Nextdoor Swing
Get the inside scoop on Swinger and Ethical Non Monogamy Lifestyle travel and events! Hosted by veteran lifestyle couple and full time RVers, Cora and Max. They hope to entertain and educate listeners with information based on their personal experiences. Listeners can expect to laugh, be intrigued and maybe even have a few head nods along the way. Have somewhere you think they should visit? Email ideas to nextdoorswing@gmail.com, also follow on Instagram @nextdoorswing and Facebook NextdoorSwing.
Nextdoor Swing
4: Where Fantasy Meets Etiquette: A Smarter Guide To Key West
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Fantasy Fest turns Key West into a 10-day canvas of costumes, body paint, and late-night music—and we’re laying out the smartest way to do it without getting lost in the chaos. We start with what Fantasy Fest actually is—and isn’t. It’s not a lifestyle takeover, but it’s a magnet for adventurous adults, with plenty of unofficial meetups if you know where to look. You’ll hear how the vibe shifts from a relaxed, older crowd early in the week to a packed, younger scene as buses roll in for the final Thursday through Saturday.
We map the island like insiders: where to stay (hotels, B&Bs, Airbnbs, RV parks on Stock Island), how to get there (fly, ferry from Fort Myers, or drive the gorgeous Overseas Highway), and why a home base with some quiet can save your stamina. We share a tactical plan for the big nights—zombie bike ride kickoff, superhero Monday at Sloppy Joe’s, Dante’s pool parties on Tuesday and Thursday, Tutu Tuesday, glow nights, and toga traditions—plus the balcony advantage at The Whistle for parade viewing. You’ll get the real talk on paid parties versus free venues, how to avoid shoulder-to-shoulder lines, and the off-Duvall spots that still deliver great bands and better service.
Creativity is the dress code here. We dig into body paint etiquette and logistics, from booking skilled artists working in air-conditioned studios to understanding Key West’s coverage rules so you stay playful and legal. With the 2026 theme “musical icons and iconic musicals,” we toss out costume ideas that land—from Prince and Elton to Kiss face paint and Broadway ensembles. Then we get candid about consent and boundaries, especially at clothing-optional spaces like Garden of Eden, where “naked” does not equal “lifestyle.” For those seeking lifestyle connections, we point to SDC, SLS, and Fantasy Fest–specific Facebook groups, and explain why public meet and greets are a smart first step for new couples.
If you want the best of Fantasy Fest without the burnout, this guide is your shortcut: plan with the official schedule, add bar calendars, pace your nights, hydrate, and cover the bits. Hit play, share with a friend who loves a great costume, and leave a review to tell us your 2026 musical icon pick. Subscribe for more travel-smart, consent-forward episodes.
Welcome And Adult Content Advisory
SPEAKER_00This podcast is intended for adult audiences over the age of 18. The podcast includes adult language, situations, sexually explicit material. Listeners, please be advised.
What Fantasy Fest Is And Isn’t
SPEAKER_01Welcome to Nextdoor Swing, a podcast about lifestyle travel and events, hosted by Veteran Lifestyle Couple Cora and Max. In each episode, we hope to entertain, educate, and provide information based on our own personal experiences. The views, thoughts, and ideas expressed are solely our own and not to be taken as professional advice. Right, welcome back to Nextdoor Swing Podcast. We are going to talk today about an event that occurs in Key West, Florida, and it is called Fantasy Fest.
Travel Update And Florida Basecamp
SPEAKER_00Yes, and we have been to many of these fantasy fests, and I just want to warn you guys up front that it is not a lifestyle event. This is not a lifestyle takeover event, not a you know, any kind of a uh party or anything like that. However, because there's so many people down there, there's obviously tons and tons and tons of lifestylers and swingers down there that obviously have their underground parties, they have uh stuff going on on SDC and SLS. So all you gotta do is reach out on those links, and I'm sure even out there on Facebook and stuff like that, join the groups. I'm sure you're gonna find plenty of lifestyle events down there for Fancy Fest down in Key West.
SPEAKER_01So I also uh wanted to do a little recap of where we're at in our travels right now, a little, a little bit about us. We are currently, it is the end of December as we are recording this. This episode will come out in January. And we are in Tampa. We kind of house ourselves in Tampa, kind of wintering in Tampa in our RV. And so we um also will hit a few other places throughout the state this winter. We do have uh plans in January to be at Margaritaville, and that's over near Lakeland, Florida, in the center of the state. And we'll probably jump around a little bit more just here in Florida before we uh head northwest uh in April, whenever we get there.
