Catuk, 45

Where are you from?
I'm from Barcelona, but I'm living in London. It suits me a lot better — I like the energy. It's clean. It's anonymous.

How long have you been traveling?
I came to Bangkok some time last week.

What's your relationship status?
Single. When I'm home in London, I don't go out that much. I do have friends, and I meet people occasionally, but when I travel is when I have little relationships. Inviting a person to your home is more compromising. When you travel, you're in a hostel, you have a relationship for a few days. It's a different kind of freedom. It's easier.

What are you attracted to?
Obviously, I have to be visually attracted to her. Also, she has to be someone I can have a conversation with. We have to speak the same language.

Tell me about your travel romances.
I met this Thai girl who was absolutely stunning. She worked in this French restaurant not far from here. She had a big face, lovely eyes, dark skin. One day we went out for a drink, and I couldn't get over how stunning she was. It was a dream come true. You never know what's going to happen, but three hours later we were in bed together. She was smart — she had a degree in economics. When we met, I only had two days left here. But we kept in touch and we met again to go traveling. What happens with Thai girls is that they really want to get out of this country, and I had to be honest with her and tell her it wasn't my intention to take her with me. We split. Funnily enough, a year later she met a German guy and now she's living in Munich. I only know this because of the restaurant. The girl, Mimi, doesn't want anything to do with me, because she was really mad about how things ended. But the owner of the restaurant showed me her wedding pictures and her baby pictures.

Any crazy hookup stories?
Recently, no, probably because I'm getting older. But when I was younger, I had sex in a pub in Barcelona. And I remember with Mimi, she wanted to have sex all the time. The first time was crazy — we had sex five times in a row. But then she wanted that every single day. I couldn't keep up!

Any major fantasies?
Depending on the girl, once you are in the privacy of a room, you might like something that you might not like with another girl. I like anal sex. It's... wow. Normally what I do when we get into a room is have a shower, so we're nice and clean. Just to see a girl naked and brushing her teeth can arouse me. Her just doing her thing, walking around.

How does your upbringing influence your views on sex and sexuality?
I was born in Catalan, and there was a dictatorship. It's a very Catholic country. So it's very restrictive. I didn't learn from my parents. They could only joke about things.

Gabriel, 21

Where are you from?
Munich, in Germany.

What's your relationship status?
Single.

Any crazy hookup stories from while you've been traveling?
There was a girl I met in a club. Normally, when you meet, you talk, drink, dance. I brought her to my hotel, and we had sex. And then afterwards, she wanted money. I didn't know she was a prostitute, so it was really hard. I didn't want to pay for sexual services. It ended up really badly.

Did you end up paying?
Yeah, I had to, because she said she was calling this Muay Thai fighter.

Do you have any crazy ex-girlfriends?
Yes. I think for some relationships, it's only a matter of time before you begin to act crazy. There can be too little distance.

What's the dating scene like in Munich?
I think German girls are like princesses. They are very traditional. When you're the boy, you have to go and buy all the drinks in the bar. But I was living in Mexico, and it was totally the opposite. When you're the boy you're the shy one, and the girl is the one who approaches and says, "Let's go dancing."

Some guys tell me that after they go home with a girl and they have sex after their first time, they don't see the girl as dating material anymore. Do you agree?
Normally, if I can have sex with a girl on the first night, I find her too easy and I don't want to date her. But interestingly, with my last girlfriend who I had a relationship with for the last three years, we had sex on the first night.

How did you guys meet?
I work in a bar in Germany. She was my customer.

Have you had a lot of long-term relationships?
When I was younger, I had a few one-night stands. Then I had a lot of relationships. Now I like something in between. I take a girl out to dinner, we hang out, but it's nothing too serious.

Why do you prefer this arrangement to just hookups or a relationship?
I think a girl needs to be very special. In Germany, a lot of girls are too materialistic.

A lot of the German girls I met are less materialistic than American girls.
That could be true. I live in Munich — it's a conservative place, and also the richest in Germany. So that makes it different.

At the bar, do you give them free drinks?
Yeah, sometimes. But I hate when they assume it. Sometimes, I'm flirting with a girl, and she'll say, "I'll have this drink," and it's not cool. When I invite somebody, I make it clear. I'll always pay in a restaurant. That's how I was raised. When you meet a girl and you're just flirting a bit, you don't have to pay for her drink. I'm not macho. I like things equal, but I also like things old-school.

What are qualities you're attracted to in a girl?
I like the weird girls. The ones who are interested in art or music, or who work in a kindergarden, or in a garden. There are a lot of boys who like the bad ones, but for me it's the opposite.

A lot of girls are attracted to the bad boys as well.
I feel that too. When I do some push-pull — give them a compliment and then push them away — girls like it more. But I don't like doing it.

What do you do to impress girls?
I have a good trick — I play guitar and violin. When a girl is in my place, I play something nice, as an icebreaker. Afterwards, it's much easier.

Maria, 36

Where are you from?
Aarhus, in Denmark. It's our second largest city.

Are you traveling alone?
At the moment, but I'm going to join up with my family in Australia for my mum's birthday.

What's your relationship status?
I'm married — five years. It's going well.

I've heard of the three-year hump, where after three years you have to change things up. Is that true?
No, we change things all the time. We have to adapt. In high school, we dated. Then we went our separate ways for ten years. Then there was a Christmas dinner my family has every year, and we went from there. We knew right away we were going to get back together. He's easy-going, and he likes to travel. We travel well together. We got married in Hawaii. I always said from the beginning, if I ever get married it will be in Hawaii... just the two of us. We traveled around the islands for our honeymoon.

Did you have any other intense romances before your husbands?
A couple serious boyfriends.

What are your plans for the future?
No kids. We'd like to live abroad for a few years after we've sold our house. Maybe Australia or South America for a few years.

Do you have any advice for couples to help sustain a relationship?
Make room for each other. If you want to do something, you do that, and let the other person do whatever they want to do. That works for us, anyway. Marriage isn't as bad as people say!

Do you spend a lot of time apart then?
Not in everyday life, but when I go traveling we can be apart for long periods of time. We text each other ever day. We never speak on the phone — I hate the phone. Sometimes we write emails.

What was your first time like?
The first boyfriend I ever had, we had sex for the first time in this very place.

Right here in Bangkok! Does that bring back weird memories?
No, not all. It's fun being back. I thought about contacting him, but I don't know. He doesn't have Facebook.

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