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Women-only options further afield than Europe?
We would like to go somewhere in late Oct/Nov for about a week – but further afield than Europe (weather a bit too wintery!) – in a women’s only b & b – small hotel type place? Any suggestions? Nothing suitable in any other mag so thought you might have a suggestion? I don’t fancy the canaries but if there was a small, friendly type place away from the big concrete jungle, maybe okay?
If you can afford to travel long-haul you shouldn't have much trouble, try www.Olivia.com for all-lesbian cruises and land based holidays in USA, Canada and the Caribbean. Despite the increased homophobic climate in America those State-side gals really have got all-female vacations sorted compared to us. Olivia isn't the only company which offers this kind of deal and if you can find a New York or San Francisco based lesbian travel company online you will probably find an incomparable choice.
If you were hoping not to fly quite so far you may be out of luck without considering the Canaries. Egypt, Tunisia etc. have great weather all year round and the scuba diving and sight seeing are superb but they really are not suitable for gay women in the way I believe you would like; despite many of the men being secretly sexually active with both sexes, they see it as offensive for women to exclude men from their sex lives.
There is more to the Canaries than the Yumbo centre though.. which is a concrete 'shopping centre' in the heart of Playa del Ingles in Gran Canaria with over 50 gay venues in the vicinity, including a couple of women's bars (great for a wild week of parties in the sun) but you'll be lucky to find a women-only complex in the Canaries. If you can compromise and forgo your 'women-only' specification you may consider a quiet hide-away in sandy Fuerteventura or the clean white sands of Playa Blanca in Lanzarote; much less commercial than the rest of the resorts on the island. There is a mini-rainforest to be explored at Timanfaya National Park www.discoverlanzarote.com/timanfaya.asp. If it is essential that you stay in a gay-owned property and would like a little gay life locally try Hotel Los Principe in Puerto de la Cruz in Tenerife, the resort is more mature and sedate than it'd Gran Canarian rival, but preferable for many who travel there year after year. The local gay's and lesbians used the hotel's bar/restaurant as a meeting point for the start of an evening out but there is no segregation between men & women.
Where can we hold hands on the beach?
Although we’re quite happy going on holiday and only really being a “couple” behind closed doors, it would be lovely to be able to do the “beach holiday” in a couple of places where it would be safe for us to walk along holding hands occasionally. Where can we go?
I am quite passionate about this subject. Whether at home or abroad I am not fond of witnessing over-physical public displays of affection by straight or gay couples and the old adage ‘get a room’ often springs to mind when I witness couples devouring each other’s faces but I would vehemently defend your basic right to hold hands with your partner almost anywhere you choose to! Providing you are not holidaying in Uzbekistan or more likely Jamaica you really should be able to hold hands wherever you like. Attracting unwanted male attention is the most likely outcome in some of the Muslim holiday destinations, such as Tunisia or Morocco.
I always feel the best way to gauge regional variations in attitude is to look into a country’s civil partnership & marriage laws. Spain for example, despite its Catholic heritage grants full homosexual marriage as entirely equal to heterosexual marriage and therefore you should be comfortable holding hands virtually everywhere; whether it be mainland beaches, the islands or the cities. Indeed if you holiday in Benidorm you are more likely to suffer verbal grief from the British teenage boy in the next apartment than from the locals. Anti-discrimination laws are widespread across the EU and other Western countries so you have the right to be protected against anyone who objects to you being together.
Forgive me (and apply due scepticism) if I generalise about entire nations here; but I would say that the French are just as open-minded as the Spanish and unlikely to be phased by ladies being romantic on their vacation. Italy’s cities and the beach area south of Venice and also Rimini are popular with Italian gays. The Greeks are only marginally less liberated and tend to devote certain islands and resorts to gay tourism. These are ideal if you want to be amongst other same sex couples (and singles). Don’t rule out stunningly beautiful Mykonos, (no longer just for the boys) and there’s Lesvos of course; Skala Erresos resort is devoted to its Sapphic Goddess and women who love women. Neither of these Greek destinations is a wild party resort but if that is what you want Playa del Ingles in Gran Canaria will not disappoint where holding hands with your lover is a minimum requirement; if you didn’t have one when you arrived you are almost sure to find one whilst there! More mature established gay Canarians migrate to North Tenerife and if you fancy the Balearics, Ibiza Town and its beach resort Figeuretas have gay beaches and bars and hotels. Similarly coastal Barcelona and Sitges are popular with liberated European gays.
