Mixing Business With Pleasure In Las Vegas and Chicago

The fabulous Cosmopolitan Hotel

By ManAboutWorld Global Correspondent Jeff Guaracino

Great trip ideas can come from travel columns like this one, from your favorite travel magazine or recommendations from friends and family. Business travel — if planned correctly — can be a perfect time to research your next pleasure trip. Yes, I know we are always in a rush to get to that next meeting, answer that pesky text or resolve the work emergency, but hey it’s travel. Don’t forget to stop and smell the fun!

Viva Las Vegas—midweek

I was invited to speak at the Las Vegas International Tourism Safety and Security Conference. I hadn’t been to Las Vegas since 2007, so I was excited to see what had changed along the famed Las Vegas Strip. A midweek trip proved to be an exceptional option to avoid the crowds but still enjoy all of the amenities that Vegas has to offer.

Sin City Hosts These Hotties And More for Matinée Las Vegas Memorial Day Weekend

They’re hot plus they can wash your clothes on their abs!

Vegas will get just a tad hotter this Memorial Day weekend with the return ofMatinée Las Vegas Festival.

Our friends at Matinée are asking fans to

feel the revolution this Memorial Day – the party revolution, that is.  The festival that has become world famous for re-imagining the elaborate party experience with blazing pyrotechnics and production by Cirque du Soleil and Matinée Ibiza, returns to Las Vegas with the biggest dance festival of the summer. Taking place Friday, May 24th thru Monday, May 27^th, MATINÉE LAS VEGAS FESTIVAL will play host to over 8,000 clubbers dancing to twenty of the world’s leading DJs at eight high-energy party events.

Traveling Gay Dads: Sin-Free Las Vegas

These two dads are about to smooch!

¡Viva el Romance, Viva la familia, y Viva Las Vegas!

“It’s good luck for sweethearts, lovers, or spouses to kiss under this bridge. Go ahead and Happy Anniversary!” our lovely, Greek gondolier at Las Vegas’ Venetian Hotel encouraged. Sean and I were seated across from each other and we blushed, smiled and leaned across for a husband-husband smooch.  When we kissed, Carter and Ammon didn’t blink an eye, and the gondolier sighed. “How lovely, and what lovely children you two have!”

It was Labor Day week of 2012, and it was my 8^th Wedding Anniversary Vacation.  Sean, Carter, Ammon, and I were all together, and it has been my favorite anniversary to date. In Las Vegas (just like any city), we lived, loved, and enjoyed ourselves as family.

Ask the Expert: Insider Information on New Years in Las Vegas

Man oh man! Le Reve, the show at Wynn Las Vegas

From one of our readers:

I wish I could be asking for travel advice for some amazing international destination. With your help It will be amazing non-the-less. I’m planning on going to Vegas over New Years with my European long lost love, and we are trying to spark a relationship.

It is both of our first time going to Vegas and we are having a hard time figuring out, particularly where to stay and also things to do. I’ve spoken to my friends who go to Vegas regularly and they all spill off a whole list of hotels which doesn’t exactly narrow down the options. One consensus is that we should stay on the strip. Another seemingly good piece of advice was to find a New Years party that we want to go to and then try and stay at that hotel so that concierge can help us get into the party. Our problem is there seems to be lots of parties and because I don’t know any of the venues I’m having a hard time picking.

So, what we would love help with would be to get help picking a hotel, New Years party, and some other things to do, restaurants, shows, nights out. We are looking for a trip with a lot of excitement and some romantic moments thrown in. Any advice you can give would be very appreciated. — G

From one of our experts in Vegas:

All holiday action is on the Strip or in various clubs with their respective celebrity and DJ hosts. If they want to dance, they can pick any of the popular ones (XS has Steve Angello, Surrender has Will.I.am, Hard Rock has Drake, Marquee hasn’t announced) and have a good time.

This may not be ideal for a couple looking to hit it off. If that’s the goal but not total insanity, one possibility is the Foundation Room which sits atop Mandalay Bay on the far end of the Strip. Great view and perfect for watching fireworks. I’m sure the Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas will do something. Anywhere they go is going to be busy and a bit more pricey than normal.

Of course, there’s always the option to visit one of the gay clubs or experience NYE on Las Vegas Blvd.

My personal favorite option, and it’s challenging but not impossible, is to get a room high up and facing the Strip. The ones on the end of the Strip (Mandalay Bay, THEhotel, Wynn or Encore) have the best vantage points, but any will allow you to see the fireworks.

This way it’s intimate and not insanely crowded. Enjoy a prefixed dinner in one of the destinations fabulous restaurants and then retreat upstairs. Those various menus will come out soon, we just need to get a bit closer to Thanksgiving.

Here are some additional suggestions for a couple looking to have a romantic time:

Shows

• Le Rêve
• LOVE
• Zumanity
• Stevie Wonder is doing a special show at the Cosmo for NYE
• Celine is back at Caesars on 12/28

Restaurants

• Okada, Wing Lei or Bartolotta at Wynn
• Sinatra or Botero at Encore
• Alize or Nove at Palms
• Yellowtail or Jasmine at Bellagio
• miX at THEhotel
• The Eiffel Tower Restaurant at Paris (sounds cheesy but the food is decent and the view incredible)
• Mon Ami Gabi at Paris Las Vegas
• Rao’s at Caesars Palace
• CUT, Carnevino or Lavo at Palazzo
• Brunch: Simon at Palms Place, Jazz Brunch at The Country Club in Wynn

Editor: For great gay-specific packages, check out the Wynn/Encore. (Click here.)

