Gay Vox is a relatively new site but one which is already making waves across the internet. That’s nothing particularly remarkable these days as many sites out there come on line and become a success over night. The thing that makes Gay Vox a bit more of an interesting story is that it is a French site. And not only that but it is written in French – but don’t let that put you off, I don’t speak much French and I was able to enjoy most of what it has to offer.

But what exactly is Gay Vox? Well, actually it’s several things. It’s a news and information centre for all things French and gay and worldwide and gay, it’s a guide to gay France, it’s a dating site and it’s a discussion board too. And all around the edges of all of that are interesting advertisements, galleries, links and snippets of information about gay lifestyle and health. Let’s start at the home page and work our way through:

On the home, ‘news’, page you are asked to log in, but this is not compulsory. You can still enjoy the site without being a member but signing up is free so you have nothing to lose by joining. As a member you will be able to see a little bit more and search for sexy French guys and girls looking for dates and chat, join in the forums and so on. There is also a search box for ‘Recontres’, which is what I would call ‘personals’, using this brings up pages of guys who are registered on the site but for a more detailed search there is a ‘Recontres’ section. Check the rest of the page before moving on and you’ll find links to various other sites and pages on a variety of themes: gay culture, news, articles, travel, shopping and health.

The next page along the top menu brings you a searchable database of events in and around France. Click the map to select your area and up comes the list of places, times and dates. This is a great function of you are going on holiday or taking a business trip to France; there is a drop down list where many of the themes are similar to the English: Sex-parties, Naturisme and Clubbing for example – simply choose what you’re looking for and click the area of the map you are visiting and there’s your list of things to do all laid out for you.

A more in depth description of what’s hot and what’s going on in the country can be found on the Guide page which again is image driven with a more detailed map. You could use the Forums to get into discussions about places to go and things to see, though you will probably need to read and write some French to do this. Or you could search out guys or gals near to your destination by using the personals part of the site.

Whether you speak French or not you should be able to find your way through Gay Vox and enjoy what it has to offer. The registration form is straightforward and if there are any words that don’t look familiar (many English words come from French so you may be surprised at how easy it is to follow) you could try using an on-line translator to help you along. One final thing to note, the personals database covers the entire world and not just France and French speaking countries so you are bound to find new friends who understand your language and who may even help you learn theirs. Like I said Gay Vox has become very popular very quickly and it’s easy to see why, even for non French speakers it’s a great site to visit.

The bottom line is you can basically Travel to France without being there and feel there culture.  If you have trouble with translating this site then download the Google Toolbar and just rightclick and that is the easiest way to see things in English or whichever language you prefer. You may also try Worldlingo.com which has a URL translation for pages of a site. You may also just have Google do it for you manually.

To find a place to start my investigation into the Russian gay scene and clubs in particular, I went to gay.ru where you have the option to view the pages in English. I was looking for the hot spots in the country and it soon became clear from my searches that there were two main places to go. Moscow, as you would expect, it being the capital city and Saint Petersburg.

You should check out the very informative pages at Gay.ru before you start to think about the club scene as here you can also read up on the background to gays and the law, history of he gay movement and other general subjects related to queerness in the country. Once you are armed with the background information you can start looking for the club scene.

Saint Petersburg is a Russian city located in the North-western Federal District of the country on the Neva river and is named after Peter the Great who founded it in 1703. I’m sure he wouldn’t know what to make of it these days though, especially if he were to call in at “Sinners” which boasts “Four floors, one dance floor, bars, splendid romantic view from the top of the roof. Full striptease all night long. Nude dancers mix with the crowd and occasionally offer paint and brushes to visitors to draw on their exposed bodies.” Sounds like fun to me!

There used to be another night club in the city called the 69 Club but word has it that this is now used by predominantly heterosexual teenagers so is probably best avoided. For other entertainments you could try the cafes, “Kabaret” – “Charming drag queen talk show. Cosy and relaxed atmosphere. Inexpensive bar, karaoke, large dance floor, huge darkroom. Fridays and Saturdays are overcrowded, many good looking cadets from the Navy Academy.” Sounds like even more fun! And the “Mono Club” which is considerably smaller and mixed.

