Two years ago, today, I launched Traveling IQ and began a new journey by simply walking out the front door.
Many exciting trips and 119 posts later, I want to thank you for joining me.
I hope you will continue to follow my travels on Facebook and Twitter, and I look forward to exploring our huge, small world… together.
Filed under Publications
More than ever, London fashionistas are feasting in the East. Improved access by public transportation, cheaper rents for shops, and a renewed interest in East London, which is serving as the main site for the 2012 London Olympics, have fueled a flurry of new store openings over the last year, appealing to residents and visitors alike. Click below to read about our East London faves, as published in Out Traveler:
Filed under Europe, Publications
In Amsterdam, which claims to have the greatest number of museums per square mile in the world, few topics are left unexplored. There is a museum that delves into sex, another on war (or at least the Dutch resistance), and a museum dedicated, of course, to marijuana. Last fall, a museum opened with a focus on another topic that rarefied institutions generally avoid: tattoos.
Founded by the Dutch tattoo artist Henk Schiffmacher, the Amsterdam Tattoo Museum is dedicated to the art, history and preservation of tattoo culture. Occupying 21,000 square feet of two beautifully restored 19th-century buildings, the collection is a wide-ranging one that documents the history of tattooing, from the prehistoric era to the present day…
Read IQ’s full article in The New York Times, by clicking on the picture below:
Filed under Europe, Publications
From January 13-15, Washington D.C. trades the khakis and polos for a little leather and rubber. Every year on the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend our nation’s capital attracts some 2,000 visitors for Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend (MAL) . The festivities kick off on Friday with the Opening Reception at this year’s host hotel, the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill . Throughout the weekend, the hotel’s Leather Exhibit Hall serves as a bazaar of leather goods for bad boys. With events that range from bar crawls to dance parties to, of course, the Mr. Mid-Atlantic Leather Contest on Sunday, MAL is filled with friendly fetishists, leather and Levis men, and titillated tourists.
During the day, the host hotel is the center of all activity with the most amazing people-watching this side of the Mississippi. Don’t miss the opportunity to mingle at the hotel’s Leather Cocktails on Saturday evening. Come nighttime, Washington D.C.’s 9:30 Club is the place to move your boots to the dancing beats.
On Saturday, the club hosts the nationally popular Blowoff Party featuring DJs Richard Morel and Bob Mould’s signature mix of indie rock, electro and house. On Sunday, the venue is home to the MAL official closing party, Reaction with DJ Quentin Harris.
A little intimidated? Don’t be. The crowd is ultra friendly and won’t bite… unless you want them to.
How does the gay community travel? Last week, Community Marketing, Inc. (CMI) released the results of their 16th Annual Gay & Lesbian Tourism Report, compiled from polling over 10,000 self-identified gay and lesbian consumers. The company estimates the annual economic impact of LGBT travelers is, in the United States alone, over $65 billion per year.
Here are some of their key findings for North American LGBT travelers:
Download the entire 16th Annual Gay & Lesbian Tourism Report from the CMI website.
Filed under Gay
Aloft London Excel Hotel
London’s cup runneth over and its creativity is pouring East. Thanks to new rail stations, contemporary art galleries, bohemian shops, and — of course — the 2012 Olympic Games, London’s Eastside is emerging as the city’s new, gold medal neighborhood. It is no accident that Aloft Hotels, the young, hip sister of the W brand, has chosen this hood to launch their first U.K. property.
The Aloft London Excel brings impeccable design and urban sass to the next generation traveler. The 252 loft-like rooms feature 10-foot-high ceilings, walk-in showers with Bliss Spa products, and a plug-and-play system which connects your electronic devices to the 42” flat-screen TV, turning each room into a high-tech office and entertainment center…
Click on the picture below to read the full article and see more pictures of the Aloft London Excel; originally published in Out Traveler:
Filed under Europe, Hotels, Publications
IQ’s Valencia article from The Washington Post is making another appearance, this time in the Travel section of The Miami Herald.
Read the full article by clicking on the picture below:
Filed under Europe, Publications
You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I’m telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town
… And he’s wearing a Speedo!
What started in 2000 with five jokesters in Boston has grown into a multi-city event, attracting thousands of participants and raising even more for charity. The stripped-down Santas and Mrs. Clauses take to the streets of Albany, Atlanta, Boston, and Toronto on December 10, San Francisco and Budapest on December 11, and Annapolis, Santa Monica and Tampa Bay on December 17, when each city hosts their very own Santa Speedo Run 2011.
Runners are asked to wear a speedo-like bathing suit, preferably in holiday colors, and encouraged to accessorize with Santa hats, beards and other seasonal jingle-jangle.
Visit the individual Santa Speedo Run websites to register, donate and find out more information.
(Photos courtesy of SSRunners.org)
London, England
Ivan Quintanilla is the featured travel expert on Toronto’s Proud FM Radio “Your Morning With Richard & Chris.”
In this segment, IQ talks about exciting reasons to travel to London in 2012.
Click below to listen to the interview:
The City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia
Following my article in The Washington Post, I was interviewed by Terry Travis of the Azumano Travel Show on Portland’s KPAM Radio Station.
Click below to listen to the interview on Valencia, Spain:
