Stefan Arestis

Hey everyone, I'm Stefan, the curly-haired Greek flavor behind Nomadic Boys. I take care of all our travel-related content, our weekly newsletter, and social media on Nomadic Boys. And yes, that's me replying to every comment 😉.

I'm also a travel nerd. It all started when I was collecting stamps as a child. I would excitingly harvest stamps off envelopes that friends and family would send us.

Throughout the years, I connected with hundreds of fellow stamp collectors from all around the world, learning about their countries and cultures. That's where my passion for travel started.

If I couldn't sound any nerdier, I confess I'm also a HUGE Eurovision geek. I blame my family. We Greek Cypriots LOVE to follow the Eurovision Song Contest and vote religiously (usually for Cyprus and Greece). So every May growing up we'd all gather and watch the Scandis, Soviet Bloc, and Balkan countries giving douze points to each other…the point is, thanks to Eurovision, I would dream of places like North Macedonia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan from a young age.

Today, I get all my travel inspiration from historical fiction. I love reading books like Wolf of the Plains by Conn Iggulden about the Genghis Khan dynasty or watching series like “Vikings” and “Marco Polo” on Netflix.

Throughout my twenties and late teens, I traveled (usually solo) whenever I got the opportunity. This also coincided with me coming out (as gay!)…and let me tell you, a sweet young gay boy traveling solo around South America or East Europe very easily makes friends with gay locals who are only too pleased to show him round!

I've been to over 90 countries and would love to say I've covered the entire globe at some stage in my life. I am happiest when I'm in a new place trying to negotiate my way around – with my partner in crime, my Seby, to hand.

I met Seby in 2009. We instantly clicked through our love for travel…

“I want to discover the world!” he said to me on our first date at Le Beaujolais bar in Leicester Square.

“I'll go with you!” I replied to the person who would become my life partner.

Together Seby and I started doing small trips around Europe. In 2012 we did our first long-haul trip outside of Europe – to Thailand. We instantly fell in love. Something clicked for us on this trip that we both felt. We decided we wanted to do more traveling together as a gay couple.

After several years of saving and planning, we left our jobs and lives in London in 2014 for a big 18-month trip to Asia. We started with the Trans-Siberian railway through Russia and ventured into Mongolia, China, Nepal, India, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, and all the Southeast Asian countries.

We started Nomadic Boys early on in this trip so our friends and family back home could follow along with our adventures. About a year in, traffic to our website started to peak and businesses contacted us asking to collaborate. We had no idea that our humble blog would become so popular.

Over time we worked more on our content and continued our travels.

Together, Seby and I have covered a fair chunk of Europe, North/South America, Asia, and a bit of Africa / the Middle East.

For each destination we've visited we've written about our experiences traveling there as a gay couple. Our goal is to inspire other gay travelers and give them the tools to plan a fun/safe trip.

I write about gay travel

I have written for Lonely Planet, The Guardian, Huffington Post, Gaycities and Out Traveler. I have contributed content to articles published in The Times, CN Traveler, and The New York Times. Find out more about my contributions on our press page.

Quick fun facts about me:

Star sign: Libra
Born: London, UK
Based: Cyprus
Favorite movie: Coco
Favorite artist: Sia
Favorite city: Bangkok
Favorite book: Wolf of the Plains by Conn Iggulden
Favorite food: Makaronia tou fourno (aka ‘Pastitsio’ – Greek Lasagne)
Favorite Eurovision song: Fuego by Eleni Foureira
Favorite dessert: Carrot cake
Favorite destination: India
Number of countries visited: 90