SPEAKER_00And as we were talking this morning, uh we have already done so many things this year, and that's what we're trying to do is get caught up on those in these episodes to make sure we pass along that information to you guys. So as you can see, I'm sitting here in shorts, so yes, it's a balmy like 80 degrees outside, and we're loving it here in Florida, but we can't wait to bring these episodes to you guys.
Who Attends And Crowd Dynamics
SPEAKER_01That's right. All right, now let's get to Key West.
SPEAKER_00All right, we're back in Fancy Fest Key West. So last year was our fourth or fifth time down in uh Fancy Fest. Yeah, yeah, and I tell you, we uh we absolutely love it down there. There's a bunch of great music, but I want to start off with asking uh Miss Cora the who. What is or who are the main participants that go down there for Fancy Fest?
SPEAKER_01This event draws 75,000 people to Key West. Now, Key West is a very small island all the way at the bottom of the Keys of Florida, so it's all the way to the bottom. It is where the mile marker zero is at. I'm sure.
SPEAKER_00Mile marker zero, yep. They have a great big uh buoy down there on shore. You can go down and get pictures in front of as well.
SPEAKER_01That's right. That's the that's the picture op down there. Can you imagine 75,000 people on this kind of smaller island? And it is a basically a takeover of the island. And it the age range of people are from all age, all age ranges. I want to say here in the beginning, if you have children, this is not the place to take your children in October. As a mom, I would never take my children there unless my children were adults. Um, now that's my personal opinion. We have every year we've gone down seen people that bring their young, young children down there. Really not a place for young, young children.
SPEAKER_00And what we're talking about is really the last week, because it's really a 10-day uh festival. Of course, the first weekend, which is the you know beginning of the festival, there's two or three days in there where yeah, it could be considered family friendly.
SPEAKER_01They do actually have family events.
SPEAKER_00Family events. However, as the week progresses on, when you're starting to get into the second Thursday and into Friday and even Saturday with the big party. For instance, this last year, uh, we were out Friday night and it was crazy mad down there with people on Duball Street. That's where all the bars are. I was my mind was blown that I saw a man with his young infant with headphones on. Now, hey, I'll give him props. He had the protection, ear protection on. However, it was like one o'clock in the morning. So please, parents, leave your kids at home if you're coming down to fancy.
SPEAKER_01It really is, it really is like an adult.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Now, again, this is our own that's our own opinion.
SPEAKER_01Our own personal opinion.
SPEAKER_00We're not professionals in this, but we're just passing on the information that we saw down there.
SPEAKER_01So we do see, I mean, we have seen people all the way into their 80s part of it partying down there, you know, the uh the Jimmy Buffett parrot head style, you know, folks down there. And that is the who of what it's for. Earlier in the week, so um it is a 10-day festival, and earlier in the week we see that probably median age of more 40s and 50s. Absolutely. As the week progresses on and towards the end of the festival, probably the Friday and the Saturday, the Thursday, the Friday, the Saturday of the second half of the um festival, probably it's more like 25 is the median age.
SPEAKER_00And really what happens is there's a big group that come down all the way from Fort Lauderdale, uh even Miami. They actually bust folks in by the busloads for that last Thursday, Friday, Saturday, the last three days of the event. So that's why it really kind of gets crazy down there and a much, much younger crowd, because obviously the college kids from up around that area like to come down and party. That's right. Uh, which hey, all to it, but uh, I tell you, it it gets really crowded really quick.
SPEAKER_01Right. It's a small area. A small area.
Origins, Themes, And Event Structure
SPEAKER_00Now, mind you, the now let's let's talk about the what. So, what what is really the backbone of what Fantas is?
SPEAKER_01A little bit of history about Fantasy Fest is traditionally back in the 60s and 70s, Key West was a very quiet town in the month of October. So some of the business owners would pretty much some of them close up shop during the month of October because tourism was just so low. And so some business owners got together and said, how can we get people down here in a low point of the season and kind of extend the winter? Um, you know, because usually it's busy November, December, January, but they wanted to extend that a little bit into October. Well, the way they did that is they created basically a parade. 1979 was the first parade for Fantasy Fest. And it was, they wanted to hold it near Halloween towards the back part of October. Um, again, to gear up tourism. Well, it worked.