There are also four saunas in this city and you can find the full details of all of these places here.

Moscow is the capital of Russia and so we expect it to be bigger, bolder and more liberal. Actually there were only three night clubs listed at Gay.ru when I looked. “Chance Club” is open every night and is now a revamped version of the oldest club in the city. The quality of the crowd varies but it is the biggest and most used of the clubs so you’re probably going to score if you go there for a night out!

The “Three Monkeys” club is also open all week and has several floors, internet access, drag shows, go-go boys and a ‘cinema’ room. Like all of the clubs there is a cover charge or an entrance fee and these vary from venue to venue but generally the entrance charges seem to be cheaper (sometimes even free) for men. Guys at Chance, for example, pay 150 Rubles to get in while women pay 300! That’s around $24.00 for a girl to access a night club in case you were wondering. The third listed club, “Propaganda”, hosts a gay/mixed tea dance on a Sunday where you get good value for money with cheaper drinks and no cover charge.

From my quick look at these places it seems that the country is more liberal and accepting than I first thought it would be. The write ups and reviews of these clubs make them sound like any club you might find in New York or London – though we know that the sexy Russian boys will be a different matter! Check Gay.ru as it’s one of the more informed sites about gay Russia and also lists saunas, cafes and other entertainments in various locations around the country. Also make sure you check out the ‘life in Russia’ section as this will tell you what to expect generally if and when you go and visit.

In the winter months thoughts often turn to summer holidays though these days holidays happen whenever you can take them. As the world becomes a smaller place and travel becomes relatively cheap to more exotic destinations many people think about going further a field for their vacations. In terms of gay destinations there are some old favorites of course, like the Sydney Mardi Gras, Mykonos in the Greek islands and one hundred and one other well know holiday spots. But not everywhere in the world is ‘gay friendly’ and, though you may be able to get to some of these places easily these days, the question to ask is ‘are they safe?’

I tried to find out a list of places best avoided for gay travelers:

In an interview with The Advocate, travel writer David Kirby mentioned the obvious places such as “a lot of the Islamic world” and you can imagine that Iraq and the surrounding area, though interesting, is probably best avoided at present. But he also mentions some not so obvious places. He states that Jamaica, for example, can be tricky. Some businesses there will not rent rooms to same sex couples if there is only one bed in the room and there have been reports of other anti-gay behavior too.

Deciding what new and interesting place to visit can be a tricky decision as some places we already know are very gay friendly, like Thailand and Myanmar, whereas others are not so obvious. If you travel to Brazil for example you can expect a warm welcome in some cities but not in others and the pro/anti gay feeling varies from place to place. Egypt is another paradox: you will encounter lots of attention from men (if you are a man or woman) and sex is readily available if you are discrete, you will even see policemen holding hands in the street but don’t read anything into this. The country has very harsh anti-homosexuality laws.

I did a bit of lateral thinking in my search for the top ten most dangerous places for gay travelers and found a list of the ten ‘worst’ countries to be in, if you are gay. (According to queerty.com and ‘the Southern Voice’.) These findings are based on anti-human rights reports that outline details about countries that discriminate against citizens based on their sexual orientation. Some are obvious when you think about the religions of those countries while one, at least, is very surprising, number 8, Poland. Here is the full list.

1. Uganda (Consensual gay sex punishable by life in prison)
2. Iran (Punishable by death)
3. Egypt (You can be arrested and tortured especially if you have HIV)
4. Saudi Arabia (Floggings and even death)
5. Nigeria (Up to 14 years in prison)
6. United Arab Emirates (You can be arrested)
7. Cameroon (You can be arrested)
8. Poland (President denied gay rights groups)
9. Nepal (Not illegal but much harassment)
10. India (Up to ten years in prison)

But it’s not all bad news. In the same The Advocate interview, Kirby pointed out that places like Great Britain and France are working hard to attract more gay visitors, as are places in the USA, Provincetown, Massachusetts, for example. The general rule when traveling is to trust your instincts. Don’t go anywhere where you don’t feel safe, don’t be provocative in your behavior and remember that if you are in a ‘danger zone’, the local police may not be on your side if you get in to trouble.

