Showing posts with label Gay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gay. Show all posts
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Monday, October 24, 2011
If Gay Men Went To Summer Camp
If you've ever been curious what a gay cruise is all about, I can sum it up for you: it's summer camp for gay men. But I'll get back to that in a moment.
This being the year of gay travel for us (P-Town, Southern Decadence, Vegas... It's close enough), we picked a gay cruise as our final big gay trip for 2011. Like many of our vacations, we went in to this event a bit blind, but relying on the information we had gathered from friends and the ever-trusty interwebs, we decided to book a room with Atlantis Events for their Mexico cruise.
We truly had no idea what to expect. Originally, I assumed that this trip would be a lot like our vacation to Riviera Maya. We stayed at an all-inclusive there and really enjoyed our time on the resort. I just assumed that the cruise would be more of the same kind of thing as the resort, only with a throng of gays. But that turned out to be very, very incorrect. At the resort, we barely met anyone, we spent the majority of the day lounging about the pool or beach, and the entertainment, while not horrible, was just OK. In comparrison, on the boat we met several great people, we spent our time between lounging, partying, and socializing, and the entertainment options were all top notch.
I have to admit though that I was a bit mortified to be going on the cruise. The idea of it sounded great, but the realization that I'll be on a boat floating over the ridiculously vast ocean while millions of unknown and unseen critters swim beneath us just waiting for one of us to fall off and become the next sharktopus snack… well, that spooked me a bit. So my husband wisely drug me to a bar shortly before we were scheduled to board and ordered a pitcher of beer that we just had to drink in 40 minutes, which went a long way in relaxing me enough to be able to get on the ship.
Once we were on thefloating kraken feeder boat, I was fine. The room was nice, if a tiny bit small, the layout of the ship was pretty intuitive, and there was plenty enough room for everyone to be able to kick back and relax. And this is where the summer camp feel started to kick in.
Every day we were greeted with a little pamphlet listing all the various activities going on that day, when and where. For someone like me who is a habitual planner and someone who if given a schedule must follow it, these little booklets of "fun" soon became an ordeal. Luckily, I have an understanding husband who quickly learned to hide the packet from me and only allow me to choose one activity throughout the day that we could plan for. Everything else would just be happenstance as we lollygagged through the boat or lazed about the pool.
Really though, there was just a ton of stuff going on every day, so there was no need to plan unless there was something in particular you wanted to do. Shows, shopping, game show things, bingo, comedians, string quartets, cabaret acts, Broadway stars, singles and couples meet-and-greets, movies, gambling, and that doesn't even cover everything. Through it all, these abundantly nice crew and staff members were around to help direct you to events or provide you with whatever you needed. Oh, and then the requisitecamp boat announcements from the camp cruise directors.
What really amazed me though was that with a boat packed full of 1900 gay men, I believe we only encountered one genuine act of bitchiness, and even that was rather mild. Everyone was just nice. And there was a pretty solid mix of people on the boat too, although the demographic certainly skewed well in to the mid-30's or later for average age range, but even the age and other differences didn't stop everyone from just kicking back and having a great time together.
I was also surprised by how many people on the boat that were interested in sparking up friendships. The boat was fairly big (the veteran cruisers said it was average, but for us newbies it was huge), and there were plenty of people on the boat, but we did manage to meet quite a few people that we enjoyed hanging around. By the second day of the cruise we had made quite a few new acquaintances, most of whom we talked with and hung around with throughout the rest of the trip.
True to the summer camp feel, the cruise directors threw a huge going away party on Thursday night and one last t-dance on Friday, which allowed us all to say farewell to the trip and to get the contact information for everyone we met that we wanted to stay in touch with. Of course, keeping in touch is vastly easier these days with Facebook and all, but we still heard quite a few people saying "keep in touch, ok?" Atlantis even offers an alumni website to help facilitate these connections, which is pretty nifty.
When Saturday morning rolled around, everyone's face shared the same somber yet wonderfully tanned look. Except mine. Because I somehow failed to inherit the tanning gene that allows the rest of my family to so perfectly tan. Anyway… we all knew we were heading home, but we all had a great time on board. Certainly, there will be quite a few memories from the trip. Especially for that one couple that decided that 4 a.m. Wednesday morning was the perfect time to go through a nasty breakup. In the hallway. While drunk. I'm sure they'll remember the trip quite fondly.
So you can see how this Atlantis cruise really was like summer camp for gay men. With alcohol. LOTS of alcohol. The husband and I really enjoyed the experience and will likely do it again. We've reserved a cabin for the same cruise next year, basically just in case we do want to go. From talking to the people on the cruise, it seems like cruises are much like tattoos: once you do one, you want more. And even though I'm certain the next time I get on that boat Cthulu will rise up out of ocean and devour us whole, I think it's a fair trade off for a great week with some like minded travelers!
