Backpacking & masturbation

I just tried Googling "backpacking and female masturbation," but didn't find much. I wanted information on the challenges of masturbating while backpacking and female, and to find strategies for how to sneak in what self-nookie you can. I *did* find a rather entertaining and insightful blog post about male masturbation while backpacking. There wasn't much on that topic either, though.

Then I thought, well, why not just post about travelling and female masturbation myself?

A few years ago I went on a backpacking trip for a month and a half. At that point I had backpacked across Canada, but I had never been outside of North America. Before I left for my trip, I asked a friend with a lot of travel experience: what do about masturbating? At that point I was doing it almost every day. My friend told me not to worry, that I'll be so busy doing exciting new things that I won't think about it at all.

Boy. Was. She. Ever. Wrong.

The urgency of my sex drive did NOT change, and I found myself in hostels and on trains with next-to-no privacy and a really, really itchy clit. How did I manage for those 6 weeks?

- I put a towel on the floor of single bathrooms in my hostels and just went at it (quickly, no time for leisure here)

- While travelling briefly with a friend and staying in the same hotel rooms, I took advantage of the few minutes she was in the shower

- Again travelling with that friend, a couple of days I begged off and stayed in the hotel room while she went to a museum. I took advantage of my privacy and was leisurely and loud. Glorious!

- One night I couldn't find a hostel and had to rent a hotel room. Again, I took advantage of my privacy.

- Beyond that, I just crossed my legs and waited it out. It was fucking hard.

I was sorely (hah) tempted to try masturbating in my hostel room during the day while people were out, but I was scared of someone walking in. I think *one* time I did sneak a quicky in, but I was so nervous I didn't enjoy it much.

Recently I watched a great backpacking documentary called A Map for Saturday. At one point it talked about sex in hostels, and shared the tip (which I knew about for sleeping, but not for sex!) of putting sheets around the lower bunk so you're tented in before you go at it. I might try that next time -- if the room is empty when I start (and I have lots of sheets, of course), at least if someone were to walk in at least there would be a bit of modesty.

What brings me back to this question of how to manage to masturbate while travelling is the fact that I'm considering long-term travel again (much longer this time!), and I know this will be a issue for me. My sex drive has diminished a bit and I seem to be able to control it to some extent (neglect it and it will be neglected; encourage it and it will blossom back up like nobody's bidness -- kind of convenient, actually).

My ideas to sneaking in masturbation on the road so far are:

- Find single bathrooms. They're the only privacy you really have while travelling, so bring a towel or a dirty top to put down and then go to 'er.

- Snag lower bunks in empty hostel rooms and string a sheet up for privacy. Preferably in a smaller room during the day so there's fewer chances of a walk-in. And if that does happen, causally get up a few minutes later and act nonchalant when the person comes to the realization that no-one else was in there with you OMG.

- Take advantage of any private moments you have. Forced to rent a hotel room? Sweet! Laundry in the tub *AND* rubbing one out at leisure! Friend in the shower? Well, okay, only if you're really desperate. Alone in a popular museum exhibit? Probably don't want to risk it...

- Rent a hotel room once in a while just for the hell of it. Backpacking is a lifestyle, not a vacation, and it's quite exhausting and stressful (although exhilerating!). A break once in a while is welcome. Sleep in, masturbate loudly, do your laundry in the tub, watch strange TV shows from the country you're in. Sweet!

What are your ideas for managing your sexual well-being while on the road? What experiences have you had with masturbation while travelling? Please share! Maybe the next time someone Googles "backpacking and female masturbation," they'll stumble across some good advice!

The egg vibe

Vibrators have always been my favourite toy. Ever since I won a vibrator at a sex-toy party, there's been no turning back.

That first vibe was a bullet or egg-shaped vibrator. It was a little vibrating egg with a long wire attaching it to a rectangular box for the batteries. One time I bought what I thought was the same vibrator, but it actually was more bullet and less egg (thinner with a narrow tip rather than oval and broader tip pictured here). I didn't like the bullet nearly as much - I found there was too much intensity in the small tip for me.

I've since moved on to the longer style of vibrator - the ones that can be 5-7 inches of solid plastic. I'd always had these as a less satisfying backup to the egg vibe, and I did like that they doubled as insertion tools. But at first I found their size clunky in my hand and difficult to hold. Looking back now, I'm not actually sure why I stopped using the egg vibes, but I suspect I had a hard time finding the style I preferred in stores. (I've used online shopping from time to time to order my toys, but I prefer to buy them at local sex shops.)

I did try the egg vibe once more about a year ago, and I fell in love once again. This model was bright red and I felt like a retro goddess diva using it. (Oh, marketing.) I bought it because I was in a relationship at the time, and I was hoping the egg-and-cord style would allow for some hands-off vibrating action for me while we had intercourse. Unfortunately I think this is what led to its untimely demise. After using it like this a few times, the cord become frayed and the vibration stopped working altogether. The friction from our bodies was too much for the poor thing.

But it was still very useful in its afterlife. I kept the now-detached egg in my lover's bedside drawer, and used it when I needed that final polishing-off after sex. (I'd rarely found non-vibrating surfaces effective for me, but in the presence of my lover -- and often with his eager assistance -- I found the little hollow egg was equally effective whether vibrating or not.

Now it's back to the longer vibrators. Maybe one weakness I have for the longer ones is their versatility - they act as a dildo in a pinch (and lately I've found that they can hit my g-spot if I'm really turned on!) and are a very cheap and accessible vibrator. I will always remember the egg vibrators with fondness, though -- and when I do buy another one, I will keep it for solo sex this time!

Housekeeping

After getting many spammy comments for about two months now, I've changed the comment settings for this blog. You can still comment anonymously (I feel that is important for a topic like this) but now comments are moderated (and you will have to prove you are human), so that should cut down on the spam. I've also deleted all the comment spam.

And guess what I found? Real comments! From real people, I mean. They all started coming in (both the real comments as well as the spammy comments) January of this year, so I don't know what happened to route traffic to this blog after it's been inactive for, what, two years now? But, welcome. I'm glad you're enjoying the posts archived here. I started this blog as a writing project, one that is now on the back burner while I work on another (non-sexual) one. I would like to return to this one at some point.

Meanwhile, to keep this post on topic, I'll give you a brief sexual update: After an intense but ultimately unfulfilling relationship, I've been slowly recovering my old sexual self. I haven't had partner sex for almost a year now. I miss it. I do think I (almost) made up for my ten years without partner sex in those months, and that was nice. Since the breakup I haven't been very interested in masturbation. For the most part, it has acted as a release when the tension builds up, but it doesn't have the same lustre (or fulfillment) as it held for me before. In the last month or so, I have been playing more, feeling my libido wake up more. I sense that, come spring, I will be in a spring-like mood. :) But relationships and partner sex continue to scare me -- I love sex but I have experienced much sexual assault, too. Seeking sex outside of the confines of a committed, monogamous relationship is a threatening thing to me. I do hope that I am able to find some middle ground, though, as I miss partner sex very much and at the moment have no appetite for another relationship. In the meantime, I'll start my own explorations once again.