A breathtaking photograph of our correspondent Michael Siebert looking out onto a peaceful Indonesian morning.
*Our Daily Dose of Travel Inspiration. Not always daily but always inspirational.
So You Want To Go Cuba? 6 Gay Ways To Get There
Thanks to President Obama’s recent initiative to thaw relations with our geographically near (yet ideologically distant) neighbor, it’s a little easier to go but restrictions remain in place, specifically with respect to pure leisure tourism — it’s still not legal for Americans, who must travel under a general or specific (i.e., an application and a case-by-case determination) license (visa). The main changes include an expansion of general licenses to allow 12 categories of travel without specific approval, and the use of credit cards. Don’t expect to hop on a plane, grab a hotel and hit the beach on your own just yet. There is a lot of good information about travel to Cuba, including this comprehensive Q&A in The New York Times. Continue reading “So You Want To Go Cuba? 6 Gay Ways To Get There”
A Gay Guy’s First Trip To Cuba
Our friend Steven Bereznai — travel writer, personal trainer, and the author of numerous books, including Gay and Single…Forever? 10 Things Every Gay Guy Looking For Love (and Not Finding It) Needs to Know — chimes in with a fascinating piece from his trip to Cuba this past January. (He’s Canadian and has the legal right to travel there as a tourist from Canada.):
“Don’t book anything less than a 4 star.” “The food will be terrible.” “The booze will be watered down.” “Your all inclusive won’t include drinkable water.” “The resort won’t look like the brochure.” “Tip everybody.” “The locals will want to marry you.”
Berlin Examines the History of LGBT Porn
One of our favorite correspondents, Paul Heney, is back with another great piece about his recent travels to Berlin:
Berlin took a little time to grow on me, but after four trips here over the years, it’s a place I love to visit. The city’s eclectic style, extensive arts scene, in-your-face “German-ness” and plentiful shopping—not to mention its very gay-friendly vibe—adds up to a lot of fun for the gay traveler.
I had a great opportunity to visit the city’s famed Schweules Museum, now celebrating its 30th anniversary. Schweules, one of the world’s mot renowned institutions for researching and communicating the LGBTQ experience.
Through March 31, the museum is showcasing a fascinating exhibit, “Porn That Way,” a look at the history of gay, lesbian and trans porn. And there is a lot of history, and some pretty interesting insight into what gay porn meant, not to mention how it shaped what men considered sexy. From early work that seemed closeted and subversive to the photorealistic Tom of Finland drawings—and from the gay-for-play muscled hunks that tried to show a healthy counterpoint to AIDS victims to the self-made online empires like Corbin Fischer, the show tries to show how the different eras of gay pornography related to the times.
There’s also an in-depth examination of lesbian porn, including the “produced by men for men” variety, as well as the woman-produced, safe-sex, female-centric movies and magazines.
So if you’re in Germany’s capital city anytime soon, make sure to stop by Schweules before heading over to Brunos for your underwear and gymwear shopping! It’s a worthwhile stop to pay homage and learn more about that media that no one likes to discuss in public—but that everyone watches in private.
And the Best Boutique Hotel In St. Pete Is…
The Birchwood is the best hotel in St. Pete and our first choice when staying downtown. It has just 18 rooms, all of them spacious and tastefully designed with claw-footed tubs. No frills here: no gym, no pool, but a first-rate restaurant in the lobby — Birch & Vine — and a weekend hotspot of a rooftop bar in The Canopy. If you’ve come to the area to visit the Dali Museum and explore downtown’s ever-burgeoning scene, you’ll want to stay here.
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NYTimes: 8 Trips Inspired By Oscar
If you’re rushing around this weekend trying to catch up on all of the Best Picture nominees and find yourself inspired by the exotic (and sometimes not so) cities portrayed on he silver screen, you’ll love this piece in The New York Times. Check out these 8 trips inspired by Oscar nominations, and subscribe to our magazine here for our own insider tips.
Meet Florida’s Other Half
This month, we hit the road, up and down Florida’s west coast, intent on solving one of the great travel mysteries of our time: if the Gulf Coast of Florida is still in the shadow of Miami, then how the hell is it so sunny? It’s a good question and one we were determined to get to the bottom of. And we mean “the bottom.” So we set out to explore some of the Gulf Coast’s best cities: St. Petersburg and Tampa and their small town neighbors like the pristine family harbor town of Clearwater, and the strange Greek enclave of Tarpon Springs. We drove down to Sarasota, and further still to the idyllic islands of Captiva and Sanibel, where we sailed into sunsets and watched dolphins leap like trapeze artists.
And what we found was a region ready to burst out of the shadow of Miami and into its own as Florida’s undiscovered gay hot spot. We found cities like St. Petersburg, young and bustling with first-rate museums and cool, hipster restaurants, a vibrant live music scene and cute gay boys holed up inside straight bars.
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Rio Carnivale!
Our correspondent Jeff Guaracino chimes in with some news about the fantastic Rio Carnivale!
CARNIVAL IN RIO: PARTY ON!
When you picture Rio de Janeiro, do you think of sexy people partying? You’d be right.
Brazil’s Carnival is known worldwide as the “world’s biggest festival” full of culture, dance, food, samba, parades and music. Tourism officials estimate 977,000 tourists joined local revelers this week at Rio de Janeiro’s 2015 Carnival.Continue reading “Rio Carnivale!”
The Big Gay Train Makes Its Return, March 28
On March 28, our wonderful friends at Out in the Vineyard return yet again to host The Big Gay Train, a very special event where gay winemaker’s board a Napa Valley train and pair their reds and whites with fresh, muli-course meals. It’s the gay, wine-soaked, culinary adventure of the season, an opportunity to meet interesting gays, eat some great food, drink some wine, and mingle with some friends. The event runs from 5:30pm-8:30pm. Tickets start at $185 and VIP passes will run as high as $215.
15 Places To Travel in 2015: Alaska … Because RSVP Returns in 2015 with its 30th Anniversary Alaska cruise
For a traveler, Alaska can seem as unmanageable as it is beautiful. It’s a vast, sprawling, and utterly massive state; at more than 660,000 square miles, it’s bigger than Texas, California, and Montana combined. It has 15 national parks, a pretty but small capital city in Juneau, and some of the most wondrous vistas in the world So how do you do Alaska? The first thing you’ll need to accept is that you can’t do it all; you’re going to have to choose which side of Alaska you want to see. The mess of islands that comprises Southeastern Alaska is gorgeous and unique but perhaps better for a second visit. The most common way most travelers see Alaska is by cruise line. An Alaska Cruise is a trip of a lifetime, and if you go, the best time to do it is June through August, and we recommend choosing a small ship rather than a large one so that it’s easier to lose the crowds, escape the overdeveloped ports, and experience Alaska’s nature and wildlife in greater depth and relative peace.
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