Split for Croatia on Out Adventures First Land And Sea Trip

Picture yourself here.

Travel by land and set sail (on a beautiful yacht) with Out Adventures next May. Reserve now for this special trip, the first land + sea tour by gay-owned and run Out Adventures.

The trip has been organized by our very own Robert Sharp, one of ManAboutWorld’s very first global correspondents and very early supporters.
According to Robert participants will:

Explore historic monuments & dance the night away in Zegreb, hike through connected lakes and waterfalls in Plitvice, rest easy in 4 star hotels and on a Deluxe category Yacht, enjoy Roman architecture in Split, swim at every stop along the Dalmatian Coast and Makarja Riviera, walk along the medieval city wall in Dubrovnik, and more!

For more information click here.

Though still a conservative society in many ways, LGBT citizens have been benefiting from more rights in recent years. More info on LGBT rights in Croatia:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Croatia
• http://www.iglhrc.org/cgi-bin/iowa/region/168.html

San Francisco LGBT Travel Show PDF

I’ll be speaking today at 2pm PT and tomorrow at 1:30pm PT at the San Francisco Travel Show.

Click here to download a PDF version of my presentation, which includes recommendations for great LGBT-friendly destinations, events, tours and cruises.

 

What Do You Call A Bear In Turkey? Why Not Find Out?

You probably think bears are a uniquely American phenomenon. You’d be incorrect!

Bears are everywhere. BearArabia.org is organizing a bear cruise around the Turkish islands.

This 7-night tour, organized by IGLTA member LebTour, disembarks September 1.

For more information, click here.

Tanzania, Myanmar and India, Oh My!

You say Myanmar, I see Burma

Alyson Adventures/HE Travel have announced a few new destinations that you don’t normally see on the gay travel radar. Here’s information from the owner, Phil Sheldon:

We are excited to showcase two brand-new tours! “Tanzania Safari” offers a week in ideally-placed small luxury safari camps and an extension to the exotic Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar. Treasures of Myanmar” invites you to visit four distinct regions of Myanmar, and includes Bangkok, the Bridge over the River Kwai and an extension to Cambodia’s Angkor Wat.

We are also excited to announce new 2013 dates for our Jewels of India and South African Adventure tours. Please follow the links, and let us know if you’d like to join us for one of our new adventures. We hope you are as excited about these tours as we are!

For more information, click here: HETravel.com

In 2013, Ski Japan’s (Gay) St. Mortiz

Just powder!

For the first time as far as we know, a gay ski trip is planned to Japan. In late February 2013, when conditions are considered to be optimal, the friendly, expert folks at SKI BUMS is leading a trip to Niseko, Japan, boasting “snowflakes large enough to cast shadows.

They’re planning a six nights in Niseko and a weekend in Japan which will include gay highlights. Discounted pricing is available for a limited time. Click here for more information about the trip and SKI BUMS.

World’s Only Floating Gay Film Festival Sets Sail In June

Some sun between films.

The third annual Pride of the Ocean film festival, the only LGBT film festival held aboard a cruise ship unspools on the high seas on the Celebrity Summit June 10-17, 2012 (from New York City to Bermuda and back).

This is a gay/lesbian group aboard a mainstream cruise. Organizers expect over 50 guests. According to John Scagliotti, organizer of the event:

“One of the most important missions of Pride of the Ocean is to increase visibility of the LGBTQ and Alliance Community.”

He continues, “For this reason, we choose to host our film festival aboard ships with a diverse group of passengers, so that we are able to do our part in putting out a positive, constructive, example of our community to society at large.”

Check here for trip details and for a line up of the films.

Tour of the Week: VentureOut’s Heading to Galapagos in 2013

NTN6's photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/12615511@N08/4418218916/

Would you like to cross off this major destination from your bucket list? Get in touch with VentureOut via email or by calling them at 888-431-6789 and let them know you are interested in joining them to the Galapagos.

They are planning on visiting between January 10 and February 15, 2013, and they’ll try to accommodate the dates you prefer in that timeframe. VentureOut has been leading tours of gay and lesbian travelers (and their friends) since 1998.

NY Times Travel Show: LGBT Panel, Saturday March 3

They're good looking AND they are LGBT travel experts!

If you are anywhere near New York and love to travel, come to the NY Times Travel Show for the LGBT Travel Panel Saturday, March 3, 4pm-5pm ET moderated by yours truly and including a fine panel of travel experts:

• LoAnn Halden, IGLTA;
• Andre Rojer, Curacao Tourist Board;
• Mike Luongo, Freelance Journalist;
• David Ryan, Rhino Africa

Come hear as they share their insight into today’s hot destinations, cool events and great new tours for LGBT travelers. Be sure to come armed with questions. This is usually a well-attended and lively panel with lots of great information. Are you bags packed? You’ll be ready to zoom off to Florianopolis, Cape Town or Curacao by the time we wrap up!

You can get a taste for it by clicking here to download the presentation and the lesbian resource guide in PDF format. (Scroll down to where it says “Downloads.”)

LGBT Travel Panel at the L.A. Times Travel Show

Yours truly is organizing an LGBT travel panel at the upcoming L.A. Times Travel Show on Saturday, January 28, 2012 from 2:15pm to 2:45pm  in the Travel in Style Pavilion, naturally enough.

If you are anywhere near the Los Angeles Convention Center in downtown L.A., please stop in. You can find more information about the travel show by clicking here. You can obtain a 20% discount off the $10 entrance price by purchasing your ticket here and using the code EARLYBIRD.

We’ll talk about hot new destinations, events, and cruises to make your gay/lesbian travel planning just a tad easier. Come with questions. I’ll be moderating a panel that includes:

• Shannon Wentworth, founder and CEO of Sweet, cruises and tours for lesbians and their friends;
• Duane Wells, contributor to MoxieQ, which promises a “gay for every girl” and numerous LGBT travel publications; and
• Andy Bender, blogger for Forbes.com and contributor to numerous mainstream and LGBT publications.

The panel is brought to you in part by the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association, which is active in over 80 countries. Discover more about this nearly 30-year-old organization by clicking here: LGBT.Travel.

High Seas Hijinx: We Can’t Even Cruise Straight

Actual guests on an Atlantis cruise

After a welcome but almost scarily mild (global warming?!) December, rigid weather gripped the Northeast just after New Years.

Of course, that propelled our thoughts to warm-weather getaways, including gay and lesbian cruise vacations. This season’s aqueous getaways range from the offbeat (scuba diving in the Republic of Palau with Undersea Expeditions) to the romantic (Danube riverboat excursion with RSVP Vacations) to the humungous and fun (the Caribbean with Atlantis Events).

Check out the websites of these companies and the following for this year’s line up of water-based fun including all-gay or all-lesbian charters and gay or lesbian groups on mainstream cruises:

• Alyson Adventures
• AquaFest
• Coda
• Concierge Travel
• Hanns Ebensten
• Olivia
• Pied Piper
• R Family Vacations
• Source Events
• Sweet