Position Vacant: Wingman

The prospect of having to travel internationally was one of the major factors I looked for in a job after I graduated from uni. I love travelling and visiting new places. I’ve done reasonably well so far in my travels having visited 22 countries around the world. I hope to make it 30 before I reach 30 (though quite how anyone will know, because I never intend to admit being thirty, I’m not quite sure).

The sad truth of it though is that travelling for work is not the same as travelling for pleasure. I get one day a week off here, and the rest of the time I’m working 11 hour days.

I’m staying in a pretty plush hotel, and everything is on expenses… I’ve developed a taste for Tanqueray & Tonic. I’m eating my dinner in a different posh restaurant every night too.

But it all gets pretty damn boring when you’re on your own, and there’s only so much posh restaurant food you can eat before you start craving something more normal.

As  much as I may think I’m quite happy with my own company, exploring a new place is always more fun when you do it with someone.

Take last night for example…

There’s a very big gay district in this city, (it’s called Chueca), and last night I decided to take myself to look around for a few hours with the intention of maybe having a couple of beers in one of the local gay bars.

Well, it would have been a lot of fun if I’d been here with a gay friend, but as a single guy walking around not speaking much of the local lingo,  I felt a bit out of it.

I have an pathological aversion to going to bars on my own, I just don’t quite know what to do with myself… do I stand at the bar and drink myself into a stupor talking to the barman… or walk around hitting on interesting looking guys… or do I wait and see if anyone comes over to talk to me? To put it bluntly, I just don’t do bars on my own – everyone needs a wingman…

Walking around Chueca was a new experience though…

There was a real party atmosphere to the place (it was a Saturday night after-all) and there were lots of people around. Lot’s of very pretty (and some not so pretty) gays.

But there was also a sleazier side…

According to my guide book, a lot of the bars had darkrooms…

Aside: A small confession – when I first heard of darkrooms a few years ago, I was surprised that they weren’t the same as the darkrooms I’d used at school for developing photos!

There were saunas, underwear shops & I think I saw clubs that cater for almost every flavour of gay there is!

Each time I saw another sign for a sauna, I couldn’t help but remember Bobby’s posts about what goes on inside and wondering whether they are the same the world over… but at the same time having no desire to go in an find out!

In the end, I didn’t go into any of them… Far too intimidating without a wingman.

And that friends is the worst part of travelling alone. I need to find me some new travel buddies for my next personal holiday… wherever that might take me.

Ohh and just for the hell of it… The ultimate homoerotic movie scene with lots of wingmen!