This being the year of gay travel for us (P-Town, Southern Decadence, Vegas... It's close enough), we picked a gay cruise as our final big gay trip for 2011. Like many of our vacations, we went in to this event a bit blind, but relying on the information we had gathered from friends and the ever-trusty interwebs, we decided to book a room with Atlantis Events for their Mexico cruise.
We truly had no idea what to expect. Originally, I assumed that this trip would be a lot like our vacation to Riviera Maya. We stayed at an all-inclusive there and really enjoyed our time on the resort. I just assumed that the cruise would be more of the same kind of thing as the resort, only with a throng of gays. But that turned out to be very, very incorrect. At the resort, we barely met anyone, we spent the majority of the day lounging about the pool or beach, and the entertainment, while not horrible, was just OK. In comparrison, on the boat we met several great people, we spent our time between lounging, partying, and socializing, and the entertainment options were all top notch.
I have to admit though that I was a bit mortified to be going on the cruise. The idea of it sounded great, but the realization that I'll be on a boat floating over the ridiculously vast ocean while millions of unknown and unseen critters swim beneath us just waiting for one of us to fall off and become the next sharktopus snack… well, that spooked me a bit. So my husband wisely drug me to a bar shortly before we were scheduled to board and ordered a pitcher of beer that we just had to drink in 40 minutes, which went a long way in relaxing me enough to be able to get on the ship.
Once we were on the
Every day we were greeted with a little pamphlet listing all the various activities going on that day, when and where. For someone like me who is a habitual planner and someone who if given a schedule must follow it, these little booklets of "fun" soon became an ordeal. Luckily, I have an understanding husband who quickly learned to hide the packet from me and only allow me to choose one activity throughout the day that we could plan for. Everything else would just be happenstance as we lollygagged through the boat or lazed about the pool.
Really though, there was just a ton of stuff going on every day, so there was no need to plan unless there was something in particular you wanted to do. Shows, shopping, game show things, bingo, comedians, string quartets, cabaret acts, Broadway stars, singles and couples meet-and-greets, movies, gambling, and that doesn't even cover everything. Through it all, these abundantly nice crew and staff members were around to help direct you to events or provide you with whatever you needed. Oh, and then the requisite
What really amazed me though was that with a boat packed full of 1900 gay men, I believe we only encountered one genuine act of bitchiness, and even that was rather mild. Everyone was just nice. And there was a pretty solid mix of people on the boat too, although the demographic certainly skewed well in to the mid-30's or later for average age range, but even the age and other differences didn't stop everyone from just kicking back and having a great time together.
I was also surprised by how many people on the boat that were interested in sparking up friendships. The boat was fairly big (the veteran cruisers said it was average, but for us newbies it was huge), and there were plenty of people on the boat, but we did manage to meet quite a few people that we enjoyed hanging around. By the second day of the cruise we had made quite a few new acquaintances, most of whom we talked with and hung around with throughout the rest of the trip.
True to the summer camp feel, the cruise directors threw a huge going away party on Thursday night and one last t-dance on Friday, which allowed us all to say farewell to the trip and to get the contact information for everyone we met that we wanted to stay in touch with. Of course, keeping in touch is vastly easier these days with Facebook and all, but we still heard quite a few people saying "keep in touch, ok?" Atlantis even offers an alumni website to help facilitate these connections, which is pretty nifty.
When Saturday morning rolled around, everyone's face shared the same somber yet wonderfully tanned look. Except mine. Because I somehow failed to inherit the tanning gene that allows the rest of my family to so perfectly tan. Anyway… we all knew we were heading home, but we all had a great time on board. Certainly, there will be quite a few memories from the trip. Especially for that one couple that decided that 4 a.m. Wednesday morning was the perfect time to go through a nasty breakup. In the hallway. While drunk. I'm sure they'll remember the trip quite fondly.
So you can see how this Atlantis cruise really was like summer camp for gay men. With alcohol. LOTS of alcohol. The husband and I really enjoyed the experience and will likely do it again. We've reserved a cabin for the same cruise next year, basically just in case we do want to go. From talking to the people on the cruise, it seems like cruises are much like tattoos: once you do one, you want more. And even though I'm certain the next time I get on that boat Cthulu will rise up out of ocean and devour us whole, I think it's a fair trade off for a great week with some like minded travelers!
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Cruisey Eyes
An interesting phenomena occurs when you go off on a "gay vacation": you develop what my husband and I have termed Cruisey Eyes.
