Relaxing in Kona – Dolly Travels

Kona Aloha! Yes, I have been relaxing (one might interpret that as lazy, actually). I flew into Kona last Tuesday evening. Of course, it was dark, it was late, so I did not see much that night. My brother, Darrell, and his wife, Kat, picked me up from the airport. After getting here to the house, we relaxed on the lanai, caught up with news from home, then off to bed. In the morning, I walked out of my room to the backyard, to a gorgeous view. Darrell and Kat were both busy when I made my way out to the kitchen. Breakfast is in the frig, I was told. I took out a bowl of fresh mango, topped it with some yogurt, a small apple banana. Filled my cup with coffee from the farm here. I sat on the lanai, taking in the view while eating my breakfast, all of which came was grown here, except the yogurt. Then I put on my walking shoes and did a tour of the property, and walked as far as I could go. On my walk, I went through the orchard. Lemon trees, several different types of mango, limes, oranges, tangerines, even an allspice tree. I had never seen one of those before. I frightened a mongoose, who was eating a mango that had fallen to the ground. I was too startled to get a picture of the furry animal, and he didnt stick around long enough to pose for me. After my walk, of course I had to get into the pool. By that time, Kat had returned to the house and was doing exercises in the pool. I joined her for a short time, which was just long enough to get a bit of sunburn. I learned then that I need to use stronger sunscreen. That evening, Mama Cat and I walked to the edge of the pool to watch the sunset. Mama Cat didnt even look at the sunset. I did, though, then returned to my chair on the lanai and watched the darkness cover the landscape. For some reason, the sunset picture does not want to appear in this blog post, so I promise to take another one and send it later. For now, I will have to say Aloha! As we are going out for brunch. Food and relaxing seem to be the priorities for me, every day. I will write more later and hopefully, have a sunset picture. Aloha, Dolly

By Dolly Goolsby – Full Story at Dolly Travels

Kona Gay Travel Resources

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Gay Amsterdam – The Scruffy Italian Traveler

Gay Amsterdam - The Scruffy Italian Traveler Amsterdam is not a huge city, so I was surprised by the amount of gay bars and clubs of the city: there is something for every taste! Yes Gay Amsterdam has a lot to offer! The city throws one of the best Gay Prides too! Its doesnt run on the streets, but on the canals: it is a procession of boats, really unique! This year, 2016, Amsterdam hosts the Europride, so an even bigger crown than usual is expected! Most of the gay scene happen in the center of the city. There are a few hot-spots where most of the gay bars are concentrated: the choice is very vast. Amsterdam is the ideal location if you are into bar hopping, like me: as you know Scruffy Gios is a professional gay bars hopper 🙂 This is the Scruffy Guide to the top 5 bars in Gay Amsterdam!

Gay Amsterdam – Taboo

This is the perfect bar where to start your bar hopping! But I recommend you to visit it also a few different times along the way! Taboo is a very relaxed gay bar located on the main Amsterdam gay street, Reguliersdwarsstraat. It has an excellent happy hour in the afternoon ! This is the reason why it gets busy pretty early: plenty of professionals flock to this bar soon after work for a chilled pint or two. In summer, and anyway on a sunny afternoon, its terrace get very crowded: try it on a hot Summer Sunday night! Its relaxed atmosphere makes it the perfect bar to enjoy a chat with a few strangers and some hotties! The place gets also busy at night, during the happy hour at 2 am: of course I took advantage of it, just before heading to other bars!

By Sergio Scardia – Full Story at The Scruffy Italian Traveler

Gay Amsterdam Travel Resources

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Feeling Beachy in New York – Globetrotter Girls

New York - Dani This week was all about beaches – simply because it is too hot to do anything else! New York is suffering from / enjoying a heatwave – the perspective depends on who you ask, I guess, but I might be the only one who’d say this is enjoyable, and admittedly, it has been a little too hot even for my taste. Working two jobs at the moment means I didn’t have much time to explore this week, but I managed to visit three different beaches: the small beach in Red Hook, just a short drive from where I’m staying, which is the perfect place to let my pup cool off in the water for a while, and Riis Beach in the Rockaways, where I’d been wanting to go for a long time (I’ve been to the Rockaways before, but only to another part of the beach there). And my beachy highlight this week: Fire Island! This 32-mile-long, ¼-mile wide strip of sand (the longest of four barrier islands that protect the South Shore of Long Island from the Atlantic Ocean) had been on my travel wish list for the past two summers, but somehow I never made it out there (it takes about 2.5 hours incl car & ferry ride to get there from NYC).