SPEAKER_00It worked, they did a great job because now they're up to, like we said earlier, 75,000 people.
SPEAKER_01And so it really generates a lot of tourism in Key West during that time frame. And it is basically a festival, a 10-day running festival, um, that is about exploring fantasies and dressing up in costume, and there's tons of themes. There's an overarching theme for each event, the overarching, but then every bar has different themes, different parties have different themes. So that is the what. It is the main um the what how Fantasy Fest came about, 1979. So it's been around a while.
Getting There And Where To Stay
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And it's uh so now to cover the where. So the where is it happens in Key West. And under the where, I mean, obviously that's pretty simple and quick and easy to just talk about the where, but let's also talk about how people can get there because it is way down there. Yeah, I mean, you're almost what, 10 miles from Cuba at one point? So I mean you're pretty damn close. Yeah, but uh anyway, so you're way down there. So how can you get there? So what we do every year is we actually, in the first couple times we went down there, we rented an RV, and then we would travel down there, which is great uh because you can take your booze, you can take your uh alcohol, you take all your food, everything you want. And for us, we like to kind of get a little bit of respite and kind of have a little break at night sometimes, have a break and uh you know, wake up and have coffee in the morning and relax before going back down for around two, ten, twelve, whatever it might be. Uh so for us, uh just up north of where DVAL Street is, four miles north of there, there are a couple campgrounds on Stock Island. So there's either Boyd's or there's uh Leo's Campgrounds. So we've stayed at Leo's every time we've gone down there. But I'll tell you, having an RV down there, and this last year we actually took our RV. As you can see right now, we're actually filming this from our living room of our RV. So we're full-time RVers. So we took our RV down there for this last one, and it was absolutely amazing. And I tell you, the as we'll get into here in a little bit, the different events that you every night there's a different theme, but yet every club has a different theme. It is so much fun. Uh, and then another thing you can do is you can fly into Key West. So to cover that and the where you can also fly into Key West. There's an international airport down there with a lot of different flights.
SPEAKER_01A lot of different honest cities are doing direct flights now.
SPEAKER_00And you can get down there, and there are tons of hotels. And also the big thing down there is actually Airbnbs. A lot of people will get together with a bunch of couples and get an Airbnb, or they'll also get um they have cottages down there, or um, what do they call those bed and breakfasts? A lot of bed and breakfasts.
SPEAKER_01That's quite popular. And then another uh mode of transportation down is the ferry. They have a ferry that goes from Fort Myers Fort Miles and Naples.
SPEAKER_00Uh just Fort Myers. Just Fort Myers.
SPEAKER_01That's right. And so there's a ferry that goes down if you don't want to drive the entire route down because it is it is a hall down there.
SPEAKER_00Two-lane road. If you can imagine, once you leave basically the Miami area, once you leave Miami area, you're on a two-lane road all the way down to Key West, which for us I think it's we absolutely drive, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I've I've heard some people say that they have driven it once and they'll never drive it again. And I've heard people, and we have a different opinion, we'll probably always drive it because I think it's just beautiful.
SPEAKER_00Yep, and we're in no road.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the drive is gorgeous. And I like going through all the other keys, you know, marathon and the other keys down through there, such a you know, great restaurant.
SPEAKER_00And you can obviously find more information out about the cat or the ferry that leaves Fort West. I'm sorry, Fort Myers is down to Key West. And the good thing is it drops you off right there at Key West, right near the end of DeVall Street. Right. So immediately as soon as you step off, you're right into the shit show as soon as you get there.
SPEAKER_01And we actually know people that just go for the day. They will they will go from Fort Myers in the morning, go to Key West, and then spend all day in Key West, and then jump right back on the boat and go right back to Fort Myers.
SPEAKER_00Crazy enough as it sounds. And the good thing is there's booze on board. There's a full bar on board the cat. So if you want to get started early.
When To Go And 2026 Dates
SPEAKER_01All right. So we took we took care of the where as far as the different modes of transportation to get down and different places to stay. There are a variety of hotels. I will say, if you're interested in going in the in like this coming year, the 2026, go ahead and get your reservations or start looking into reservations now. Places do fill up quickly. Um, however, there's always last-minute cancellations. And so, you know, if you're on a cancellation list, usually you can get a room.
SPEAKER_00You can get a room in Canadian.
