Taking a road trip is a great U.S. tradition. After all, this country is home to some incredible and varied landscapes. In some cases, you barely have to leave your home state to experience everything from scenic lakes to bustling cities. The South, in particular, offers some incredible delights to those willing to take to the open road.…
travel
Away We Go: Redefining Travel in the Age of COVID-19
Posted on July 29, 2020If you would have told me at the beginning of 2020, “Jas, all of your trips will be cancelled this year,” I would have never believed you. Me? I’m going on vacation no matter what. Well, COVID-19 had other plans. Now, “vacation” looks like traveling from the bedroom, to the kitchen, to the couch.…
Traveling While Queer: Chattanooga, Tennessee
Posted on July 12, 2019Welcome back to Traveling While Queer, your guide to the country’s most fabulous cities—the scoop on what to do, where to go, and what to see—all from an LGBTQ perspective. In this installment, we journey to my hometown—Chattanooga!…
Queer, Southern, and In Love: ‘Fried Green Tomatoes’ and Quintessential Lesbian Literature
Posted on July 5, 2019I must have been around 13 years old the first time my mom showed me the film Fried Green Tomatoes. She said it was a film about fierce southern women working together to beat the odds and succeeding—something she knew a lot about. While my mom is a Yankee through and through, she married a southerner and lived in Tennessee for several years. She fell in love with the land and its history, an admiration reflected in her connection to…
Traveling While Queer: Miami
Posted on January 8, 2019Welcome to the third installment of Traveling While Queer! Join me as I journey across the country to discover our shared queer history and sightsee in some of my favorite cities. Along the way, we will explore hidden havens, places of LGBTQ significance, and help you to plan a top-notch gay getaway. Our next stop is bringing that heat—welcome to Miami!…
Traveling While Queer: New Orleans
Posted on December 6, 2018Welcome to the second installment of Traveling While Queer! Join me as I journey across the country to discover our shared queer history and sightsee in some of my favorite cities. Along the way, we will explore hidden havens, places of LGBTQ significance, and help you plan your dream va-gay-tion. Next stop, NOLA!…
Traveling While Queer: Philadelphia
Posted on November 20, 2018Welcome, my vagabond and adventuring friends, to the first installment of Traveling While Queer! As an entrepreneur and consultant, traveling is a huge part of my job—building a strong network of movers-and-shakers means venturing from my home in Florida, out of the South, and journeying to cities across the nation. Along the way, I aim to share these cities’ vibrant LGBTQ histories (ones that are too often forgotten), as well as to lend my own personal queer perspectives on the…
Loud, Abrasive, and Rioting: The Real Legacy of Queer Identity
Posted on July 25, 2018Have you seen the Disney movie Moana? Of course you have, it’s amazing. In it, the protagonist, Moana, senses that her heritage is far more complex than what she’s been told. She knows, based on this gut instinct and nagging intuition, that her people are so much more courageous and fearless than her parents and neighbors have led her to believe. She goes on to discover that her ancestors were, in fact, voyagers who braved endless raging seas and created pathways…
Appalachian Pit Stops: Where to Eat on Kentucky’s I-75 Corridor
Posted on July 10, 2018While much of Kentucky tourism centers around the annual Kentucky Derby in Louisville and the popular bourbon distilleries that speckle the state, there are booming smaller towns right off Interstate 75 that are revitalizing their downtowns and embracing the farm-to-table movement. Driving northbound on I-75, travelers might easily miss Corbin, London, Berea, Richmond, and even Lexington.…
Five Thousand Miles, Lost in Appalachia, and Pawning Silver to Get Home: Taking a Break from the World
Posted on July 2, 2018Times are tough. How many times a day do you envision taking an indiscriminate exit on the highway and seeing where it takes you? And then the next turn. And the next. And the next. Next thing you know, it’s been nine days and you’ve driven to Massachusetts.…