The Queer Nomads Chat About London, Nicki Minaj, and Queer Joy

We had an amazing chat with Lexie and Aisha Shaibu-Lenoir. Our conversation was almost an hour long and we covered a lot. In this part of the interview, Lexie and Aisha explain why they only travel or live their lives to satisfy their queer joy! They also offer a few recommendations about what LGBTQ+ travelers should see and do when visiting London. And we also discuss which half of the traveling duo is a Barbz, or a huge Nicki Minaj fan. 

Editor’s Note: Make sure you check out the first part of our interview which covers why these queer women are trying to work with businesses in the travel industry to adequately represent everyone in the LGBTQ+ community.

Kwin Mosby: What would you recommend LGBTQ+ tourists see or do if it’s they’re visiting London for the first time?

Lexie Shaibu-Lenoir: So many things. I’m going to let the queen of the night answer this one. 

Kwin: Okay, Whitney. [laughs]

Lexie: [laughs] Basically. Yeah. I’m going to let the extrovert talk.

Aisha: Yes, I am out in and about, and I know what’s going on … social stuff. When I started running Moonlight Experiences, the idea was to provide information and to be able to take people out to showcase the diversity, culture, businesses, and incredible things that people often miss, things that are away from the commercial areas of London and other cities. 

So for me, when somebody comes to London, it’s about taking them to poetry nights, voguing nights; things that they probably might miss, and things that actually make them feel like they’re part of the community. 
 So, particular club nights that are inclusive whether it’s a Black night, queer, nonbinary, or trans. Something that has performers giving you the essence of what it feels like to be queer in London. I would direct them to big festivals like UK Black Pride – because we are both part of UK Black Pride – and events like Trans Pride and movements that support the community. T

It’s important to be aware of them [events/festivals] because when you’re not aware of anything like that in a city, you often feel that the gay community can be quite commercial but also doesn’t have depth in terms of our history and narrative. And too often, those narratives are given by predominantly white gay men. So we’re just trying to disrupt that.

Kwin: It’s always great to find those hidden safe spots that don’t we don’t hear about. So, that’s awesome! Moving on to navigating the world outside of London… just curious, but how would you describe your travel style in three words?

Lexie: I’ll let you [looks at Aisha] give my travel style.

Aisha: And then you give mine?

Lexie: Yeah.

Aisha: For Lexi, her travel style is luxury. It’s nice to look after yourself too. So luxury, chilled, and food. 

Lexi: Yes. And I would say the same for you [Aisha] in terms of food. I would say adventure, and you always want to find someone to chat with.

Aisha: What’s the word?

Lexi: Chatting Kathy?

Aisha: That’s not my travel style.

Lexi: You’re really inquisitive. You like to chat with people and find out their stories, what they like to eat, what they like to do.

KM: Yeah, I think that’s curious.

Aisha: Even when we travel and everything we do together, it’s about creating connections and bonds. That’s how we can network and understand the world better. I find it very difficult especially as a Black community even with loads of artists I work with because they don’t talk to each other, and we end up missing out.

Lexie: Not everything is on the phone. Even I will make the effort to talk to people. I’m very introverted, but I still like to connect with people. And there’s a lot of people we’ve met on our travels that we are still friends with because we’ve done a few cruises as well, and we’ve brought friends and stuff like that. So we meet people and fellow travel influencers as well, people who go to, like, IGLTA, for example. They are there every year and we see them every year. We see some of them more than our friends here because some come to visit us. It’s nice to make friends with people and all of them have a story.

Aisha: And you can learn from each other. As we travel together, I think we tend to focus more on queer joy. You can travel to get queer joy. You can take time off. 

Lexie: You’re allowed to do it because you’re going through so much in life. There’s so much happening that you have to find the time for queer joy to celebrate yourself.  Go for a massage, go for a chat, for a walk, for anything that you find joy in because you never know when that can be taken away from you. 

You have to find your joy. It’s important. It’s good for your mental health and your well-being. You know being privileged enough to go to these different places and eat the food there; that’s what makes us really happy. Here in London, we don’t come out of our house only for networking events and stuff. Friends have different things going on in their lives as well, so we don’t necessarily see them often. So you’ve got to find your joy and joy for us is within travel.

Kwin: Speaking of joy. What are your three favorite places to visit and why?

Aisha: I’ll say Ghana because my family is from there and I really have loads of lovely childhood memories of going there during the summer holidays. Vietnam because that’s where we got engaged. We got engaged just before the whole lockdown began. So in 2020, we were in Vietnam and lucky enough to finish our holiday before the lockdown happened. We returned a day before and then everything was in lockdown. And then I would say the last one is Bali. I went at a very young age, and it was one of those places where you can solo travel easily and really discover and reset who you are. It’s a place that can teach you so much. So I have good memories of Bali.

Lexi: Yeah. So for me, obviously, Guadeloupe because it’s where my family is from … the French Caribbean. And then Vietnam because we got engaged there. And I think number three would be New York and Stockholm. I can’t choose. 

Kwin: So, if those are the places that you love to visit, what are the three places on your bucket list that you haven’t been to that you want to visit?

Lexi: South Africa, Jordan, and Japan.

Aisha: We’ll be heading to Japan this year for IGLTA.  So, yeah, we’re hoping to take a few things off our bucket list. And Lexi hasn’t been to Ghana yet, and I haven’t been to Guadeloupe. It’s somewhere that we want to go as well to explore together. We’ve only ever been there separately.

Kwin: What’s one thing you never forget to pack in your suitcase when you’re traveling?

Aisha: Chargers. You can’t forget them even though you can always purchase them.

Lexie: Yeah. And also, we have our skin routine and stuff like that. So, a good toiletry bag. 

Aisha: I think if I have a toiletry bag and my phone. When I get to chill is the best time to read a book. I think I’ll be okay. 

Kwin: So you’re on a road trip or a long-haul flight. What singer or band is always on your playlist?

Aisha: Let me say hers. It’s just Nikki. Nicki Minaj. She’s a whole bop…. a militant bop.

Lexie: I wouldn’t say militant.

Aisha: I would say militant. But I’m now married to Lexi. So I am now a fan by marriage.  

Lexie: On long-haul flights to be fair, I like to listen to music a bit, but mostly I sleep. Yeah. To be fair, I wake up for the food and then I’ll go back to sleep. I don’t really watch movies, but I wish I could. There’s something in the air pressure that makes me sleep.

Aisha: Sometimes Lexie is asleep before we take off. We’re just parked.

Kwin:  I’m with you. I can sleep at the drop of a hat. So, Nicki Minaj would be on your list too, Aisha?

Aisha: Yeah … by marriage. 

Lexi: But this brings us back to the joy element, like, Nick Minaj gives me joy. She’s a powerful woman. She has talent. She’s skilled. She talks however she wants to talk. She says whatever she wants to say, and she’s unapologetically herself. Which is one thing I like about her. 

Do you know what I mean? I don’t know too much about her personal life and stuff, but I just like what I see. She’s a bad bitch. I like a bad bitch.

Want to know more about The Queer Nomads? You can also for Lexie and Aisha Shaibu-Lenoir on Instagram and X (Twitter)! Again, be sure to check out more about the travel activists in the first part of our interview for our February 2024 digital front cover!