“I under-packed for this vacation,” said almost no one ever. I decided to take a vacation to Miami because I needed an escape from the Chicago cold. I was traveling with my friend, Jesse Garza, who owns a wardrobe and luxury consulting company called Visual Therapy, based in New York City (www.visual-therapy.com). I was talking to Jesse a few weeks ago, and he surprised me when he told me that he only travels with a carry-on. He always looks so polished and put-together, and I just figured that he must be the type of guy who brings several checked bags…

When people ask me what our most popular destination is that we offer, they are always surprised by the answer. For the past three years our trip that sells out every time is our trip to Egypt. In fact, two years ago, our trip sold out within two days. So, we added another trip to Egypt back-to-back with the first. That sold out within a week. With that, we added another trip, and that sold out as well. So yeah, apparently there are a lot of gay people who really want to go to Egypt. Having just been there with…

During my recent Zoom Vacations tour to southern Africa, I posted a number of photos on social media while on safari. My Facebook friends couldn’t believe how close we got to the animals, and some suggested that it couldn’t be real. Truly, when you see the photos, it is kind of unbelievable. While in our safari jeep, we could literally get within a few feet of lions. Apparently, while in the jeep, the lions and other animals view us as kind of one big moving blob. I imagine that they look at us in the same way that we consider…

A friend of mine is taking a trip to visit his family on the East Coast, and he was mentioning to me that as much as he wants to see his family, he isn’t as excited about it as he thinks he should be. He has been pretty exhausted at work, and needs a break, so he doesn’t understand his lack of enthusiasm, in this opportunity to get away. I explained to him what I think is going on, and I see it a lot. He is taking a trip, but this trip isn’t a vacation, and there is a…

People often ask me where I recommend that they should vacation in the world, and for years I have been saying to place Machu Picchu in Peru at the top of the list. Reason being that every year I go back to Machu Picchu, there is less of Machu Picchu that is accessible to tourists. So, it is a place you want to visit now, so you can have the best experience. Having just returned from Mykonos, I am placing it second on the list after Machu Picchu, but for totally different reasons. I think for a lot of gay…

One of the greatest gifts of traveling is the ability to leave our every day stresses miles away and for a short time enter a land of make-believe. For many of us, our vacation truly ends and reality sets in the moment we jump on the scale back home. Yikes! Suddenly, our happy vacation memories are replaced with guilt, and all that we can remember in the moment is how much we ate, and how little we exercised. The fact is it can be very difficult to stick to our fitness regimen while we travel. We have an entirely new…

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,…