By Dani – Full Story at Globetrotter Girls

Long Island Gay Travel Resources

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Gay Hotels in Gran Canaria – Nomadic Boys

Gran Canaria gay hotels Gran Canaria has long been a gay destination for the gay boys. The Yumbo Centre is made up of gay bars, clubs and shops and forms the base of the gay scene on the island. There’s a variety of excellent gay friendly and exclusively gay accommodation in Gran Canaria, whether it’s bungalows, resorts or boutique hotels. Here’s our 5 unique gay hotels to stay in Gran Canaria we discovered: #1 GAY PASO CHICO Gay Paso Chico is a male only gay hotel in Playa del Ingles and the ideal place to stay with a group of friends or for solo travellers who want to party and be based near Yumbo Centre. It’s also walking distance to the sand dunes and the famous gay beach at Kiosk #7.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Canary Islands Gay Travel Resources

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Governors Island, New York – Globetrotter Girls

Governor's Island And just like that, two months in Europe are over and I am finding myself back in New York. As always, it felt like I had never left and I picked up right where I had left off when I said Au Revoir to New York in early June. I can’t tell you how good it feels to be back in what is undoubtedly the greatest city in the world, and I started August off with a trip to Governors Island. What was supposed to be a beachy afternoon turned into more of an entertainment trip when the beach bar I was hoping to sip a cold beverage in was closed, but we caught a compelling show by the Polish theater group PEREGRINUS instead, which involved acting, dancing of the fantastic performers, and even participating myself. The Manhattan skyline formed a picture-perfect backdrop to the performance (which got us excited for the NYC Fringe Festival later this month!) and to a relaxing day in the sun – much needed after the lackluster summer in Germany.

By Dani – Full Story at Globetrotter Girls

New York City Gay Travel Resources

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TRAVELING IN OUR FABULOUS GAY WORLD: Salvador Dali Museum, St. Petersburg

Salvador Dali Museum Traveling around the county as we do, we really appreciate visiting different museums and historical places. St. Petersburg, Florida has the absolutely fabulous Salvador Dali Museum. It houses the largest collection of Dali’s works outside of Europe. The museum’s collection includes 96 oil paintings, over 100 watercolors and drawings and 1,300 graphics, photographs, sculptures and objet d’art. Salvador Dali MuseumThe museum is the home of 7 of the 18 ‘masterwork’ paintings by Dahl, the most of any museum in the world. Other than the Dali Theater-Museum in his home town of Figureres, Catalonia, Spain which Dali created himself, this Museum has the world’s largest collection of Dali’s works. We were really amazed at the diversity of Dali’s works. There are those who say once you have seen three or four Dali’s the rest are all alike. Nothing could be more false than that. His range does go from A to Z and everything in between. You would think that perhaps you were seeing art work by a number of different artists when in reality it was all Dali! and truly unbelievable. Visitors come from all over the world to visit this museum. We have visited the Museum 3 times and can’t wait to return.’ Salvador Dali MuseumThey have their Avant-garde Studies which is an online publication by The Dali annually that aims to inspire and inform the public about Dali’s work, the avant-garde movements that shaped him as an artist and the impact Dali’s life on the avant-garde still to this day with talks and conferences. The Museum’s Education and Activities department is a vital link between the permanent and visiting collection and the many community that they serve. Dali’s live and art afford numerous opportunities for students, teachers, scholars and interested individuals and groups to explore a wide range of topics, engage the mind, and reflect on human experience. Salvador Dali MuseumThe history of the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg is extremely interesting. Reynolds and Eleanor Morse of Cleveland, Ohio purchased their first Dali in 1942 and kept purchasing for over 40 years. They first opened their Dali Museum in 1971 in Cleveland. In 1982 they moved their Dali Museum to St. Petersburg. In 2008 a new building was built to house the Dali Museum at a cost of over $30 Million and officially open in January, 2011 and now located in the beautiful downtown area at One Dali Blvd They are open daily 10 AM to 5:30 PM and until 8 PM on Thursdays. They have a great Museum Store and outdoor Gardens. Visit their website at: http://thedali.org/ and their phone number is: 727.823.3767 Don and RayAlways remember to have fun when traveling, meet new people and talk to everyone! TRAVELING IN OUR FABULOUS GAY WORLD is written by Donald Pile and Ray Williams, Award-winning, Celebrity travel columnists who write for gay publications from coast to coast (And now legally married). Proud members of the IGLTA. You can email them at gaytravelers@aol.com and visit their website at http://gaytravelersataol.blogspot.com/

