Gay travel: six handy tips you should know!
As a leading supplier of gay tours and gay safaris, I’m often asked about my top tips to make gay travel easier and more seamless. While I typically have a lot of tips that are not necessarily unique to the gay traveler, I do have a few key ideas that are probably worth sharing:
1. Know what you want when it comes to vacation planning. Some gay travelers want a totally unique gay vacation experience, while others are more interested in interacting with our straight brethren. One of the best things about our Savvy Navigator gay tours is that we’re able to offer a comfortable gay-friendly travel experience, without our gay travelers feeling like they’ve been relegated to a gay ghetto.
2. How can I optimize my time and the vacation experience? If you only have a weekend to get away, don’t go to Hawaii, seriously. Your distance traveled should be commensurate with the amount of time you’re taking off. A formula I like to use when planning a gay vacation is that my air travel time in hours should not exceed the number of days I’m away. For example, if I’m taking 2 days off, I should not select a destination that is more than 2 hours away by air. Or if I’m going away for a week, then Europe is in range, as it will take roughly 7 hours to fly there from my home on the east coast.
3. Is my destination gay friendly? It is amazing how many gay travelers select destinations that are unfriendly towards GLBT travelers. Do your homework and select those destinations that truly welcome the GLBT visitor. And as you drill down in your planning, how gay friendly are the hotels? Restaurants? Tourist sites? This is important information to know before you go, and will also ensure a better experience.
4.If you and your partner are traveling together, remember to book your airline flight under the same reservation. Why is this important? If your flight cancels, or somehow goes off schedule, the airline will know you and hubby are traveling together. If you must travel on separate records, then call your airline beforehand to make sure your records “are linked.” A good friend of mine was recently involuntarily downgraded and spilt up from his husband because the airline gate agent had no idea they were traveling together.
5.Remember to let your credit card companies know you’ll be traveling, especially with foreign destinations. In this day of constant credit card reissuance due to internal security issues, you’ll save yourself a lot of heartache while away if Visa, MasterCard or AmEx know you’re traveling were you are, and that your charges are authorized.
6.Great tools are now at your fingertips. Be sure to use Trip Advisor, Flyer Talk and other travel websites rich with user-generated content. These are great tools to get the inside scoop of hotels, restaurants, and all the important sites. And if you have any questions about GLBT-friendliness (see point #3), then these sites are a great place to get more information.
For more great gay-friendly trips, ideas and information, please visit www.savvynavigator.com
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