We love new experiences.
That’s probably the main reason why we like to travel so much. We love the adrenaline of doing something we’ve never done before, to be lost in translation in far away countries, to have a cold shower at minus 25 in the Andes mountains, to discover that we’ve been eating cow stomagh while we thought it was some kind of vegetable, to jump in rivers, swim in oceans and sleep in the same room as a Tarantula.
But to be naked with complete strangers? No that was never on our list…
That’s probably the main reason why we like to travel so much. We love the adrenaline of doing something we’ve never done before, to be lost in translation in far away countries, to have a cold shower at minus 25 in the Andes mountains, to discover that we’ve been eating cow stomagh while we thought it was some kind of vegetable, to jump in rivers, swim in oceans and sleep in the same room as a Tarantula.
But to be naked with complete strangers? No that was never on our list…
A coupon for the nude sauna
For Lins’ 21st birthday (it’s always the 21st one) we received one of those theme coupons. You know, the kind that gives you the choice between several activities in different locations but all with the same theme.
The theme we got was “Relaxation”.
There were not so many options to choose from:
– massage: meh
– private sauna: sounds boring
– public sauna: that’s like a sauna theme park, right? With a couple of different saunas and swimming pools? Allright let’s take that one.
The theme we got was “Relaxation”.
There were not so many options to choose from:
– massage: meh
– private sauna: sounds boring
– public sauna: that’s like a sauna theme park, right? With a couple of different saunas and swimming pools? Allright let’s take that one.
So we started scanning the websites of the different public saunas.
“This one looks nice… oh wait… it says no swimsuit allowed… hmmm…”.
“Or this one?”
“Wow looks very nice!”
“Oh it’s also no swimsuit allowed… strange…”
“Allright, this one is swimsuit mandatory! But it looks rather small and very busy… “
“hmmmm”
“hmmmm”
“euhm…. maybe we could…”
“yes?”
“well, what if… what if we went for one of those no swimsuit places?”
“Don’t you think that will be strange?”
“Maybe…”
“Don’t you think everybody will look at us?”
“ehm… maybe…”
“What if we end up in some kind of sex club?”
“eh… well…that would be very weird. But you know what? It’s a coupon, so technically it’s free. We go check it out and if it appears to be some kind of obscure place we turn around and leave.”
“Sounds like a plan!
“Allright! Let’s do this!”
“Wait! What if we meet someone we know?”
“Oh boy how akward would that be… That should really be avoided!”
“This one looks nice… oh wait… it says no swimsuit allowed… hmmm…”.
“Or this one?”
“Wow looks very nice!”
“Oh it’s also no swimsuit allowed… strange…”
“Allright, this one is swimsuit mandatory! But it looks rather small and very busy… “
“hmmmm”
“hmmmm”
“euhm…. maybe we could…”
“yes?”
“well, what if… what if we went for one of those no swimsuit places?”
“Don’t you think that will be strange?”
“Maybe…”
“Don’t you think everybody will look at us?”
“ehm… maybe…”
“What if we end up in some kind of sex club?”
“eh… well…that would be very weird. But you know what? It’s a coupon, so technically it’s free. We go check it out and if it appears to be some kind of obscure place we turn around and leave.”
“Sounds like a plan!
“Allright! Let’s do this!”
“Wait! What if we meet someone we know?”
“Oh boy how akward would that be… That should really be avoided!”
Let’s get naked as far away as possible!
So we ended up booking an afternoon in a public sauna complex about 200 kilometers from home. Because of the distance we also had to book a B&B in the neighbourhood to spend the night. On a saturday morning in December we were off to our first experience with public nudity.
We hadn’t told anybody about the sauna. Our friends and family thought we were just going away for the weekend. When somebody asked what we were planning to do, we lied that we didn’t know yet.
We even listened to the nice lady from the B&B for half an hour explaining about all the possibilities to spend an afternoon in the area just because we didn’t have the guts to tell her about our plans.
We hadn’t told anybody about the sauna. Our friends and family thought we were just going away for the weekend. When somebody asked what we were planning to do, we lied that we didn’t know yet.
We even listened to the nice lady from the B&B for half an hour explaining about all the possibilities to spend an afternoon in the area just because we didn’t have the guts to tell her about our plans.
And then we were at the gates.
We probably spent 10 minutes or so in front of the gate but it felt like we’ve been there forever.
“So… we’re going in?”
“Let’s have another sigarette first”
“Ok one more and then we go in”
“Ok…”
We remember the nervous feeling as if it was yesterday… It’s like those dreams you’ve had the night before going to a new school or before you have to give a big presentation. Everyone will be staring at you and suddenly you notice that you’re not wearing any pants.
With the difference that this is not a dream, and we actually won’t be wearing any pants…
We probably spent 10 minutes or so in front of the gate but it felt like we’ve been there forever.
“So… we’re going in?”
“Let’s have another sigarette first”
“Ok one more and then we go in”
“Ok…”
We remember the nervous feeling as if it was yesterday… It’s like those dreams you’ve had the night before going to a new school or before you have to give a big presentation. Everyone will be staring at you and suddenly you notice that you’re not wearing any pants.
