Out And Abroad

Am I really flying to the UK to have mostly naked pictures of me taken?

Yes…. But sorry (for some) it is not what you think. 

Every year in Hell (middle school) our gym teacher would have what was called a physical fitness test. Allegedly it was to see our annual fitness growth, but I am pretty sure this was devised by some homophobic fitness director who enjoyed making the obese closet cases feel like poop once a year. ‘Wow Reiser could not even do one pull-up.’* Now I can do 35…

While I have been in relatively good shape for 10 years (with some lapses in the middle due to drinking) I always wanted to take it to the next level and celebrate it. I have been going to the gym for a long time but rarely saw progress, in fact I usually gained weight, and not the muscle kind. It’s funny when my throat hurts, I call the doctor or if my car breaks, I ask a mechanic for help, but I never thought one should ask for help when it came to fitness and nutrition. Don’t we all just know eat carrots and lift weights? And then I remembered one of my oldest friends is a fitness coach, and a pretty decent one too.

Since the beginning of Covid I have worked with my friend and coach Dan to learn how to properly train and eat in a way that is realistic for my lifestyle. We have been eying doing a photoshoot for awhile now and on July 23 I am trekking across the pond to do it with him. That means I am going Out and Abroad!

I plan on writing about different travel components of the trip, including flying on my first premium economy flight while staying at a few historic hotels. I also plan on writing on what it is like to do a fitness photoshoot as trust me, if I can do it, anyone can.

Does anyone have any favorite restaurants in London or Nottingham?

Bon Voyage,

Andrew

PS If others are looking to get their fitness and nutrition under order in a realistic I like to eat, drink and have towork 10 hours a day while not moving into a gym kind of way, Dan is someone you should talk to

Facebook | www.facebook.com/bicepsbanter

Instagram | @danbicepsbanter

*Don’t worry I am in much better shape and quite more successful than that schmuck who made the rude comment (and is still a Facebook friend, and maybe even reading this!)

Matt and I rarely vacation domestically. Outside of Maine and Southern Florida in fact I cannot even remember the last time we vacationed in the USA outside of visiting friends/family. Ironically we now own homes in Maine and Florida so…..

Granted Matt and I usually travel business class (not always), get through airport security in seconds with Pre-Check/CLEAR and spend our time having free booze and food in the lounge….the airport doesn’t sound so bad now does it? Honestly if you travel 3xish a year you can literally get the pre-check and lounge for 400-500 dollars annually with one of many credit cards. Sounds like a lot until we play the game called ‘how much does a glass of wine and an entree at any mediocre airport restaurant cost? I am not here to advertise credit cards, but several of them offer lounge access plus so many additional benefits that more than pays the 400-500 fee.

I have been thinking more about our mission here at Out and Abroad and a conversation I had with my mother helped me identify what we are attempting to do. Mom is traveling to Italy with us this summer but since we will be departing from 2 different airports she is a little uneasy. And I have been struggling as to why, but then it hit me, airports, planes, long flights and international destinations are overwhelming for people. Ironically all of that sounds better to me than a very loud, crowded and overpriced Disney World, or a Times Square trip. Doesn’t Funchal (below) look far more appealing, prettier and dramatically easier and cheaper to vacation to (if from the East Coast USA) than Hawaii?

Our primary goal (yeah we will also go on tangents on other topics) is to get the reader excited about international travel, make the idea of traveling overseas more accessible and ultimately share our journeys to inspire others. We would also LOVE to create a network of friends who love to travel as well. Common posts you will see will hopefully address airport/airline anxiety, how you can travel in style without going broke and just plain old vacation porn (no not that kind of porn, sorry!) We also want to dispel popular boomer myths such as the need to use a travel agent (nothing wrong with agents and I can recommend good ones, but usually not necessary), cruises/all inclusives save you money (lol no and they are usually trash) and you must book round trip air fair (LOL why?)!

As we continue thinking about potential posts, let me ask y’all, what keeps you from planning international travel?

Bon Voyage,

Andrew

Yes you read that right the Homemade Chef is spinning off! Matt and I probably could not pick a worse time to create a Travel site when we conceived it in April 2020. Due to the pandemic we put it on hold, but now that the world is starting to open up and we have vacations booked (more on that to come!) it is time! We have had so much fun writing about our love of cooking at the homemade-chef.com (pardon our shameless plug), but we want to expand our passions and creativity in a new space. May we introduce you all to Out and Abroad which is not a traditional travel blog by any stretch of the imagination.

Why Out and Abroad? We originally intended this to be a blog where Matt and I could reveal our travel adventures and our favorite places around the world. When this was first envisioned we just returned from Brazil and had Singapore, Thailand and Italy booked for 2020 (with possibly a Portugal or France trip as a late add on). Unfortunately due to Covid-19 none of these things are happening which is absolutely okay. Matt and I are healthy and we wish you all heath and positive energy your way. We also highly encourage you to get vaccinated!

Out

I know this may come to a shock for most of you, but Matt and I are gay! There we said it, what a huge relief! We have a lot of opinions and would like to keep our food blog focused on our favorite passion together. However as a Same-Sex married couple we want to also express our opinions, views and thoughts about being Gay in the South, USA and abroad.