White Party Turns 30

miamiwhitepartyOur correspondent David DiGiacomo has big plans to attend the 30h anniversary of White Party Week in Miami.

Come the end of November, White Party Week — the Care Resource HIV/AIDS fundraising extravaganza and the largest of its kind — hits its “Diamond Jubilee” landmark with a big bash at the new Perez Art Museum in Miami. From November 26 through December 1, more than 20,000 people from all over the world are expected to attend. The museum’s Biscayne Bay and skyline views are tremendous, and the hosts are anticipating the most glamourous white party yet with performances from DJ David Knapp and the White Party Symphony.

We covered Miami and all of South Florida in our January/February 2013 guide. Click here to subscribe and receive all of our insider tips!

Our Quick ‘n’ Dirty Guide To Halloween

halloweenThis year, the usual suspects go to bat with some of the biggest Halloween parties of the year.

Tonight, West Hollywood’s Santa Monica Boulevard is hosting the largest street party in the world. Half a million (yes, you heard that right!) of gays will descend onto the block for the most insane costume party we’ve scene. Check out the official site for a listing of bars hosting events.

In San Francisco, the seventh annual GhostShip Asylum party will erupt tonight and November 1, from 9pm-4am, a small-slice of Burning Man-esque costumes, installations, dancing, and craziness for one of the biggest parties of the year. Located at Pier 70, Building 12 at 22nd Street and Illinois, the event is not yet sold out and tickets run from $50 to $120.

In New York, Whoopi Goldberg will be the host of tonight’s 41st annual Village Halloween party. Expect the village to shut down while thousands of ghouls and ghosts (and probably a few slutty nurses!) take over. The theme this year, “The Garden of Earthly Deaths,” will run along Sixth Avenue beginning at 7pm.

For you southern boys, NOLA may just be the granddaddy of all Halloween parties, with Voodoo parades, boozefests along Frenchmen Street and even a cool “Boo at the Zoo” exhibit inside Audobon Zoo.

Les Miserables On Broadway Got Hotter

raminA note from our correspondent Rich Martino:

If you’re traveling to NYC and planning to see a Broadway show, the choices can be overwhelming. But if you’re a fan of the classic musicals, then you shouldn’t miss the critically acclaimed revival of “Les Miserables”.   The icing on the cake is the Iranian born lead Ramin Karimloo, who proves that beauty and talent can live in the same body.

A Small Mexican Town with a Whole Lotta Ghosts

smaIn San Miguel de Allende, a small artist colony in Guanajuato, Mexico, the locals celebrate Halloween a little differently. You won’t find any slutty nurses around here. Instead, the Dia de los Muertos is a majestic ode to the dead, an ancient ritual where the pastel-colored town of old churches becomes lush with flowers, art, and costumes to celebrate Halloween. On November 1, locals will share food and visit cemeteries to get in touch with lost souls.

It’s one of the world’s great cities at their creative peak, and one of the best windows into a peaceful region of modern day Mexico.

 

 

On The Ground: I go Greek!

acropolis museumI recently returned from Athens delighted from my visit to the Acropolis Museum. The beautiful space is only about five years old and already beloved by Athenians and tourists. And for good reason; we found tons of cool tidbits (for example, the interior replica of the parthenon has the exact foot print and orientation as the actual!) and the exhibits are easy to follow and well curated, some even showing a side-by-side comparison of a statue beside an imaged portrait of what it might look like 2,000 years prior. A major surprise and one of Europe’s best museums!

Check out all of our insider-y Greek coverage coming in our upcoming issue and guide by subscribing here!

Dennis Hensley: Harboring Secrets in Long Beach

darkharborOur correspondent Dennis Hensley is back with another hilarious story, this time chronicling his adventures getting lost inside a maze aboard a creepy old boat.

As amusement park Halloween scare-fests go, Dark Harbor at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, has something that its competitors don’t: one really old, seriously creepy boat.  Two of the attraction’s new-this-year mazes actually happen on the famed luxury and the historic and by all accounts haunted atmosphere just adds to the frightful fun.

Continue reading “Dennis Hensley: Harboring Secrets in Long Beach”

R Family Vacations Celebrates 11 years of Gay Family Travel

Screen Shot 2014-10-18 at 7.20.31 PMThe latest gay travel column from Global Correspondent Jeff Guaracino celebrates 11 years of gay family travel.

R Family Vacations was founded eleven years ago by travel entrepreneur Gregg Kaminsky and Kelli Carpenter and since then 19,000 people have traveled the world with Gregg and Kelli on trips designed just for our community.

R Family Vacations is unique in the travel space. The R Family experience is for everyone. Families don’t just mean children. It can be adults with their adult gay or lesbian child or childless LGBT couples who are looking for a different experience than that of Atlantis Events, RSVP Vacations or Olivia.

Continue reading “R Family Vacations Celebrates 11 years of Gay Family Travel”

Dine Around The World: Authentic Thai Comes to The Big Apple

paetrioA recent New York Times article about a new, authentic Thai restaurant in Elmhurst, Queens – Paet Rio–  seemed to both harken back to ManAboutWorld’s ‘Dine Around The World’ feature we published in our New York Takeover guide this past Spring, and look ahead to our upcoming Thailand guide. Our idea was to showcase the culinary diversity throughout New York’s five boroughs – the Poles of Greenpoint, the Russians of Brighton Beach, the Koreans of Jackson Heights, and so on – but the news of Elmhurst bursting onto the scene as NYC’s new Thai Town is welcomed news to us.

You can read all about how to Dine Around The World in New York bysubscribing here! And keep an eye out for our Thailand guide, coming soon!

Photo credit

ManAboutWorld Editor Ziplines in Costa Rica

FullSizeRenderIn a town known as Jaco in the center of Costa Rica, way up high in the rain forests, I leapt from a bamboo platform and flew high above the bushes and leaves, the trees and butterflies, connected to the thick chord above me by only a small metal clasp. The rain was drizzling down as it did for most of the week I was there, causing the steel chord to be slick and so even faster I sped. When I reached the end, my guide, Camillo, smiled broadly.

“How was that?” he asked.

“Amazing and scary,” I told him.

He laughed.

“You have nine more!”

We’ll be writing all about our ziplining experiences in gorgeous Costa Rica coming up in our November issue. Click here to subscribe to get an all access pass to our insider tips.

Parting Shots: Zoom Around The World With Bryan Herb

kidsBryan Herb is a co-founder and co-owner of Zoom Vacations, a tour company founded to meet the evolving social, emotional, physical and spiritual needs of the gay and lesbian leisure traveler, as well as their families and friends. We asked him to provide photos for the Parting Shots section of this month’s issue of the magazine. Here are more photos of Zoom trips and a Q&A with the peripatetic Herb.

1. Why do you love luxury gay travel?

Like anyone who has been bitten by the travel bug, I love seeing new places and learning about different cultures. I notice that a lot of us in the LGBT community tend to be over-achievers and workaholics, so I especially appreciate seeing incredible destinations with like-minded people while staying in wonderful accommodations and enjoying once-in-a-lifetime activities. Luxury gay vacations are comfortable, enriching, and pampering, giving ample opportunity to recharge our batteries, and this is exactly what a vacation should do.Continue reading “Parting Shots: Zoom Around The World With Bryan Herb”