With the difference that this is not a dream, and we actually won’t be wearing any pants…
The only ones staring at the nude people… were we…
We walked in, got a slight introduction about what was where, undressed, covered ourselves in the complimentary bathrope and entered the place.
Even though we were still kinda stressed out, the spa instantly felt welcoming and relaxed. There were some people around, either in their bathrobes or in their birthday suit, but nobody paid any attention to us.
Even though we were still kinda stressed out, the spa instantly felt welcoming and relaxed. There were some people around, either in their bathrobes or in their birthday suit, but nobody paid any attention to us.
We were the ones staring at them.
We spent some time walking around the place, pretending to be checking out the information plates on the different saunas while we were actually checking out the different visitors and eventually hung our bathrobe at the nearest coat rack to the jacuzi and got in the water as fast as we could.
When we got out we almost ran back to our bathrobe and put it back on without even drying ourselves.
It took some time to get used to the fact that it was complete normal to be naked.
After an hour we didn’t rush anymore to get our bathrobe back on.
After another hour we didn’t notice the other people’s nudity anymore.
And in the end we didn’t bother anymore to put our bathrobe back on while walking from the jacuzi to the sauna and then to the swimming pool.
We were naked and relaxed.
And it felt great!
It took some time to get used to the fact that it was complete normal to be naked.
After an hour we didn’t rush anymore to get our bathrobe back on.
After another hour we didn’t notice the other people’s nudity anymore.
And in the end we didn’t bother anymore to put our bathrobe back on while walking from the jacuzi to the sauna and then to the swimming pool.
We were naked and relaxed.
And it felt great!
For the next couple of years, on a Saturday in December, we would drive all the way to have this experience all over again.
Photo credit: “The Deutsche Fotothek Sauna” by Deutsche Fotothek / CC BY-SA 3.0 de
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What an incredible experience! Living in a country where nudism is outlawed, I really am a bit jealous of you guys.. but the honest description you make about the adventure only makes me more inspired to want to try it out for myself sometime! 🙂 Having a real account like this makes me less nervous and more composed about doing something like this. Thanks very much guys!
Yes, I guess we are some of the lucky few… In our country nudism is allowed and quite accepted. And we have several possibilities for social nudity. But it’s still a huge step to take…
Great story, it gets to be normal to be socially naked very quickly! we hope lots of people who are still waiting to take their first steps into public nudity read this and take encouragement to try it out. We can’t think of anyone we’ve met who has tried social nudism and not done it again, its a brilliant way of life and it seems that once you’ve tried it you want to do it again, and again…..
At mt first job I eventually had to be naked, but it did not set me on the road to be such. Another Job I got after, made me into naturist and I was at the right place at the right time. My experience began, when I had my swimming trunks pulled off and taken by some people mucking about in the pool. My trunks however had my locker key, so could not get in my locker for my clothes, so ended up having to be nude for nearly a day. During this time, I lost count of how many people saw me naked. After that, I had no problem being naked. I have been naked in nudist and non nudist locations. I do not worry, as in the UK, it is not illegal. You have to cause someone fear or distress. If you walk around naked as through you are wearing clothes, you get no problems. I have been naked in a lot of public places and it does not concern me or other people. The trick is to forget you are nude.
Love your story.
Good on you for being prepared to take that step.
Imagine what you might never have had if you had not taken that plunge.
It’s such a powerful thing that you both enjoy this lifestyle.
Great to see you on TV3Ireland.
Yeah! It was really great to be there
I know I called tv3 old habits it was intact Virgin One
I loved my first experience of going nude in public! It was at Hippy Hollow near Austin, Texas. My closest friend invited me to go to Lake Travis with him. I knew it was clothing optional, but I didn’t know, how, as a male, I would react! I mean,a male,nude around other folks, all nude? I was afraid people would be staring at me! In reality…
Our yesterday fantastic environment was so similar. With the difference that we chose a sauna that offers both swimsuit and nude areas. No doubt our initial intention was the swimsuit only, one of us already were more familiar with the idea and had less body shame, but the other was feeling more safe with textile.
After 2 hours of enjoying the swimsuit-mandatory area, and a long relaxing massage, we saw ORDINARY people in the restaurant facilities who came from the other side -later called ‘the heaven’-.
We discussed it worth a short visit to the other side -later heaven-, bathrobe on, naked beneath.
One of us took shower in the swimsuit area but the other one dared to take off the bathrobe in the swimsuit-not-allowed section.
And we just walked while we where whispering ‘remember, don’t stare’, ‘remember, don’t look!’, ‘remember, don’t see!’….
And the moment we decided to enter the swimming pool, we just waited for a moment that nobody was around, and then almost ran into the pool, this time telling each other ‘go! go! go!).
After an hour, we were becoming different persons, after Two hours, we didn’t want to leave ‘the heaven’.
I was following you and few other great people since long ago, and I shall express my gratitude to you, for all what you do.
For us, it brought an ever-lasting relaxation, self-confidence, and love. And we feel different now. We feel we want each other even more than anytime in the past, and we like people even more than before.
I just disocvered you page, great story of your first time. I was rasied a nudist so I never really had a first time experince like that and I wish I had. Sure I noticed being nude more as a teen, but never really thought there was any reason not to.
I have had a few freinds discovery how wonderful being nude around the pool is and love to introduce people to nudism, and very few have not loved it.