St. Petersburg Gay Travel Resources
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Eating Out: Quito, Ecuador

Quito Cuisine Filled with diverse Andean culture, Quito has become a top travel destination. The city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, due to the Old Town and all it has to offer: Colonial plazas, museums, monasteries, convents, and churches, including the gold-covered Iglesia de la Compania and the citys largest and oldest church, Monasterio de San Francisco. The central plaza, Plaza de la Independencia, is also located here, next to the Presidential Palace. Rich in culinary options, Quitos famous dishes include ceviche (a dish typical to coastal Latina America that is made from fresh raw fish cured in citrus juices, such as lemon or lime, and seasoned with herbs); loco de papa (a creamy potato soup); and seco de chivo (a Quito specialty of goat meat battered in beer and served with citrus sauce from a fruit called naranjilla). During a recent trip, I had the chance to dine in Old Town, La Mariscal, and outside of the city in the Cotopaxi National Park. CAFE PLAZA GRANDE The Hotel Plaza Grande, located in Old Town near the Plaza de la Independencia, is a five-star luxury boutique hotel in a restored 1930s Spanish-colonial mansion that is home to Cafe Plaza Grande. Enjoy your meal here among traditional colonial Ecuadorian ambiance provided by the wood-paneled space and botanical prints. If you love posting photos of your meal, they provide Wi-Fi for all your Instagram-ing needs. No outdoor seating, but through their large windows, you get a nice view of the plaza.

By Andrew Villagomez – Full Story at Passport

Ecuador Gay Travel Resources

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Puglia Lecce, Italy – The Scruffy Italian Traveler

Puglia - Scruffy Italian Traveler As you will discover through my posts, all of Puglia is beautiful: I might be slightly biased in my judgement, of course, but I do really believe Apulia (the original Latin name, as it is worldwide known) is a gem just waiting to be discovered. To be fair, more and more tourists every year are heading her and enjoying the beauty of my region! One of the most beautiful cities of Puglia? Lecce! Every time I am in Puglia Lecce is a must visit for me: I love its international vibe, the gentle elegance of its baroque historical center, the strolls around its quietly crowded streets every evening. As one of the 5 biggest cities of Puglia Lecce is full of charme: the historical centre of the city is not very big, easy to walk around. Forget your maps, you can discover beautiful hidden corners of the city just wandering around: the so called “Florence of the South” is rich of Baroque architectural buildings, with a proper style, so original and full of expression, that has acquired its own nickname, barocco leccese (Lecce baroque).

By Sergio Scardia – Full Story at The Scruffy Italian Traveler

Puglia Gay Travel Resources

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Salta, Argentina

salta-argentina-gareth-johnson Salta is surrounded by mountains on all sides?–?it’s a beautiful city in a unique location. There are about 1.2 million people living in the province, and about 700,000 living in the city of Salta. I spoke with Sebastian Simon who works for the local tourism office. He’s a young, gay guy. In his view Salta is quite a conservative place, but that increasing tourism is changing local attitudes and increasing the confidence and visibility of the LGBTI community in Salta. Maam Salta: Museum of High Altitude Archaeology The empire of the Incas included the Salta region and the territories of what is now north-western Argentina. Mount Llullaillaco in the province of Salta was the setting of one of the most important ceremonies of the Incas?–?the Capacocha?–?in which offerings were made to the gods.

By Gareth Johnson – Full Story at Gay Star News

Argentina Gay Travel Resources

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Instagram Meet: Salento Up n’ Down – The Scruffy Italian Traveler

salento-scruffy-italian-traveler At the end of May, I was invited to take part to an Instameet in Lecce. An Instameet is a meeting where Instagramers (that is, people who are part of the worldwide community of Instagram) are invited to take part of. The occasion was very special: the launch of the second edition of Salento Up’ n Down! Salento Up n’ Down is an annual event organized by the University of Salento, aiming to promote the beauty of this beautiful region in the world through Social Media (mostly Instagram)! A bunch of 24 influencers from all over the world are invited to spend one week altogether around Salento, to promote its beauty to their (huge) community of followers on Social Media. The meeting was organized to let the Instagram users of Puglia meet and greet the participants to the event, a way to welcome them to our beautiful area. Salento is the southernmost area of the heel of the boot: it is a big chunk of Puglia, a geographic region, starting more or less where the Valle d’Itria ends.

By Sergio Scardia – Full Story at The Scruffy Italian Traveler

Apulia Gay Travel Resources

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