TRAVELING IN OUR FABULOUS GAY WORLD: Traveling Is the Best

Lincoln

We first met the Broadway actress Tovah Feldshuh in Ft. Lauderdale in 2007 where she was portraying Katharine Hepburn in our friend Matthew Lombardo’s “TEA AT FIVE”.  In March of 2015 she hiked Mount Kilimanjaro with her son. She said that she was inspired after the 2014 death of her mother at the age of 104, and her own athletic role in Pippin in which she had to swing on a trapeze.

travel everglades

“I really do feel we’re only in this body once,” she said. “I just want enough money to buy experience. I can forego a dress, but the idea of taking a trip and trekking Mount Kilimanjaro or going on the Trans-Siberian railroad or tracking lemurs in Madagascar — these things are very exciting to me. To see the world until I leave my own body. It’s now or not at all.”

And of course we all know what Auntie Mame said about life,  “Yes! Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death.” And what a life she lived and she knew how to live life well. There were few dull moments in her life.

Forest Mountains Colorado Woods Snow Trees

Unfortunately we know way too many people who live very boring lives, doing the same thing day in and day out, month after month and year after year, without traveling or seeing new things and experiencing how other people live.

Whether you want to take a cruise or hike up a mountain or ride the rapids on the river, or visit a large city or visit the forests or ocean, there are literally hundreds of things that you can do here in the United States.

A cross country driving trip is always extremely interesting, visiting the sights and sounds of the land along the way. Forget all the chain restaurants when you travel and try the local ones. Eat different things that you don’t normally do, from real southern cooking in the South or Cajun food in New Orleans to New England Lobsters, to Boston Baked Beans to Barbeque and grits. In Florida we have tried Alligator burgers and in New Mexico we have tried calf cheeks tacos. Perhaps they are something that we would not enjoy on a regular basis but we did enjoy trying them. We have dined with American Indians on their reservations as well.

travel rafting

We have been rafting down the Colorado River, climbed many mountains and discovered interesting underground caves and went on a boat ride thru the Everglades. For those who cannot afford to travel all around the country, just enjoy your own State. Google your State and visit their websites to see what your State offers. For instance,   http://www.travelok.com/ gives a listing of dozens and dozens of things to do and see in that State.

So if you can only travel close to where you live and only have a couple or three days, you can still get away from your ‘regular life” and enjoy new and interesting things.  You are never too old or young to travel. We are fortunate and we have been traveling with a str8 couple in their 80’s for the past two years and have driven in 17 States and are ready next month to drive with them out to California. We will be stopping everywhere to see everything and even still be sleeping in a Wigwam Motel.

So don’t be one of those people who Auntie Mame says is starving to death. Make your life something special, just for you!

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/

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