Nevada is home to 28 legal brothels, and despite what you might think, most of them cater to truckers. The cat houses are located in rural areas and depend on business from horny long-haul drivers--and they're hurting thanks to the rising cost of gas.
Bobbi Davis of the Shady Lady Ranch told CNN:
Anything that has to do with discretionary income is down. Instead of spending $500 out here, [truckers] might only spend $300. I see it every time they raise gas prices.
In order to fight price hikes, Davis is offering discounted rates and gas card giveaways.
Brothels located near the casino meccas of Reno and Las Vegas say their business is up, but that hasn't stopped relentless self-promoter and Moonlite Bunny Ranch boss Dennis Hof from getting in on the recession discount publicity action. The Hof is launching a "Double Your Stimulus" special that gives customers who bring their government checks to the Bunny Ranch "twice the services for the same regular price."
Can't afford a European vacation this summer? Do what our contributor Claire Duffett did: Explore Southeast Asia instead.
We lied. More common than spicy street food and heavy foot traffic in Bangkok is the sight of a balding, middle-aged man with a pockmarked face, potbelly and ponytail striding alongside a beautiful young Thai woman.
Their arrangement is apparent and immediate. Rather than get horrified, saddened or disgusted (and at times, my boyfriend, who co-wrote this travelog, and I felt all of the above), you'll have to accept if not embrace Bangkok's most common trade in order to enjoy the city.
The scientists who will brave the brutal polar winter at McMurdo Station in Antarctica have one thing to brighten their days: 16,500 condoms. The massive shipment of prohylactics was one of the last things delivered to the research base before the four-month-long season when the entire continent gets no sunlight.
During winter, McMurdo is home to a skeleton crew of only 125 researchers and, naturally, there's loads of sexual tension between the staff during the endless evening. The manager of the station, Bill Henriksen, told reporters:
Since everybody knows everyone, it becomes a little bit uncomfortable.
The staff will have to use the condoms sparingly. The shipment amounts to just more than one condom per day for each scientist. The ones who aren't getting laid should be able to make a tidy profit selling their unused rations.
The New York City Department of Health released a survey yesterday showing that one out of every four New Yorkers has genital herpes. We don't know if 26 percent is officially considered an epidemic, but it's obviously a serious situation. Maybe hipsters are responsible? The entire North section of Brooklyn has basically become a health hazard.
The data are especially scary since most people infected with herpes have no symptoms--and because genital herpes doubles the risks of spreading HIV. In other words, the city might be in even worse shape soon.
The DOH is encouraging people who are getting laid in New York to wear condoms and to avail themselved of the free testing services at one of New York's many STD clinics. Between this and the bedbugs in the parks, we'll probably just skip hanging out in NYC till October.
The legendary Moonlite BunnyRanch brothel in Carson City, Nevada is offering customers a $15 "baggage rebate" in response to American Airlines' new fees. A press release posted on the brothel's website says:
The BunnyRanch will reimburse any customer $15 for their first bag at the brothel (upon receipt of baggage claim stub, we will credit your account).
We called up the BunnyRanch and spoke to their "sexy secretary" who told us that the offer isn't limited to clients who arrive the ranch via AA.
Dennis Hof, the BunnyRanch pimp and star of HBO's series "Cathouse," says he felt he had to act out against the injustice of excessive airline fees:
As long as the airlines keep sticking it to the consumer we feel obligated to help ... We're all about helping the little guy from the gougers in the air.
Hof's magnanimity makes sense: Prostitution is supposed to be a recession proof industry. Guess the rising cost of petroleum hasn't affected lubricant prices yet.
So. Eliot Spitzer. Wow. The man himself hasn't admitted that he went on a sex vacation, but credible news reports place the New York governor at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC on February 13. A federal affidavit says "Client 9" met with a high-class hooker that night in room 871; a source says that's Spitzer.
We don't really promote sex tourism, and we don't think it's cute when it's women doing it instead of men. But we can't ignore that it definitely happens.
Btw, prostitution is illegal pretty much everywhere in the US. But if you wanna go for a right-in-the-eyes-of-the-law experience, the rural parts of Nevada are where to, ahem, head. The two below are the closest to Vegas, and hence the priciest of your options.
Ah, Amsterdam, a city better known among college-age backpackers for its XXX district and marijuana cafes than its beautiful canals and Anne Frank legacy. But not for long, if Mayor Job Cohen has his way.
Cohen announced today that the city's year 2000 legalization of prostitution didn't have the intended effect of making sex workers any safer. It's time, he says, to try a new tack including permits for brothels, a higher minimum age for sex workers (21, from 18) and a crackdown on sex-trade businesses with Mafia ties.
Can this be a good idea? Will it lead to a precipitous drop-off in Amsterdam tourism, or will visitors simply avail themselves of what remains--a la the New York City of 2007? And will libertarian and Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul comment on it?
A word of warning: don't think about a middle-aged or elderly woman you know while you read this story. It'll put you off your lunch.
A bunch of middle-aged women have started a dubious new trend in Africa travel: Ladies in their 50s and 60s are heading to Kenya for a holiday and picking up handsome men in their 20s to have a good time in exchange for expensive gifts.
Locals don't like it, and try to discourage it--for example, if a woman wants to change her hotel room from a single to a double, some places will say no--but they estimate that as many as one in five single women visiting from richer countries are there for sex. In exchange they buy their companions new clothes, expensive sunglasses and a few nights in a hotel. This is sex tourism as we've never imagined it before--and it's disgusting.
