Family Travel: New York Must Do List!

Our New York Must Do List!

Our first trip to New York was just over 7 years ago and while we loved the visit we left thinking it was just another big city. This time we were meeting family and taking Annabelle who was almost 8 months. We knew the trip would be different but we didn't expect to come away LOVING New York as much as we did.

Our past trip roundup can be found here.

We arrived on a Saturday evening and left on a Saturday evening so had 6 full days to maximise our trip and we did just that. By the end we had walked over 60 miles, seen most of Trip Advisors Top 10 things to do and discovered new places we never knew existed! Oh and most of it was with bright blue skies until our last two days when we got snow, Annabelle's first experience of it. It was an amazing trip packed with memories of a lifetime.

Can you spot the Statue of Liberty!

So without further ado here is our list:
Top of the Rock
Last time we visited we were gutted that we didn't do this attraction and we were right to be gutted. You have to visit! Honestly Top of the Rock was a highlight of our trip. We timed our visit to head up at 4pm, enough time to see the view in the day but to also catch sunset. It's well worth doing it that way. If you time your ticket so you go up in the last daylight time slot you don't have to pay the extra sunset fee but you will be waiting a while at the top (it's worth it in our opinion).

From the moment you enter your senses are greeted with lights, sounds and pictures. From a film explaining the building of the 'Rock' and explaining how the Rockefeller Christmas tree gets put up to the light-show in the lift as you ascend you are entertained. By the time you step out to see the view you already feel like you know New York better.

We spent our time at the top spotted all the other sights and admiring the stunning skyline as the sunset. For us though the lights starting to twinkle as the buildings lit up was breathtaking (or maybe it was the wind :)) but seriously it was unbelievably beautiful.

Annabelle was mesmerised. From all the lights to the people wanting to talk to her to looking out at the view, she was squealing with happiness and laughing a lot. While waiting for sunset she even managed a nap in the Ergobaby as we were walking around admiring the view.

Brooklyn Bridge / DUMBO
If you haven't walked Brooklyn Bridge you need to do it at least once. On our last trip half the bridge was under construction and we had really missed out. This time with a bright day and no scaffolding and the view was amazing. The further we walked across towards Brooklyn the better the view of New York got. Taking in the financial district featuring the one world trade centre all the way up towards the Empire State building and beyond this walk gives you a great perspective of the city.

The walk itself took about an hour, Annabelle started off asleep and woke up to join us as we crossed under the impressive arches.

The reward at the end was a visit to the Brooklyn area under the bridge where you can find Julianna's pizza which tends to be queued around the corner or wander a little further for a Greek cafe where we enjoyed gyro's for a reasonable price. From there we headed to the carousel which is a must if you have young kids. For $2 per person you get to ride the carousel overlooking New York. Annabelle loved it and so did we.

Next stop was DUMBO (Downtown Under Manhattan Brooklyn Underpass) to see 'that' view and then check out the quirky stores and find Jacques Torres (have you seen 'Nailed It?!) chocolate shop for some of the most delicious cookies we've ever had!

The High Line 
Last time we visited New York this wasn't even a thing and to be honest we weren't sure it was a good idea with the freezing weather and the fact that it is meant to be a garden type of area. We were surprised though, it is worth checking out whatever the weather! We actually did the walk as dusk started and it was great. The High Line itself had a lot of dead shrubs BUT at the that time of day the views are worth the walk alone. Winding through buildings and warehouses you get a unique view of the bustling city without the crowds.

There is also plenty of artwork to see both on the High Line and on the surrounding buildings and you can 'drop down' off the High Line in different parts of the city. Although a point to note is some exits only have stairs so aren't buggy/stroller friendly!

Stardust Diner / Times Square
After a day exploring Central Park we headed towards the Times Square area and found Stardust a diner where the waiters and waitresses sing while serving you. Not like in your face but on the stage in the middle of the restaurant and we loved it. We all loved it especially Annabelle. And the food was amazing too!

