Georgia (Country)

Take the Georgia Coast Road Trip – 2TravelDads

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Take the Georgia Coast Road Trip - 2TravelDads

Have you ever done a Georgia Coast road trip? No?! Well now’s your chance and you will love it! A road trip along the Georgia shore is rather surprising, as it’s not a big long beach like doing a California seaside trip or a Florida Gulf Coast trip. But it’s awesome!

A lot of people ask us about living in the South and how to get the best of both beaches and history. Making the drive from FL to GA is the perfect way to get the full experience. Departing by car from Atlanta is an option too, but that’s a bit more complicated. Here’s the scoop though for having an incredible coastal Georgia road trip including Tybee Island, Savannah and the Golden Isles.

Getting to the Georgia Coast Road Trip Start

If you’re not familiar with the map of the East Coast, you may think that Atlanta is super close to the beach, but it’s not. Savannah actually isn’t even a beachfront city, but it’s pretty close. So, how do you get to the beaches? While heading to the coast is one of the best drives from Atlanta, it’s not the best way to get to Savannah.

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By Chris and Rob – Full Story at the 2TravelDads

Georgia Gay Travel Resources

Visiting Georgia’s Jekyll Island – 2TravelDads

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Visiting Georgia's Jekyll Island - 2TravelDads

Jekyll Island is a great destination for beach goers or travelers that want to mix a little history with relaxation. An excellent stop along a Georgia Coast road trip, It’s just across the Florida-Georgia border and very easy to get to from Savannah or Jacksonville.

It’s been several years since we first fell in love with the Golden Isles of Georgia. Our first experience was on St Simons Island when we visited the King and Prince Resort. From the food to the Spanish moss, we were hooked. And now we’ve gotten to explore another of the Golden Isles: Jekyll Island. Again, wow.

Jekyll Island is actually one big state park but then it’s also a town and a collection of beaches and hotels and golfing and… It’s funny to compare this palce with St Simons because they’re so different with such different attractions and a totally different feeling. Take a look at our weekend there and you’ll see why we’re always ready to head back there for another getaway!

Visiting Jekyll Island

The Island is a part of the Golden Isles of Georgia. It is in the very southeastern most tip of Georgia almost at the Florida border. The Golden Isles aren’t far off of Interstate 95 which means that you can add them onto a trip to the Jacksonville or St. Augustine area or make them a stop off on your road trip North to Savannah or Atlanta.

By Chris and Rob – Full Story at the 2TravelDads

Georgia Gay Travel Resources

Mountain Laurel Creek Inn & Spa – Gay Owned Bed & Breakfast in Dahlonega, Georgia

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Mountain Laurel Creek Inn xmasfront

UPSCALE DAHLONEGA MOUNTAIN GETAWAY

Georgia’s Mountain Laurel Creek is a quiet getaway in the Blue Ridge Mountains, with some of the best accommodations in Lumpkin County.

We over seven elegant suites in a beautiful mountain setting, each equipped with:

* Private bath
* Whirlpool tub
* Separate shower
* WiFi
* Balcony
* Romantic gas fireplace

Our large suites sleepsone or two, with queen- or king-sized bed, sitting area, in-room Keurig K-cup coffee maker, clock radio/cd player, and dedicated AC.

Mountain Laurel Creek provides a relaxing, quiet, romantic escape where you can re-energize and take care of yourself and your partner. We’re also a great place to spend a vacation with family or friends.

At Mountain Laurel Creek, we are green and eco-friendly – we recycle and use green/organic products wherever possible.

See the Mountain Laurel Creek Inn & Spa Expanded Listing on Purple Roofs Here

Georgia Gay Friendly Bed and Breakfasts, Hotels, and Vacation Rentals

Georgia Gay Life – The Nomadic Boys

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Georgia Gay Life - The Nomadic Boys

“Georgian dance is based on masculinity. There is no room for weakness in Georgian dance!”
So begins the captivating 2019 gay movie “And Then We Danced”, based on the love affair between Merab and Irakli – dancers training at the National Georgian Ensemble in Tbilisi. Whilst the movie is about the challenges of dealing with homosexuality in a conservative society, at its premiere in downtown Tbilisi in November 2019, violent protests were taking place outside by far-right and religious groups. Thankfully the police kept the peace. But what a huge step forward for an ex-Soviet country, where not too long ago, being gay got you thrown into prison!

Since the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1991, Georgia has pushed ahead with progressive laws as it has tried to ally itself more and more with the EU. This has included laws to protect its LGBTQ community, like legalising homosexuality in 2000, and an array of anti-discrimination laws from 2006 onwards. Yet, society remains very conservative. So much so that in 2018, the government passed a constitutional ban on gay marriages.

To put things into perspective, in a survey carried out by the Pew Research Centre in 2015/2016 about the acceptance of homosexuality in East Europe, Georgia ranked as one of the least tolerant, with a whopping 93% of the people polled saying homosexuality should not be accepted by society.

About Georgia Gay Life

We absolutely loved Georgia. It’s a stunning country with mountains, beaches, delicious foods, wines and a rich cultural heritage to discover. We were excited to experience all of this and we were not disappointed.

We were also fully aware of the country’s “struggle” (to put it mildly!) with LGBTQ rights before going. We knew we had to be cautious about PDAs. But we never had problems finding gay friendly hotels and even discovered lots of gay hangouts, including the famous Bassiani. The people we met were only ever super sweet and welcoming, and we loved them! But this is from our perspective as a gay couple travelling in Georgia. We wanted to get an idea of what things are really like from a local, so we got our friend Giorgi from Tbilisi to tell us more in this interview about Georgia gay life.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys

Gay Tbilisi – The Nomadic Boys

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Gay Tbilisi - The Nomadic Boys

That Soviet hangover, so prevalent amongst gay bars and clubs across East Europe and Russia: your entry based solely on a bouncer’s snap decision as to whether you’re cool or hip enough to enter inside.

Yet in Tbilisi, it’s also a way the club bouncers and promoters monitor who comes inside in order to prevent any violent homophobic clashes happening.

Face control aside, we completely fell in love with Tbilisi, as do most travellers who visit, both gay and straight. This is a city with a crumbling, yet super picturesque old town – Instagram opportunities abound on every other street corner. There is an evolving queer scene with a super active LGBTQ community, growing massively in confidence by the minute! Tbilisi’s also super cheap, making it a popular base with many expats, digital nomads and property developers looking for the next big “up and coming” investment base in East Europe.

We came to gay Tbilisi to celebrate my birthday and quickly fell in love. This is a city you will want to return to, and for good reason. We know we will! 

We’ve put together our gay guide to Tbilisi based on our first-hand experience and embellished with other nuggets of information passed on to us by gay locals we met along the way.

Is Tbilisi gay friendly?

Compared to Barcelona, Berlin and Amsterdam, not really, no! But compared to the rest of Georgia and most other places in East Europe, we say a big ‘hell yeah!’ It’s all a matter of perspective of course. As a country, Georgia is renowned for being quite homophobic, largely because of the strong influence of the extremely conservative (and backwards!) Orthodox Church.

However, as a gay couple in Tbilisi, we were surprised by how more liberal and progressive the city is in comparison to the rest of the country. There is not only a growing queer scene here (including the largest gay club in the Caucasus), an annual Pride event, but thanks to the rise in tourism, more and more hotels are embracing LGBTQ travellers.

By Stefan Arestis – Full Story at the Nomadic Boys