It’s a curious thing, queer travel: When I’m at home, my queerness is an inalienable part of me, a concrete fact; but when I go abroad it activates like a magnet, drawing me close to certain people and places, drawing those people and places closer to me. It’s a joy that borders on the ecstatic, to find yourself—and others like yourself—wherever you are. So if you must travel, I recommend being gay while doing it. It’s not for everyone, but it can really lighten things up.
Queer travel is an ancient human tradition, the subject of films from chosen family travels in Under the Tuscan Sun to drag queens hitting the road in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar; Transamerica’s mother-son road trip to Pirates of the Caribbean’s polyamory cruise. More recently, it’s become an economy of scale: It’s now a $200 billion dollar slice of the trillion-dollar global tourism market, according to the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association. These dollars are generated by cruises, walking tours, resorts, weddings and honeymoons, and Pride celebrations—with more opportunities doubtless being invented as you read this. Soon enough, I expect even straight people will travel queerly, if the contours of modern tourism bear any resemblance to those of popular culture or the present zeitgeist. (You know how everyone’s now saying “very demure, very mindful”? A trans woman came up with the trend on TikTok.)
Belonging to any segment of the LGBTQ+ world comes with its own rituals and routines. Travel often involves leaving them behind—for better or for worse—and ushers in a whole new set of rules. This is where the golden rules of queer travel come in, informed by a survey of 15 queer travelers and experts. Sure, they’re helpful principles to travel by, whether you’re queer or not. But these are for us, by us. Let them be your beacons wherever your travels take you.
Vietnam gets an Equality index of 54 out of 100 from Equaldex, a score which is dragged down by the discrete nature of the culture more so than prevalent stigma.
Rule number one of queer travel is to know where you’re going. This is important for travelers of all kinds, but for some, it is an urgent matter of safety and security. There is a pervasive fear among queer travelers about encountering prejudice, or straight-up danger, when visiting an unfamiliar space or society, so even though tourists—queer or not—are often not held to the same set of rules as locals, it’s good practice (and a balm for worries) to get concrete and factual information about a place, particularly its laws and attitudes toward LGBTQ+ citizens.
Equaldex is a digital tool that assigns each nation an “Equality” score between 1 and 100, and you can customize your search to
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Ahhhh, the great American road trip. A chance to put rubber to pavement along our millions of miles of roads and see the nooks and crannies of the country we’d never otherwise see. Road trips can be truly transformative travel journeys, a meditative way to traverse the countryside, meeting interesting people and exploring unusual sites. They’re also a chance to connect with your fellow road trippers, engaging in hours of conversation you wouldn’t have time for at home.
Imagine: You're on a backpacking trip. You stand on the summit of a high mountain. As you look out on the horizon, you can see precisely how far you've come. You take a sip of water from your bottle and, with that simple, cool refreshment, feel a welling sense of pride. Having reached your goal, in that precious moment you embody the effects not only of your physical exertion, but also the meticulous planning that brought you here. Your accomplishment is made possible by your thoughtfulness, your decisions to realize your vision of travel for the sake of pure adventure. The steps you took, no matter how graceful or clumsy, got you here. The view from wherever you stop is merely your reward. And don’t forget, you still must make it back down the hill and home again safely.
“I tell my friends that I'm now midcentury modern,” the New York–based fashion designer Phillip Lim quips about turning 50. “And like the furniture, hopefully better with age.” Joking aside, Lim, who launched his 3.1 Phillip Lim label in 2005 and now sells his signature clean-lined clothing in shops around the world, saw the landmark birthday as a chance to take stock. “I heard somewhere that, with 50, you get a second dawn. I took that to heart.”
This month, an 11-year-old startup called Flyr raised the largest single round of venture capital for a travel tech company in years: A total package of nearly $300 million.
Between Sri Lanka’s eight UNESCO world heritage sites, its thriving wildlife, and pristine white sand beaches, the “Pearl of the Indian Ocean” has enough glimmer for everyone—and now, visiting the South Asia island nation, located off the coast of India, is about to get easier (and cheaper) for travelers from 35 countries.
The UN World Health Organization (WHO) declared on August 14, 2024, that the recent upsurge in mpox cases constitutes “a public health emergency of international concern," the organization's highest alert level. The next day, Sweden confirmed the first case of the new strain, mpox Clade 1, to be diagnosed outside Africa.
With summer coming to an end, make the best of it by embarking on a holiday in Türkiye. Perfect for solo travels and family trips, Türkiye offers the most varied experiences in the Mediterranean. From the vibrant cultural tapestry of İstanbul to the sun-kissed shores of the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts, each Turkish destination offers a journey filled with many unforgettable experiences, complemented by world-famous Turkish hospitality and cuisine.
Catch Asia Editor Peden Doma Bhutia in conversation with Saniya Zanpure, Skift’s research analyst, as they dive into the Skift Travel Health Index (STHI) — a tool that tracks and measures the performance of various travel sectors. They explore why the travel industry in 2024 is mirroring 2023, with insights into the factors driving this stability. Plus, they look at India’s rise as a major player in global travel and find out what’s fueling this rapid growth.