Amanda and Julie are a lesbian couple who met in Ireland.
They’ve been traveling together since 2015, and are now living in Portugal (where our own love story began more than 15 years ago!)

Their adventures are really inspiring, so we’re proud to share their story with you:
Meet the girls from “Lez Wander”:

We are Amanda and Julie, a Brazilian/French couple in our mid-twenties. Our story is linked to the world of travels since the beginning: we haven’t met in Brazil nor in France, but in Ireland. And the beautiful Dublin was the host of this starting, yet promising, relationship!

How did that happen exactly?

Julie arrived on September 11th, 2014, in order to attend the Dublin Business School to validate her first year of MBA. It was only on January 17th, 2015, that Amanda started her own adventure in the Green Country to take English classes. While Julie had undertaken many trips on her own by then, it was for Amanda her very first journey out of Brazil. You go girl!! And getting from a 35°C weather to -5°C didn’t even stop her.

Fortunately, we ended this period of enjoying Dublin in solo, and on January 26th, after a match on Tinder (yes, it worked!) we set up a date and went to share our first Guinness(es). Sláinte! This means Cheers in Gaelic, pronounced “Slantcha”.

Ireland is a very religious country, and yet it was the first to legalize gay marriage by popular vote. We were also lucky to be part of the manifestation for Marriage Equality in 2015. And everywhere in the streets we witnessed strong messages spreading love and equality! Nothing better to warm up your soul.

Also, we have to give a big, big Thumbs Up for the famous bar/club named The George! We loved this gay place, either to just have a drink in the evening, or partying hard all night long! You’ll never get bored with the fabulous Drags and the Karaoke or Bingo night, where there is always much to win! This place is even recommended for all type of travellers, whether you are part of the LGBTQ community or not.

To sum up, go to Ireland, go to Dublin, and also explore the magnificent countryside it has to offer! We’ve been to Glendalough, Wicklow Mountains, Cliffs of Moher, Galway, Howth and many more beautiful places… Oh, and try the Fish & Chips, you’ll never be disappointed.

That’s what led us to go through France, from the famous and emblematic Paris to the cold area of the Alps Mountains (Annecy, Chamonix, Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval). Without forgetting Lyon, and the Mediterranean coast (Marseille, Narbonne, Carcassonne).

The year after that, we managed to visit Brazil – well a small part of it, due to the gigantic area it represents. Our road trip brought us to São Paulo, Águas da Prata, Poços de Caldas, Curitiba, and Florianópolis. What a blast!

Once established in a country, you have the opportunity to submerge in its culture, to create connections with its people, and to adapt and embrace the many differences you’ll find.

Since the first time we’ve been to Porto we fell in love with the city. It’s charming, welcoming and so, so cute! Lisbon on the other hand, has another rhythm; it’s faster, kind of colossal with all its big monuments. Portugal is also nature and diversity. From mountains to lake and sea, you will be wandering freely!

Nevertheless, in a general context we always have our guards up. Not only because we are part of the LGBTQ community, but also as women. We ought to be cautious about the places we go to and the risk we might take. And as much as we love to travel, we would never put our lives at risk in exchange for an adventure.

Our social media accounts under the name of Lez_wander was born from the will to share that love is love, and that love is everywhere! We believe that representativeness is the key to educate in all matters, and we have the opportunity to do so for the LGBTQ community: we exist and we intend to stay ourselves!

Follow Amanda and Julie’s adventures at “lez_wander”: