When asked which is our favorite place in the world we’ve been to, Mongolia is one place we both agree is truly remarkable!
We visited gay Mongolia after our Trans Siberian railway adventure and ended up staying for a month. We didn’t expect to, but the landscapes in the Gobi Desert and the nomadic life along the Mongolian steppe just blew our minds. We loved it! Yes, it’s roughing it slightly as luxuries are scarce out here, but this is one cultural adventure you won’t forget in a hurry.
When it comes to gay travel, it’s fair to say that Mongolia is not the #1 place that comes to mind! This is a far cry from the Circuit parties of Barcelona or the wild scene of Fort Lauderdale. This country is more of a place to come to be awed by nature; a photographer’s paradise!
However, we still think it’s a place other gay travelers should experience. In this gay guide to Mongolia, we’ve sumarised our travels through the lands of Genghis Khan, which we hope inspires you to also pay this magnificent country a visit.
Rights in Gay Mongolia
LGBTQ+ rights in the country are, well, more advanced than you’d expect. When compared to the rest of the continent, Mongolia is one of the more advanced queer friendly nations in Asia. The government repealed its anti-gay law back in 1993, introduced the right to change legal gender in 2009, and also passed hate crime laws to protect its LGBTQ community in 2017.
Olympic National Park on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula is an adventure that deserves a spot on your travel short list. It’s regularly named among the top national parks in the world by travel writers, explorers, and experts. Travel+Leisure magazine readers voted it one of the Top 15 National Parks in the United States. It’s the perfect place for LGBTQ travelers looking for an escape that’s easy to get to, welcoming, and accessible for people of all abilities, but still feels like a world class passport to a million acres of unspoiled wilderness.
Olympic National Park comprises the bulk the Olympic Peninsula, about 2 hours drive Northwest from SeaTac Airport and the city of Seattle, making it a prime location to visit with easy access. And there’s enough to do here to create an impressive itinerary in and around the park from a single central hub. The Olympic Peninsula includes not only Olympic National Park, but also Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge, Olympic National Forest, and the Olympic National Marine Sanctuary.
Getting Around Olympic National Park
You’ll need a car, as this park is huge, and not easily accessible with public transportation (although there are some options for that). From the airport, the easiest route is driving south along I-5 through Tacoma and heading west on WA-16. If you’re exploring all the wonderful LGBTQ hotspots in Seattle first (like world-famous Capitol Hill and the Broadway Market), then the best way is to take the ferry from downtown Seattle to Bainbridge Island.
Experience the famous Washington ferry system in action. No reservations are needed as the ferry holds 300 cars and leaves about once per hour.
Exploring the Park
Now that you’re out on the Olympic Peninsula, you’ll want to stay about a week to explore everything you can see and do, and take full advantage of the unusual diversity of the Park’s multiple and varied ecosystems. First , unlike most National Parks, Olympic does not have a main gate, and you cannot drive through the Park.
Instead, there are gates dotted around the perimeter of the Park, with access to multiple trailheads at each entry point. The most popular spots are: Hurricane Ridge (alpine mountains), Lake Crescent and Sol Duc Falls (glacial lakes and waterfalls in the rainforest), Hoh Rainforest (location of the quietest square foot in America), and Rialto Beach (wild Pacific Coast). The park is open year-round, but access to some places is limited in winter.
What’s Nearby?
Outside of the National Park, you’ll definitely want to take in the Dungeness Spit (the longest natural sand spit in the Western Hemisphere), Cape Flattery (the northwestern-most point of the contiguous United States), take a day trip by ferry to Victoria B.C., and explore some of the county and state parks that are less visited but no less spectacular.
There are 4 primary towns on the Olympic Peninsula: Port Townsend (a Victorian arts seaport), Sequim (the lavender capital of North America), Forks (of Twilight fame and gateway to the Hoh Rainforest and Rialto Beach), and Port Angeles (the largest town in the area and closest to the most popular places to visit in the area).
Port Angeles is a great location to use as your “home base” during your visit as it’s centrally located to everything the Peninsula and Park have to offer.
