Vacationers of the Week: Roxanne Weijer and Maartje Hensen

You may know Roxanne Weijer and Maartje Hensen from their blog website and travels captured on Instagram (@onceuponajourney). These ladies were born in the Netherlands. Roxanne, 28, is from a small town in the middle of the Netherlands, called Eemnes. And Maartje, 26, was born in the South in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, but at the age of 5, moved to Heerhugowaard, which is located in the northern region of the Netherlands.

Together for almost eight years, Roxanne and Maartje currently live in Amsterdam after years of living as nomads before the global pandemic, which also sidelined their plans to get married. But these coupled content creators aren’t in a rush to tie the knot or to see every country in the world. They just want to enjoy every moment together as they travel the globe. 

We caught up with Roxanne and Maartje to ask what advice they would give lesbian couples who travel, how they define their travel style, what’s one thing they always look for when visiting new places, what Whitney Houston song is always on their music playlist, and more. But first, we start our Q&A by asking them about their current hometown.

Vacationer Magazine: What are three authentic travel experiences LGBTQ+ travelers should do when visiting Amsterdam?

Roxanne Weijer & Maartje Hensen: Amsterdam is the best! It’s a welcoming city, and we love it here. If you know how to ride a bicycle, definitely explore the city on a bike. That’s the way locals get around the city, so you will see many people biking around. 

To all queer women reading this: visit the lesbian bar, Bar Buka. It’s Amsterdam’s only lesbian bar and with many lesbian bars around the world are disappearing, it’s a must-visit! Plus, it’s a fun place too.

And something we love in Amsterdam is visiting the NDSM werf (wharf) in Amsterdam Noord. It’s a cool place with lots of street art, fun restaurants, and depending on when you visit, you can go to the largest flea market in Europe here. To get here, you can hop on a free ferry from Amsterdam central station, which is already a fun experience itself. 

At what age did you receive your first passport? What was your first trip?

Roxanne: Dutch people love to travel! When we were younger, we both went camping abroad with family. To France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, and Italy for example.

But when we talk about flying and getting a passport, I went flying for the first time to Turkey at 10 years old. And the second trip further away was to Egypt!

Maartje had her first airplane ride on a trip to Ethiopia at the age of 9.

What trip or travel experience sparked your passion for travel? 

Roxanne: Traveling was, and is, a big thing in my family! My big brother went on a long backpacking trip to South America when I was still very young, and I was so impressed. Naturally, I wanted to do that too! My dad and stepmom took me on a trip to Thailand afterward, and I loved every second of it. I fell in love with traveling and Asia and knew I wanted to travel the world like my brother too.

When I finished high school, I worked for half a year to save up as much money as possible. And after 6 months I left the Netherlands for six months to travel to Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. It was a trip to never forget. I was just 18 years old and absolutely loved the adventures I had with a friend. 

Maartje: I think traveling in Europe when I was a teenager was what sparked my passion for traveling, or at least my passion for documenting my travels. I rarely went abroad with my family, but I joined a friend and her family and traveled to Italy. I wanted to capture everything for my family back home.

But the one trip that changed everything, was my study abroad in the United States. It was my first big solo trip overseas, and it only fed my hunger to travel more.

What inspires you to travel?

Maartje: I’ve always had a strange but strong feeling about ‘needing’ to travel, from a young age. And I didn’t have the extensive travel experiences as a young child like Rox had. I find traveling incredibly enriching and humbling. 

Learning so many new things and speaking to people from all over the world – has always fascinated me. I have a restlessness in me, a hunger to learn and to be stimulated in a way that only travel does. 

I also believe that travel can make you a more understanding person if you’re open to learning.

Please tell us how you identify yourself on the LGBTQIA spectrum. Tell us if how you identify influences the way you travel.

Roxanne: I’m a lesbian. And traveling together as a girl couple is definitely different from traveling with a female friend – what I did when I was 18 years old. Safety is always important. 

Before traveling to certain countries we check the laws for example. What are the laws in certain countries? Can we walk hand in hand, or is it better to act like we’re ‘just friends’? 

There’s absolutely extra preparation necessary before going on a trip.

Maartje: I find that the label ‘queer’ resonates with me best, but if I have to get more specific, I am bisexual. As I’m currently in a wlw (woman-loving-woman) relationship, I experience travel differently than when I would if I’d travel with a non-binary or male partner.

Like Rox mentioned, we check the LGBT+ laws. But as women, we are also always thinking about basic female/non-male safety guidelines.

People will always perceive us as white, tall, blonde, European women first. It’s a privilege to be able to ‘hide’ our relationship if necessary for safety. That can be different for other queer people.

Is there a travel destination that most queer travelers would think isn’t safe to visit, but you’ve visited and enjoyed it? If so, where? 

