Gabi & Shanna is a lesbian couple traveling together since 2015.
We’ve been following them on social media for a while now.
And we like their adventures so much that we asked them to share their story with us.
So here you go: meet the girls from “27 Travels”:
Hi! We’re Gabi and Shanna from 27 Travels! We currently live in Brooklyn, NY but are constantly leaving the city to explore. Gabi is a photographer and I’m a videographer and we started 27 Travels after we fell in love with traveling together.
We wanted to document our travels for ourselves and also inspire others with our experiences as a lesbian couple. We met at NYC Pride in 2015 at one of the most famous lesbian bars in the city, Cubbyhole. Gabi approached me, we talked for a while, and she asked for my Instagram before she left. We kept in contact for a few months and began dating later that year. We’ve been together almost 2 years now and its been amazing!
Our first trip together was a road trip to Philadelphia, PA. It’s not too far from NYC and we had heard that it was a great ‘gay-friendly’ place to travel. We had the best time and both realized we’re the same type of travelers — the kind who like to go outside, explore, and see everything a destination has to offer. It had happened, we caught the travel bug!
As a couple we’ve been to Philadelphia, Arizona, Canada, Upstate NY, Curaçao, Boston, New Orleans, Costa Rica, and Panama. We can’t really say we have a favorite lesbian destination because we’re never afraid to go somewhere and potentially face homophobic comments. We never hide who we are and we believe the more that people are exposed to the LGBTQ community, the more it will become normal and accepted. And because of this we’ve had some of the most amazing experiences and have even been surprised at certain places and how the local people accept us.
One trip that really impacted us was Costa Rica. While we were there we went to a few different areas: San Jose, Manuel Antonio, La Fortuna, Alajuela, and Heredia. Because Costa Rica is a pretty religious country (about 70% are Roman Catholic) we thought as a lesbian couple, we wouldn’t be accepted. We couldn’t have been more wrong. In fact the people we met on the street, on tours, or in restaurants were super friendly and warm towards us and some even asked us questions about how we met, how long we’ve been together, etc. We felt very welcome there and we were glad we didn’t shy away from traveling to a country based on it’s religious beliefs.
Manuel Antonio, one of the cities we visited in Costa Rica is known as a gay-friendly town which was one of the reasons why we chose to travel there while visiting the country. We had read about a gay area of the beach as well as a few bars and restaurants that were supposed to have gay nights, etc. But when we arrived, we noticed that there wasn’t as many LGBTQ people around as we thought. We still had a blast and even sat next to a couple of gay men eating dinner one night at a restaurant that wasn’t on the list of gay-friendly places.
From that trip we learned a few things about traveling as a lesbian couple:
1) Expand your horizons. You don’t have to go to designated gay areas while traveling to feel like you belong. As long as you’re comfortable and safe, you can go anywhere. We noticed the supposedly ‘hopping’ gay spots were dead and that there were a lot of LGBTQ people in all sorts of different places.
2) Be yourself. We personally feel the most comfortable being ourselves and not trying to hide who we are to please others. Experiencing the beauty of travel together shapes us as individuals and as a couple and we would never want to hinder ourselves.
3) Don’t be afraid to educate others. Like we said, the people of Costa Rica did welcome us but they asked a lot of questions as well. We felt comfortable telling the locals that we were together, how we met, and that we’re in love. LGBTQ love should be more widely recognized and we’re happy to spread that message. We are looking forward to continuing to do that on all our travels and to travel more together as a couple!
Follow Gabi and Shanna’s adventures at “27 Travels”:
11 Responses
authenticfoodquest
What a great introduction to Gabi and Shanna. Definitively agree about the importance of being oneself while traveling. We’ve had great things about Costa Rica, but have yet to visit. We’ll have to put Manuel Antonio on the list. Great story and happy travels!
Adelina
I love meeting new travelers. Thanks for introducing me to Gabi & Shanna! What an inspiring story!
SherianneKay
How awesome that you are compatible in your travel styles, that’s hard to find! Haven’t been to Costa Rica, good to know you had a great experience
lucywilliamsglobal
Lovely story! I am glad you had a great time in Costa Rica. It is shame some countries are not so friendly, as it really shouldn’t matter!
Valerie Wheatley
What an inspiring post! Thank you so much for sharing! I too have preconceived notions about places that I travel due to their religious or cultural beliefs but generally find people to be warm, friendly and welcoming. Happy to hear that more of the world is opening their arms to the LGBTQ+ community! Please update if Gabi and Shanna ever find a country that makes them feel uncomfortable so we can all avoid!
bye:myself
Hm, I don’t know whether you did it just for this post, but it startles me a bit that homosexuality is such a topic when it comes to travel. Heterosexuals don’t see their sexuality as part of the planning progress when travelling. Acceptance and equality of homosexuality should be taken for granted in every aspect of life – so therefore I’m a bit irritated that it seems to be such a topic when travelling – even regarding choosing destinations. For instance I travel by myself as a woman – and as a matter of fact I don’t pick my destinations accordingly; I go where I please. This should be an implicitness for everybody. Anyway, ladies, many happy travels wherever the wind might blow you 💖💖💖
Mei and Kerstin
The thing is: if you know that you can be whipped, flopped, sent to prison or be sentenced to death in some openly homophobic countries, just because you kiss your (same-sex) partner in public, then you might want to think twice before going there. We don’t know what Gabi and Shanna, or other lesbians think about this, but we definitely choose our destinations according to the country’s laws regarding homosexuality. This doesn’t mean that we only go to gay-friendly countries, but we do avoid going to those where homosexuality may be punished by death. When we were younger, we didn’t pay much attention to gay rights, and traveled to wherever our wanderlust took us. But now that we’re older, legally married in our country, and have already traveled extensively together for 15 years, our priorities have changed. As much as we love to travel, our rights to be who we are, and to be honest about “what” we are (wherever we go to) are more important than the things we get to see, do, or experience while traveling. We don’t expect the whole world to accept and recognize gay marriage (although we do hope we’ll come to that one day! 🙂 ), we simply don’t go to countries where we can be punished by death, or where homosexuality is regarded as a crime.
interNATionalcaty
Such a beautiful story and I agree we must educate others regarding race, lifestyle and culture. I look forward in seeing more of your stories.
Hannah Lukaszewicz
Thanks for the interview, we hadn’t heard of them before. We love finding new bloggers to follow. We too love Manuel Antonio Costa Rica!
amit
Such a great story of you two, love hearing about your Costa Rica experience. As a long term-term traveler, I have to say one of the biggest things I’ve learnt while traveling is that a lot of boundaries are just thrown out the window, like for you guys being made to feel welcome in a predominantly religious country. It’s when we travel we really see it doesn’t matter who or what you are, gay, straight, white, colored, or religious we are all at the end of the day just humans wanting to explore the world 😀 – Look forward to hearing more about your travels together
Jenn and Ed Coleman
Sounds like you two are in for a lot of adventures together. We are looking forward to seeing what you find.