Arthur: For Gay Americans, Some International Travel Is Exceedingly Dangerous
Posted on 11/04/2019, 12:00 PM
Like many standard Americans, my business relations include dealings with gay men, and I know a pair that recently had a same-sex wedding. They have asked me to recommend a post-nuptial trip, and I have responded by telling them nearly all the Middle East and Africa is too dangerous for their plans. In that giant area of the world, homosexuality is often regarded as a crime to be punishe...
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Do Travelers Lose Their Moral Compasses on the Road? A Surprising Study
Posted on 05/29/2019, 7:00 AM
My friend Deborah "borrowed" her favorite wool blanket from a hotel when she went on a business trip. Shannon, another pal, put her able-bodied daughter in an airport wheelchair to jump to the front of a Southwest Airlines boarding line so they could snag seats together. And Dave, a charming guy I know from college, owns a cane for the sole purpose of limping into airports so he can plausibly c...
Learn About NYC's LGBTQ History—and Drink Beer!—on This New Walking Tour
Posted on 05/09/2019, 8:00 AM
This summer marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion of June 1969, when gay and transgender bargoers resisted a police raid on the Stonewall Inn of New York City's Greenwich Village. Rioting lasted for days and launched the modern movement for LGBTQ rights. Just in time for the big milestone, New York City Urban Adventures—part of a network of locally operated tour agencies under In...
Arthur Frommer: Decent People Will Avoid All Contact with Brunei
Posted on 04/08/2019, 9:00 AM
It is highly unlikely that many of our readers will travel as tourists to the nation of Brunei on the island of Borneo in the South China Sea. The economy and currency of that nation are so strong (based on oil and natural gas reserves) that prices there are forbidding. Accordingly, Brunei doesn’t react to threats of tourism boycott, and enjoys very little tourism in any event. One recent visi...
Airline Ticketing Will Include Nonbinary Gender Option
Posted on 02/19/2019, 3:30 PM
The major U.S. airlines are changing their online ticketing sites so that passengers can identify gender with options other than male and female. According to the Associated Press, American, Delta, United, Southwest, Alaska, and JetBlue are all working on introducing selections such as "undisclosed," "unspecified," or "Mx.," a non-gendered alternative to Mr. or Ms. Industry trade group Airlines...
The Ever-Expanding Footprint of Airbnb and What It Means
Posted on 03/05/2018, 6:00 AM
With speed more head-spinning than Linda Blair's in The Exorcist, Airbnb has been growing and changing and growing once again. In just the past 18 months or so, it has added online guidebook-style material, a section for luxury rentals, another that filters for “unusual” digs, and, most surprisingly, actual hotels. In the latter category, Airbnb will be growing exponentially in the coming months: I...
How Bermuda's Same-Sex Marriage Repeal Affects Cruise Weddings Worldwide
Posted on 02/08/2018, 12:00 AM
This week, the governor of Bermuda, John Rankin, signed a legislature-approved bill that reinstates the British island territory's ban on same-sex marriage, reversing a decision to legalize those unions made less than a year ago by the Atlantic Ocean archipelago's supreme court. But the ramifications of the revived marriage ban go way beyond Bermuda. This is the world's first such instance of ...
Arthur Frommer: For No Real Reason, Feds Attack the Legality of Cannabis Tourism
Posted on 01/12/2018, 1:00 AM
Because the current U.S. Attorney General is a fierce opponent of marijuana, we can expect a massive legal attack against travel to the states—mainly California and Colorado—that have recently legalized its use. What is startling about this prospect is that the alleged dangers of smoking marijuana have been denied by every respectable study. The key examination of marijuana was cond...
Same-Sex Couples Can Now Get Married on Celebrity Cruises
Posted on 10/13/2017, 12:00 PM
Celebrity Cruises will soon begin offering legal weddings for same-sex couples aboard ships in international waters, the company announced on October 11 (which, not coincidentally, was National Coming Out Day). The move was made possible by a ruling in Malta, where the majority of the Miami-based line's ships are registered. The legally binding ceremonies will be performed by the fleet's captains...