SPEAKER_01That's right.
SPEAKER_00It's usually no problem.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_00Yep. So speaking of that then, so let's cover the most important part for 2026 is when is it in 2026?
SPEAKER_01So, like I mentioned, it's always in October this coming year, 2026, 6. It is October 16th through October 25th. Um, this the big huge parade, the culmination of the whole event happens on the last Saturday, and that is the big parade. Now, usually when we have gone in the past, um, we like to go on the first Friday and leave on the second Friday. We leave the morning of the Friday before it gets kind of crazy. That's just what works for us. Some people will only go down for the second part because they want to see the crazy. Um, we like to kind of slow roll into the week a bit and kind of make a vacation of it as well. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I mean, we love to party, but we also like to have our respite and then obviously take a little break and enjoy our little vacations as we go.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
Planning Parties, Costs, And Strategy
SPEAKER_01So speaking of the parties, let me tell you a little bit about like the days, how the day days flow. Um, I like to plan, I'm a planner. I like to plan prior to going to an event. So particularly on this planning event, I will look at the Fantasy Fest website, and that is super easy. It's just fantasyfest.com. That is the website. That's the official website of the event.
SPEAKER_00What is it again? Just so they can make sure they write it down.
SPEAKER_01Super easy. Um, and that is the official. On there, closer to the event, all of the sponsored events will be on that website. So sponsored events are basically held at different bars or different culminations of bars. Sometimes it's three or four bars get together and have a um a night or other, and there's multiple events happening at the same time. So there might be four parties in a night going on. There might be five parties during the day going on.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Um, there's multiple things happening. Um, and that's what some of the fun of it in the planning is because what I do is I look at all I look at the main website, but then I go to the bars website. There are a variety of very famous bars in Key West. They home hold their own party. Um, and then I will look at those themes and the times and the bands that are playing there.
SPEAKER_00And it's also key to mention here, probably at this point, is that a lot of the bars and a especially on a lot of the big days. So there's a couple of days in there, like 22 Tuesday, which is always the Tuesday. Uh but then also there's like the Thursday. Um is it Rick's has a big glow party? Anyways, you can see it on the fancyfest.com website, but a lot of those parties now they actually charge a fee uh per couple and by single uh for going into these parties. So make sure you're aware of those and make sure you're taking a look at those on fancyfest.com.
SPEAKER_01Right. And again, we opted this year to not go to any parties that were paid. And the reason we did is because there were so many other bars that you didn't have to pay to get into, and with just as good music. And oftentimes the one that you're paying to go into, they were packed.
SPEAKER_00They were so crowded, you weren't getting anything to drink anyway.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, one, yeah, exactly. I mean, you it was hard to get a drink, it was you know difficult to get through the door, and it was just shoulder-to-shoul people inside. And so we have learned over the years that we prefer to go to the non-paid parties.
SPEAKER_00And even off of Duvall Street. So the main party is held on Duvall Street, and there's many, plenty of bars off of Duvall Street that you can get away, be a little bit quieter, and yet they're still have just a good time.
SPEAKER_01Right, right. So um the the kickoff night is actually on Sunday, and the Sunday event is called Gooms Day, and that's a celebration in Key West, and they start with a zombie um bike ride, and it is kind of a whole takeover of Duvall Street and Tyson. They do a parade, a big parade. It's all all bicycle riders. So tricycles, bicycles, unicycles, strollers, um, wagons decorated. And that's that starts off. That's the big kickoff uh event.
SPEAKER_00And I'll tell you a great place to sit and watch the parades on Duvall Street. If you want to actually just sit down, get a drink, and watch the parades. A great spot is right there on the bull. The bull has a second bar on top, which is called, I can't remember the name of it.
SPEAKER_01The whistle.
SPEAKER_00The whistle. If you go up to the whistle, you they have a balcony that sits right up there in Duvall Street. You can sit there and just watch the parade or you know, the parade people go by. Right. And it is a lot of fun. We did that two or three times this year. Yeah. And we loved it. Had a great time.
Parade Spots, Signature Nights, And Pool Parties
SPEAKER_01It was a fun time. So Goomsday kicks off on Sunday. Monday, um, we we went daytime to a ducky, little rubber ducky party on the pool. And then Monday night, we ended up at Sloppy Joe's superheroes night.
