Traveling Alone -- Where to go, how to, and how not to (go alone).

Traveling Alone -- Where to go, how to, and how not to (go alone). 

by

sunbuns99

 First published October 30th, 2005 at 11:17 AM, Republished May 15, 2020

[Part of several responses on a gay travel discussion board　]
The following is a collection of separate entries that I've made on gay travel. 

It's almost summer now, but there are warm places to visit during winter (in North America), too.   I recommend some of my favorite gay travel destinations below. 

South Texas or San Antonio, New Mexico, San Diego or Arizona would probably feel very warm compared to those bitterly cold (but sometimes sunny) days where most people in North America live. Looking for a great travel destination - -to get away from the winter cold and blahs?

I think Australia would be great -- in time for Gay Carnival (maybe it has another name) -- not only Sydney but visit Cairns, or even Melbourne, Brisbane for their special features.

New Zealand is rated as one the best places to visit on the planet. There are also other great places in the South Pacific.

I highly recommend the Torrey Pines State Nature Reserve, located just north of La Jolla near San Diego, California.  There is an officially sanctioned nude beach just south of the State Reserve, which is accessible most easily by using the Torrey Pines State Nature Reserve parking lots.  The upper parking lots provide the quickest hiking access to the park and then southward down the beach to Black's Beach (the huge clothing optional beach). However, in March 2020, the upper parking lots were closed.

 I always recommend Hawaii (of course)-- take in at least two of the islands (Oahu and the Big Island ). How about the Caribbean islands - -although I've never been. Mexico and points south could be great... I want to visit Belize, Costa Rica or Honduras. Brazil and Argentina also get high marks for warmth - both temperature and cultural and subcultural too. It does not get any 'gayer' than Rio or Sao Paulo during Carnival and Gay Carnival(s).

I'm dying to return to the Canary Islands - I had been thinking that it is not quite warm enough until March, but actually that's not really true. It's pretty much spring and summer year round in The Canary Islands, Spain's territory just off the coast of Morocco. However, South Africa would also be a blast during our winter. Maybe West Africa -- Senegal or Ghana.  I had made plans to visit Senegal in March 2020, but that trip was cancelled because of the worldwide coronavirus epidemic. Actually, I had planned to fly to Dakar, Senegal, from Gran Canaria (the Canary Islands), where I was to have visited for about the 12th time.

By the way, what about NOT traveling alone?

You could try finding a travel partner or join an organized trip or tour. For example, sometimes your college or a university in your area or even across the country, sometimes offers organized study-tours that may fit your schedule, budget and choice of location as well as really getting you deeply into some aspect of the culture you visit.

They are generally set-up by the continuing education division and professional association and other types of groups/organization sometimes offer them too.

Gay-oriented tours/trips

Have you (or has anyone else) had experience with joining an organized group trip as a single (gay) man? How was it? Would you recommend it?

Does anyone know of how / where to connect with some good gay (or all male) travel groups or organized trips?

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I have a partial list here but hope other can add more:

Kalani (Gay men's retreat during certain weeks at this Big Island Hawaii resort (add dot com to find the web site). You can also stay there without participating in a retreat or conference.  NOTE:  It's been closed since 2018 when the Kilauea Volcano released a huge lava flow that destroyed 700 expensive homes and an unknown number of small unpermitted homes in the Puna District.

Gay.com has a gay travel section that may have organized trips to some place warm during the winter.

Travelocity and Orbtiz seem to have a special Gay and Lesbian travel section with some organized tours.

There are Pride celebrations in warmer spots (some already mentioned).

You might find a travel buddy -- even here on Dudenudes.com or try one of the other such as Hardbuddies.com has a travelers and expanded invitation section so that you can try to hook up both BEFORE you go and also when you get there.

QTmagazine used to have ads for travel buddies, but I don't think it worked very well or was popular enough.

Is there another site that does these kinds of things to get travel partner together?

Craig's List lets you post ads -- but they may not be your cup of tea -- so to speak.

Specialized tours or adventure or sporting trips

Gaysports.com and gayoutdoors.com may have links to some possibilities.

Also, there are a couple of tour operators for gay cruises, guided tours and scuba diving or sail boat trips, such as, alysonadventures.com

and underseax.com. These latter types tend to be quite expensive.

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Trips to 1) Honolulu and Big island (Hawaii), 2) Provincetown, 3) Spain and 4) Croatia

1) Honolulu and the Big Island

        Recently, the beach located at Diamond Head Beach, off to the right down Beach Road (limited parking available) or simply walk through Kapioalani Park and then take Diamond Head Road to Beach Road).

 Nowadays, you can find naked or semi-naked nude men and a few women on the public beach at Diamond Head Beach.  The city discovered that there is no law against public nudity on city owned beach, whereas public nudity is illegal on state-owned beaches, but not on Diamond Head Beach.

On the Big Island of Hawaii, there is nude sunbathing at Beach 67, which is located above Waialea State Beach, located off of Old Puako Beach Road at Telephone Marker 67. It Is about 300 yards north of the entrance to Waialea State Beach. You take a dirt road into the upper portion of Waialea State Beach. It's about 400 meters (yards) down to a parking lot and a port-a-potty toilet. There is no drinking water available.  Then park your car and walk down to the secluded Beach 67, which is a small clothing optional beach.  There is sometimes cruising by males here at the Beach 67 and further along the rocky shoreline heading north.

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2) Provincetown, MASS.  

There is plenty to do in Provincetown, MA. Herring Cove is THE hot spot -- it is a national/state (?) park but it's the mecca for most people who love the sun, sand and naked butts in Cape Cod and all kinds of people across the Northeast.

