Next Stop: The World

Traveling is an essential part of our lives—for both of us. For Ilse, traveling always was a leisurely activity. She explored Europe, mainly the southern and western parts like Spain, France, the Netherlands, Austria, and Great Britain. Her last trips without Else brought her to London, where she has friends and went to concerts—the Spice Girls and Madonna!

Since she is scared of flying, she often tried (and still tries) to choose destinations that are not too far away: with short flight times or reachable by train—a very environmentally friendly way to travel! Nevertheless, she doesn't let her fear of flying stop her: she wants to explore the entire world! Our trip to Portugal last year was her farthest travel destination yet; our unfortunately canceled trip to Tel Aviv this March would have been her first intercontinental flight.

Else loves to travel—as a vacation or for work. Like Ilse, she wants to travel the world, but got lucky enough to already explore a few countries in Asia, North America, and Europe. She particularly enjoyed Cambodia and Thailand and wants to explore continental Southeast Asia next—with Ilse! We had planned a trip to Cambodia this September, but it doesn't seem very likely now.

As a cultural anthropologist, she lived in India for quite a while where she conducted three research projects. As a result of these research trips, she regularly attends conferences during which she is able to explore at least a bit of the hosting cities/regions. She is so grateful for these opportunities, but would prefer to have Ilse at her side.

We don't know where we'll be next—so much depends on COVID-19 these days. But we hope we'll be traveling again soon!

Comments

"You can't even have a child, dude."

Three weeks ago, we talked about virtual harassment and objectification where we also cited the sentence used as a title for this post. We are aware that this sentence was supposed to be an insult and that many same-sex couples would feel hurt. But: we don't. Both of us don't want kids. There was a time Ilse thought she would have children one day, but Else never really planned on it. So telling us that we can't have a child doesn't do anything to us. At least not directly. But it still maddens us. This intentionally hurtful comment is based upon the heteronormative supposition that every woman eventually wants to have at least one child. Most of us have been told that ‘we just don’t know it yet,’ that ‘we haven’t met the right person (man) yet,’ that ‘we will see that we really do want children eventually,’ and that ‘we will surely regret our decision one day.’ No. No. No. No. We are indeed capable of making this decision. We are able to know what we want. It’s not abo

Cochem: A Few Days in the German Countryside

Cochem is a place in the German countryside, in Rhineland-Palatinate. Although it is a district seat, it is rather small with about 5,000 inhabitants. Although it is probably easiest to arrive by car, traveling by rail is convenient as well. And as you know: we will always prefer to travel sustainably! We had booked a vacation home with a surprisingly comfortable Murphy bed (our first time in a Murphy bed!) and a little kitchen. Although Cochem had almost no COVID-19 cases when we visited, we nevertheless wanted to be careful and a place where we could make our own food was a perfect solution. But although it rained a lot, we luckily could enjoy a few patios. Cochem lies at the Moselle and is part of the Mosel wine region. The Mosel wines are amongst the best (if not the best) wines in Germany and the local/regional wines in Cochem were delicious. Since Cochem is a popular town for tourists and day visitors, there were lots of restaurants. But this popularity also meant that prices wer

Monthversary

We've been together for more than a year now, but we still celebrate our monthversaries — with one exception. Last month, both of us were wondering whether it was a noteworthy day. Ilse twisted her mind: whose birthday is it? Else checked her calendar for birthdays of her friends. At some point we talked about it: Ilse: "I have the feeling today is a special day. It might be a birthday, but I have no idea whose it could be." (Else made a suggestion that turned out to be correct, but it wasn't a birthday we would ever celebrate.) A few days later, we realized what we forgot: our monthversary! Ever since we talked about being a couple and settled on a date (it almost never is just one day, is it?), we try to make this day a special one: we make each other small — usually handmade — presents, prepare surprises and/or go to an extravagant (more or less ...) restaurant. We spent one of our favorite monthversaries at an Israeli restaurant on the eighth floor with f

Else & Ilse | LGBTIQ+ adventurers

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