Despite portraying one of the most unlikable characters “White Lotus” has ever seen, Patrick Schwarzenegger was somehow all of us in the season 3 premiere when his character, Saxon Ratliff, scoped out all the attractive bodies at the pool like a sniper. (You know what they say about broken clocks.) Vacation makes the world feel like your oyster, and resort grounds are the perfect gateway for adventures of the heart and boners alike.
Unfortunately, Saxon stopped being relatable when he proceeded to speak to everyone he fancied, which induced severe secondhand embarrassment. It was with the smoothness of a man trying to convince you to come get candy at their van. And he continued to shift away from being the voice of horny travelers as he turned out to be much more of a pervert than, well, the average pervert. But that doesn’t change the fact that landing in a new destination does often make people feel friskier.
Kayla, a 27-year-old magazine editor and sugar baby in New York, tells PS the journey itself is what physically gets her going. Despite plenty of scandalous nights in four-star hotel suites in upscale zip codes, she says her sexual urges kick in on the way there. “It’s often less about being turned on by the exoticism of actually being in a new place and more that I literally get horny when I’m actively en route — on a plane, a train, or even, I’ll admit it, a bus, which is arguably the least sexy mode of transportation,” Kayla tells PS.
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Alexandra Andre is a sex therapist and the official sexpert for Temptation Caribbean Cruises.
The act of going somewhere offers a lot of free time for the mind to linger. Strangers sitting in stillness, coming and going with only their biologies and fantasies as common ground. Hazel Grace, the founder of InMelanin Productions, echoes Kayla’s sentiments, but she uses the journey as fuel to “pull out Bumble or Tinder and find someone to hang out with” already geographically pinned.
“Traveling makes me more adventurous,” Grace tells PS. “I’m never a fan of public hookups, but that might change if I’m somewhere else. Sex is more exciting and becomes like a story you tell your friends. You might never see them again, but they’ll always be that one guy you slept with in Spain!”
As the founder of an adult entertainment company, Grace knows firsthand that every scene needs a backdrop, many times even a hotel bedroom. Although she travels often for work and leisure, she says something about being on vacation makes every setting feel like the perfect stage for human connection, and she finds herself being more forward in starting conversations and more receptive to being approached by strangers.
There are a lot of circumstantial and psychological reasons why lust and travel are like fire and gasoline. Sex therapist Alexandra Andre cites the lack of responsibilities. “Two things happen when you’re on vacation,” she says. “There’s no laundry to be done or dinners to plan. You’re more prone to be horny because you’re in a sexier headspace. Secondly, people care too much about what others think, so when you’re abroad, you feel free from judgment and braver to take more risks.”
The sexologist says travel helps foster a more open mind — and the tourism industry knows it. Some people might not show up to a guided anal massage class in their resident city, but they may feel more comfortable signing up for one of Andre’s classes, hosted at a cruise filled with like-minded, sex-positive travelers from all over the globe. Travel can embolden tourists and help numb doubt, and there is perhaps no better place to practice wielding and understanding your sexuality than away from friends and acquaintances.
Of course, one of the most intentional ways to do this is by traveling specifically for sex. GG Sauvage, a writer and legal sex worker in Nevada, tells PS she has had paying clients from nearly every continent and all walks of life, including “bankers, custodians, disabled clients, different sexes,” for all sorts of reasons.
Personally, she finds that vacation sex with a stranger isn’t automatically better than sex at home. That said, Sauvage adds, “something about that stamp in the passport, the likely accent on the words coming out of their lips, and a generally better selection of wine, food, and style make overseas sex that much more alluring and enjoyable.” She says, “Sorry, America, you’re just a little stale!”
So this brings us back to Saxon in “The White Lotus,” who, as it turns out, proves this author right here wouldn’t sleep with every hot guy. Hurray for personal growth! Sauvage agrees, saying the difference between a creeper and Prince Charming is all about energy and how someone presents their intentions.
Although it seems virtually impossible for Saxon to be redeemed, one must respect his willingness to be the first to say hi. The best romance stories tend to start with someone courageous enough to break the ice.
Jamie Valentino is a Colombian-born freelance journalist and romance columnist published in the Chicago Tribune, the Houston Chronicle, Men’s Journal, Reader’s Digest UK, Vice, and more. Jamie has worked as a travel correspondent, covering the 2022 World Cup from Argentina, siesta culture in Barcelona, and the underground nightlife scene in Milan.