The list really is endless and I’ve only mentioned a few short-haul destinations! Although there can be individuals with extreme opinions in any destination I would urge you to be brave and just ‘suck it and see’ how comfortable you feel holding hands anywhere you travel to, it might surprise you to find nobody really notices or even cares so much.
In Manchester it is not a totally uncommon sight to see confident gay women holding hands in parks and shopping centres far from the gay village and I spotted a few lesbian gay couples being affectionate in tourist areas and on the tube in London. That said it is a less common sight in smaller towns and villages, apply this common sense wherever you travel. Small pockets of lesbians and gay men who are prepared to be proud of their relationships in rural areas however, is how strongholds such as Hebden Bridge (and one or two market towns in North Yorkshire that I could mention) develop into the gay havens they are today. Maybe we all owe it to ourselves to practice a little more public affection. Is it only that the sight is not so common place that makes two women holding hands so remarkable?
Log cabin in the mountains?
I would love to surprise my girlfriend for her birthday; she likes the idea of a log cabin in the mountains. Is there anywhere you would recommend for a cosy romantic break? It doesn’t have to be gay owned/friendly but it would be nicer if it was.
If you put ‘gay log cabins’ into Google loads of stuff about Log Cabin Republicans and Arnie’s fight against Gay & Lesbian civil rights comes up! Not quite what we’re looking for here!
My first thought was Switzerland, unless you can afford the time and expense to go to Canada (great idea if you can). 
Arosa is a very friendly mountain retreat all year round, many gay Swiss visit in summer as well as for ski week (held annually) and the Swiss are so gay friendly it won’t matter if your accommodation is gay owned or not. There are some fabulous walks in the forests and mountains locally. See www.myswitzerland.com
Similarly try Austria; you can pick up some last minute bargains from the major tour operators' brochures by looking online or popping in to your local travel agents, without the need to specify that you are gay. Look under Lakes & Mountains, this is how they package the winter ski resorts in summer.
If gay-friendly isn’t enough then check out www.alysonadventures.com/gay/iceland.htm for specifically gay holidays, hiking tours, mountain biking etc.
The important thing I find when looking for suitable destinations, whatever the style of holiday I’m looking for, is to think about the politics and local attitudes. Bible-belt America or Jamaica are bad ideas but there are so many countries in the world who now have such progressive civil rights legislation it would take a very weathered traveller to run out of new destinations to explore.
USA entry requirements?
What are the entry requirements for the USA since 9/11 and other terrorist threats? Do we need to get a visa still, if so, how do we go about it?
As long as you are not planning to stay over 90 days then a tourist visa waiver form is available on all flights into the USA from the UK (and the rest of Europe). They are usually very helpful when you are filling it in too. So you don’t need to do anything in advance as long as you have an up to date, modern passport (issued in the last 7 years) with the electronic coding on the photograph page and individual passports for everyone travelling even if they are under 16.
You do need to know the address of your accommodation whilst staying in the States though. They no longer allow you to put c/o the airline.
It is important, regarding increased security since 9/11 to think very carefully about what you carry on board the aircraft too. If in any doubt about items such as tweezers or nail files etc. either don’t take them or pack them inside your suitcase which will go in the hold. They will confiscate sharp objects and it is not possible to get them back on your return.
See www.fco.gov.uk for clarification and travel advice worldwide.
Any ideas to avoid prickly heat?