OutServe: Out, Proud and Going to Vegas

Ding dong, DADT is dead! (And good riddance.)

The 4,000 members of OutServe, the association of actively-serving LGBT military personnel that launched on July 26, 2010, can now march out of the closet if they wish.

Many of them will converge on Las Vegas for their first post-”Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” convention. The first annual OutServe Armed Forces Leadership Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada, on October 13-16, 2011 at New York-New York Hotel and Casino. his will be an exciting gathering. For all you actively serving military personnel, OutServe has announced that there are only a few spots left. So, register now.

A huge congratulations to our brothers and sisters serving (openly) in the military!

Shedonism Turns Sin City into Lez Vegas

 

The women entertainers will most likely look like this.

Shedonism, a five-day gay women’s event, is set to take place in Las Vegas September 15-19.

This is a first-time event so you never know how it’ll turn out, but Alison Burgos is the organizer and she’s widely respected as talented party promoter. I’ve been to her lesbian White Party Miami which was fantastic. Check out her site: Pandora Events (beware: loud music plays so it may not be suitable for work).

Check out the site for a line up of events: Shedonism.

 

Key West: Eat Out, Drink Up

On a recent swing through Key West, I checked out a few hip new spots. This is most definitely not your grandpa’s Key West (well, if grandpa happened to be a kinda cool gay guy who discovered the Conch Republic before the big straight cruise ships did!)

Eat up
It is incredibly difficult to narrow down the wide range of terrific Key West  dining options to one or two choices. That said, two stand out from my recent visit.

Nine One Five ) has been open since 2002 and gets justifiable praise for its Asian-flavored seafood and décor. But my new recent favorite is the more recently open Flaming Buoy Filet Co.. Open just over a year, the Flaming Buoy is owned and operated by (openly gay) partners Fred Isch and Scot Forste. The décor — 10 rustic wood tables and simple lighting — reflects the restaurant’s approach to dining: simple and fresh.Drink up
You can still guzzle gigantic watered-down rum- or tequila-based cocktails anywhere along Duval St. But what’s new and exciting is the island’s burgeoning, sophisticated cocktail and wine bar culture. Check out the diminutive Orchid Bar , where mixologists take their drinks very seriously. The crowd is low key, and the space overlooks an illuminated pool: perfect after a busy day doing, well, nothing. The Porchis a wine and artisinal beer bar that has been open since summer of 2010 in a gorgeous old Victorian mansion.By the way, I stayed at my favorite guest house on the island: the gay-men-only Island House Key West. (More info:
http://www.gaykeywestfl.com/
.)

Originally published in GPS.OutTraveler.com.

Wynn Las Vegas and Encore Flaunt the Gay in Vegas

Super gay-friendly (and sumptuously luxurious hotel resorts in Las Vegas), Wynn Las Vegas and Encore are changing the concept of the gay getaway with the introduction of Flaunt at Wynn Las Vegas April 21-24.

This exclusive weekend event features some of the resorts’ hottest amenities, from the muscular performers of Le Rêve to the sizzling dancers of SINATRA Dance with Me and the tanned bodies at Encore Beach Club. Flaunt will change the way gay visitors look at a weekend in Vegas.

For more information on the Flaunt package from Wynn and Encore, click here.

Oh, My Kà: All the World in a Stage

Story by Dennis Hensley; Originally published in GPS.OutTraveler.com

My big reason for going to Las Vegas earlier this month was to see Cher before she packed it in and skipped town (see my video blog here). But the big reason I’m glad I made the trip was the show I saw the next night, Cirque du Soleil’s Ka at the MGM Grand. Where Cher seemed to be phoning it, this baby gave till it hurt. At least, it looked like it hurt.

I had been told by my cab driver on my way over that, “The stage is the star of that show.” He said it kind of dismissively, as though the performers were lacking. The truth is, the stage is the star of that show. The 80,000 pound, 50 foot-long platform is a triumph of imagination and engineering and deserves star status. If it had a door, I’d put a big star on it.

This thing is so technologically innovative, versatile and OMG mind-blowing, there’s no way any performer could compete. The best one could do is hang on for dear life and let it do its thing, whether it be rotating wildly to create a ship lost at sea, tilting past 90 degrees to suggest the side of a mountain wall or sprouting rods so that acrobats can dangle, swing and in one breathtaking stunt, slide over 60 feet into the abyss/pit.

The epic story is about a pair of twins, a boy and girl, who get separated from each other when they’re kids, go through a lot of adventures and adversity and then end up happily reunited at the end. There were some amazing Cirque-esque acrobatic acts woven into the tale but the real pleasure was just basking in the professionalism and the stagecraft.

From the moment I walked into the massive auditorium, with its atmospheric web of catwalks and cages, I felt like I was in another world. Then once the show started, I just let the spectacle — violent and frightening, one moment, subtle and tender, the next — wash over me. I haven’t said “Wow,” out loud like that so much since I saw the pictures of Jessica Simpson in her mom jeans. If you get a chance to experience it, you’ll say “Wow,” too.

To learn more about Ka, visit www.cirquedusoleil.com/lasvegas

Cher Bids Adieu (Au revoir?) to Las Vegas

Originally published in GPS.OutTraveler.com

Cher said farewell yet again this month, this time in Las Vegas, where she wrapped up her long run at the Coliseum at Caesar’s Palace just in time for Celine Dion to return in March. Our own Dennis Hensley caught one of Cher’s last shows. He took friend Tony and his trusty Flipcam with him for this report. Don’t miss “all the Cher-ness”! Thanks for “Cher-ing” …. yes, that’s our Dennis!