Is this all real? What happened to the colorful, lively, and gay travel plans for 2020 and 2021? How far ahead can we actually plan for the rest of the year? Or are we all just actors in one of those movies about end-time scenarios where we all will turn into zombies and start taking over the world? No. We are living in a new reality facing a global threat, a microscopical one. It is April, still in the year 2020, and people worldwide have to adjust to a totally unknown situation for many of us. From one day to the other, we were all not allowed to leave our homes (just for necessary reasons), to see our families and friends, and of course, to not being able to travel anymore.
Over the past months, we have been thinking about contributing to the Corona crisis as content creators owning and running our online gay travel magazine with over 65,000 monthly readers. We are certain, the only way we will all be able to get through these difficult, challenging, irritating, and unsettling times is by going through it together. Because even in normal times, we are stronger together. Therefore, we would like to introduce you to our LGBT Campaign on Couple of Men. To support fellow LGBT and gay couple-operated companies and businesses related to travel, we will tell their stories and give them a platform to tell you about their experience in these challenging times. In addition, they will have the opportunity to give you tips on how to get through this together as an LGBT and gay couple and, of course, to promote their businesses for the times after the crisis.
Gay Travel: We’ll keep on travel blogging
The current times are difficult for any business, related especially to travel. Besides restrictions and travel bans that can be seen as more or less ‘leisure restrictions’, the new reality we are facing now also affects many people’s existential lives. Think about all the small privately run hotels, restaurants, bars, even events, and gay parties that are now ordered to close down or, in the best way, can serve fewer guests. That includes many LGBT-operated businesses as well. And of course, for us travel writers and travel-related LGBT content creators, hard times are coming, too. But there will come a time when we will be able to travel again, see new places and learn about different and diverse cultures. And although most of the trips and events for 2020 have to be postponed, we will continue to publish articles about past trips, share important moments on our social media channels, and keep you posted about the most recent gay travel news.
What happened with our 2020 & 2021 travel plans?
Florida, California, Germany, Sweden, and Austria – all our travel plans have been canceled or postponed indefinitely. And all that although the year 2020 started so promising with exciting projects. We just learned that Pride Amsterdam, our home pride event, was canceled for the first time in its history. That is the case with almost all LGBT events for 2020 including Pride of the Americas in Fort Lauderdale, the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam (which just took place! congratulations for Italy!), Euro Pride in Greece, as well as most of the pride and CSD events in Germany. Even the theme parks around the world are closed indefinitely, especially in the USA, the home country of theme and rollercoaster parks. It almost feels like we are just skipping over the year 2020, and we will restart everything in 2021, hopefully, one in a more sustainable and environmentally friendly way.
How gay-friendly is the world?
The German publisher of gay travel information and guidebooks, Spartacus, released its annual Gay Travel Index with a detailed ranking of 202 (+5 countries) countries worldwide and their LGBTQ+ and gay-friendliness. It gives you information about how gay-friendly a country and, therefore, a holiday destination actually really is.
LGBT Campaign to support LGBT businesses
But what we’ll have to do now is to stand together because together we are stronger. That’s why we started our blog series to introduce you to LGBTQ+ couple-operated companies and businesses to learn from their experiences and to find a way how we can support them for their future as part of the LGBT community. The first articles about gay couple hotel owners, lesbian couple photographers, and a gay couple working in medical and health care are already online. In the next days and weeks, we will keep on introducing you to their couple stories. Please let us know if there are any LGBT couples that would like to be part of this campaign and are in need of support. We will gladly give them the opportunity to join!
Support LGBT Couples & Companies
How to beat the Corona Crisis? Together!
#1 Social Distancing = Physical Distancing
To flatten the curve, it is essential to reduce physical social contact to a minimum. We are still seeing our friends, one at a time, doing long walks around Amsterdam, like our travel buddies Roxanne and Maartje. It is also a great way to see some so far unknown parts of the Dutch capital and gives us the opportunity to see the most important people in our lives right now. Of course, all of that happens with at least 1.5 meters of safety distance. And the measures seem to be affected. Already in Germany, the curve is flat, and the reproduction factor is down to 0,7 (meaning: 1 infected person only infects 0,7 others). Let’s keep on doing it to keep the IC units empty and to save lives.
#2 Say ‘I love you’ – ‘I need you’ – ‘I am glad to be in this with you together’
For many of us, it is the first time to actually be together in a limited space. Working, living, and loving together can get challenging, also in a relationship. A daily declaration of love is just what we need. We took this advice from Chris and Gus from Miami and can only recommend it. And even if it seems natural and obvious, appreciating it to be together being not only a nice thing to do, but it also strengthens our relationship.
#3 Memories and future plans
In times like this where we cannot travel, we love to take a walk down memory lane of our past adventures. Writing new blog articles, sort out photos, and just enjoy talking about our travel highlights. Yesterday evening, for example, we talked about our Iceland trip, a 21-days road trip around the whole island. We really love that feeling to talk about our couple’s story getting inspired to start planning our next trip. Although we might just stay in the Netherlands and Germany this year, there will be new countries to explore in 2021. Which countries are on top of your bucket list?
#4 Click, read, like, and share – It’s free!
An easy thing to do and support the LGBT community and their businesses at the same time FOR FREE is to read our blog articles, comment on them, share them, and do the same with our posts on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and Facebook! Remember to do the same with all your other favorite online LGBT media. It’s time to support your heroes, so they can once again support you after the crisis will come to an end.
Support our community! Keep on exploring the world after Corona!
Times will change again, we are certain of it. Our time will come again, pride parades will fill the streets with rainbow flags again, and it will be possible to spend time with our loved ones, friends, and far-away family. But let us make this moment count by standing together, support each other, and trying to find new ways of sustainable travel for our and our children’s sake. It is also in our hands to make a change. Please don’t hesitate to share our blog series on your social media, talk about it, and spread the word. That is how you can support LGBT businesses.
Do you want to know and see more of us gay couple travel bloggers? Stay tuned on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook! See you around in Colombia, South America, and on one of our next gay pride trips around the world!
Karl & Daan.
Do you like it? Pin it! >
Our Gay Travel Guides: Check them out!