SPEAKER_00Which is typically the Monday night. So starting off slow with uh superhero, which is a pretty easy theme for everybody to get into.
SPEAKER_01Right. And then on Tuesday, the big the two big parties, there's a very famous pool called Dante's Pool and Pool Parties. That their two big parties are Tuesday and Thursday during the day. Tuesday it's a patriotic party, and then Thursday it's Halos and Horns. Those are the most popular pool parties.
SPEAKER_00And then Tuesday night is tutu Tuesday. So everybody's in tutus, and there's a lot of clubs and bars out there that won't let you win unless you got a tutu on. So, fellas, you better get ready and get your tutu.
SPEAKER_01Everybody. Everyone. This year we actually did a little play on our costume. We went to Key West with a group this year, and all of us had uh tutos on, but we were dressed as loofahs from the villages. And so we um, you know, noddied that little tutu up a little bit, and uh everyone was loofah.
SPEAKER_00So each coup a couple basically went as the colored loofah. If anybody doesn't know, the villages, they're known for their swinger and lifestyle community up there. And of course, it's also known that they have loofahs all over their golf carts and vehicles to identify what they are in the lifestyle. Right. So, of course, we took that to the next level and went down to Fancy Fest. Yeah, then we were all eight or ten of us walking around in different colored loofahs. We had one gentleman in our group actually had the t-shirt that identified what the colors were, the legend of what the colors were, and then we had another guy that thought he'd be funny and actually went as a bar soap.
SPEAKER_01So he had white balloons all over him, and then um some of the girls had like rubber duckies, pasties on, and and rubber duckies in their hair. Uh this was also a good time. Body painted bubbles all over it.
SPEAKER_00You just alluded to it. So this is also a good time to talk about the body painting.
SPEAKER_01Oh, body paintings.
SPEAKER_00Uh, ladies and fellas, there are this is probably one of the most amazing festivals and opportunities to get out there and actually get body painted. They bring in uh artists from all over the United States, to include Hollywood, to come down here and body paint people. So every bar, just about every bar uh has somebody body painting, and not there's tons of other people doing it on their own. Uh so it's real easy to get a hold of a body painter and get body painted up because this is the place to do it. You'll see some of the craziest body paintings.
SPEAKER_01Really great artwork as well. Um, my artist is Mandy Eileen. You can find her on Instagram. And uh, she is the artist that I go with every year. What's nice about her specifically is she has a little house that she rents off of Duval and it's an air-conditioned location. Um, and I go to her, she's an amazing artist.
SPEAKER_00Um, we've been using her for years, and we love you, Mandy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, she's she does great, great work. Um, and so that's 22 Tuesday, and then Wednesday. Uh let's see, Wednesday night. I think there that's the glow party at Rick's, I believe it is, that annually every year. I think it's at Rick's. And then also um there's a toga party at Sloppy Joe's. That's a popular one. Thursday is the Halos and Horns party um at Dante's. And then also, um, we didn't go to Dante's this year. We went to a pool across the parking lot from Dante's. It was a little quieter, just as great vibe, didn't cost to get in. They had free tequila.
Body Painting Talent And Dress Codes
SPEAKER_00Yes, there was a there was a tequila company, and I want to give a big shout out. I wish I could remember the name. Yeah. Uh Great Tequila, but it was free. The tequila was free, and they were serving it all day at the this party, and it was it was a blast. We had a good time.
SPEAKER_01We had a good time.
SPEAKER_00Uh and now, mind you, some of the parties down there, and this is a good because this party was a little bit different, uh, that the the ladies could not be completely topless. Right. Uh you could take your tops off, but you had to have uh pasties on or something covering your boobs. And that's it's it's also important to tell you that down in Fantasy Fest, uh, the private parts are supposed to be covered at all times. However, body painting over your nipples, ladies, is considered to be covered.
SPEAKER_01So it's covered.
SPEAKER_00Uh yeah. Right. Although you can see them most times, uh, they consider it to be covered. So right.
SPEAKER_01So uh Fantasy Fest rules downtown, um, the um the important bits have to be covered. So that is for men and women, front genitalia. However, the back can be completely out, and then pasties have to be over the nipples or body painted, and it's actually um we see all kinds of things out, all kinds of costumes um and and body painting uh was fantastic down there.
SPEAKER_00So as we're closing this up, one last time, what is that uh Facebook?
SPEAKER_01I'm sorry, the uh the website is fantasyfest.com.
