a mortgage and the big renovation project including removing walls, install a new kitchen and slowly settling down have been challenging enough.
The positive signals were not meant to last. The situation changed again, dramatically in the past weeks and months, with many people getting sick or even died. But it remains important that we all stand together, following the guidelines, and step back for a moment from our luxury and egoism. It is not only about us, it is about the people who are important to us, and the ones who are important to them.
Let’s hope the current waves are the last ones, and we will be able to defeat the crisis in 2022.
In the last days of the year, we are planning to stay home in Amsterdam, making video calls to Germany and around the world, taking a break from work, and snuggling up on our new sofas with our cat. We hope you can find your time to surround yourself with the people you love.
Merry Gay Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Karl & Daan. ❤️
Our First Book: Couple of Men – Ein Männerpaar reist um die Welt
GERMANY: The first LGBTQ+ Travel Book Couple of Men – Ein Männerpaar reist um die Welt, giving insights into our lives as gay men, as a couple, and queer LGBTQ+ communities
Nakagin Capsule Tower: Sleeping in Historic Organic Architecture in Tokyo
We didn’t choose a hotel for our first nights in Tokyo. Instead, we used a unique and rare Airbnb offer to stay in an architectural icon, the world-famous Nakagin Capsule Tower, designed by the architect Kisho Kurokawa.
Koyasan: 120 Temples of Japanese Buddhism at Mount Kõya
JAPAN: Our spiritual trip to the 120 Koyasan temples of Japanese Buddhism in Mount Kõya on the Wakayama Peninsula.
A Gay Couple’s Camper Road Trip to the Scottish Highlands | Part 1
SCOTLAND: We’re taking you on our 12-day camper van road trip around the Scottish Highlands in the far north of the UK. From Edinburgh to Glencoe, the Isle of Skye and back to Glasgow.
Pilgrimage Kumano Kodo: Our Japanese Hiking Adventure Part 1
JAPAN: After our first days in Tokyo, we seriously wanted to go to our limits when making a Pilgrimage in Japan on the famous traditional Kumano Kodo route from Ki Tanabe to Nachi through the Wakayama mountains.
Explore Santa Clarita: A Californian Gay Couple Adventure
USA: Intrigued by the possibility of a queer and gay-friendly escape in the USA just an hour’s drive north of Los Angeles, we packed our bags and headed up Interstate 5 to Santa Clarita.
Best of our Wedding Day: Celebrating “11 Years of a Couple of Men”
AMSTERDAM: We tell you the story of our gay spring wedding in Amsterdam, including personal details about us. You can become a part of the path to our most romantic day of our lives, “the Gay Wedding of a Couple of Men”.
Gay Pride Calendar Germany 2024: A complete CSD list of 60+ Pride Events
GERMANY: We checked the annual CSD agenda in the German cities and assembled as many CSD and LGBTQ+ Pride events we could find in Germany.
LGBTQ+ Monuments: 13 Queer Memorials Worldwide
WORLDWIDE: Ten iconic gay and/or LGBTQ+ monuments from various countries, each representing a unique aspect of LGBTQ+ history and culture as queer sights.
Merry Gay Christmas and Happy Holidays!
For 2022, we are planning our first trips already in January to Germany and in February to the Canary Islands on the Spartacus Cruise, marking the starting point of our upcoming gay travel year. The year 2022 is hopefully different, better again for adventurers like us.
But we are going optimistically into the new year. Hopefully, traveling will be easier possible again soon and so will be social gatherings, personal contact with friends and family.
We have already some interesting destinations on our travel list with European stops in Germany (Berlin, Dresden, Heidelberg, Munich), Spain, trips to the United States of America and hopefully Asia already in spring again. Let’s hope 2022 will turn out to be an exciting travel year again. Our focus will be sustainability issues, not only the environment but also supporting the integration of LGBTQ+ friendliness in our society’s DNA.
But that won’t be all you will hear, read and see from us. All in secret behind the scenes, we are busy with a huge project: Writing our first book together, published by the known publisher Gräfe & Unzer – Polyglott. Soon we will tell you more about this wonderful opportunity!
For more about our gay travels around the world, stay tuned on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and Instagram. See you next time somewhere in our beautiful world!
Merry Gay Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Karl & Daan. ❤️
Marycruz Cardenas Navarro
Sunday 24th of December 2017
Feliz Navidad para ustedes también!!
Luis Silva
Sunday 24th of December 2017
Merry Christmas ☃️