Pink Ticket Travel
type: channel
description: LGBTQ2S+ travel around the world
date: 2026-05-13T14:21:22Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
generator agent: https://wordpress.org/
items: This ‘Drag Race’ and Pride photographer shares his faves of LGBTQ2S+ Ottawa
items: Could you handle 20 lesbian bars in 30 days?
items: What you need to know about Pride House during World Cup
items: What the travel industry needs to do for trans travellers
items: Can you enjoy the Berlin leather scene without wearing leather?
items: We pull back the curtain on Tokyo gay snack bars
items: Will Eurovision in Vienna this May be the queerest ever?
items: When a queer group trip to Sardinia isn’t about Sardinia at all
items: 6 queer literary tours that will spark your imagination
items: 12 dark & dirty gay parties you need to check out this year

This ‘Drag Race’ and Pride photographer shares his faves of LGBTQ2S+ Ottawa
type: item
creator: Paul Gallant
date: 2026-05-13T13:30:00Z
subject: Travel
subject: Canada
subject: Destinations
subject: Experiences
subject: North America
subject: Personalities
description: Derek Hille has shot many of the queens who have appeared on ‘Canada’s Drag Race.’ And he knows LGBTQ2S+ Ottawa like the back of his tiara
encoded: Ottawa photographer Derek Hille got his first camera when he was eight or nine years old. “I was a very observant kid,” he says. He studied photography, and after years of taking pictures as a hobby, people started coming to him, asking for portraits and other shots. After he was asked to take photos for Ottawa’s Capital Pride (August 22 to 30, 2026), his career in the LGBTQ2S+ community started to take off. He collaborates with queens to help them build a persona. Pink Ticket Travel asked Hille about his work with queens, and what he recommends visitors check out to discover LGBTQ2S+ Ottawa. <img decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" width="1024" height="768" src="https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/IMG_7645-1024x768.jpeg" alt="Ottawa lgbq1s+ travel" class="wp-image-9151" srcset="https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/IMG_7645-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/IMG_7645-300x225.jpeg 300w, https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/IMG_7645-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/IMG_7645-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/IMG_7645-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w, https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/IMG_7645-150x113.jpeg 150w, https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/IMG_7645-696x522.jpeg 696w, https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/IMG_7645-1068x801.jpeg 1068w, https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/IMG_7645-1920x1440.jpeg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> Derek Hille at work taking pictures for Capital Pride. Credit: Derek Hille When did you start taking photos of drag queens? One of the first photoshoots I did with a drag queen was probably 2012—a long time ago. Some of my best friends have been drag queens, so it’s only natural that I’d be like, “Hey yeah, let’s take your photos, let’s build your portfolio.” They would g…

Could you handle 20 lesbian bars in 30 days?
type: item
creator: Paul Gallant
date: 2026-05-13T13:25:00Z
subject: Travel
subject: Communities
subject: Experiences
subject: Nightlife
subject: queer women
description: In her new book, ‘The Lesbian Bar Chronicles,’ author Rachel Karp takes readers on a gigantic bar crawl around America’s sapphic spaces
encoded: In the fall of 2021, writer and producer Rachel Karp, her then-girlfriend (now wife) Jen McGinity and her best friend Sarah Gabrielli took a 30-day road trip across the U.S., visiting 20 lesbian bars. That’s a lot of pints and cocktails over the course of a month. <img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Karp_cover-683x1024.jpg" alt="lesbian bar chronicles" class="wp-image-9161" style="width:181px;height:271px" width="181" height="271" srcset="https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Karp_cover-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Karp_cover-200x300.jpg 200w, https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Karp_cover-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Karp_cover-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Karp_cover-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Karp_cover-150x225.jpg 150w, https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Karp_cover-300x450.jpg 300w, https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Karp_cover-696x1044.jpg 696w, https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Karp_cover-1068x1602.jpg 1068w, https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Karp_cover-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="(max-width: 181px) 100vw, 181px" /> That whirlwind tour of America’s sapphic scene formed the foundation of their ongoing podcast, Cruising, about the history and personalities who have shaped spaces for queer women, and now Karp’s book, The Lesbian Bar Chronicles: The Living History and Hopeful Future of America’s Dyke Dives and Sapphic Spaces. Rather than reviewing or merely fêting each of the stops on their itinerary, the book digs deeply into the history of each venue, exploring the unique personal visions that conjured them into being and the social circumstances, including the need to party and form community, th…