Quick aside: Gay Vacation defined is a vacation to attend a wholly or mostly gay-themed event, such as Bear Week that my husband and I just got home from or the cruise we're doing later this year. It can also refer to attending a non-LGBT themed event with a large group of your queer friends, thereby transforming the event from whatever it was into a Gay Vacation.
Back on point. One of the most fun things about a gay vacation is that the people attending the event quickly let their guard down from their everyday lives. At home, many gays will put up a wall to try and try to hide the most overt parts of their sexuality from the outside world, which can oftentimes lead to confusion on the streets about who is and who isn't gay.
For example, when gay men are wandering down the street at home and see an attractive man across the way, they may look but they typically cut it down to a brief glance. After all, we don't know if that man is gay himself or if others in the vicinity might take unkindly (read: violently) to witnessing us checking out another dude. So while heterosexual dudes can be a bit less discreet in their scoping of women, gay men tend to put up a wall for protection.
But what happens during gay vacations is that those walls come tumbling down. Like, fast. The subtlety many of us employ back home when checking out mens is gone the moment we arrive at our destination. Spotting a hot man can, and most likely will, involve pointing, smiling, waving, winking, cat calling, and any other number of flirty behaviors. It also usually involves a full head to toe scan from both individuals and quick introductions if both are satisfied with what they see.
So while we were in P-Town, the husband and I both developed a hard case of Cruisey Eye. We appreciated the hundreds of good-looking fellas around us, waved, winked, flirted, and said hello to many of them. That Cruisey Eye is facilitated on Gay Vacations because we know everyone there is gay. There's no fear of embarrassing yourself by trying to flirt up a straight guy because we know we're all there for the same reason.
Sadly, though, we have to come back to the real world, and in the real world, Cruisey Eye isn't appreciated as much. It takes some adjustment to get back in to the mindset that you shouldn't be openly checking out every cute guy that wanders down the street, or that giving the bank teller a flirty smile and a wink may not be appreciated. And it's a damn shame too because life is so much more fun when everyone around you is open to a little flirtation!
That's how it goes though: no more Gay Vacation means no more Cruisey Eye. I'll just have to save up my Cruisey Eye now for when I go to my Gay Gym...
Quick aside: Gay Vacation defined is a vacation to attend a wholly or mostly gay-themed event, such as Bear Week that my husband and I just got home from or the cruise we're doing later this year. It can also refer to attending a non-LGBT themed event with a large group of your queer friends, thereby transforming the event from whatever it was into a Gay Vacation.
Back on point. One of the most fun things about a gay vacation is that the people attending the event quickly let their guard down from their everyday lives. At home, many gays will put up a wall to try and try to hide the most overt parts of their sexuality from the outside world, which can oftentimes lead to confusion on the streets about who is and who isn't gay.
For example, when gay men are wandering down the street at home and see an attractive man across the way, they may look but they typically cut it down to a brief glance. After all, we don't know if that man is gay himself or if others in the vicinity might take unkindly (read: violently) to witnessing us checking out another dude. So while heterosexual dudes can be a bit less discreet in their scoping of women, gay men tend to put up a wall for protection.
But what happens during gay vacations is that those walls come tumbling down. Like, fast. The subtlety many of us employ back home when checking out mens is gone the moment we arrive at our destination. Spotting a hot man can, and most likely will, involve pointing, smiling, waving, winking, cat calling, and any other number of flirty behaviors. It also usually involves a full head to toe scan from both individuals and quick introductions if both are satisfied with what they see.
So while we were in P-Town, the husband and I both developed a hard case of Cruisey Eye. We appreciated the hundreds of good-looking fellas around us, waved, winked, flirted, and said hello to many of them. That Cruisey Eye is facilitated on Gay Vacations because we know everyone there is gay. There's no fear of embarrassing yourself by trying to flirt up a straight guy because we know we're all there for the same reason.
Sadly, though, we have to come back to the real world, and in the real world, Cruisey Eye isn't appreciated as much. It takes some adjustment to get back in to the mindset that you shouldn't be openly checking out every cute guy that wanders down the street, or that giving the bank teller a flirty smile and a wink may not be appreciated. And it's a damn shame too because life is so much more fun when everyone around you is open to a little flirtation!
That's how it goes though: no more Gay Vacation means no more Cruisey Eye. I'll just have to save up my Cruisey Eye now for when I go to my Gay Gym...
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Provincetown, The Perfect Getaway
The husband and I have been off on a vacation this past week in Provincetown, Massachusetts. It's both of our first times here in New England, and I have to say that I am thoroughly enjoying this town!
