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Tags: London Travel / Gay Travel / Tourism Boards / → All Tags
London Gets A Gay Traveler Info Center With Boring Website
Nepal as a gay travel destination was something of a surprise. But the fact that London has just opened up an LGBT Tourist Information Office isn't too out of the blue but it's a good thing just the same.
The office director says the reason for the center is to show that "London's exciting LGBT life is the best in the world". There might be a few cities which would beg to differ, but you'd have to agree that a huge city like London definitely has plenty for everyone.
But here's a pretty big "but" the office's website doesn't show much about the exciting LGBT life in London yet. Sure, it's early days, but the site's just a simple Wordpress blog with hardly anything on it, and really not ready to be launched, in our humble opinion.
Tags: Gay Travel / Nepal / Tourism Boards / Nepal Travel / → All Tags
Nepal Rebranding Itself As Go-To Gay Travel Destination
Nepal, a country that's been wracked by years of political instability, is desperately in need of tourism money. GLBT travelers and couples, all things being equal, tend to have relatively high amounts of disposable income, or so Nepal thinks. Therefore, the Nepal tourism board is launching a massive campaign to highlight the country as a gay travel destination. In addition to a very public campaign, they're planning to host an international conference next winter specifically on the subject:
Nepal government has held a series of meetings with well-known international tour operators and non-profit organisations to promote Nepal as a potential destination for LGBTs... Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) officials hope that LGBT arrivals will give a boost to the number of visitors to the country as the government mulls new way to bring in a million foreign tourists in the Nepal Tourism Year 2011. "Some international companies want to work in tandem with the government and attract LGBTs.'
Tags: Volunteer Travel / Maine Travel / Gay Travel / Political Travel / → All Tags
'Travel For Change' Is Sending Volunteers To Maine For Gay Rights
Usually, volunteer vacations are about helping the needy, but for some, they can also have a political agenda. Last year, Travel for Change helped send over 400 volunteers to swing states to work for the Barack Obama campaign. Now, they are helping send volunteers to Maine, where voters will take to the ballot box next month and decide whether to overturn a law that allows same-sex couples to wed. "Question 1," as it is being called, is similar to Prop 8, a same-sex marriage ban eventually approved by voters in California last year.
Travel for Change is working with the No on Question 1 campaign to get volunteers from across the country to Maine to work for marriage equality. The organization is raising funds and airline miles, matching volunteers to share rooms and cars, and placing them in appropriate jobs once they arrive in Maine.
Tags: Gay Travel / Amsterdam Travel / Tourism Boards / Tourism Campaigns / → All Tags
Gay or Straight, You're Gay in Amsterdam
Remember, back in the day, when "gay" was just a synonym for happy? The tourist board Amsterdam is harking back to those times a bit with their new Everyone's Gay in Amsterdam campaign. The main target is LGBT travelers, but it goes deeper; they want to:
promote the citys unique sense of openness and inclusivity that resonates with any visitor to Holland.
Print ads, half-hour travel specials and co-hosted events make up most of the campaign, plus a beautifully-designed website full of people looking really happy. In fact, it takes a bit of digging on the website to find anything specifically aimed at the LGBT target group, but there is a list of gay-friendly pubs and clubs if you look hard enough.
Tags: Pride Week / Gay Travel / New York City / Events / → All Tags
First Annual Village Pride Bar Tour: Because Crawls Are For College Kids
This year, the 40th anniversary of the raid on the Stonewall Inn in New York City, it's more important than ever to recognize the impact that gay and lesbian New Yorkers have had on the city. Everyone's going to be hitting the pride parade as usual on Sunday the 28th, but we'd rather plunk down a few bucks for the First Annual Village Pride Bar Tour on the 27th, an afternoon drinkapalooza beginning at the legendary Stonewall with specials for just a $10 ticket.
Hear the Gay Men's Chorus perform at the legendary Cathedral of St. John the Divine on Thursday, home of an original Keith Haring altarpiece, or see the New York Public Library get into the act with a free monthlong exhibition of photos from 1969 in its flagship Stephen A. Schwartzman building.