What you need to know about Pride House during World Cup
type: item
creator: Paul Gallant
date: 2026-05-13T13:20:00Z
subject: Travel
subject: Canada
subject: Destinations
subject: Experiences
subject: North America
subject: Sports
description: At least a dozen cities hosting this year’s World Cup will also host a Pride House. We talked to the Toronto organizer to learn what fun they will be
encoded: The first Pride House took place 16 years ago, during the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. Local activists organized two pavilions—one in Vancouver and one in the ski resort town of Whistler, British Columbia—that welcomed LGBTQ2S+ athletes, fans and allies during the games. Like a traditional Olympic “hospitality house,” a dedicated venue typically set up by the host country’s National Olympic Committee as a place for cultural exchange, socializing, networking and fandom, a Pride House celebrates the sports competition, but from a distinctly queer perspective. Always attached to a major sporting event, local organizers follow a sort-of template established by Scotland-based Pride House International, to create, activate and publicize their pavilions. There have been Pride Houses at every Olympics since 2010, as well as at two Pan and Parapan American Games, three Commonwealth Games and several other championships, adding up to 27 Pride Houses so far. During the 2026 men’s World Cup of soccer (or football, if you prefer), which takes place from June 11 to July 19, there will be a Pride House bonanza. With matches spread across 16 cities in Canada, Mexico and the United States, at least 12 of those cities will host Pride Houses during the 39-day tournament. Though each city will do things a little differently, they’ll all be broadcasting games, presenting cultural programming and performances, and providing space for mixing, mingling and chilling. Though Toronto has already organized a Pride House, back when the city hosted the 2015 Pan and Parapan American Games, this time out it’s an all-new organizing team and a new venue. From June 11 to July 19, every match will be shown at the George Brown Daphne Cockwell Centre for Health Sciences (51 Dockside Dr., Toronto), a waterfront venue with a spacious lobby with stepped seating. Pink Ticket Travel talked to Annie Hart, chair of Pride House Toronto, in the early days of planning, about what fun the team has in …

What the travel industry needs to do for trans travellers
type: item
creator: Evan E. Lambert
date: 2026-05-13T13:14:00Z
subject: Travel
subject: Communities
subject: Guides
subject: Laws&Safety
subject: Trans&Nonbinary
description: Even companies making an effort to be LGBTQ2S+ friendly often forget about the T. Here are some ways to fix that
encoded: “LGBTQ2S+ inclusive” can mean different things depending on who you’re talking to. For one tour company, it might mean a rainbow flag decal on their tour bus bumpers. For another, it might mean a same-sex couple occasionally popping up in their promotional material. But very few companies think deeply enough about trans experiences and perspectives to provide truly inclusive LGBTQ2S+ experiences. Many trans travellers attest that “LGBTQ2S+ friendly” doesn’t always mean “trans friendly.” That T doesn’t often get full consideration. The problems begin when trans people don’t feel seen or heard along their journey. In airports, for example, a mix of governments and airport authority policies can make trans travellers feel like outcasts. Dubbs Weinblatt, a NewYork City–based educator, facilitator, speaker, podcaster, and the founder and CEO of the LGBTQ2S+ empowerment organization Thank You For Coming Out, says that most airports have failed to take trans and nonbinary passengers into account. Weinblatt suggests that all airport restrooms should be all-gender (there are some that have all-gender washrooms in addition to binary washrooms). As well, they say that security protocols implemented by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in the U.S., and by other government agencies in other countries, should not consider gender at all. Adriana Roberts, a San Francisco–based performer, DJ and founder of the nightlife and music brand Bootie Mashup, is also critical of why gender is relevant to airport security. “When will the TSA modify those damn full-body scanners so they don’t clock your birth gender if you haven’t had bottom surgery?” (Prior to 2025 and the second Donald Trump presidency, the TSA had been updating body scanners, so that operators would no longer need to choose a gender; newer models don’t need to make assumptions about body contours or gendered anatomy to find security anomalies.) And it’s not just the machines that shouldn’t be taking gender in…