SPEAKER_00Fantasyfest.com.
SPEAKER_01The dates for 2026 are October 16th to October 25th.
SPEAKER_00And more importantly, the theme for this year.
SPEAKER_01The theme for 2026, I think, is fantastic. It is called musical icons and iconic musicals. So there's really a lot of great costumes. I can see Elvis' coming out, I can see Michael Jackson, Elton John, Prince, Madonna. I can also see great group costumes like Kiss or Um, you know, Guns N' Roses, Motley Gunn.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I bet there's gonna be a lot of kiss because this last year there was a group down there that rocked it out wearing the kiss. I can't remember which night it was.
Finding Lifestyle Meetups Respectfully
SPEAKER_01Little body paint on the face. It was awesome. It was great it up. But also like the musicals, like Broadway musicals, like kinky boots or you know, different cats, things like that. Um, great opportunity for group uh costumes on this one.
SPEAKER_00Now, also just as important, we should also mention our our email. So, what's our email, our inbox?
SPEAKER_01Next door swing.
SPEAKER_00Next door swing at gmail.com at gmail.com. So if you have any questions, because we're planning on being down there. Uh well, actually, we haven't made the full decision whether we're gonna be down there this year or not for 2026. So uh reach out to us if you have any questions, concerns. So that right there, we just covered, I think, all of the uh what we like to call it just the tips uh for uh Fantasy Fest.
SPEAKER_01I I think actually we should mention here for uh just the tips is we said in the beginning, Fantasy Fest is not a lifestyle event. However, there are thousands of lots of lifestyle people that go to Fantasy Fest. So if you're wanting to find those people, how would you find those people?
Zones, Garden Of Eden, And Etiquette
SPEAKER_00On SDC, SLS, and there's tons of uh Facebook pages out there or groups, uh especially made just for Fantasy Fest too. So you can reach out, look for those, and I guarantee you you're gonna find a lot of lifestyle events going on down there. As a matter of fact, this past year, we actually hosted a meet and greet a couple different nights at one of the bars down there, uh, just to have an opportunity to bring other people together. So we posted on SDC, and then that's how it went down. So uh just look out for those up there as well. So they're there. They are there. Uh but uh just know too that on Deval Street, so Duvall Street's kind of long, uh, there is a shopping district area, there is a gay district area, and then there's the party, what they actually call the Fancy Fest area. The Fancy Fest Zone. Right. So a lot of the stuff goes on down there at the Fancy Fest Zone, but all the way down Deval Street, there's plenty of other things to do as well.
SPEAKER_01We should probably also mention here for another just the tip, a very famous bar um that is located in Key West is called Garden of Eden.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, and that is on the third floor of the bull of uh the bull. So on the first floor is the bull, second floor is called Whistle. That's where we mentioned great place to watch the parade. The third floor is actually a bar called Garden of Garden of Eden.
SPEAKER_00It's a clothing optional bar.
SPEAKER_01Clothing optional bar, and there are many people that go up there like to dance naked. It's kind of a rooftop bar.
SPEAKER_00Yep. But I will let's let's also throw this out there that that this is a clothing optional bar, which doesn't mean it's a swinger or lifestyle bar. Okay, so there's a big difference. Yep, being naked and dancing, having a good thing, but there's obviously an etiquette when you're talking about swinger lifestyle. Right. Um, so it's not necessarily always uh, you know.
SPEAKER_01It's not always followed there at um Garden of Eden. And so if you're a lifestyle person and you're used to going to a lifestyle club, know that if you go to Garden of Eden, you may have to put your guard up a little bit more because a lot of the men and women do not know etiquette of as far as um asking for asking for touching.
SPEAKER_00Yep. Um and we love it. Don't get us wrong, we absolutely love Garden of Eden.
Mailbag: Best First Steps In Lifestyle
SPEAKER_01I had to really find a voice in there and you know, tell some of the men to stop touching me. Um and I had to find a voice. So keep that in mind that because this also fantasy fest, it's not a lifestyle event, that means a lot of people don't know the lifestyle etiquette that most of us season lifestyle people understand. Absolutely. So keep that in mind too uh whenever you go down. Maybe just have some patience with them as well.