If you can't make it for Pride, NYC & Co's round-up of gay landmarks like the Broadway theatre where "A Chorus Line" premiered should give you a good idea on how to celebrate pride your own way.
Related Stories:
· NYC Survival Guide [NYCGo.com]
· NYC Gets a Big Gay Ice Cream Truck [Jaunted]
· NYC's Rainbow Pilgrimage Counts Down to Pridefest [Jaunted]
[Photo of a flag carrier at Queens Pride earlier this month: oquendo]
Tags: Food Trucks / Food Travel / Ice Cream / Gay Travel / Bacon / → All Tags
NYC Gets a Big Gay Ice Cream Truck
The food trucks are continuing their wholesale takeover of the NYC restaurant scene at full speed. The latest entry: the cheekily named Big Gay Ice Cream Truck, which will be rolling through the Village, Chelsea and Brooklyn soon.
Owner/ice cream connoisseur Doug Quint told Serious Eats about his decision to go with such an open name:
"Let's face it, ice cream trucks are kind of queer, and a middle-aged white man driving one is pretty suspect. That's not to say that I'm a rolling hotbed of perversion. Hardly the case. It's all in the name of silly."
All joking aside, the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck will be giving New York's mobile dessert scene a fancy-pants makeover with inventive flavors like Nutella, olive oil and sea salt, and bacon. Yes, that's bacon and ice cream together in one glorious food.
The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck takes off next week. We'll be the ones chasing it down the street.
Related Stories:
· The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck [Official Site]
· The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck, Launching Soon in NYC [Serious Eats]
· NYC's Food Trucks All Converge in One Place This Weekend [Jaunted]
[Photo: TBGICT]
Tags: Travel News Briefs / Luggage Flair / Hotels / Kany West / Gay Travel / → All Tags
How to Easily Identify a Tween's Suitcase in the Baggage Claim
· Luggage Flair: We saw this sticker on a suitcase belonging to a tween at McCarren International Airport in Las Vegas. Care to show off your own luggage flair? Drop a pic in the Jaunted Flickr Pool
· Sick of Losing Your Luggage: Budget Travel tested some luggage trackers. [Budget Travel]
· Kanye West in Trouble for LAX Pap Smackdown: Kanye West went berserk on some paparazzi outside the American terminal at LAX and has been charged with vandalism, battery and grand theft. His lawyer was in court today to win a delay for Kanye's arraignment. [TMZ]
· Good News for the Travel Industry: Gay travelers are still taking trips! [LAT]
· Call The Hotel Before You Get There: It may not be open anymore. [NY Times]
Tags: Events / New York City / Gay Travel / → All Tags
NYC's Rainbow Pilgrimage Counts Down to Pridefest
The history of New York City is rife with monumental events which help stoked the fires of what today may be commonplace thanks to the efforts of devoted locals. One such example is the recognition of the LGBT community and the formation of the Gay Liberation Front, the Gay Men's Heatlh Crisis (GMHC) and the June romp we all know as Pride Fest. This year, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, which brought gay pride to the forefront in 1970s NYC, the city has organized a "Rainbow Pilgrimage."
From a comprehensive listing of LGBT landmarks such as the actual Stonewall Inn, the Gay and Lesbian collections of the New York Public Library and Harvey Milk High School, to a calendar full of events (April 18 has a LGBT Gallery Tour), the Rainbow Pilgrimage is out to educate as well as celebrate. All are welcome of course, so long as you remember that June 28's 40th annual Pride March in the West Village marks the pinnacle of the year.
For a full schedule of events and landmark locations, visit NYCGo.com
Related Stories:
· Rainbow Pilgrimmage [Official Site]
· Gay Travel Coverage [Jaunted]
· Events Coverage [Jaunted]
[Image: NYCGo.com]
Tags: LGBT / Gay Travel / Travel Advertising / → All Tags
Frivolous Lawsuit Update: Lesbos Is Gay After All
Sapphic sightseers, delight: A judge has dismissed the lawsuit brought against a Greek national LGBT group regarding the use of the word "lesbian," which was decided by the court to not refer generally to the residents of the island of Lesbos. The plaintiffs even faced a mutiny among islanders, some of whom credited the legend of Sappho with boosting tourism to the island.