P-Town, as it's otherwise known, is a beautiful little village. It's a beach town at the very end of Cape Cod, and it's known to be a very gay-friendly town. Not exactly a gay specific town, but a town that is very open and accepting of many different walks of life.
We came specifically for Bear Week with a few friends, and I have to be honest when I say that I was a bit worried that this would turn into a week long party similar to Southern Decadence. I've been pleasantly surprised that the week has been a nice balance of high and low activity time, with beach lounging, partying and friend time being balanced quite well.
If I were to have one complaint, it would be that P-Town is a bit pricey, so it's not the vacation for those looking for fun and relaxation on the cheap. But if you prepare and budget for this place, it's amazing. It's been exactly the vacation I've needed.
I'll leave you with a couple pictures, one of the view we saw on the dunes bike trail yesterday and one of the baby shark post being eaten we saw on our first day here.
P-Town, as it's otherwise known, is a beautiful little village. It's a beach town at the very end of Cape Cod, and it's known to be a very gay-friendly town. Not exactly a gay specific town, but a town that is very open and accepting of many different walks of life.
We came specifically for Bear Week with a few friends, and I have to be honest when I say that I was a bit worried that this would turn into a week long party similar to Southern Decadence. I've been pleasantly surprised that the week has been a nice balance of high and low activity time, with beach lounging, partying and friend time being balanced quite well.
If I were to have one complaint, it would be that P-Town is a bit pricey, so it's not the vacation for those looking for fun and relaxation on the cheap. But if you prepare and budget for this place, it's amazing. It's been exactly the vacation I've needed.
I'll leave you with a couple pictures, one of the view we saw on the dunes bike trail yesterday and one of the baby shark post being eaten we saw on our first day here.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
When They're Gone: A Farewell To Crazies
I'm really excited for the Rapture. All the hustle and bustle of Christian life will soon be quelled by the Almighty exhuming his professed followers from Earth to Heaven, leaving all the rest to suffer through war, famine, fire, brimstone, etc. You know, the usual.
If you're not familiar with the latestinternet craze crazy person doomsday sayer, you can check out some information here. For the short version, this guy has calculated that the Rapture will occur this Saturday, May 21. At precisely 6 p.m. Local time. Whether that's affected by daylight savings time is still unclear.
If you're note sure what all this particular Rapture will involve, or which 200 million people will be summoned to His side, the San Francisco Chronicle has provided a handy-dandy FAQ for you.
So why is this happening now? Cliff's notes: because the world was submerged under water and all life eliminated exactly 7000 years ago on May 21. Obviously. Oh, and Gays. You mustn't forget The Gays.
To all my Christian friends, I just want to say farewell and it's been nice knowing you. I've been furiously reading the Left Behind books (you may need to try the link a few times, it's a bit overwhelmed with everyone trying to cheat and read the abbreviated version), watching the movie and playing the video games just so I can understand what will come of me in the months leading up to the October 21 obliteration of the world. I do wish we could get one more Halloween in, but I understand there's a celestial time line that must be adhered to. Also, according to the video game, you will be able to drop literal prayer bombs on my head that strike with the power of a nuclear warhead. Now that's gonna hurt, but I gotta say that's pretty damn awesome, so good on ya for that!
To the rest of us heathens, I'm looking forward to actually getting some meaningful legislation passed in Congress. Once the Rapture occurs, we can pass all those pro-gay bills that supposedly discriminate against Christians. After all, you can't discriminate against a class of people that don't exist anymore, right?
If you're not familiar with the latest
If you're note sure what all this particular Rapture will involve, or which 200 million people will be summoned to His side, the San Francisco Chronicle has provided a handy-dandy FAQ for you.
So why is this happening now? Cliff's notes: because the world was submerged under water and all life eliminated exactly 7000 years ago on May 21. Obviously. Oh, and Gays. You mustn't forget The Gays.
To all my Christian friends, I just want to say farewell and it's been nice knowing you. I've been furiously reading the Left Behind books (you may need to try the link a few times, it's a bit overwhelmed with everyone trying to cheat and read the abbreviated version), watching the movie and playing the video games just so I can understand what will come of me in the months leading up to the October 21 obliteration of the world. I do wish we could get one more Halloween in, but I understand there's a celestial time line that must be adhered to. Also, according to the video game, you will be able to drop literal prayer bombs on my head that strike with the power of a nuclear warhead. Now that's gonna hurt, but I gotta say that's pretty damn awesome, so good on ya for that!
To the rest of us heathens, I'm looking forward to actually getting some meaningful legislation passed in Congress. Once the Rapture occurs, we can pass all those pro-gay bills that supposedly discriminate against Christians. After all, you can't discriminate against a class of people that don't exist anymore, right?
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