You can walk to Herring Cove from the town by going down Commercial St, over to Bradford St, or ride a bike (NOT into the dunes, please) or drive a car (parking costs an entrance fee to the park), go left after the ranger station and park as far left as you can, then walk to the beach and to left about a half-mile or more - Provincetown is great in any season, but it's all the better with the hundreds of naked guys in the summer. The cruising in the dunes gets pretty hot too.

I'm not much into going to a gay bars, but there are some good ones in P-town; the streets are crowded and the restaurants are great -- the great one has long lines so plan accordingly. Renting a bike for a day and riding the National seashore park is fun. After 5 days you'll probably want to do something different -- if you have the time (and some $$ to burn), I recommend a day trip to Boston on the hydrofoil (or ferry). It's $55 round trip but you can basically walk (or take a subway) to downtown Boston and see a lot historical sights for free.

Anybody traveling to P-town may see me walking down Commerical St or Bradford in my see-thru shorts or jogging pants. Give me a hoot..
Otherwise, see you 'au poil' on the beach.. from Pensacola to Montreal this summer.

Update: Great trip to Provincetown in August. I stayed for 4 nights at Dune's Edge Campground, a family oriented but gay-friendly place just off Hwy 6A as you approach P-town. You can find it via Google. It is a 10-minute walk from Commercial St. During the winter, you probably cannot camp -- although you might also try Coastal Acres Campground.
For stays during the winter, you could try some of the B&Bs or inns or look at Redweek.com or a similar site to rent a timeshare.

=========== Croatia ===============
3) Croatia  

I travelled by train from rainy Budapest but it was clear and sunny on the Croatian coast (here is a pic from Rijeka on Monday, Aug 29). It was drizzling in Zagreb that morning but clear by the time I got to Rijeka. So a cruise to some of the outer islands would have been fabulous (weather wise) if I had had more time.

I decided to return to Budapest where cruising for hot men was easier -- I also had a gorgeous day getting naked at Donau Island in Vienna on Aug 31.
So I think the weather is variable but there seems to be some likelihood for some good weather on the Croatian coast even when it is rainy inland - still locals should know better and take the advice to see local weather forecasts online.

I could not stay as long as I would have liked so I will just have to go back.
I went by train from Budapest -- of course flying would be cheaper or is there a quicker way to get to the Croatian coast. I've heard the ferries from Italy are good.. Anybody got a better idea?

Next time I want to go the supposedly great nude sunbathing beaches on the Croatian coast..  I gave up on doing so this time from Rovinj because the buses seemed to be so infrequent..where is the best place to find out gay guys interested in sun/fun and hopefully sex on the beach?

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4)  Maspalomas Beach, southern part of Gran Canaria, Canary Islands　

　　The world's largest nude beach and sand dudes (gay cruising area) is at Maspalomas (at Playa del Ingles on southern end of the island of Gran Canaria). 
That 's where I'm headed for the 12th time in a few months (Jan 12-19).. I'm not camping but staying at a two-hotel hotel for about $30 a night (self-catering), sex city at night and sunshine and naked male skins for days on the beach.  Men cruising the dunes are aged 40+ and higher so not everybody's preference. 

 Gran Canaria is a fairly nice gay travel destination - there are excellent points but also some negative aspects.

          This entry is mainly about the sex clubs and the dunes.
In the Yumbo Centre (the largest shopping and commercial complex in Playa del Ingles on the southern and resort/beach side of the islannd, there are a couple (or more) sex club/backroom bars on the ground (basement floor) - they don't even open to 10 or later. You check your clothes at the door and there is not a dry (cum free) body by the end of the night (4 am?)

However, I have heard that the Yumbo Centre is going to be renovated sometime this year. Someone on this site told me many months ago so I'll have to look him up since he was due to travel there in Nov/Dec. It may be closed when you (or I) want to go there.

The above bars/clubs should not be confused with Basement Studios [url]www.basementstudios.es[/url]
which is a gay hotel just across from the Yumbo that requires a dress code for staying guests (different 'costumes' each day - all nude, jeans, leather etc,) and the rooms are all opened at certain time for those willing guests to freely roam about and suck/fuck like rabbits (I think that you can also pay to enter as as temporary visitor to enjoy the sex fun). See the site for details. I choose to stay somewhere cheaper (see alpharooms.com for ideas). I'd be exhausted in no time from diving in the morning, sex in the dunes in the afternoon and wide abandon both all evening and all night (LOL).

Of course, the dunes will NOT be undergoing renovation - except just what nature provides (wind/sun/blowing sand) and with nature taking its course (so to speak) - it's very cruisy - almost non-stop in the dunes. It is truly a nudist paradise - but it depends on what (and who) you expect to see walking the streets of heaven.

You should realize that - at least during the winter - Gran Canaria is the temporary home for thousands of retiree couples and also gay couples of all ages (who just want to get away from the snowy colder Northern European climes. There is a lot of camaraderie but typically couples are just hanging out and meeting their 'old' friends whom they met over several wintertime visits to Playa del Ingles / Maspalomas.

Nevertheless, there are hundreds of male (and sometimes female) nudists out sunning and also cruising the famous Maspalomas Dunes from morning to sunset. However, beggars can't be choosers - I'd have to say that the average age is at least 45 (probably older - more like 55 some days) but .. what the hey... who am I to turn done the advances of some middle-aged hottie. I am well into middle age myself. The clubs are different they attract a more virile and younger clientele.


The Canaries are NOT only about wild sex.. there is historical, cultural and natural environment that has a lot to offer - in fact, I go there as much for the diving and hiking and marine sports as for the gayness of its this varied resort attractions - it IS part of Spain after all.