Yahoo News How This Gay Couple Turned Their Love Of Travel Into A Meaningful Side Hustle
Michael Lindsay (left) and Matthew Schueller are the co-founders of Michael & Matt, a popular LGBTQ travel blog. (Photo: Christopher Rice)
Travel isn’t just a pastime for Michael Lindsay and Matthew Schueller, it’s also a bedrock of their relationship and, as it turns out, a fruitful side hustle.
Lindsay, 33, and Schueller, 30, are co-founders of the popular LGBTQ travel blog Michael & Matt, where they share quirky and insightful takes on their globetrotting adventures, as seen from the perspective of a same-sex couple.
The Portland, Oregon-based pair have also garnered a devoted following on Instagram and TikTok, among other social media platforms, all of which they hope will provide a collective platform for young LGBTQ people to not only feel seen but also encouraged to embark on excursions of their own.
“I think people being visible online was so important for us in seeing ourselves reflected,” Lindsay, a dentist, told HuffPost. “That’s the reason why we do what we do because there’s a need for it.”
The couple began their years-long journey to matrimony in 2014, when they met up in Seattle after establishing a thoughtful (and flirtatious) rapport online.
At the time of that in-person meet-cute, Schueller was a physiology student at Seattle Pacific University while Lindsay was studying dentistry in Lincoln, Nebraska. After Schueller shared his coming-out story on YouTube, Lindsay filmed a video in response in which he, too, opened up about his experience coming to terms with his true self as a gay man.
Watch a clip from Lindsay and Schueller’s 2018 wedding below.
The two men soon began corresponding regularly, and before long, Lindsay was scraping together cash for a plane ticket to Seattle, where a full-blown romance blossomed. Shortly thereafter, they began sharing their love story in joint posts on social media, and in 2018 they were married.
That same year, Michael & Matt made its official debut, with the aim of offering thoughtful tips for LGBTQ travelers imbued with heart and humor. Since then, it’s grown to include anecdotes about their experiences with new homeownership and, if all goes according to plan, future parenthood.
As their family grows and they continue to settle into domestic life, Lindsay and Schueller say they’ll look for new and creative ways to keep up with their travels. No doubt audiences will remain eager to follow along on virtual escapes to exotic locales, particularly as real-life travel continues to present other challenges.
“The way I see it, our relationship started with travel, because Michael traveled out to Seattle to see me,” said Schueller, now a registered nurse. “Our first foundational experiences together were all based around travel. I think travel is always going to be a major part of our platform.”
Added Lindsay: “The weird and ever-evolving political climate affects us all in different ways. But if we continue sharing our lives online ― especially as we’re trying to raise kids ― more people will understand the things that we, and the rest of the LGBTQ community, go through.”
With summer 2022 in full swing, HuffPost asked Lindsay and Schueller for their top recommendations for off-the-radar destinations that are safe and inclusive for LGBTQ travelers.
Here’s what they had to say:
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