Can you enjoy the Berlin leather scene without wearing leather?
type: item
creator: Paul Gallant
date: 2026-05-06T13:30:00Z
subject: Travel
subject: Communities
subject: Destinations
subject: Europe
subject: Events&Parties
subject: Experiences
subject: Gay&Bi Men
subject: Germany
subject: sex&dating
description: Photographer Tom Klick says you can. He has front-row seats for Folsom Europe and lives in the heart of the gay Berlin leather scene in Schöneberg
encoded: When Tom Klick moved to Berlin from Frankfurt 30 years ago, the people he knew living in Berlin told him, “I don’t know any Berliners. All my friends are from somewhere else.” Klick was like, “What’s wrong with you that you can’t meet Berliners? Then I found out, yes, that’s the way it goes.” But there are so many non-Berliners living in Berlin, it all works out. <blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/DUkwJLOCHn5/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"> <g stroke="none" stroke-width="1" fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"><g transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)" fill="#000000"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 51…

We pull back the curtain on Tokyo gay snack bars
type: item
creator: Paul Gallant
date: 2026-05-06T13:25:00Z
subject: Travel
subject: Asia
subject: Communities
subject: Destinations
subject: Experiences
subject: Gay&
subject: Japan
subject: Nightlife
description: Tokyo has lots of Western-style gay bars and clubs. But its ‘snack bar’ scene will blow your mind…if you can get inside of one
encoded: Even for gay travellers who have been there and done that all over the world, the Tokyo scene can overturn habits and expectations. Don’t worry—I’m not trying to scare you. The Japanese capital, which has a metro population of more than 40 million, has something for everybody. It certainly has a gay scene that Western visitors would find familiar. The Ni-chōme neighbourhood of the district of Shinjuku has a classic gaybourhood. Walk from the top of Naka-dōri Avenue down to Gyoen National Garden and you’ll see rainbow flags, street-level bars, sex and underwear shops, posters for upcoming gay events, and drag queens coming and going from gigs, just like you’d see in any gay village around the globe. For example, at AiiRO CAFÉ (1F, Dai-7 Tenka Building, on Naka-dōri Ave., 2-18-1 Shinjuku City, Shinjuku, Tokyo), a visitor can spot the bar’s rainbow flags down the block, see how busy it is from the street, walk in with minimal scrutiny, order a drink at the stand-up bar, then enjoy the atmosphere provided by the DJ and the fellow customers, chatting, cruising or staying quiet as they see fit. Easy peasy. But Tokyo has many scenes, including a gay bar culture that’s unique, somewhat mysterious and sometimes less welcoming to visitors. (I’ll get to the why of that “less welcoming” in a moment.) It’s said that Shinjuku has about 300 gay bars—the densest concentration of gay bars in the world—while the district of Shinbashi has about 50, Ueno-Asakusa about 45. Most of these bars are what are called “sunakku bā” or “snack bars.” You wouldn’t even know they’re there if you didn’t go looking for them. Some of them seat as few as five or six people; at the biggest you could pack in maybe 50 people shoulder to shoulder, for a frisky beer bust. Most of them are in the upper floors of various nondescript five-to-eight-storey buildings around Tokyo, as many as five bars per floor. The history of these snack bars goes back to the Second World War, when Tokyo, especially Shinjuku, wa…