Where to Stay
LGBTQ-friendly Maitland Manor is an exceptional boutique B&B in downtown Port Angeles within easy walking distance of the waterfront, and LGBTQ-owned Domaine Madeleine is an intimate luxury inn located on a waterfront bluff just outside the city.
Maitland Manor:
Domaine Madeleine
Both offer comfortable accommodations, easily accessible locations, all the amenities you need to explore the area, and a welcoming environment for LGBTQ travelers, including couples and solo travelers. Domaine Madeleine also welcomes pets.
Each inn provides comprehensive, up-to-date day trip itineraries to ensure you see everything the area has to offer. Depending on the season, you’ll encounter extraordinarily lush green rainforests (March-May and October-November), wildflowers (June-August), wildlife (year-round, but especially September-October), leaf-peeping (late September to early October), solitude and winter sports (November-February), a variety of renowned festivals that vary by season, and romance and adventure year round. Also of note, Port Angeles is home to the longest running and one of the leading annual transgender conferences, Esprit, held in May every year.
Does anybody think of Washington State as a beach destination? Not hardly, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have the most beautiful ones around. True, Olympic National Park is missing the palm trees, but we make up for it in other ways. Of all of the sandy shorelines in the Pacific Northwest, the most beautiful one in Washington is without a doubt Ruby Beach in Olympic National Park.
What makes Ruby Beach so beautiful and dramatic? It’s the sea stacks, the weathered wood, the wildlife, the perfection of it all. We’ve got the scoop for how and when to visit to have an unforgettable time at the most beautiful beach in Washington. And if you’re lucky, maybe you’ll find some of the red rocks and garnets that give Ruby Beach its name.
How to Get to Ruby Beach in Olympic National Park
One of the things that makes the most beautiful in Washington is its remote location. Located just over three hours from Seattle and a little more than 2 hours from Olympia, it’s not exactly an impromptu day trip, which keeps the crowds down. If you’re making the trek that far you should plan on spending a few days both on the sand and in the Hoh Rainforest nearby.
Manuel Antonio is one of the most popular LGBTQ+ destinations in Costa Rica so it should come as no surprise that there are a fair number of Manuel Antonio gay beaches.
In fact, this stretch of the Pacific coast has been said to have some of the best beaches in the world boasting clear warm waters and long stretches of sand.
In this mini guide we will share 3 gay beaches in the area, including (of course) a nude beach. So grab you best speedos and let’s take a look!
Best Manuel Antonio Gay Beaches
The main and most popular beach is Playa Espadilla. The south end of the beach meets the edge of the most visited national park in Costa Rica, the beautiful national park. At this end of the beach, you with find plenty of shops, restaurants and many other tourists.
Nepal ranks as one of our favorite destinations. Not only does it have some of the most incredible scenery we’ve ever seen, but it’s also a very gay-friendly country – at least by Asian standards…
Gay Nepal
It may come as a surprise, but Nepal has for years been a beacon for LGBTQ rights across what is a very conservative part of Asia. The country’s constitution in 2015 introduced a whole set of anti-discrimination laws to protect its LGBTQ community, and Pride parades have grown massively in popularity over the past decade.
We fell in love with gay Nepal because trekking in the Himalayas is one of the most unforgettable adventures we’ve ever done together. Alongside this, the Nepali people were nothing but welcoming and super courteous to us, which just made it even more special. Take it from us, a trip to this gorgeous country is nothing short of a magical exploration into nature that will blow your mind and quickly make you want to return for more!
Blue Spring State Park is our most common activity with friends visiting Florida, and it’s the best place to see manatees near Orlando or Daytona Beach. Florida has over 1000 natural springs and they’re all a little different. Some are in high traffic areas like on the Crystal River and others are so strange to pronounce that you might not have ever heard of them… like Ichetucknee Springs. This is everything you need to know about visiting Blue Spring State Park, including the best time for manatees, handicap accessible wildlife viewing, and kayaking / standup paddleboarding information.
Where is Blue Spring State Park?
Blue Spring State Park is a little over a half hour away from Daytona Beach in Orange City, Florida. It’s actually really easy to get to and quite simple to make a day trip out of. Blue Spring State Park is easy to pair with the trip to De Leon Springs State Park or Gemini Springs. It’s a bit further from Cocoa Beach if you’re heading to that part of the Florida coast, but it’s still worth the visit.