As much as we love the sun, sea and sand holidays my girlfriend suffers from prickly heat and climates found in the Canaries and Greece seem to exacerbate it. She has tried all the medical and herbal remedies which do help but not solve the problem. Do you know if there is a particular kind of heat she would fare better in – or are we banished to ski holidays?
This one is really a medical question rather than a travel one I think. In terms of destinations though, perhaps try a lakes and mountains style holiday or go out of season, the resorts in Mainland Spain can be lovely in the winter months and the Balearics and more Northern Greek islands are cooler in May and October and you don't have to give up your lovely beach holidays. Of course it really depends how severely your girlfriend suffers. Sorry I can't be more helpful!
Passports for Civil Partners?
I’ve recently got a new passport and noticed that they now do civil partners passports. Do you foresee problems using these passports if you’re traveling to countries that don’t recognise us as partners?
I have not heard anything about a Civil Partner's passport and since there isn't such thing as a married passport I was surprised
at your question. There may well be a box to tick on the application form but your marital status isn't on your passport so it will not affect where you travel to. Just to be sure however, I contacted the Passport Office – apparently they do mention Civil Partnerships on passport office notice boards – their context though is to explain that the “UKPS will accept civil partnership certificates as documentary evidence of a change of name”. But civil passports, as such, don't exist. [They will also accept a dissolution certificate should a civil partnership break up involving another name change.] The UK Passport Services website can be found here.
Generally though British passports are the same and entitle travel to the same destinations unless you have been specifically excluded or need a visa and have been declined. The government travel advice available on line is the most acurate source of this information and can be found here.
Best way to handle the 'bed' question?
Is there a ‘best’ way to handle the whole ‘bed’ situation when you check into a hotel or B&B? We always pre-book our double room – usually over the internet. But so many times we’ve turned up with our booking confirmation only to be told that there are twin rooms available and that surely we’ve made a mistake! We do stand our ground but it can be embarrassing for all concerned, not to mention a precursor for a lower level of service in some places. We’ve tried to call ahead on a couple of occasions to confirm but although we’ve been assured everything’s fine over the phone, when we get there the message doesn’t seem to have filtered through to the reception staff.
I wish there was! The only way to guarantee this won’t happen is to book into a gay hotel, I’ve even heard of similar problems with so-called gay-friendly hotels.
Having said that, I increasingly find a large proportion of hotel staff are gay themselves and I really do believe this situation is becoming less frequent. There are many hotels now, worldwide, which are genuinely gay-friendly - both independent and major chains. Le Meridien, Hilton, Radisson SAS, Warwick Hotels and Malmaison all have initiatives encouraging gay clientele. Albeit retrospective, the Customer Service Department of these companies would like to know and will react to any complaints regarding a reduction in service level due to guests’ sexuality. I do consider it our duty to inform them too, we cannot expect them to sort out these issues if they don’t know about them.
At the end of the day though we all know the receptionist’s personal attitude does not always reflect the management’s policy but I still believe ringing or e-mailing a few days before travel is the most likely way to avoid any embarrassment.
The value of some good research before you book cannot be underestimated either. There are a couple of lesbian travel guides available in larger bookshops; ‘Damron-women’s traveller’ is my favourite, updated annually it concentrates on USA and Canada and has European destinations listed. It also has some hints on places to definitely avoid.
Either that or book through a reputable gay tour operator amroholidays.com are the most lesbian-friendly of the gay long-haul companies, they even have a woman on their small team.
As a rule of thumb, if a country has its own gay marriage or civil partnership law in place, or in the pipeline, the population will be more likely to accept our relationships and the need for a double bed on our travels.
Annual travel insurance for lesbian couples?
We’re looking for some annual travel insurance and have been trying to take advantage of the couple’s discount that many companies seem to offer. Not being the standard Mr and Mrs, or Mr and Ms, would you recommend any that are gay-friendly and that offer favourable terms for same-sex couples?
