Greetings from Bangkok, Thailand! I am here soaking up the local transgender / crossdressing culture.
As you might know, Thailand is considered the transgender capital of the world. The “third gender” is an accepted part of Thai society, making it a haven for transgender people. It’s been wonderfully refreshing to witness.
Here are a few highlights from my trip:
Thailand is a shopper’s paradise with bargains galore.
Shrine in front of a Bangkok shopping mall.
Let’s Talk Travel!
If you’re seeking your next fabulous en femme getaway, look no further than Thailand! But even if you stay closer to home, traveling is the perfect opportunity to unleash your feminine self away from the routine and expectations of home.
Here are 3 great benefits of traveling for crossdressers and transgender women:
1. Traveling gives you an opportunity to reinvent yourself
Nobody knows you and nobody will ever see you again, so you can literally be whoever you want to be.
2. Traveling is the ultimate rut buster
Does life feel like the same old, same old? Traveling exposes you to new experiences and gives you a fresh perspective on life. (And who can’t use that?)
3. Traveling teaches you to go with the flow
Most trips (like your own male to female journey) are full of unexpected surprises. Traveling teaches you to go with the flow – and enjoy the experience.
Do you travel en femme?
I’d love to hear about your en femme travel adventures (or travel dreams), so please share them with me in the comments section below!
Love,
Lucille
Okay Lucille, You’ve talked me into going. Think I’d like to check out Costa Rica too. I love your picture with the kathoey performers and confess to saving a copy on my computer. I try to be a good girl but when temptation comes I just give right in especially when shopping. Thank you for your recent sale of the “Stepping Out Secrets” program. I bought a copy and have a lot of study and work yet to do but it certainly is the most comprehensive feminization guide I’ve ever seen. You deserve a big round of applause and a gold medal for the accomplishment.
With love and hugs all around,
Shirley
Awww, thank you so much Shirley! You totally brightened my weary, jet-lagged day! 🙂
You will LOVE Thailand! Go for it, girl!
Love,
Lucille
Hi Lucille, from the picture it looks like you need higher heels……….LOL………Lovely to hear you’re having a great time…….XXXX
I have been traveling for many years, mostly by car, train, or bus…it is not worth the effort to travel by air for me as my identification, credit cards, passport, etc, are all have me as male and gettiing into basic gender explanations with random TSA agents, flight attendants, customs, etc, take away from the trip itself. Too many permanent negative memories can make you not want to travel
My best advice is, know who you are, why you are traveling, and where you will be going.
Know who you are…a crossdresser or a tranvestite traveling for pleasure, fun, or excitement, do what you want to enjoy the experience. Remember, your male self is just a bar of soap away so take the experience as far as you feel comfortable and safe with.
Transgender people like me, traveling may include a business trip, relocating, job hunting, etc. TG’s if you have reached the point in life where you travel for more than pleasure, good for you as you are who you are, and living as best you can to be you. Your male self is gone except on paper, so walk with the respect and dignity of a real woman…as that is who you are no matter what
Why you are traveling…be sure to understand if it is fun, adventure, excitement, do your best to have fun, adventure, and excitement. If it is a business trip, then be sure to take care of your business. The worst thing is to go some place and return wishing you had done this or tried that. Life is too short and sometimes we don’t a second chance. For me, it was playing in a woman’s golf tournament for charity in Las Vegas. I almost backed out as being the only transgender in a field of over 100 women was intimidating to me, but I went all that way for something I really wanted to experience…so I did it. I didn’t play well at all, but I had some of the best memories of my life as a female, and made friends I never would have made had I not stayed true to myself.
Lastly, know where you are…there are places where men dressed as women are not as accepted as we wish they were. Society has positive and negative influences, and sometimes challenging the negative is not best. Some of us have had moments where safety and security is an issue, and being far away from home is a realistic concern. Plan travel well to avoid that hotel room, job interview, or social event, that is in a bad part of town where getting around alone for a woman or a TG would not be recommended. The worst memories in my life were being places I should not have been…so plan as best you can.
Take care, enjoy life, and travel well friends 🙂
Cris
Hi Lucille,
I know what you are talking about as I have been living in Bangkok for a long time. I love it here and love the Thai’s refreshing attitudes to crossdressers. The attached photo shows me beside the Jao Prayaa river last July.
Best wishes,
Martina
Thanks Lucille. Agree about the place, the people and the shopping. The dress in the photo is from Platinum Fashion Mall and cost around $10. Here is another dress from the same place, also $10. A girl can’t go wrong here.
Best wishes,
Martina
Hi Martina,
That is wonderful! I can see why you love living in Bangkok. I just loved the energy of the city and found the Thai people to be so kind and respectful. (And the shopping? Don’t get me started, lol!) I’m already thinking about my next trip back! 🙂
Love,
Lucille
I have traveled a lot. A few times I have tried traveling en-femme but I have always had trouble at passport control when it says male in your passport and you don’t look like your photo
I have learned that the cost for GRS in Thailand is less and have 2 friends who have gone with fabulous results. I have been saving in our bad economy to go for my GRS in Thailand. Recently I was given all the Ok’s to complete my dream and journey.
