Travel For Gays and Lesbians

Probably the most comprehensive site for digging up gay and lesbian B&Bs is Purple Roofs (www.purpleroofs.com). Here may be the only place you'll discover hard-to-find properties like the only lesbian guesthouse in India ($20 a night), or a gay-owned boutique hotel in the center of Marrakech starting at $35 a night, or a gay-owned B&B in Rio also for $35 a night. (Having said that, most of the listings are in North America.) And Purple Roofs is the only place that lists scads of gay B&B discounts under their Specials section-like 25 percent off room rates during low seasons, or 50 percent off of a third night stay.

Also check out Rainbow Destination's B&B directory site guesthouses.net/. There aren't as many listings as Purple Roofs, and some are straight-owned and over $100 a night, but you can still dig up some great finds here-like the Inn at Coyote Mountain in Costa Rica, a luxurious and remote hacienda, for $99 a night; Or the 18-24 James in Cairns, Australia-a 26-room resort with pool, sauna, gym, and spa-starting at just $55 a night.

Two other gay B&B directory sites are hsleepgay.com/ and gaybandb.com/. The first is lists 86 international B&B's and the second site 100, but www.sleepgay.com gives prices and profiles of each property, while gaybandb.com/ simply links you to each B&B's web site directly. As for finding gay B&Bs in the U.K., try pinkuk.com/tourism/B_B.asp and for Australia and New Zealand try inthepink.com.au/.

Beyond the bed-and-breakfast

Not a B&B person? No problem. You can easily do a home swap with other gay travelers as well-where you trade your domicile with another traveler for a period of time (or choose to host someone in return). Anything from studios to cabins to mansions all over the world are listed, and members simply set up arrangements between themselves as to when and what will be swapped, and best of all, you can home trade as much as you like for free once you've joined.

The most extensive gay home swapping network is the GFN Home Exchange Club (nearly 1,500 listings at gfn.digsville.com/; $44.95 for a 1 year membership)-they guarantee you'll find a home exchange partner in one year, or the next year is free. Or try the well-established Mi Casa Su Casa (nearly 200 listings at gayhometrade.com/; $60 for a 3 year membership), in business since 1992; or the UK-based Home Around the World (350 listings at homearoundtheworld.com/; $70 for 1 year), which specializes in European homes and offers travel insurance, flight and hotel discounts, and online bulletin boards. Don't feel like forking over the membership fee? Two services-the excellent One World One Family (nearly 80 listings at oneworldonefamily.com/) and the relatively new Gay Home Exchange (19 listings at gayhomexchange.com/)-offer free memberships-but you get what you pay for in terms of quantity of listings.

Or you simply camp it up! Gay campgrounds and RV parks are multiplying like crazy around the world, and offer a down-home way to save money and socialize at the same time. Surf to Gay Campers (gaycampers.com/) for over 100 listings in 12 countries of rural getaways where you can bring your own tent or stay in cabins for nominal fees. Gay Camp USA (campgayusa.com/) lists over 75 gay and gay-friendly campsites across North America (and one in England), all for low rates, and some even offer work-exchange for camping on the property-now that's budget living!

If you don't like to go camping without your microwave, Rainbow RV (rainbowrv.com/) is the largest GLBT RV/Camping club in North America. For a membership of $12.95 per year, you get discounts to select gay campgrounds, an online newsletter, a gay campground directory, and invitations to gay RV rallies and events. Also check out the California-based non-profit gay RV club Traveling Our Way (travelingourway.org/), with 230 members and membership of $20 a year.

So be it B&B, home swap, camping, or in an RV, there is no reason gay travelers should have to pay anymore than anyone else to have a great vacation-you just need to know where to look.

Camp it up

Many of us don't like getting dirt under our fingernails, and you may have given up camping long ago after a stint in the Brownies, but gay campgrounds have been a steadily growing trend in North America. Not only do they tend to be social havens for rural gays and lesbians, they offer city-slickers a chance to let their hair down (as well as their trousers, since a large percentage of them are clothing-optional). Needless to say, camping and its grown-up sister RVing are a fun, budget way to travel. Gay Camp USA (campgayusa.com/) lists over 75 gay and gay-friendly campsites across North America (and even one in England), all for low rates, and some even offer work-exchange for camping on the property-now that's budget living!

If you don't like to go camping without your microwave, Rainbow RV (rainbowrv.com/) is the largest GLBT RV/Camping club in North America.