This famous quote by Mark Twain has long been one of my favorites: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” While I know that what he says is true, I have been pondering lately about the extent to which it manifests itself. A friend of mine recently left Oregon to visit the Southeast of the United States. He is a straight white male, and was traveling with…

If there is one question or topic that I get asked about more than anything else, it is people asking me what my favorite place in the world is, or what is the main destination I think they should visit. My answer is pretty much always the same place. There are so many destinations around the world that I love and find rewarding and interesting, and truly, whatever destination you desire depends on what you are in the mood for at any given time. However, all of that being said, I always tell people that they should visit Peru now.…

One of the most often-asked questions I get about travel is what is the next global hot spot. Different variables come into play in determining what makes a location suddenly “hot”. For instance, after “The Lord of the Rings”, New Zealand took center stage of places to visit. Croatia has been popular for several years, and this was even before “Game of Thrones” started filming. Largely it was due to yachting culture, as island-hoppers discovered the beautiful costal towns of Dubrovnik and Hvar (not islands, but still), and you know how it goes: the rich and famous start spreading the word that…

Marie Kondo is a Japanese organizing consultant and author, named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of 2015. She is now famous across the globe for her hit show on Netflix, “Tidying Up With Marie Kondo”. Arguably one of the hallmarks of her show and philosophy, is to ask yourself if the items you have spark joy in your life…. You may be thinking, “yeah, I like Kondo too, but how does tidying relate to travel?” In my opinion, quite a lot. There are certainly specific ways, in addition to general big picture concepts. Specifically,…

When I am not writing for Adelante, I am in the business of creating luxury vacations for the LGBT community. Due to my occupation, you may find the next statement ironic: I highly recommend staycations. Yep, don’t board a plane. Don’t get a passport stamp. But do pack a weekend duffle bag. The only way to properly do a staycation is to stay somewhere other than your home, whether it be a hotel, an Airbnb, or even watching your friend’s pad while they’re out of town. You’ve still got to make it a vacation, even though you’re not leaving the…

Love for Sale By Mary Khon Hello, Queeridos! It’s that time of the year again! No, not your yearly STI checkup but that time of the year when people rush to their nearest Walgreens or Walmart to buy their favorite Russell Stover chocolates. Although since the holiday season was two months ago, going to your closest health clinic for an STI checkup is not a bad idea. Legend says that Valentine’s started in the Roman Empire, with an emperor not allowing young men to marry because they made better soldiers if they were single. A priest named Valentine defied such…

A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE: Notes from an Antiquated Queen By Mary Khon HAPPY NEW YEAR! FELIZ AÑO NUEVO, QUEERIDOS! Wasn’t last week when I was wishing you a happy 2018? The holiday season is always full of stress, and by the time the New Year arrives, we start to frantically panic because we have too many things we want to accomplish and too many others we didn’t accomplish. And what do we do? We make a list of NEW YEAR resolutions. Resolutions we are going to start but most of the time we are not going to finish. Two…

 Happy Holidays? By Mary Khon Happy Holidays, Queeridos! How are your festivities going and shaping up so far? By festivities I mean, Halloween, Día de los Muertos, Thanksgiving, and we’re coming up to December 12, las posadas, Christmas, and New Year. That is a lot of celebrating to do in just the span of 60 days. When I was younger, I looked forward to all these festivities but now, I try to avoid them as much as possible. I just don’t enjoy them as much. One reason: I’m old; the other: I am too self-conscious about other things that…

A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE: Notes of an Antiquate Queen CONSENT By Mary Khon Did you miss me, Queeridos? Of course you didn’t, even though I have been suffering and thinking about all you every single moment of my tragic and dramatic life. I’m not going to hold that against you because, as traumatic and damaging your indifference is, I still will think of you. All because I am a hot, sexy, irresistible, and complete mess, my queerido. Because. Of. You. But never mind that! Today I want to speak about consent. Because, unless you live somewhere where there is absolutely…

Loca By Mary Khon   Hello, Queeridos! I hope you are doing fine because I am not. I think I’m going crazy. Whatever I took and happened to me the last time I was at the Power Exchange has really screwed with my psychic. Why do I say that? Well, because lately I’ve been thinking that each month of the year corresponds to a color. Can you believe that? I mean, I know people identify with colors but I’m using colors to identify months. You don’t believe me? Let me tell you. This is the month of…