Posted: 4/3/17 | April 3rd, 2017
In this guest post, Dani from Globetrottergirls shares her tips and advice to help you plan the ultimate lesbian friendly travel experience!
When I started planning my first trip to Latin America in 2010, I wondered what it would be like to travel with my girlfriend in strictly Catholic countries, many of them known for their culture of machismo.
Would we be safe?
Would we get the chance to connect with local lesbians or meet other lesbian travelers?
I had traveled extensively around Europe and I’d been to LGBT hot spots in the us but had no idea what to expect in other parts of the world. Back then, there wasn’t much information online, and social media wasn’t as ubiquitous as it is now.
Today, planning a lesbian trip has gotten much easier since then. Still, if you are not traveling to a lesbian or a pride festival, planning an LGBT-friendly trip can be daunting and overwhelming.
Where do you start?
How to go about finding queer-friendly destinations and meeting other gay travelers?
Like me, a lot of lesbians (especially first-time travelers) feel more comfortable traveling in an environment where they feel safe. with that in mind, I’ve compiled this ultimate resource for lesbian travelers, including websites you’ll want to bookmark for trip planning, LGBT-friendly booking sites, travel opportunities for same-sex couples or lesbian solo travelers, and how to meet like-minded people during your trip!
Indholdsfortegnelse
1. Trip-Planning Strategies
2. how to find Lesbian-Friendly travel Companies
3. how to find Lesbian-Owned and -Friendly Accommodation
4. the best Lesbian tours and Cruises
5. how to meet other Lesbians While Traveling
6. how to travel safe as a Lesbian
1. Trip-Planning Strategies
Maybe you’ve already got a destination in mind, or maybe you’re completely open. If this is your first international trip, you might want to play it safe and visit a country with liberal views on same-sex relationships — and not one of the 70 countries that have legal LGBT discrimination.
The us department of state is a good place to start to gather LGBTQ travel Information, including some pointers on staying safe as a queer traveler.
Both the international Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex association (ILGA), a nonprofit human rights group in Geneva, and the international Gay & Lesbian travel association (IGLTA) are excellent resources. The former has a detailed overview of sexual orientation laws around the world, and the latter has good trip-planning tools.
Damron publishes a complete travel guide by and for lesbians every year, including listings in North America, South America, Mexico, the Caribbean, and major cities in Europe and Asia. It also includes festivals, lesbian tours, and conferences, as well as information for vegetarians and multiracial couples and on wheelchair access, among much more.
Passport magazine is one of the only gay and lesbian travel magazines still in publication in the United States. It covers LGBT travel, culture, adventure, and style. It’s the perfect go-to if you’re looking for some lesbian travel inspiration.
If this is your first trip abroad, and you don’t want to travel too far from the US, I recommend Costa Rica, which is very LGBT friendly. Manuel Antonio has plenty of gay-owned hotels, and Playa Samara, my favorite beach in Costa Rica, even has a lesbian-owned B&B right on the beach.
Mexico is one of the countries that surprised me most in terms of gay-friendliness: Not even in San Francisco did I see as many gay couples openly holding hands and making out in parks as I did in Mexico City!
Moreover, Puerto Vallarta is the “gay capital” of Mexico, and along with the nearby beaches of the Riviera Nayarit, it makes for an easy getaway from the us — where you can be out without worrying about how you may be perceived.
2. how to find Lesbian-Friendly travel Companies
The IGLTA has a comprehensive list of all of its official partners, which include companies like Delta, Hilton, Marriott, and Disney.
Expedia has a separate section for queer travelers, featuring LGBT-welcoming hotels and guides to top gay hotspots.
3. how to find lesbian-Owned and -Friendly Accommodation
The best place to look for lesbian-owned and lesbian-friendly accommodation is Purple Roofs, the world’s largest travel directory of LGBT-friendly accommodation. Over 4,800 bed & breakfasts, hotels, vacation rentals, and other properties are listed. simply type in your destination and all available properties there will be listed. You’ll see right away if it’s lesbian or gay owned, the price per night, and a description of the property.
