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Here we all are, thinking of holidays now we are able to get away. In the final part of his gay travel trilogy Adrian Gillan gets footloose
and fancy free examining the pros and cons of travelling on your own.
Queer spirits are independent by nature: individuals raging against the flow out on the high seas of life, born free to do what we want when the hell we want to. And social beings though we often are, some of our happiest times can certainly be spent exploring alone. | |
PLANNINGPlan such foreign expeditions with military zeal. Sort the basics like travel and accommodation and sketch out a rough day-by-day itinerary of action, within which you then have the luxury of drifting and wafting, following your nose and dick. A minute's planning yields an hour of freedom.So when you drop down in any town, often under cover of darkness, you'll already have your broad bearings and hit the ground running. Just check in, lay camp, then move on out - from bar to bar, from bar to club, from club to cruising ground. Move like quicksilver, slick and fluid, flitting freely: Fitter, meaner, faster, and stronger: One long bar-by-bar sexual skirmish - no prisoners taken. | 
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PACE YOURSELFBut pace the adventure! Start at the oldest, most established bar in town. Order a pint, find a map or local listings and chat with a regular to get the true oral tradition. Distil several accounts to save some old boy at the bar sending you off to a cottage that shut down in his youth. Gather intelligence, plot your route, building up to the busiest bars, by which time the clubs will heave, ready for your big entrance.Ah the entrance! You get the best of both worlds being on your own on the pull in a new town. In a large scene you are anonymous with no ex-shags to dodge, and in a small scene you look deliciously conspicuous. Do remember though: you can only be the new kid on the block in Bally-go-Backwards' Cock and Comfort once. The next time you're just a visiting slut - so make the most of it! And the good news is it's the same the world over. You know the routine. Arrive, check in, bar, club, cruise, then chill and steam and shop and sip and stare. And repeat. A scene is a scene is a scene. A lone gay male traveller has an instant global network, a recognisable and welcoming sub-culture.
International Gay Mafia? Perhaps. Embrace it. Tap it. You could travel the world
and just see pink - pretty dumb but possible. And, in the process, you'll meet hundreds
of kindred gay solitary spirits, point-centres of wandering Fagdom. Some will stay
friends for life; others just suck and go, dispersed to the four corners whence
they came.
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| Gay solo travel is just as easy in a city as it is on a beach. You can wonder lonely as a cloud in the big smoke or get sucked into its distractions, as you can enjoy the relaxing sands or bustling neo-urban après-tan nightlife of the beach. You can stand in the sea alone and enjoy the freedom. With all options, you're free to do you own thing or pal up as your needs may be. | 
Photo: Bobex-73
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Of course there are some disadvantages that come with this solitary territory.
Economies of scale sometimes mean you'll pay more for your single room, or for
that "just-in-case" double. However, a lone traveller can be more prudent with
his money since not compromised by the expensive whims of companions. It's easier
to pace your own purse.
And sure, it can be lonely propping up a bar by yourself, trying to seem neither desperate nor a slag, but then this does make you more overtly available and there are no mates to laugh at any failed advances. You just hope you don't attract the local bore, in which case there is always the next bar. If you don't find yourself twinned up with a kindred travelling or local buddy, it may also feel a bit sad ordering your table for one, but you do get used to it and you can always take your postcards to write, or your map to scan, or even keep checking your mobile demonstratively as if that boy's about to show. But however alone you may occasionally feel, you are not alone in believing that any such disadvantages are a small price to pay to be free of clinging boyfriends and moaning mates. And if you fancy foreign guys, it's really the only way! | |
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features
a different gay man's holiday destination and gives essential information about
the most exciting, most exotic and most erotic places to visit around the world.
More holiday advice from Adrian Gillan : Going Straight or Going Gay. |