Meet Addie Foster!
Actually, if you’re an avid follower of the Meandering Naturist, you’ve already met Addie, first in a rather poignant post about her first experience with social nudity, then somewhat vicariously as the subject I wrote for a piece about navigating the German spa culture.
We’ve known Addie for quite a long time, and by now, she’s become something of a surrogate daughter to us, though I first came to know her through professional endeavors where she once inquired about my obsession with European travel, and I ended up telling her about our quest to find a place where our kids – also about her age – would find a sense of normalcy in a naturist place. She and my daughter have since become fast friends as well.
This is her latest installment. I’m hoping she’ll become a regular on my blog as she has most definitely embraced the naturist ideal, and I think she has quite a lot to say about helping us seasoned type naturists understand what’s in the cards for the future of naturism here and abroad. Thanks for that, Addie!
[Photos are either from our personal archives, or a few additional pics from clothesfree.com]
– Dan Carlson, blogger
Dating for Naturists: Can I fit “Naturism” into my Tinder Profile Description?
“Happy Hour. 🍷 Travel. ✈️ Likes Getting Naked.🌴”
. . .[backspace, backspace, backspace, backspace].
“What’s the coolest place you’ve traveled? Mine is an all-naked island near Corsica!”
. . .[delete, delete, delete].
Writing a Tinder, or Bumble, or Hinge, or Coffee Meets Bagel profile as a 26-year-old heterosexual woman is difficult for numerous reasons. But as a hopeful long-term naturist? Yikes. Any mention of “naked,” and you’re sure to get a series of creepy messages. “You like taking off your clothes? Me too. Wanna try tonight?” And in one sentence you’ve moved from the idea that “I like sitting with my friends on nude beaches” to “Let’s have sex before we even know each other’s last names!”
This confusion of sexually available/easy and naturist is something that I’m constantly trying to figure out. I’ve settled on decidedly not including naturism in my dating profiles, but if I’m on the road to find a potential life-mate, the candidate would at the very least have to look interested at the mention of a naturist beach in the south of France or a nude spa in Germany. You would think that’s a given—what dude in the 21st century wouldn’t be interested in going to a swim up bar in a naked spa in Germany with his girlfriend? Unfortunately. . . a lot!
But that also might be a bit of a relief. Because when you match with 5 or 10 or 20 people a day, that’s a lot of potential life mates. And many of them actually might be nice dudes. But if on the second date, they give you a look of confusion/apprehension/fear/disgust at the very mention of naturism, you get to cross them off the list, and narrow it down to 19 or 9 or 4. Whew-thank God-on to the next one!
I don’t mean to make this sound dismal or difficult (though dating is inherently difficult, naturist or not). In fact, there’s nothing more intriguing than watching a person’s eyes light up as they state casually, “Wow. Never tried it, but that seems kind of awesome.” And that makes the whole endeavor worth it-the thought that there ARE other people out there who are capable of understanding, and actually prove to be more interested in you as a human after the mention of naturism (not only as a potential sex-mate, but as a human being with real interests and thoughts!)
Finding a future life mate is not easy; my naturist and non-naturist friends share in that sentiment. But I suspect that in the end, my interest in naturism will become an important point of departure for a new relationship filled with many things that I actually enjoy doing (*hint: it’s not sitting in the Ramada Inn swimming pool in New Jersey).
Does “naturist” belong in the average Tinder profile? Not unless you’re looking for a reason to attract creepy comments. But should it come up in the first or second date? Yeah, probably! Because unless you’re looking to spend the rest of your days packed like a sardine on the Jersey shore, wondering if your bikini is cute or sexy or modest enough, it’s worth mentioning, so that you simply can know if Joe is the kind of guy with whom you should “not pass go.” However, if Joe ends up hiking with you in the nude to a hidden gem of a beach off the coast of Thailand, then it was probably worth having those less than ideal conversations with Tom, Richard, and Kirk! Happy Tindering!
Of all the naturist places we’ve visited, I have to say that this one is truly unique – in a good way – largely defined by what I came to refer to as the “Grant and Jordi Show.” Grant and Jordi are the owners/innkeepers of this classy little resort “for the discerning naturist,” now in its second edition. They began with a smaller inn down the road, but expanded to this property with twelve rooms a few years ago. Apparently that is going so well that one’s failure to book a year in advance may well mean you don’t get your dates, or maybe, you don’t get in at all. There is clearly a devoted following that makes this their one stop nakation destination each and every year. Now we know why.
So we have already made our reservations to return next year. Pool gravity made it difficult to get dressed and get out to see as many sights as we might have hoped, especially if it involved donning clothing. My only reticence about talking up the place on social media is that I suspect it will become increasingly difficult to book a room with each successive year. To that end, it seems there are plans underway to reopen the original resort, this time as self-catering apartments. Staying there means you’d miss out on the Grant and Jordi Show, but I suspect it will be fabulous in its own right. I can’t imagine any endeavor put up by these two naked entrepreneurs to be anything less than first rate.
In the meantime, one’s license to make any beach a nude beach seems to be the common doctrine, especially in the more remote places found on say… the Balearic Islands. We were staying on the southern corner of Mallorca near the town of Campos at the exquisite 
An early arrival at the parking lot was well worth the effort; (early, meaning before 10:00 am) then a fifteen-minute trek past all the beach bars with locals and tourists packed in on top of each other. But then, near the old bunkers left over from WWII, the naked people began to appear. With shallow waters that allow one to wade 100 meters into the sea, it truly is a remarkable place, and there were plenty of constituents in the naturist cohort, and as many again who were happy to go topless. We were there with another couple from the naturist retreat, and indeed, nobody seemed to notice that some people had swimsuits and other did not. So much so, one couldn’t help but wonder “WHY ARE YOU PEOPLE WRAPPING YOURSELVES IN POLY-PETROLEUM-NYLON WHEN WHAT YOU’RE WEARING IS, IN SO MANY WAYS, MORE REVEALING THAN WHAT I’M NOT WEARING?” But most importantly, Es Trenc is a place where naturists and textiles can easily co-exist – and, in fact, do so every day!
But the real find was the seaside path to the south and west of Es Trenc. Once again, at the advice of our host, we left the car near the lighthouse at 
Though we were on Mallorca for about nine days, we found the “pool gravity” at Skinny Dippers Retreat to be incredibly dissuasive from getting our naked asses out of the resort and off to the seaside. And it occurs to me that we have only scratched the surface as to where one might commune with the Vitamin D gods on this beautiful little island. So to that end, we have already booked our return visit for next summer at which point, I’m hopeful additional “research” will lead to the discovery of a few new places to bask in the sun.
Given its perfect climate, there are amazingly few sanctioned naked places in Greece, though the one that has emerged as our personal favorite is 