I have been to Brazil which I have been told is much more dangerous than Thailand. WIth luck next year I hope to begin my new journey. The goal is October my birthday month !
Peace Love & Light to ALL.
I’ve never traveled en femme before but have had many adventures just getting about town. There was a time when I had to walk or take the bus to get around. I loved to wear high heels. I went too far once and my heels turned against me. It was alright walking out but on the way back my feet got warm and slid down into the shoe and soon I had a bit of pain around my toes. It was not long before I had acquired a bit of a limp. Home seemed to get farther away. Don’t worry I was saved when a car pulled up beside me and I was offered a ride home; yes there are gentlemen sometimes when you need them. I do not recommend taking rides from strangers especially en femme but this was an extenuating circumstance and it was a blessing in disguise. I was delivered safely home with, thank goodness, with no one the wiser. I would love to travel and dress up all the time and be know as a lady and maybe, hopefully I will some day. For now though I will just have to use my imagination.
In September 2010, I traveled in France for three weeks with my 29 year old son. The only thing about the trip that was planned was the flight and from Paris. For the most part, I was in guy mode. However, I had packed one dress, one wig, and some makeup and had planned to go out en femme at least once. But I knew that timing was going to be everything, because the fact that I cross dress was a secret from my entire family (and for the most part, still is).
Shortly after arriving in Paris, we decided to take the high-speed train to Avignon. From there we went to Montpellier and then left for Nimes. Because we had not made any advance plans, in each city we went to the tourist office for help in finding a hotel to stay. When we arrived in Montpellier, it was the week before the university students started and every room was taken and every car was rented while the students looked for a pace stay during the school term. But, the tourist office found us a great place to stay that was close to the tramway that encircles the old part of the city. while we were in Montpellier, I went shopping for glasses frames with my son. I was looking for a particular brand of frames and knew that there was only one shop in the city that carried them. My son was amused that I tried on only women’s glasses, which confused the optician, who would constantly exclaim that I was trying on a lady’s frame. My son was amused by this, and joined me in telling the optician that was what I wanted. He was impressed when I finally got the optician to understand that I knew I was looking only at ladies’ frames, that I wanted to buy a lady’s frame, and I did buy one.
When we arrived in Nimes, we hit it on the first day of of one of its largest ferias. Once again the tourist office came through for us by finding a room in a hotel directly across the street form the Roman amphitheater where bullfights were being held during the ferias. The second night we were there, my son wanted to do a “pub crawl” by stopping and having a drink at as many of the food festival booths that we could. After a couple of hours and about ten drinks, a young French woman heard us speaking English and started speaking with us. I could see that my son and the young woman were interested in one another, so I discretely slipped away, telling my son I was tired and it was time for bed.
As soon as I got back to the hotel, I put on some makeup, donned the wig and dress, and went back outside to enjoy the festival. After a couple of hours of wandering around taking in the sights, I went back to the hotel, hit the bed still en femme and immediately fell asleep. About 4 in the morning my son returned and dropped into bed not knowing he had roused me. By that point, I had become so warm while sleeping that I had completely soaked the dress. So, I hung it up in the balcony entry way so the slight breeze could dry it, put my wig away, washed off the makeup and went back to sleep. In the morning, I awoke about the same time as my son. He immediately noticed the dress and asked about it. So, the great revelation was made. While I was somewhat concerned about how he would take it, he was very accepting, though I could tell he was a bit bothered by it.
Over the next week of our travels, I never went out en femme, but I did take the opportunity to shop for women’s clothing with my son. He was a real trooper the entire time and got to the poi t where he would even ask me about what i thought of a dress in a shop window and sometimes encouraged me to go inside and check it out.
This pattern continued once we arrived in Paris. But after being there a couple of days, I decided that it was time to go out on the town with my son en femme. That afternoon, I went to a salon and had a manicure and a pedicure, where I got colored nail polish. That amused the esthetician. After dinner, I put on some makeup, donned the dress and wig and went out with my son. We first went to a bar near where we were staying and had a drink. Then we started walking around the 6th Arondissement. We hit several landmarks,including the Pantheon and the building that housed Paris’ first law school. At each stop, I had my son take photographs. It was one of the highlights of the trip for me.
One of the two most important things my trip to France did for me was to give me the gumption to break the ice with my two other children upon our return about my cross dressing. Since that time, they have each accompanied me while I have been en femme, and they have grown accustomed to seeing me en femme. The other important thing the trip did for me was embolden me to go out en femme more often and to take in the many activities I enjoy doing in guy mode while en femme. The result of those two things is that I now feel as natural in my “girl’s skin” as I do in my “guy’s skin” and I know that my trip to France played a major role in getting me to step out of my shell into the wonderful world of transgendered women.
Good trip Iris, I live in Nîmes and I am soften in femme in this city .