If you are legally partners under the Civil Partnership Act it is a civil right that you are entitled to the same discounts as a conventional married couple and it would be illegal for you to be treated otherwise. Some insurance companies also recognise unmarried same-sex couples providing they have been living at the same address for a certain period of time; usually about a year. There are too many insurance companies for me to investigate them all but I happen to have a lesbian friend at Holiday Extras; their couples policies are really good value for money. They will also cover lesbian families with their Family Policy. Have a look at Holidayextras and select Travel Insurance from the left hand menu.
Wherever you buy your Travel Insurance be careful you book cover appropriate for your destination and are aware of the excess if you need to make a claim and do compare levels of cover. It is also essential that you declare any medical conditions they ask for or you could invalidate your cover.
If travelling within the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland, it is also essential to obtain the new European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) which may save you needing to claim on your travel insurance in certain circumstances. This replaces the old E111 and is valid for much longer. Apply online here
Lesbian-friendly painting holidays?
My partner and I like to water colour paint but aren’t very good. We would love to go on holiday with the sun, sea and sand and have a water colour tutor. Do you know of any resorts in Greece that offer this – and if they’re gay friendly that would be even better!
Now this is a tricky one. I had a search around my sources and I can’t find a specific lesbian painting holiday, although I do have a vague memory of coming across one when I wasn’t looking. (Isn’t that always the way?)
However there are many watercolour holidays you would be most welcome to join. I e-mailed several companies and individuals specialising in this field and all those who responded had positive attitudes; welcoming all regardless of sexuality, religion, preferred diet or politics. Understandably, they cannot vouch for the attitudes of all of their guests, however.
Allan Curry M.A. (Professional artist, Senior Lecturer Fine Art Goldsmiths College and Central St Martins School of Art) is the head tutor at www.paintcrete.co.uk and said; “While not a watercolours specialist, per se, we feel confident, and have had no experience contrary, that our team can and will provide adequate, if not superlative, support and guidance for employers of that particular medium. But we are not watercolours exclusive. In fact, we have two sculptors here right now. I asked them and both said that they wouldn’t be hostile to watercolorists. At least openly.”
www.ionianlight.co.uk teach courses in watercolour and acrylic, lead walks and excursions and host reading groups, and can tailor-make holidays with specific requirements for group bookings. The accommodation is in five star villas with swimming pools; you could mix with everyone or be as private as you wish if you book a whole villa.
If you wanted to ‘brush’ up on your skills before splashing out on a Greek holiday contact Dave Coupe ( www.coupe.uk.net )a Derbyshire based watercolour artist who arranges residential courses in the British countryside. He also had a great attitude in his reply.
Good luck!
Is Cyprus lesbian-friendly?
My partner and I are planning to go to Cyprus for our holiday this summer but since I’ve booked it I’ve heard that it’s not very gay friendly at all. Is this true? We aren’t in the habit of snogging in public or anything but it would be nice to be able to chill out without coming under any sort of pressure.
Well it is true to say that Cyprus is not the most gay-friendly of holiday destinations but I wouldn’t let that put you off. You won’t find a Cypriot version of the Yumbo Centre (Gran Canaria) or a local lesbian community (unless you leave no stone unturned) but the weather is fabulous, so are the beaches and there is some fascinating cultural history.
A huge proportion of the population of the island, especially in summer, is British; so on the whole you can expect the same attitude towards you which you get at home. I’d be very surprised if you experience any hostility whilst sunbathing on the beach together (unless you are on top of each other!). Your sexuality isn’t likely to put you under any pressure in shops or restaurants either unless you make it an issue. And of course you can get up to whatever you like in the privacy of your room!
Some Cypriot men can be a little sleazy towards female tourists and telling them you are lesbians won’t placate them, but I’m sure we’ve all had to deal with this type of man before; at home or abroad!
It’s important to remember that wherever we travel to, we are visitors and no matter what we think of local political or religious beliefs we are on holiday not a crusade. I love Cyprus and if you have the right attitude I’m sure you will too.