Will Eurovision in Vienna this May be the queerest ever?
type: item
creator: Paul Gallant
date: 2026-04-29T11:45:00Z
subject: Travel
subject: Art&Culture
subject: Austria
subject: Destinations
subject: Drag&Performance
subject: Experiences
description: For the second time in Eurovision’s history, a queer performer is bringing the competition to Austria’s capital. But ESC 2026 is not without controversy
encoded: For the third time in the 70-year history of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), Vienna, Austria, will host the campy glitter-flecked musical competition this May. It’s the second time that an out queer performer has won Vienna the privilege of hosting the world’s largest, longest-running annual non-sporting television event, which last year was watched by 166 million people around the globe, so many of them gay, gay, gay. Gay drag queen Conchita Wurst (Thomas Neuwirth) brought the spotlight to Vienna in 2015 when she won ESC 2014 with her song “Rise Like a Phoenix.” (The country that wins usually hosts the following year.) Last year’s victory, by queer Vienna singer JJ and the song “Wasted Love,” is bringing ESC back just nine years later. By contrast, the gap between Austria’s first winner, Udo Jürgens singing “Merci, Chérie” in 1966, and its second winner Conchita Wurst was 48 long years. “Many Eurovision Song Contest fans weren’t alive when we hosted back in 1966. When Conchita Wurst won, I had just started to work for the tourist board,” says Helena Steinhart, a spokesperson for the Vienna Tourist Board. “It was unclear what hosting would mean for the city. When a country is part of Eurovision but never wins, and therefore never hosts, it becomes, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah.’ Nobody expected the win in 2014, but the excitement was huge. To do it again less than 10 years later, people are really into it. We’ve been through the experience of how much fun it can be.” Is it a coincidence that it’s another queer performer who is bringing the world to Vienna again? Maybe, maybe not. With its mix of pulsing techno beats and operatic vocals (JJ trained at the Opera School of the Vienna State Opera), “Wasted Love” is the perfect anthem for modern Vienna—a hybrid suitable for both the classical concert hall and the dancefloor at a gay club. “Vienna is known as a capital of music, but mostly classical music,” says Steinhart. “Think Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Brahms and Mahler. Th…

When a queer group trip to Sardinia isn’t about Sardinia at all
type: item
creator: Tanya Churchmuch
date: 2026-04-29T11:42:00Z
subject: Travel
subject: Destinations
subject: Europe
subject: Experiences
subject: Group travel
subject: Italy
description: All-inclusive group travel was never my thing. But then I spent a week hanging in a villa with a gaggle of gays
encoded: Sitting around the outdoor long table after dinner with our eyes closed, the gamemaster Hannes tapped me on my shoulder. Looking up, I saw my two fellow Traitors, Valdi and Eva, claiming me as one of their own. I’ve never watched The Traitors, the reality murder-mystery game show hosted in the U.S. by Alan Cumming and by others around the world, but learned while playing an IRL version of The Traitors that I’m surprisingly adept at this game of deception. In the end, all three of us traitors made it to the very end, and my wife, Debbie, was absolutely astounded to learn that I was one of the bad guys. While she fake-shamed me for my feigned innocence after we won the game, we traitors celebrated our victory with finger snaps, whoops and a glass of Prosecco. <img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="576" src="https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/IMG_0365-1024x576.jpg" alt="group travel in sardinia" class="wp-image-9087" srcset="https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/IMG_0365-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/IMG_0365-300x169.jpg 300w, https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/IMG_0365-768x432.jpg 768w, https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/IMG_0365-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/IMG_0365-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/IMG_0365-150x84.jpg 150w, https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/IMG_0365-696x392.jpg 696w, https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/IMG_0365-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://pinktickettravel.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/IMG_0365-1920x1080.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /> The gang’s all here. Credit: Laimonas Dom Baranauskas Twelve of us were together for a late-season week at Villa La Belle Étoile, four lesbians and eight gay men. No surprise, it was the other lesbian couple who organized…

