Wait, you were dressed as angels at the London Pride last year?’
Both Stefan and Sebastian of the Nomadic Boys nodded their heads eagerly in the busy department store within Westfields in Shepherd’s Bush. A staff member had just come up to us and recognised both of them from the eclectic and colourful event last year. Initially, while I was cursing the fashion industry for bringing in skinny trousers that’s now dominating the market (my thighs don’t like them), I thought they were recognised for their blog, Nomadic Boys. Seething with jealousy, I was ready to recommend that they try on the ‘spray-on’ skinny jeans and leave them to it trying to furiously peel them off. But thankfully, for them, it was about London Pride.
After the staff member went away, still awed at the guys, I wanted to know about their fun-filled time in London Soho last year that brought smiles to their faces upon recollection. But better yet, they said they would write it for my blog. So, here it is, the reasons why Soho is their favourite spot in London:
Our favourite London spot
We are Stefan and Sebastien, gay couple travelling the world and owners of the Nomadic Boys travel blog (http://nomadicboys.com).
London is the city where we met and developed a home in. We love London a lot, especially Soho and the gay scene around Old Compton Street.
Soho has always been the place to go out and also the meeting point with friends. It has one of the best gay scenes in the world with a plethora of bars, clubs, restaurants, shops, cafes all targeted to the LGBT community.
But the real highlights of Soho for us are all the events that take place in and around it.
There are no fewer then 2 annual summer pride events that happen here. London Pride in July always finishes in Soho with Old Compton Street buzzing with topless boys and party. In August there’s Soho Pride, similar to London Pride but on a smaller scale.
In 2011, we dressed up as angels for London Pride with a group of friends and an amazing day posing for Japanese tourists, kissing random policemen and just having a day of gay boy fun.
But Soho is also the meeting point of another favourite event of ours: the World Naked Bike Ride. Every June, hundreds of cyclists take to the streets of London around Soho completely naked and cycle around raising awareness for the need to reduce our dependency on oil and cars.
Stefan participated in 2013. At first he was shy about going fully naked, but soon after got the balls (!) to join his fellow cyclists in the buff.
Soho Park is always a great place for a summer picnic with friends and place for people watching.
Finally, Soho is where the Nomadic Boys first met. On Tuesday 24th February 2009, a young lawyer, Stefan, was out having a drink with work friends and managed to take them to the GAY bar. Across the room from Stefan, a very shy pretty French boy caught his eye. Cute French boy was staring back at Stefan.
Sebastien was at the GAY bar with his friends discussing his plans to leave London for good and start a new life in Spain. When he saw Stefan for the first time, he was too shy to go over and speak to him. Luckily Stefan’s friend got them to exchange business cards and on the following Friday they had their first date and have been together ever since.
Soho will always have a very special place in our heart and is without question our favourite spot in London.
Awww, isn’t that nice reading about how they both met?
Find out more about the Nomadic Boys below:
Web: www.nomadicboys.com
Facebook: Nomadic Boys
Twitter: @NomadicBoys
See you at the next gay pride 🙂