GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

JANUARY 24, 1997

Evenings Out

*

Escaping the big chill

DAVID ALPORT

Out & About: USA Resorts and Warm-Weather Vacations by Billy Kolber-Stuart & David Alport Hyperion Press, $14.95 trade paper

Reviewed by Kaizaad Kotwal

As the U.S. remains engulfed in the big chill, thoughts of warm climates and sunny paradises may be one way to make it through the next ten weeks before spring peeks through. And while wind chills dip and the snow drifts rise, it's never too early to start planning a spring or summer getaway.

Billy Kolber-Stuart and David Alport have just the answer to jump start your travel plans. Their USA Resorts & WarmWeather Vacations is a travel guide written with great detail and answers almost any question a prospective gay or lesbian traveler may have about sunny destinations in the U.S., Mexico, Costa Rica and the Caribbean.

It is estimated that gay women and men spend $17 billion annually on travel and Kolber-Stuart and Alport know the imporlance of a specific travel guide to and for this very important and economically relevant demographic.

The guide has information on the already popular destinations of Fire Island and Key West, but also includes up-andcoming places such as Provincetown, Ogunquit. Saugatuck, and Rehoboth Beach, to name just a few.

This particular travel guide, unlike many others for gay and lesbian travelers, has an mvaluable section on practical advice in

David Alport and Billy Kolber-Stuart.

the areas of physical and mental wellbeing while traveling, money and belongings, and planning resources from travel agents to hotel chains. Perhaps most unique to this guide are some useful tips especially for singles, women travelers and vacationers with HIV.

The authors have written the section on

practical advice from their many experi-

ences-Kolber-Stuart has accumulated

already amply covered in other books, magazines, and newspapers."

The final section covers specialized vacation opportunities such as spa trips, cruises, group tours, and resort-based vacations. Fi-

"Most gay guidebooks well over a million frequent traveler have focused on sex, miles as well as from a wide range of with travel being

research sources.

The second part of the book focuses in on specific destinations. Under cach section there is pertinent information under the following categories: when to go and how to get there, accommodations, dining, nightlife, activities and miscellaneous tips. This travel guide places primary focus on travel, and has no listings for places where paid or public sex takes place. As the authors explain, "Most gay guidebooks have focused on sex, with travel being secondary we're not judgmental about these activities, but they're

secondary."

nally, the book provides a comprehensive calendar of annual events.

Kolber-Stuart and Alport started their adventures in gay and lesbian travel guides with a newsletter debuting in 1992. Out and About has a circulation of 15,000 readers who rely on what the authors describe as its "high quality, freedom from advertising bias,

and thorough and critical advice on destinations around the world."

The book is a natural offshoot of the newsletter and the authors have other books planned the next, on North American cities, will be published in June of this year.

The pair's effort is summed up best in their introduction: "We are singles, couples, and groups, men and women, young and old. We travel to popular destinations and off the beaten path, in grand style and on a budget, on short getaways and extended vacations. We travel to explore, to frolic, to visit old friends and make new ones. We travel to see the world's treasures and history, to broaden our horizons, and to do business. We travel to escape, to retreat, and to indulge."

Right now we all want to travel to escape the cold and frolic in the warmth. That is, if you can thaw out enough to go out and about to your local bookstore to pick up your copy of this warm and sunny guide to resorts and warm weather vacations. Bon voyage!