A good way to check what the gay local ‘scene’ and attitudes towards it are is to pick up a travel guide. The ‘Indie’ ones and more well known ones like Lonely Planet usually have a gay section by country so you can judge for yourself whether a place is safe or not. IN a nutshell: play it safe and have a great time.

When you think about Amsterdam what comes to mind? Canals and boats, tall houses and tulips? Or dope cafes and the red light district? Well, what about gay clubs and days out and all manner of interesting gay things? Like the world’s first homomonument that is a stand against discrimination? The fact is there is more to Amsterdam that you might first realize and I’m going to try and point out some of these features for you.

Let’s start with a general day out. You have culture with various museums including the famous Rembrandt gallery and the Anne Frank House. There is a great zoo and your entry ticket there also gets you into the Planetarium (a great place to rest your feet after a hard days walking). There are the diamond workshops that organise tours, you can take a trip on a boat on the canal and there are the sex shops and even the sex museum to enjoy. Or for a special occasion you can visit in April for the national Queens Day (30th April and it’s to celebrate the Queen of the country not us kind of Queens!) or there’s the annual Amsterdam Pride festival in August. Check gayamsterdam.com for details.

Pop back to your hotel – there are many gay run or gay friendly hotels to choose from (hotels.gayamsterdam.com) – for a wash and brush up and then it’s off for the famous night life. Sure you can wonder the red light district – it’s interesting to see the girls in their windows and the drunk boys staggering in and out but do watch out for pick-pockets when the streets get busy.

There are plenty of exclusively gay bars to choose from for your pre-diner drinks. My favorite has always been April cafeapril.eu which is a big, trendy bar that’s also very friendly and which has some gorgeous young bar staff. Or, if you prefer something more traditional, the Amstel Tavern serves various beers around a horseshoe bar though the clientele are a little older. All of the bars, cafés and clubs are located within easy walking distance from Dam Square which is the centre of town – just watch out for the trams when you cross the road! And Dam Square is a short walk down from the main bus and train terminal so getting around the city and finding your night spots is easy.

After a few drinks there are more restaurants and cafés to eat at than you can shake a stick at. But THE place to dine at the moment is Getto; it has a bar, special offers on drinks and a DJ, as well as having good food. Like many evening easing places in the city it is open every day from around four in the afternoon until one in the morning.

But by then you will be in one of the clubs. There are also many that cater for the younger GLBT crowd, like Exit which is the biggest gay club in the city. It has four floors (including a backroom for naughty goings-ons), theme nights, a great sound system to blow your ears off and it’s open Friday and Saturday night midnight to five a.m. (clubexit.eu). The other club worthy of note is Cockring – it’s leathery and butch but open every night (there is a small entrance fee of around €3.00) and it has live strip shows four nights a week. Naturally there are other clubs in the city but they’re not all exclusively gay. You can check out a good list at seethru.co.uk/amsterdam/clubs.htm.

Now all you need is a good gay friendly airline.  Read more about our favorite airlines.

The first part of our look at Gay Camping (and we mean living under canvas and not screaming ‘oh! There’s a sale at Ikea darling’) finished with a quick look at gay nudism and camping - which is where I’m going to start now, with this look at what’s available in the USA, specifically, for the gay camper.

The site I mentioned, nakedplanet.org has a section on it specifically for the USA. This long page lists loads of different organisations in just about every US state. Those that have a website are linked in here and you also get e-mail addresses and other contact information. So if you are looking for a nudist, gay club from Alabama to Wisconsin to will find it here.

But what about camping: what about going native in the woods with a group of other guys? What about changing that heterosexual myth of hunting, drinking beer, fishing and camping with the guys and changing it into the gay version? (What would that be? Cruising, cocktails and camping with the guys, I guess!) What would that entail do you think? Becoming like the two hunks from Brokeback Mountain? Dragging your equipment miles up a valley to find a secret spot so you and your lover can relax and enjoy each others’ company without getting hassle from the straights? Or simply putting ‘Gay Camping USA’ into a search engine…

Well, that’s a good starting place, and one which will bring you to campgayusa.com. This is a simply designed site where there is no messing around. You have a list of campgrounds, camping adventures, gay camping clubs and you can even advertise your own fields, or whatever, as a suitable location for gay folk to come and stay on. The campgrounds are again listed in alphabetical order but these are general gay and gay friendly campgrounds. The difference here is that the emphasis is on camping and not on getting your kit off and looking at everyone else’s dicks. And remember that ‘gay friendly’ means that the owners like or don’t mind gay people but the other guests could be straight. Look out for ‘exclusively gay’ if that worries you - but I always wonder how they know you’re gay when you drive up to check in? Do they make you take a gay test I wonder?