Another option is to look for tag Approved® hotels, which are those that are not only LGBT friendly but also support the LGBT community in their employment policies and services. (TAG stands for travel Advocacy Group.) There are around 2,000 suchhotels, including several big chains, such as Hilton Hotels, Marriott, Sheraton, and The W. similar to Purple Roofs, you can type in your destination and be shown a listing of all tag Approved® hotels there.
While Purple Roofs focuses on small, independent businesses, tag features mostly bigger hotel corporations. The advantage of tag is that it features many hotels that are members of travel reward programs, so if you are into travel hacking and looking to use points in a lesbian-friendly hotel, the tag website will be more useful for you.
Not every lesbian cares if she is staying in explicitly LGBT-friendly accommodations. So if you’re not sure of the kind of place you’re checking in to, you may well run into this issue: having to decide if you are comfortable requesting a double bed when you are given two single beds. I don’t know how many times my partner and I were shown a room with two beds after explicitly booking a double bed. most receptionists simply assume that two girls traveling together are friends or sisters; rarely do they assume that they are a couple.
I do remember situations in which I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to ask (in Malaysia, for example, where LGBT rights are largely unrecognized).
If you’re confident enough, you can ask for a room with one bed instead, which is what I started doing after I got tired of squeezing into a single bed with my girlfriend. but not everyone is comfortable doing this, so if you want to be 100% sure that you’re welcomed — especially when traveling as a couple — I recommend booking lesbian-friendly accommodation.
4. the best Lesbian tours and Cruises
There are several providers for lesbian tours, the biggest one being Olivia. Olivia offers all-lesbian vacations, ranging from resorts to cruises. Olivia always buys out a whole resort or charters the entire ship to make sure the trip is a safe space for women so that they feel like they can be out without worrying about anything.
In addition to ships or resorts filled with lesbians, Olivia also offer the best lesbian entertainment on their vacations, including artists like Melissa Etheridge, the Indigo Girls, Wanda Sykes, and Lily Tomlin.
Olivia is a great option for couples, but also for solo travelers who can’t find anyone to travel with but aren’t ready to go on a trip by themselves. one of the things that make Olivia special is that women come together on their trips to meet new people and form friendships, and many women travel with Olivia over and over again.
Diva Destinations is a UK-based lesbian tour operator that offers hosted lesbian group holidays around Europe, for example, the Women’s festival in Lesvos, Greece; a golf-themed cruise; and river cruises around Europe. (These are not limited to lesbian travelers from the UK, by the way.)
R family Vacations, founded by Rosie O’Donell, started out as “R family Cruises” but has since grown into other kinds of LGBT family vacations. In addition to its popular family vacations for lesbian parents and their kids, the company has launched an “Adult Vacation” line, which offers kid-free vacations, not strictly for lesbian travelers but both gay men and women. In contrast to R’s family vacation line, the adult holidays aim to connect LGBT travelers without kids.
Another company that offers mixed cruises (for gay men as well as lesbians), is Aquafest Cruises, which specializes in discounted LGBT cruises to destinations such as Alaska, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, Mexico, and Asia. Aquafest’s cruises are considerably cheaper than other gay and lesbian cruises (including the above mentioned R adult Cruises), and it also offers themed cruises around celebrations like Mardi Gras and Halloween. entertainment on board includes lesbian get-togethers, singles get-togethers, theme dance parties, gay Olympics, stand-up comedy, cabaret, and celebrity singers.
Out Of office is a newer travel start-up that arranges high-end holidays for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender couples as well as gay-friendly flights, hotels, transfers, and excursions. It also offers several itineraries aimed at lesbian travelers (guaranteeing that the tour operators and hotels used in the itineraries are lesbian-friendly), and group trips for LGBT travelers to destinations such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan, and China.
5. how to meet other Lesbians While Traveling
These days, the easiest way to meet other lesbians while traveling is through dating apps (even if you’re not looking for a hook-up). I’ve met other lesbian solo travelers this way while backpacking through South America, had a girl show me around Milan, and got a great introduction to Tel Aviv’s lesbian scene, all of which I wouldn’t have otherwise. I am still in touch with most of the girls and happy to return the favor when they’re visiting new York.
The dating best apps to connect with other lesbians are HER (the most popular lesbian one) and all-gender dating apps like Tinder, OkCupid or PlentyOfFisk. Hendes har også en liste over lesbiske fester, meetups, festivaler og meget mere, så du kan tjekke, hvad der foregår på det sted, du besøger.
