Halifax, Nova Scotia: Atlantic Canada’s Gay Heart Celebrates Milestone

One of the friendliest spots in Canada (and that’s saying something considering how amicable our northern neighbors are generally speaking) is Halifax, Canada.

It’s also beautiful, rich in history and into its gay and lesbian culture. To wit, they are unspooling their first annual OUTeast Queer Film Festival this weekend (through June 17). And they celebrate the 25th anniversary of Halifax Pride July 20-29.

From the organizers:

• Halifax Pride is bound to be a crowd-pleasing festival that’s not to be missed; from the parade, the parties, and the cultural events like Queer Acts Theatre Festival and the Song Writer’s Circle, to sport events like the annual Dykes vs. Divas Softball Game, and symbolic events such as the vigil, flag-raising and inter-faith service.

There are LGBT-friendly and popular events all year round and great TAG-approved accommodations and terrific dining (seafood is a speciality, natch). Visit Rainbow Halifax for a few LGBT-specific and general travel planning tools.

Travel Guide: Sebastian White Reveals His Favorite Destination

New York-based Sebastian White is Corporate Communications Manager for JetBlue and a frequent traveler. We caught up with White before he dashed off to Vancouver, his favorite city in North America .

– Editor

By Sebastian White

Like most visitors to Vancouver, my love affair with the city began the instant I laid eyes on the place.  After one visit, I was hooked. I spend so much time in Vancouver my friends joke I’m a “Vanyorker.”

So what is it about Vancouver that’s so appealing? I could rattle off a list of Tourism Vancouver talking points as long as your arm: the diversity, the food, the laidback vibe, the coffee, the small town feel, the architecture.

To many, Vancouver’s most distinctive features are its glassy skyline and its unmatched setting – a rainforest city hemmed in by mountains and the sea – but what constantly draws me back is something less tangible. If it’s possible for a place to move you, to change how you see the world and your place in it, Vancouver is it. Isn’t that why so many of us have a lust for exploration?

To me, Vancouver can’t be described. It must be experienced.  Just be warned: arriving in Vancouver is always magical; leaving is just plain depressing.

Read  on for White’s insider guide to Vancouver.

Hello Sailor! A Must “Sea” Exhibit in Nova Scotia

Queen Mary crew members dress up, with "Jane" (centre), a steward from Liverpool, parading as the pin-up of one of Merseyside's football teams c. late-1950s. Picture courtesy of Oral History Archive at Southampton City Council/Ocean Pictures/Cunard.

I stumbled upon this exhibit while researching an article about the commemorations of the 100th anniversary of the Titanic.

Hello sailor! Gay life on the ocean wave at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in gay-friendly Halifax Nova Scotia  is

the first museum in North America to explore the lives of gay and lesbian mariners in this special exhibit. It combines an exhibit adapted from National Museums Liverpool (NML) in England with an exhibit created by the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. The NML exhibit explores the unique subculture created by gay men working as stewards on British ocean liners from the 1950s to the 80s. The Canadian component compares that experience to the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex mariners in Canada up to the present day.

 

Tour of the Week: The 100th Anniversary of the Titanic’s Maiden Voyage

By Jeff Guaracino

Today’s cruise ship companies endlessly announce the “newest” or “world’s largest ships” but one passenger liner still captures our imaginations and respect, the RMS Titanic. The “unsinkable” ship struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, and sank on 15 April 1912, resulting in the deaths of 1,517 people.

Next year marks the 100^th anniversary of the sailing of Titanic’s maiden voyage. Several destinations, tour operators and exhibition companies are getting ready.

For the real deal, visit Halifax, Nova Scotia 

Romance by VIA Rail Canada

It'd be nice to wake up to him on a train

VIA Rail Canada — our northern neighbor’s version of Amtrak — has long supported the LGBT community in a variety of ways and occasionally offers specials and deals for us queer traveling folk.

Their Romance by Rail experience doesn’t come with a discount but it does include extraordinary views (of the Canadian Rockies), an intimate suite, pampering service, and pretty amazing food and wine especially considering your on a train.

If you’re looking for a special honeymoon experience after getting married in, say, New York, this may be just the (rail) ticket.

To book a Romance by Rail experience, call one of their ticket agents toll-free at 1888 VIA-RAIL or visit VIARail.ca.

Montreal’s Queer of the Year Contest Redux

Check out the very cute video above featuring the contests running in the second annual “Queer of the Year” contest in Montreal.