Going back to my search and looking through the list I found loads of other sites that simply listed Gay Camping USA places and so you will have no trouble finding sites that advertise their grounds, activities, events and so on,. But what about meeting other folk who are into the same things as you - putting on a backpack and getting off the trail, or driving around the country in your RV and staying on campsites that are like five star hotels with grass? Well, going back to gayoutdoors.org I clicked on the Forum link. Forums are a good way of getting to know people who are interested in a specific thing and people who have experience of places. Regular posters aren’t going to be there to sell you their campsite but instead will want to share experiences with you. This Forum, for example, had threads from Colorado River Nude Camping to Fly Fishing in Philadelphia. So surely there will be someone on the board who has been to the place you may be thinking of going to.

I think the bottom line about camping USA is that you’re lucky: there are hundreds of places, there are loads of GLBT only or gay friendly campsites (and I include lesbian in ‘gay’ for convenience) and there are hundreds of sites set up to guide you in your search for that perfect getaway camping trip.

Here are a few recommendations of places/events I know are guaranteed to be fun-fullfilled:

• • Rainbowranch.net - Rainbow Ranch is about 1.5 hours south of Dallas, Texas. This is a great destination for any age with sand volleyball, cabins to rent, fishing, sites for tents, swimming, hiking, basketball, etc. There are unlimited amounts of spaces most of the time and some spaces have electric hookups, some tent spots don’t. It is great to do something different for a change and go camping and enjoy the outdoors with fellow gays and lesbians.
  • Temptationranch.com in Northern California
  • PrideFloat.org annual event in Missouri
  • Camp Willowswish - TX/OK September 6-9th - This is an annual event held at Lake Murray. This is a DO NOT MISS event for all gays and lesbians. There is no one better who can tell about this exciting gathering than Floyd Martin’s Myspace Blog or the Willowswish site itself. You do not need much of a vacation fund for this campout which is held the weekend after Labor Day and weekend before Dallas pride.

I watched one of those old British movies the other night, ‘Carry on Camping’. Although that’s obviously a play on words too, it did remind me of years gone by when I used to go camping. It was all cold water and very basic amenities then and it got me wondering what it would be like to go camping now. Are there specific gay campsites around the world? Where do I start if I wanted to go on a gay camping holiday? As usual when I don’t know what to do I started with a search engine search.

Having entered ‘Gay Camping’ as my keywords I viewed the list and found the majority of the sites on the first page to be USA based. That’s fine, I thought, and we’ll come to the USA specifically in part two of this investigation. I tried ‘Gay Camping Worldwide’ instead. The site that caught my eye first was gayoutdoors.org. This site had lists of articles, travel opportunities, links and blogs all to do with exploring the Great Outdoors. It also had a search engine which, when I entered ‘camping’, took me to several articles on the subject. There were links to nude camps, adventure holidays, free events and much more including general camping safety and advice.

After some more searching I came across gaycampers.com which has to be one of the best sites for any gay guys or gals interesting in camping and the outdoor life. They list sites and activities not only in the USA and Canada but also Europe, the Caribbean and down under in Australia. I checked out their list of camping grounds in various countries and found them not only up to date and informative but they also came with other sensible links attached - like to the weather and other travel tips.

But what can you expect when you get to a camping ground? Obviously that’s going to depend on where it is and maybe even what country you are in. I spent some time looking at photos, not only those provided by a camp site on its own website (which are going to make everything look lovely) but also real pics from real people. It seems that the days of cold showers and holes in the ground have gone. (I am sure you can find places like that if you really want to but sometimes it’s nice to have a bit of luxury with your fresh air.) Just about all of the sites I saw had decent amenities; there were good washrooms, clean toilet bocks, some had restaurants most had shops and there were other activities too – with tennis courts and bike hire. Many of the gay ones had events, like naked weekends, or nudist weeks, but there was not too much of an accent on sex. Just because a camp site is Gay doesn’t mean it’s a sex club!

