A sour economy has failed to push Fort Lauderdale off the gay global map. A few boutiques have closed on prized Las Olas Boulevard, the world’s largest boat show has downsized, construction projects have been cancelled, and property values have plummeted around forty percent; but, overall, the local South Florida lifestyle and the ubiquitous gay spirit still flourish.  

Despite possible financial turmoil at the household level, Fort Lauderdale’s beaches, bars, and restaurants are busier than ever. The Wilton Manors upgrade expands with new lofts and flats directly on the Wilton Drive, and a new mammoth six in one party palace, The Manor Complex. The new W hotel introduces a much needed glamour den for FLL fashionistas and homo yuppies. The new Ritz Carlton presents arguably the best spa in South Florida, tranquil seclusion over 8500 square feet of pure bliss and superb personalized service. Yet, most importantly, Fort Lauderdale continues to welcome people of all genders, shapes, and preferences to savor the winter sun in a no-frills, casual beach town. New posh options notwithstanding, Fort Lauderdale contrasts the gimmicks and grandeur of South Beach, attracting an older and often working class demographic, shunning the judgment, the drama, and the trends of neo-gay life. The city embraces the gay sub-cultures that have evolved within our society, with vast nightlife options for all whims and flavors. Time and time again, Fort Lauderdale delivers as one of the world’s foremost gay destinations – a global meeting point for fierce tans, cheap drinks, fabulous food, easy sex, a sense of community and a splash of culture.

Continue reading after the Jump, The Flavors of Fort Lauderdale

Since the turn of the 21st century, Quebec City has finally received some well-deserved recognition for its charm, architecture, annual festivals, and even its small gay scene.

Christened the crowned jewel of the St. Lawrence and dubbed the “most European city outside of Europe,” Quebec’s marriage of provincial life with small city offerings reveals a unique old world charm absent in the United States yet just a short flight from major U.S. hubs. The old city remains surrounded by its original 4.6 kilometer walls, with five entry points, all leading to equally breath-taking, fairy tale vistas, whether the quaint shops of Basse-ville (lower town) or the grandeur of the iconic Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac in Haute-ville (upper town). Indeed the influences of France proudly linger – the architecture of stone buildings and chateaus, the patisseries, the epicures, and the condescending attitudes when you speak English. However, the nature, the progressive views towards gays, the maple leaves and the ubiquitous maple products are distinctly Canadian (ice cream cones filled with maple butter is a must try). In the meantime, French-speaking Canada has developed its own iconoclastic characteristics and elements such as putin (fries with curdled cheese and brown sauce) and it’s own linguistics. The French spoken here resembles dialects of France circa 1850, using old school words hardly recognizable to present day Parisians. And unlike Montreal, very few choose to learn English, which adds to the feel of a completely foreign country. 

Continue reading after the Jump, Crazy for Quebec City

Present day Ethiopia hardly matches its destitution and famine profile of the early 1980s, when big haired celebrities gathered for the glam-rock Live Aid concert and pictures of starving children dominated the television waves. In fact, the majority of modern day Ethiopia is an accessible and rewarding sojourn to a land of eye-opening culture, nature, and history. 

The landlocked northeastern African landmass reveals the bewildering anthropology of textbooks and coffee table books though desired glimpses of plated lips and super stretched labia are few and far between. The fascinating tribes that subscribe to esoteric customs chastised by modern society, live deep in the southern Omo Valley, an often perilous, lengthy and unsuccessful journey through the countryside.  Though the rest of the tourism infrastructure remains largely underdeveloped, Ethiopia’s ‘must-sees’ - the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, the dramatic volcano cliffs of the Simien Mountains and the endemic wildlife of the Bale Mountains – are well within reach during a ten day visit...

Continue Reading after the Jump, An Appetite for Ethiopia

After decades of unrest and instability, Northern Ireland’s capital city of Belfast is rapidly distancing itself from a troubled past. Since the diplomatic peace process began at the dawn of the millennium, Belfast’s rehab and redux has progressed at lightning speed, emerging as one of the must-see cities in Europe circa 2010, robust with personality and void of the pretension found in other European cities. 

One of the oldest parts of the city, The Cathedral Quarter, stands at the heart of the Extreme Makeover (Homo Edition). The area accommodates much of Belfast’s small but growing gay scene and has become known as Belfast’s gayborhood. During the height of the city’s political unrest in the 1970s, the gays were once the only locals desperate enough for some nightlife to dare tread the cobbled streets of the area!

To continue reading take the Jump, It's Belfast Bitch!

Deep in the southern hemisphere at the crossroads of three nations, stands one of nature’s most awe-inspiring wonders. Merging the power and strength of 275 waterfalls across a width of 1.67 miles, Iguazu Falls mercilessly beats the earth with a water flow in excess of 500,000 gallons per second to produce a stunning panorama that stimulates both body and soul. 

From the thunderous crash of rushing waters, to the acute whip of residual mist, to the formation of juxtaposed rainbows across a visible mile, the verdant clad cascades exemplify raw nature in its finest form.

Continued after the Jump, Iguazu Falls

In French high society, your most frequented hotel addresses define your character, your cliques, and your financial status. But fortunately for most Americans visiting Paris, a short lived haute hotel stay translates into a welcomed, simple cameo into the social drama and ostentation of the Parisian high life. The glares, the stares, the pompous glory, and insolent body language are all part of the game at Paris’s seven palace hotels. Two are explored below. 

Of the forty internationally recognized 5 star hotels scattered throughout the “City of Lights,” a select few garner global reverence, none more so than Plaza Athénée, backdrop for Carrie Bradshaw’s ephemeral Parisian life in the final episodes of Sex in the City. While the episodes were not originally scheduled for filming at Athénée, the legacy of the show’s prodigious marketing power has bestowed the infamous hotel with an unrelenting influx of gay men and femme fatales living out the “Carrie Bradshaw fantasy.”

Continued after the Jump, Paris: Hotel Envy

Afraid to leave the comfort zone of the known and recognized, Japan falls off the vacation radar of most Americans and Europeans. Anxiety over language and cultural barriers unnecessarily precipitates an aversion for venturing to the land of the highest of high technologies, authentic karaoke, karate and judo, Monchicis, kinky and bizarre porn, Hello Kitty, Pokémon, Michael Jackson mania, Harajuku girls, bathing monkeys, traditional Shinto shrines, distinguished Buddhist temples, and fascinating ryokans.  Most foreigners forget that Japan is strikingly different from its Southeast and Central Asia counterparts - it’s a first world country and global leader, one that invented Atari, Nintendo, Hondas and Toyotas, DVDs and Sonys and boasts a GDP second only to the United States. But it’s Japan’s originality that makes any trip to this island of 127,000,000 so special and discrete from the rest of Asia and even the world. Every day is new and exciting; a constant wow factor that makes you secretly wish the US could culturally import some traditions, behaviors, and customs from this fast-forward nation. 

Continued after the Jump, Journey to Planet Tokyo 旅プラネット東京