NEW ORLEANS | French Quarter ft. Bourbon Street

June 2024. For our first visit to the United States of America since the COVID-19 pandemic, we flew to New Orleans via London Heathrow with British Airways. After two days of exploring NOLA, Amtrak‘s Crescent overnight train brought us from Louisiana to New York, where we we stayed one night only before flying home. 

Mr Gay Europe 2026 contest to cruise with VACAYA at summer’s end

In 2026, the Mr Gay Europe contest will take place on a gay cruise, specifically a VACAYA cruise. “The finals will take place on board an all-LGBT+ cruise spanning nine days in late summer 2026 alongside the world’s leading LGBT+ vacation company, VACAYA”, the press release says. 

Which flags get to fly at Antwerp City Hall?

Today is the National Holiday of Belgium. On 21 July 1831, Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha took the constitutional oath to become King of the Belgians. But I want to look at something else. 

SWITZERLAND | Introducing Geneva

Switzerland will host the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest. But which city in the Helvetic Confederation will welcome the thousands of artists, media people and fans? Geneva, Sankt Gallen, Basel and Fribourg have already expressed their interest. Other obvious options are Zurich and Bern. And why not Lausanne? Swiss broadcaster Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) also…

How LGBTQIA+ friendly are Members of the European Parliament?

On 18 April 2024, Forbidden Colours released the ‘Queer your EU‘ report. This research evaluates what the institutions of the European Union have done for LGBTIQ+ people from 2019 to 2024. The NGO analyzed the votes of the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) revealing that 1 MEP out of 4 voted against the rights…

2024: rising prices affect travel plans and vacation activities

On 1 January 2023, we wrote 2023 would be a year of coping with staff shortages and industrial action. While both themes were present in 2023 – and still will be in 2024 – they felt less pressing. Perhaps we learned to live with staff shortages and strikes and not dramatize them (anymore). But it…