En god mulighed for at møde lesbiske, der rejser, er gennem couchsurfing-grupper. Du behøver ikke at blive på en fremmed sofa, hvis du ikke vil – Couchsurfing også har tusindvis af grupper for alle former for interesser, herunder lesbiske og queer-grupper. Her er nogle lesbiske grupper, jeg er medlem af:
Du skal blot skrive om en kommende tur og se om andre lesbiske sker at rejse i samme område eller bo på det sted, du besøger.
Der er en anden brug for couchsurfing grupper: Du kan se, om der er nogen LGBT eller lesbiske grupper i byen, du planlægger at besøge. De fleste store byer har queer-grupper, og de har regelmæssige møder. De er en nem måde at forbinde med lokalsamfund over hele verden.
Meetup.com er en lignende mulighed, men med grupper brudt op i mere specifikke interesser. New York City, for eksempel har grupper for “lesbiske, der brunch”, “sorte lesbiske” og homoseksuelle tyve-somethings, for blot at nævne nogle få. Bare rul gennem Meetup-grupperne på det sted, du rejser til og deltager i en meetup, der passer til dine interesser.
Facebook bliver også en stadig mere populær måde at forbinde med andre lesbiske, og du kan søge efter lesbiske grupper, samt arrangementer i byen, du rejser til.
Deltag i de grupper, du finder interessant og RSVP til begivenheder, du tror, du vil nyde. Hvis du er komfortabel ud af dig selv, skal du kontrollere, om der er nogen lesbiske barer eller fester, mens du besøger.
6. Sådan rejser du sikker som en lesbisk
Som jeg nævnte ovenfor, bør du gøre en rimelig mængde forudgående forskning om din destination (er), især hvis du rejser i udlandet.
Hvad er landets stand på samme køn relationer?
Er der love, der tillader diskrimination af LGBT-personer?
Har der været nogen hændelser, der involverer queers?
Det er et kontroversielt emne, hvis homoseksuelle og lesbiske rejsende bør besøge anti-lgbt lande, men jeg kender mange lesbiske, der er villige til at rejse til sådanne steder. Så hvis din drøm er at klatre på Kilimanjaro, vil du selvfølgelig tone ned i PDA’erne der, i betragtning af at Tanzania er et land, hvor seksuelle seksuelle handlinger er forbrydelser, der straffes af staten.
Hvis du ikke vil risikere at blive overfaldet som en out-and-stolt lesbisk, så rejser ikke til lande, der vides at være alvorligt homofobiske. Vælg din destination klogt og kør kun til et sted, du er behageligt at besøge, især når du er på en solo tur. Jeg kan for eksempel blokere de catcalls og whistling, der er almindelige i Mellemamerika, men jeg kender andre lesbiske, der ikke kan klare den slags Machismo.
Hvis du rejser som et par, vil du finde dig selv toning ned PDA’er meget, som jeg har nævnt i min tidligere artikel: Lesbisk rejse: 4 ting at vide.
Når du rejser alene, skal du tage de samme forholdsregler, som andre Solo-kvindelige rejsende tager: Vær street-smart og årvågen, altid lyt til din tarmfølelse, vær opmærksom på dine omgivelser, og blinker ikke dine værdigenstande.
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Som en lesbisk kan du være mere bekymret for din første tur i udlandet end dine lige venner, der ikke behøver at tænke på potentiel diskrimination og anti-lgbt-love, men så længe du gør din forskning og grundigt planlæg din tur, du behøver ikke at være bange. Tværtimod: Du vil sandsynligvis blive overrasket over at se, hvor indbydende de fleste steder er af lesbiske rejsende.
Hvis du vil være på den sikre side, gå med et lesbisk tourfirma til din første tur, men efter at have rejst over hele verden uafhængigt i årevis, kan jeg ærligt sige, at jeg aldrig har følt sig truet hvor som helst, simpelthen fordi jeg tog alle De forholdsregler, der er nødvendige for at forblive sikre som en lesbisk rejsende.
Rejser har givet mig så mange uforglemmelige oplevelser, forbundet mig med andre lesbiske over hele verden, og viste mig nogle af de smukkeste steder på P