A guest post this week from Sara Anders, a client who traveled with us to Thailand on a family holiday, complete with partner, two children, various friends and the father of the children and his partner. We caught up with her to ask about her experiences of gay and lesbian travel in Thailand.
“I think most gay and lesbian travelers will have no problems in Thailand as Thais generally are very polite and would not question your hotel bed arrangements. No matter where I travel I try very hard to get across in the booking process that i will be requiring a double bed for myself and my partner. I find if i get this across before I arrive at reception it just removes a potential source of conflict/embarrassment. I found that Thai girls tend to be physically demonstrative with their female friends. As such as a gay woman I have never felt any homophobic hassle from Thai people. I have to prefix this statement with the context that as a couple my partner and i are quite open with our affections physically but i would not be passionately kissing her in the street either. I think we are fairly average (god how awful) in that we kiss goodbye etc and hold hands occasionally and link arms etc- although given the thai heat perhaps not so much hand holding!I obviously cannot speak personally for gay male experience in Thailand- however we did recently travel with the father of our children and his male partner and no one took the blindest bit of notice.”
We at Experience Travel reckon this is the norm throughout South East Asia – a generally tolerant part of the world, where everyone is generally made to feel welcome. We would second Sara’s point that it very much helps to absolutely ensure that a double bed is booked in advance to avoid any embarrassment at check in.
Sara and Kate and their family stayed at Twin Bay Resort in Koh Lanta and the Chatrium Hotel Riverside in Bangkok as part of their family holiday to Thailand.