SPEAKER_00Outstanding. Well, I think we've covered all the tips. That's it. So uh next will be our mailbag section. So uh we're gonna take a quick break and then we'll be back for our mailbag. We're back and hey, we're here, next door swing podcast, and our mailbag section, question of the day, came uh in our mailbag and our mailbox. And the question is in the lifestyle, if you're a new couple, would you prefer doing an event, a closed small event, or would you like to just go all feet first into like traveling to a resort or something like uh down in Florida, the um secrets, or maybe even going down to desire someplace like that. So, with our personal opinions, what we're going to do is we're gonna actually both answer this question of what would we like to do if we were a brand new couple and what would we kind of prefer to do to other people that are out there who are thinking about doing this swinging lifestyle thing. So, Miss Cora.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna say and and stick with really what worked for me in the beginning. And what worked for me in the beginning were meet and greets at public locations um and at like a public bar. And it was a group that put it on and we showed up. We didn't have to sign up, we didn't usually have to pay, they were kind of free to go to. And to me, that is the least intimidating and um the most comfortable for me to be at because there's no commitment. Yep. And I could leave anytime I want to. So there's no commitment. It's the least barrier of entry, I think.
SPEAKER_00Uh and fellas, let me just throw this out there to you guys. I'm speaking directly to the fellas at this point. When you're like in the lifestyle, especially if you're brand new into lifestyle, the very first thing you want to make sure is that your partner, the one that means the most to you, is comfortable and is enjoying what she's doing. If you're not, if the if she's not, then you're obviously gonna run into Roblox immediately.
SPEAKER_01It's not going to work. Um, and then later, of course, we've been doing this a long time. Now I love house parties and clubs and playrooms and bliss crews and all those other things. Um, but in the beginning, for me, a meet and greet in a public location was definitely the way to go.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And of course, I'm gonna go beyond that a little bit further and even state that if you're a brand new couple in the lifestyle and you're thinking about going to an event or a party or thinking about maybe desire doing that for your first you know, event, I'm gonna tell you straight up your communication better be on key and on point that you're both on the same page. Okay. That I'm gonna throw it there because what we've learned over our 12 years of doing this is communication is key. So that's gonna be the down the starting point of it. Now, I will say, and I I I kind of agree with Miss Cora that yes, I would start off slow and maybe doing a closed event so you do have a back out or a back door to get out of the out of the place. However, we have met so many people, so many people uh that have jumped right in, but yet are still swingers today, uh, 10, 12, 15, 20 years later. So I will say whatever fits you, but it gotta start with the communication.
SPEAKER_01Everyone's different, everybody's different. Right. We actually did meet a couple um on our, I think, second or third bliss cruise, and it was the first night of the event. They sat down next to us at not even just the first night.
SPEAKER_00We had just left port. We were just like two hours later after leaving port. First we went to have our first dinner sitting down at the table, and we like to sit down where they add people to your table.
SPEAKER_01And uh this couple sat down next to us and uh well we just started up small talk, you know, where are you from, how long you've been lifestyle? And I asked how long you've been lifestyle, and the guy looked at his watch and he said, Oh, about four hours. Yeah. And I was like, Wow, you're going all in with a bliss cruise uh on right out of the box. He was like, Yeah, we decide if we're gonna do it, we're gonna do it.
Teaser For Haulover And Closing CTA
SPEAKER_00And by the end of the dinner, uh as we were all getting up to leave to go get changed to go on to the next party, uh, the gentleman actually handed me one of his cards. He says, We'd like for you and your wife to actually break us into the lifestyle. And I was like, Well, let's uh let's get a couple days into this cruise first and let's see where this goes. Uh but crazy, we actually met them a year later on the next Bliss cruise, and lo and behold, they were still in it and they're still loving it. Loving it. And uh that night, uh, or the second cruise, we actually ended up playing with them and another couple uh in one of the playrooms, and it was phenomenal. We had a great time.
SPEAKER_01It was a good time. So, I mean, everyone does it a little different. So you find what works for you, and don't do something that doesn't work for you, would be my best advice.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01All right, coming up on episode five, we are going to talk about Hollover Beach. It is a nudist beach in one of our favorites, Florida, and we're gonna talk a little bit more about how to go there, why to go there, and uh give you more information.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. So that was Fancy Fest in a nutshell, and uh we can't wait to get back to see you guys on episode five when we talk about Hollover.
SPEAKER_01All right, bye.
SPEAKER_00Bye. Thanks for listening. Please support us by sharing this episode with your friends and other lifestylers.
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