Over the past five years, we’ve had the opportunity to meet a variety of different bloggers as we’ve traveled around the world. Ranging from YouTubers to professional travel writers, these inspiring people provide their own unique perspective on travel. The one thing they all have in common is their passion for travel and creating fun and engaging stories via their blogs, YouTube channels or other social media profiles.

If you’re not already following them, we encourage to read on and find out more about this great list of LGBT travelers.

High Society Hobo

Ben is a travel blogger and digital nomad that has spent the past few years living and traveling aboard to far-off destinations. His blog High Society Hobo chronicles his journey across the globe and we enjoy the stories and insights he provides – especially from destinations we’ve never visited. We had the chance to chat with Ben and thought we’d share some of his personal thoughts and experiences.

Question: What’s your least favorite thing about travel?

Answer: “Exhaustion and mixing up exchange rates. Moving around a lot is tiring – not matter how much I enjoy it. The exhaustion leads to frustration sometimes and mixing up exchange rates, like when I accidentally spent $50 USD on chocolate in Hong Kong (thinking I was spending only $15).”

Question: Name one way travel has changed your life.

Answer: “It’s hard to name just one way because there are so many. I grew up on a farm in rural Missouri, I never imagined that I would ever be able to leave the US much less travel as much as I have. I guess travel has made me want more travel, more adventures and to make more connections across the world.”

Being a digital nomad can be exhausting and challenging. We give kudos to Ben for being able to live his dream and support himself on the road. Before becoming a travel blogger, Ben worked as an attorney in international business. With his past experience, he recently decided to start his own legal practice, Nomad at Law – a virtual law firm focusing on travelers, freelancers and small businesses.

Be sure to follow Ben on his blog, Instagram or Twitter – and definitely get in touch if you’re in search of legal advice.

This Colorful World

Lisa and Lauren are a recently married (and gorgeous) couple who spend their time split between San Diego and Stockholm. We had the pleasure of meeting them in the summer of 2015 and spent some amazing moments together at several pride events in Europe. Lisa is a musician and Lauren a photographer and videographer and together they run a company called The Beatnik Group, where they produce creative projects. They both run a YouTube channel together called This Colorful World and Lauren shares a YouTube channel with her friend Bly in the one of the best queer travel channels we’ve seen – Button & Bly.

We had the opportunity to pick Lisa & Lauren’s brain on a few travel related questions….see what they had to say!

Question: What’s on your bucket list for 2017?

Answer: “We are obsessed with nature and horses, so we always try to discover new areas from horseback. After riding in Finland, Costa Rica, California, Sweden, Scotland, England and Morocco  – we still have never been on an equestrian tour! The difference is that during an equestrian tour, you ride for 1-2 weeks in rain, sun or snow, instead of a trail ride for just 2 hours. You travel with your horse all day and stay at local picturesque b&b’s over the nights while the horses are out grazing. Totally magical. We’ll be pretending like we’re in Lord of the Rings!”

Question: What’s your most embarrassing travel memory?

Answer: “Oh wow. We have so many that it’s hard to pick one. Should we do that one time Lisa fell asleep on the plane and drooled on a man’s black blazer? Or perhaps when Lauren was getting up on a horse and ripped her jeans from the crotch all the way down her thigh and had to walk around like that the whole day? This could go on forever…”

Be sure to check out their YouTube channel and follow them on Instagram.

My Normal Gay Life

Jose is a lifestyle and travel blogger at My Normal Gay Life. He shares stories that are useful and inspiring to the LGBT community overall and recently started writing a lot about his travel experiences. We had the pleasure of meeting Jose and his husband Alfred in Gran Canaria this past summer on an amazing trip with several gay travel bloggers. Imagine the crazy fun we got into with 12 gay bloggers all staying in one awesome bungalow complex called Gay Paso Chico – complete with private swimming and all located right in the heart of the (super) gay scene in Maspalomas.

Jose was kind enough to share some of his personal experiences and travel recommendations.

Question: What’s your least favorite thing about travel?

Answer: “One of my least favorite things about travel is culturally insensitive tourists. You see them all the time when they’re rude to people, self-righteous or just sort cause annoyance.” (we totally agree!)

Question: What’s your most embarrassing travel memory?

Answer: “Well, one time, Alfred and I were heading to Ireland. We connected in Atlanta and instead of waiting out in the airport waiting area, we decided to head to the Delta Sky Lounge. We were drinking and having a great time. Suddenly, Alfred realized we needed to get to our gate. As we are walking, he begins to panic and run…I realize we’ve missed our flight. At this point, I’d had enough to drink that it didn’t really matter to me. We ended up spending a day in Atlanta with our carry-on luggage and exploring.  It’s still pretty embarrassing that we missed an international flight because we were drinking.” (LOL! We’ve done the same thing!)

You can check out Jose’s blog here and also be sure to follow him on Instagram!

Cool Gay Travels

Rick & Manny are a married couple who enjoy sharing their experiences traveling the world. Their blog is relatively new to the scene but their passion for travel is clear. They’ve already outlined their bucket list for 2017, which includes Israel, Egypt, Bali and Fiji. For anyone hesitant to take that big trip, they recommend starting out by taking short distance trips and slowly pushing yourself farther to go past your regular comfort zone. As for tips to get the most out of your travel cash, they suggest to plan and book trips at least 6 months in advance to get best prices and to also sign up for all frequent travel programs so you can earn miles and eventually get free flights.

Here’s a bit more about Rick & Manny…

Question: What’s your most embarrassing travel memory?

Answer: “Being in the airplane bathroom doing my business not knowing that the door was not completely locked and having my husband tell me, when I sat down on my seat, that he was able to hear everything that was going on inside the bathroom.” (OMG!!!)

Question: Anything specific you’d like us to mention about you or promote?

Answer: “Promote awareness about GLBT homeless Youth.” (Great one! Yes, there are way too many young LGBT people who become homeless as a result of intolerant families. You can support this cause and get more involved here.)

You can visit their blog, Cool Gay Travelers here and also follow them on Instagram and Twitter.

The Gay Traveler

Troy is a seasoned travel writer and blogger he’s been traveling the world sharing his stories and adventures for years. Based in DC, you can read his adventures on his own blog The Gay Traveler as well as in many publications including TravelChannel.com, MetroWeekly.com, MeetMeOnBoard.com, CBSLocal.com, DCRefined.com and AXS.com. Wet had the pleasure of meeting Troy for the first time on a recent trip to Slovenia where we spent a week visiting the tiny (yet amazing) country in eastern Europe.

Check out Troy’s blog here and be sure to follow him on Instagram and Twitter.