Throughout Montreal Pride Week (August 8 through August 14), the six finalists will compete in a variety of challenges and activities, all of which will be captured on film.

Visit their Facebook page to learn more about the contest, follow along in the exploits of the participants, and vote for your favorite. Watch ‘em try to out-queer each other.

West Coast Dining Deals

Originally published in GPS.OutTraveler.com

Hope you’re hungry! This month there are two “Dine Abouts” to talk about in two west coast foodie capitals.

In San Francisco, now through January 31, 2011, locals and visitors have the opportunity to experience some of the finest restaurants in town at a fraction of the price. You may select from more than 100 participating restaurants offering a two-course lunch menu for $17.95 and/or a three-course dinner menu for $34.95. For a complete list for Dine About Town San Francisco, click here: DineAboutTown.com.

Further north, Dine Out Vancouver kicks off January 24 and goes through February 6. This celebration of local food and British Columbia wine offers three-course prix fixe menus at $18 $28, and $38 price points (not including taxes, alcohol and tip) at 215 restaurants across Metro Vancouver. More info: Dine Out Vancouver.

Princely Welcome in Canada’s Smallest Province

Originally published in GPS.OutTraveler.com

With a scant 140,000 inhabitants, Prince Edward Island is Canada’s least populous and physically smallest province or state. An island which only OK’d the stunning, 8-mile Confederation Bridge, an architectural marvel, to the mainland of New Brunswick, another of Canada’s lovely Maritime Provinces, about 13 years ago, sort of likes to be left alone. But they also like — and genuinely welcome — tourists with nearly a million visiting from Canada, the U.S. and elsewhere per year.

How are they with the gays? Up till now it’s been largely don’t-ask-don’t-tell. But recent initiatives  indicate an authentic welcome to LGBT visitors, including the launch of their gay tourism association, GayPEI which is a great place for lesbian and gay tourists to start their research. I stayed at the stately Shipwright Inn, a historic, gay-friendly B&B (yummy pancakes!) run by a British ex-pat husband and wife team. Two nice gay-owned, gay-operated properties where you’ll feel very comfortable include Rainbow Lodge, probably a good choice for value seekers and the Cranford Inn, a four and a half star contemporary B&B, run by a lovely lesbian couple.

While you’re up there, why not combine a trip to P.E.I. with bustling lil Halifax. Its picturesque waterfront made our hotlist of 2010 Romantic Travel Destinations.

Hear Ye, Year Ye: Ed Salvato on the Radio

Jeff (left) and Ed after their keynote address

Karen Mair of CBC Radio, Prince Edward Island, Canada interviewed Ed Salvato and Jeff Guaracino for her show Main Street after their keynote address at the annual conference of Tourism PEI. Click below to listen to their short interview.

Salvato_Guaracino_PEI

Karen Mair, host of Main Street

Black & Blue and “Raide” All Over

Courtesy of Bad Boy Club of Montreal (BBCM), organizers of Black & Blue

Originally published in GPS.OutTraveler.com

Black & Blue celebrates its 20th anniversary this October starting today and going through October 12, 2010. Raide means stiff or hard in French. You can translate the double-entendre in the title of this posting however you wish. But you may very well be stiff as a board after a night of dancing.

What started two decades ago (1991) as a simple fund-raising dance party for HIV/AIDS-related causes has morphed into a week-long event with all sorts of activities, but the signature event takes place on Sunday (10/10/10) Black & Blue 20, one of the greatest dance parties on earth. It’s just packed with gorgeous people (gay, straight, male, female, younger, and older) from the world over. The entertainment will blow your socks off. (Montreal is known for it’s extraordinary drag performers, dancers, and detail to mind-blowing entertainment of all kinds.)

The cheaper tickets are sold out. Currently tickets are $95 Canadian. It is definitely worth the mere $35 Canadian upgrade to VIP, with its expedited entrance, bathroom access, and views of the party from the reserved area. As of press time the Canadian and U.S. dollars are close to parity.

Super friendly, ridiculously gay-friendly, Montreal’s official tourism bureau, Tourism Montreal, features a gay-specific blog with up-to-the-minute recommendations for what to do due north written by the delightful Daniel Baylis.

• Click here to see the blog.
• Click here to see Daniel’s recommendations for five beautiful autumn walks in Montreal.
• If you want to soak up some culture while you’re visiting, check out the LGBT Harvest Theater Festival, taking place around the same time (today through 10/10/10).

Our guide

• If you decide to visit Montreal, don’t leave home without looking at our fabulous (and up-to-the-minute) Out Guide to Montreal.