We believe boycotting a country is not helpful because there are LGBTQ+ people everywhere around the world. And if we, queer travelers, boycott certain countries it definitely won’t help them!

We’ve traveled to some countries that aren’t LGBTQ+ friendly, but we also understand that that’s not for everyone.

If you go on a lesbian honeymoon, for example, you probably want to go to a country where you can be yourself, and where you don’t need to worry about the fact that you get weird questions about if you are sisters, really want that one double bed, or need to worry about your safety.

Safety is so important and varies for each person. What’s safe for us, cis white female travelers, might not be safe for someone else.

Traveling to Russia by Trans Mongolian Railway was an experience we’ll never forget. We saw the most amazing places and wouldn’t have missed a second of it. Though, it’s also a place where we thought it would be best to pretend to be ‘just friends’ – so we did.

How long have you been traveling together? What was your first trip together? Would you recommend it to other LGBTQ+ travelers?

Traveling was already a part of our relationship from the beginning! When we started dating, we went on smaller city trips around Europe – to Dublin and Paris, for example. And our very first trip was to Rome! It was one of the best trips we’ve ever done!

While Italy doesn’t have the best LGBTQ+ laws in Europe (same-sex marriage is still not possible in Italy), we do always love traveling in Italy.

Was it easy traveling with one another at the beginning of your journey together? Why or why not? What are the perks of traveling as a couple?

Maartje: It was smooth from the start! Communication is key while traveling. We are well-attuned to each other and complement each other in many ways, which is great for traveling!

The advantage of traveling as a couple is that you’re always together and have someone to rely on if things don’t go according to plan. It’s one of the fun things about travel: you have to expect the unexpected. But this can also be stressful. Rox isn’t great at handling those situations, but that’s where I take over. Rox on the other hand is great at planning and keeping things organized!

Over time, we’ve found a balance in things. For example, I research all the spots we want to go to and Rox plans the flights, stays, and schedule.

How would you describe your travel style?

When we started to travel the world full time and fully nomadic in 2017, our travel style was a lot different from what it is now. Back then, we traveled on a lower budget, went Couchsurfing a lot, and took our time everywhere we went.

Now, we do shorter trips and like some luxury now and then too. But we are still travelers that love visiting cities, are adventurous, want to learn about new cultures, try different foods, and meet (local) people.

And everywhere we go, we try to meet the local LGBTQ+ community, and support gay-owned places. Like we said earlier, more and more lesbian bars around the world are disappearing, so when we go somewhere and there’s a lesbian bar, we want to go there.

What’s one piece of travel advice would you give to other women or LGBTQ+ couples who want to travel the world?

Go for it! Navigating the world as a queer woman is not always easy and traveling while queer is no different. In terms of safety, there is a lot more to think about than other cishet (cisgender and straight) travelers.

But it’s so worth it. If you are scared to go and explore the world, go for countries that are very welcoming and have supportive laws, like the Netherlands.

Traveling is inspiring and will enrich you as a person! And if you are looking for tips on how to travel as safely as possible as a queer female traveler, see our lesbian travel guide!

What’s are your top three favorite places to visit? Why?

Thailand, Mexico, and Taiwan! And if we can add one more, it’s Iceland! We’ve visited Thailand and Mexico multiple times now and love how diverse the countries are. You can visit the most beautiful beaches in both Thailand and Mexico, go hiking in the mountains, head to jungles, and explore fantastic cities and little towns. Plus, we love the food and people in both countries.

Taiwan is a place that really surprised us. We didn’t visit Taiwan with many expectations, but we fell in love. And we were also so surprised at how welcoming Taiwan is. Back then, same-sex marriage wasn’t legal yet, but we could already see the signs of acceptance in society.

Walking around Taipei, we saw multiple same-sex couples walking hand in hand, something we haven’t seen much anywhere else in Asia.

And Iceland is simply one of the most beautiful countries in the world, nature-wise! Plus, it’s super welcoming, and in Reykjavík, you’ll find a fun LGBTQ+ bar called Kíkí Queer Bar.

What three places are still on your bucket list to visit? Why?

We really, really want to go to South America, as we’ve never been and really want to! And we hope to visit Malta this year. Malta is always at the top of lists with LGBTQ+ friendly places, so we want to see it ourselves. And Cappadocia in Turkey, simply because it always looks so magical in pictures.

What’s one thing you never forget to pack in your suitcase?

Roxanne: To be honest, I can travel with very few things! But one thing that we really love to bring is a power strip, that way we can always easily charge the electronics we bring.

Maartje: My camera bag is always most important! I can’t travel without it. I love taking pictures everywhere I go.

You’re going on a road trip. What singer or band is always on your playlist?

Maartje: Rox always loves listening to Taylor Swift! But our go-to song would probably be ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ from Whitney Houston – that’s our song!