6 queer literary tours that will spark your imagination
type: item
creator: Evan E. Lambert
date: 2026-04-29T11:40:00Z
subject: Travel
subject: Art&Culture
subject: Experiences
subject: Tours
description: LGBTQ2S+ culture has been shaped by books as well as film, TV and politics. Here are six city tours that celebrate our literary titans
encoded: We complain these days of queer representation on TV and in movies, but some of our greatest LGBTQ2S+ cultural ambassadors have been writers. From impassioned poet Walt Whitman, the scathing wit of Oscar Wilde and gender-questioning Virginia Woolf to more modern figures like James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, Yukio Mishima and the Tom Ripley books, Patricia Highsmith, writers have captured our queer lives and sensibilities better than anyone. They’ve made us visible on the page, which has led to us being more visible in society and on the screens we love so much. Visiting the various places where these titans were born, wrote their books, loved their lovers, walked the streets and were buried can be a deeply moving travel experience. Emotional sweep aside, literary tours can be a super fun way to explore a new city. The guides and group members are likely to be fellow nerdy queers. The routes and sites are beyond the usual tourist traps. Extended rumination upon the role of queer literary figures in the march toward equality is purely optional. Of course, LGBTQ2S+-focused literary tours are a niche attraction. We’ve scoured the globe to find queer literary tours in major cities around the world. We’ve also given the details for our own self-guided tour of one of our favourite cities. Greenwich Village Queer Literary History Walk Greenwich Village in New York City was home to an extraordinary, dynamic literary scene before the 1969 Stonewall Riots galvanized the equality movement in the United States. Journalist and filmmaker Jillian Eugenios meets participants in Washington Square before taking them on a journey through time, covering the literary scene as well as Broadway’s theatre scene. What sets this tour apart is Eugenios’s focus on the women and people of colour who were integral to New York’s literary activism at the time. Stops include the site of New York’s first lesbian bar, the Women’s House of Detention, which played a major part in shaping Greenwich Village in…

12 dark & dirty gay parties you need to check out this year
type: item
creator: Paul Gallant
date: 2026-04-22T11:25:00Z
subject: Wander+Lust
subject: Communities
subject: Experiences
subject: Gay&Bi Men
subject: Parties
subject: sex&dating
description: Whatever fetish you’re into, there’s a gathering for it in the next seven months. Here are the deets of our top 12 dirty gay parties. Start packing
encoded: There are parties where the fun is 100 percent on the dancefloor and maybe on the stage. A lot of circuit parties are like that. But then there are parties that turn up the temperature, that encourage, um, patron-generated entertainment. Libido can be as important as beats-per-minute. We’ve sussed out some of the 2026’s wildest gay parties. Some of them target bears, some of them target leather dudes. Some of them provide a home for deviants of all sorts. Here are the 12 that really got us going. Whether you’re hardcore or merely curious, put these dirty gay parties and festivals in your calendar. HustlaBall Toronto Toronto, Ontario, May 15 to 17, 2026 A celebration of the adult entertainment industry—content creation in all its lusty forms—the HustlaBall franchise has thrown fantastic sexed-up parties in London, New York, Tel Aviv, Las Vegas and Berlin (see HustlaBall Berlin below). This is the debut HustlaBall in Canada’s largest city and it’s looking like it will be a sensation. Declaring that it’s not a circuit party, the HustlaBall is meant to be sex-positive but less judgmental—more community-minded than the circuit scene. The four parties include dancing, of course, but also the “royal stables,” which aims to be a version of Europe’s infamous gay “horse market” or “horse fair” parties. <blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCuSb_wOkvc/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"> <g stroke="none" stroke-width="1" fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"><g transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)" fill="#000000"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.…