Coming on the heels of the tempest in a teapot that was the proposed "South Carolina Is So Gay" ads, European tourists at whom the US ads were aimed should go to Greece instead. If you're not sold, see "Mamma Mia!"--a good time for gay and straight alike.
Related Stories:
· Frivolous Lawsuit Travel: Greek Island Not Pro-Gay Rights [Jaunted]
· Court Rules Lesbians Are Not Just from Lesbos [Reuters]
· A new Tourism Ad Creates an Uproar [Newsweek]
· Movie Set Travel: "Mamma Mia!" [Jaunted]
· LGBT coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: John and Mel Kots]
Tags: Gay Travel / Toronto / Toronto Pride / LGBT / → All Tags
Pride Month Travel: Gods and Heroes in Toronto
Looking to celebrate Pride Month out of town? Look into Pride Toronto, which is so much more than a march: Held June 20 to 29--that's right, over two weekends!--the citywide celebration includes such diverse events as a Mount Olympus-themed gala featuring comedian Sandra Bernhard, a party hosted by Limelight head honcho Peter Gatien and a ceremony to honor the Grand Marshal and co-chair of Jamaica's first LGBT organization.
As in many affairs of state, Canada has so far led the US as a whole in recognizing the rights of its gay and lesbian citizens, from a minister of justice's statement in 1969 that "the state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation" to legalizing same-sex marriage in 2005.
Toronto's first pride event was held in 1970, and the mayor himself will be in attendance this year.
Related Stories:
· Pride Toronto [Official Site]
· LGBT Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo from Pride Toronto 2006: mangomargarita]
Tags: Lesbos / Frivolous Lawsuit Travel / Islands / LGBT / Gay Travel / → All Tags
Frivolous Lawsuit Travel: Greek Island Not Pro-Gay Rights
If a woman says, "I'm a lesbian," most people would assume she's making a statement about her sexual orientation, not declaring she is a resident of the Greek island of Lesbos. That's something a few Lesbians (capital L, denoting geography after this mention) would like to change, as three Greeks are taking the Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece (OLKE) to court to demand the removal of the word "lesbian" from the group's name.
The term derives from the island's most famous inhabitant, the ancient Greek love poet Sappho whose poems described infatuation with women. Plaintiff--and Lesbian--Dimitris Lambrou told a judge:
Our geographical designation has been usurped by certain ladies who have no connection whatsoever with Lesbos...[This lawsuit] is not an aggressive act against gay women.
Since Sappho lived some 2,600 years ago, one wonders why this has become an issue now. The word "lesbian" with the definition related to sexual orientation, not geographical locale, was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 1890.
Related Stories:
· People of Lesbos Take Gay Group to Court [AP, via Yahoo]
· Gay Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: downthedip]
Tags: LGBT / Gay Travel / Travel Marketing / American Airlines / Travel Advertising / Erik Torkells / → All Tags
LGBT Travel: American Airlines Leading the Charge
American Airlines unleashed a new print campaign featuring retro styling and two men walking off a "Casablanca"-style airplane to what looks like a Hawaiian vacation. (Though as Queerty notes, what gay man would wear socks with loafers?)
In addition to AA's LGBT-specific website, the ad also mentions that the airline has been recognized for six consecutive years by the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index. That basically means that it's a company that treats all of its employees equally regardless of orientation.
Meanwhile, the travel industry as a whole is making Budget Travel editor Erik Torkells proud with lots of companies scoring well on that HRC Index. (American is among the 20 he mentions.) But he won't be snapping up an Avis rental car or a Royal Caribbean cruise: They still have progress to make, Torkells says, and they won't be getting a dime of his cash until thing change.
Related Stories:
· American Airlines Flies First Gay Print Ads [GayWired.com]
· Travel Industry, I'm Proud of You [Budget Travel]
· LGBT Travel coverage [Jaunted]