If you are looking for spicy camping – by which I mean nude camping - then you should take a look at: nakedplanet.org which has a list of gay nudist websites that are worldwide based. This is a great resource if you’re into getting naked and joining in activities, including camping and exploring. The emphasis here is on being naked but that seems to go hand in hand with swimming, camping out, living under canvas and just being with a group of other gay folk in the woods.

I think the bottom line is that it’s universal. You don’t have to be in the USA to find lots of gay camping places, or nudist camp sites. You can find them in England (if you want to be cold and wet in the summer) and other parts of Europe and the ‘westernised’ world too. There are plenty of places right across the globe advertising their gay or gay friendly campsites – nude or otherwise. Simply decide where you want to go and add that into your search and you’ll be under canvas with other gay folk before you can say ‘can you pass the billy-can Billy…’

While Delta has changed its image and is actually stepping above American Airlines in terms of gay sponsorships there are also amenities to be considered. A new airlines recently launched into the United States that has imported some gay fabulous touches in comfort and design.

Virgin America is set to launch in the U.S. on August 8, 2007. You can buy tickets now but they only fly in and out of NYC, D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. The new airlines will give you a new touch in ambience with a mood lighting system. Virgin also gives you in-seat plug ins for your laptops and phones, more comfortable seating, hundreds of in-flight movies to select from, and thousands of mp3’s to listen to. But where is the internet and text messaging?

Jet Blue is offering text messaging and internet while in-flight. I think this is the best amenity yet. Although, there is no voice calling allowed which could probably get annoying anyway. I would rather escape in the world of the internet while I am trapped inside a plane. Why doesn’t American, Delta, Continental, or US Airways offer this yet?

I try to support Delta and American Airlines when I can because of their gay friendly policies and their openly gay advertising but I am glad to see competition. Who knows maybe Virgin America and Jet Blue will start supporting gay causes more so we do not feel as guilty for flying their airlines.

For those of you who are flying the friendly skies I recommend you get on a rewards program. You can benefit from several airlines programs to rack up frequent flyer miles ranging from AAdvantage miles to Delta Skymiles where you normally need 45,000 points or so to get a free flight. The fastest way to build up miles would be to get a credit card that has no annual fee and gives you up to a bonus for using the card. You can get up to 20,000 frequent flyer miles on some airline credit cards. One thing to keep in mind is that you can have all the free miles in the world but it is all about being comfortable and enjoying a good experience while your sitting on that plane so the best thing to do is to upgrade to first class using these miles.

I would like to mention that American Airlines was the first airlines to offer domestic parnership benefits and they were also the first to establish a gay travel resource online at AA.com/rainbow.  Stay tuned to our site for continuing coverage of gay travel deals and places to enjoy.  Enjoy the friendly skies and stay away from those horrible tarmac situations!

Being stranded on an island of gay bashers and thugs just does not sound appealing to me.  It really has never sounded appealing to go to some of these exotic destinations that I have heard of gay people being killed or beaten.  Plus you also hear of people being robbed at some of these locations.

Rosie O’Donnell’s vacation company recently canceled a summer cruise to Bermuda.  Although, the chairman of Bermuda’s Tourist Board isn’t happy about anti-gay sentiment in the country.  My advice would be to stay away until this clears up.  There are better places to enjoy.

An AIDS activist was slain in Jamaica not long ago.  Jamaica, is another place to steer your gay cruise away from.  It seems every time I hear of someone going to Jamaica you hear how scared they were of the natives and this new mob running around.  PlanetOut recently ran a story about of mob attacks where hundreds of Jamaicans gang up on gay looking or acting people and threaten to beat them to death and have hospitilized some.  Who knows what bodies may have dissapeared and not even spoken of.  The homophobic climate has gotten so bad in Jamaica that they even have musicians singing anti-gay tunes called “murder music”.  You can read more on PlanetOut.com where the title of the article cannot warn people enough:  To be gay in Jamaica “to be dead”.