If you are visiting Orlando this is also an easy trip to add on (45 minutes drive) and is a nice alternative to theme parks or crowded hotel pools. After a whole bunch of time at Disney World or Universal Orlando no doubt you’ll be ready for some nature and Blue Spring State Park is just perfect for that. Also, the manatees and alligators are real, actual wildlife vs being animatronics, so they’re more exciting!
Welcome to the Top of the Ridge Farm, a New Hampshire gay friendly B&B perfectly located on a quiet country road, offering amazing vistas of Mount Washington and New Hampshire’s White Mountain. Our NH B&B is luxurious B&B for adults on six acres of meadowlands and trees.
Top of the Ridge Farm Bed & Breakfast also an ideal escape all four seasons – there are so many great things to see and do here in any season. Our luxury bed and breakfast is close to many of NH’s most beautiful destinations, as well as places in Massachusetts, Maine and Vermont.
We’re just a two-hour drive from the mountains, the seacoast, a multitude of pristine lakes and ponds, some important historical sites, and many great little towns and art and foodie communities.
Quite often people ask us if we prefer Cancun over Cabo San Lucas. That’s a tough question and depending on what the goal is with a Mexico vacation, we might answer with either one. We’re going to help you decide if a trip to Cabo or Cancun is the better option for you and your family.
I think you will see that the two areas are extremely different and in many ways are not comparable. But since people ask us, clearly there is either some confusion or people just want to take a trip to tropical Mexico and don’t understand their options. You can decide for yourself after this which you would prefer.
Cabo or Cancun for your Mexican Vacation?
When you compare Cancun and Cabo San Lucas you will find that both have tons of both small independent and major resort hotels, there are lots of beaches, and both tend to be popular spring break destinations. But truly they have more that is different than the same. In both Cabo San Lucas and Cancun you will find tourism and hospitality that is catered to Americans looking for a cheap Mexican vacation, but then you will also find five star resort experiences and fine dining that exemplifies the best of Mexican cuisine.
This past year I have not kept in touch with all of you, my friends, like I should have done. My excuse is that I am a travel writer and since I have not been traveling, I really did not have anything much to write about. Today, though, I want to say Hello again and recap some of my favorite memories of travel.
If you have followed my blog for the past eleven years, you will know that every year since 2008, I have gone to Italy for extended periods of time. Italy is my favorite country and I truly have gone through withdrawal, not having gone there this past year. I have learned so much about the country and its marvelous people in the travels I have done there, as I travel independently and as Rick Steves says, I try to become a temporary local.
In 2014, I was conducting tours of Italy for some of my friends. Florence was our home base, but as you can see, my friends and I covered quite a bit of the country. One of my favorite things to do in Florence was go to the mercati. This is inside Mercato Centrale. My friends and I would buy fruit and vegetables in season, choosing what caught our eyes on any particular day. From the butcher, we would select meat to go with our vegetables. Then we would go back to our apartments and cook. Everyone helped and we truly enjoyed our meals at home. It was so good to come back to our apartment after a day of sightseeing and make a homemade dinner.
Imagine rows and rows of mouthwatering sizzling barbecued meats, fresh salads, salted fish, and yummy coconut pancakes…
Our Favorite Laos Street Foods
When it comes to eating out in Laos, the food markets are a treat! Whether you’re visiting the gorgeous Luang Prabang, the capital, Vientiane, or adventure hub, Vang Vieng, we guarantee there’ll be several excellent local street food stalls that you need to check out. Not to mention the fact that it’s an inexpensive way to dine.
Generally, the whole street food scene in Southeast Asia is a thing we highly recommend all travelers immerse themselves into – particularly in Thailand, Vietnam, and of course, Laos! In this article, we run through some of the best Laos street foods that made us super happy during our trip here and needs to be on that culinary Bucket List of yours!
Barbecued Meats
There are many stalls selling barbecued meats. But unlike elsewhere in the country, the street food in Luang Prabang has been adapted for foreigners. In Laos, every part of the animal is eaten, so eating in a more local restaurant was hard for us – congealed pig’s bl00d in your noodle soup, anyone? Or chunks of pork fat or other insides…?
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