After the diner Annabelle was so exhausted she slept while we wandered around Times Square taking in the sights and lights. It's amazing how we spent our new years eve sat on the floor in freezing temperatures there (our experience post is here). It has barely changed at all.

Also make sure and check out:

• Mood Fabrics if you have ever seen Project Runway and/or love fashion and fabrics
• The Flatiron building and 5th Avenue - there's a great Lego store there too
• Starbucks Reserve opposite Google offices - amazing new concept store and interesting for us even though we don't like/drink coffee
• Magnolia Bakery for Banana pudding (featured in Sex in the City)
• Crif Hotdogs for Please Don't Tell Speakeasy (not child friendly)
• World Trade Centre Station for amazing architecture and shopping if you don't want to go outside
• Song de Napoli for great pizza
• Chelsea Market for cool food places
• The Nugget Spot for captain crunch covered nuggets
• East Village for great street art
• Katz Deli for Reuben sandwiches

And finally we felt that we should stop by Gay Street.....

As we had done 7 years ago:

National Coming Out Day!

If you are part of the LGBT community, or know someone who is you may have heard the term 'Coming Out', it's a cover all term used when someone shares their story about the first time they told someone they were gay / homosexual / lesbian.

We shared a post back in 2012 that shared both our Coming Out stories, you can find it here.

For anyone who has followed us since the start you will know that my (Sarah) coming out story was not a happy one. If anything my story is a great example of 'it get's better', here's a post I shared at the time about how far things have come.

We even shared how we came out at work way back before it was 'okay' to be gay. Laura's story is here.

So why is there an official coming out day? Well that's simple, it is to mark coming out as a positive celebration. The date was selected as it is the annual march on Washington for Lesbian and Gay rights.

Founded because 'Most people think they don't know anyone gay or lesbian, and in fact everybody does. It is imperative that we come out and let people know who we are and disabuse them of their fears and stereotypes.

– Robert Eichberg, in 1993

It was started in 1988 so this year marks 30 years (another great thing that joined the world 30 years ago....ahem Laura).

What makes for interesting reading is that 20% of millennials identify as LGBTQ+ so sharing stories of support from others coming out gives that community reassurance and insight into coming out. It also mean having online points of reference is essential.

Over the years of writing this blog we have seen acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community increase and as we have traveled through our personal journey we have experienced different situations where we have had to 'come out' but overall we have received love, kindness and plenty of questions from interested people. We hope others have had a similar experiences.

Happy National Coming Day!

LGBT Travel - Europe's Top 10 LGBT Friendly Destinations!

Over the years we have shared a number of posts on gay travel. We have even compared gay travel to straight travel, so when we received an email from James Villa Holidays with an updated list of Europe's LGBT friendly destinations we thought it was worth sharing.

Before getting started here is a link to our post on Gay Travel, Is It Any Different To Straight Travel?

Our 2012 post on Not-So-Gay-Travel: Better To Be Safe Than Sorry a list of destinations to avoid, that sadly hasn't changed that much in 6 years.

So which destinations are Europe's Top 10 Most LGBT Friendly?

(The following list has been complied using research from DestinationPride, which looks at six key factors and gives each destination a score out of 100)

The key factors!

In first place and a recent destination our ours is the Canary Islands. A group of islands of the coast of Africa, owned by Spain, that includes Tenerife, Lanzarote and Gran Canaria where we spent a week earlier this year. You can read our tips for visiting the island here.

In second place, and home to our most recent destination - the Balearic Islands consisting of Majorca, Ibiza and Menorca. A boats trip from mainland Spain and only 2 hours flight from the UK they are perfect for a quick getaway, especially if you want somewhere warm!

Third place goes to another country we love, The Netherlands or Holland. We celebrated Laura's 26th birthday there and have to agree it is one of the most LGBT friendly places we've ever been to.

Germany featuring at number 6 is good to see. We had a great mini break to Stuttgart to meet a German friend we had made through the blog and had a wonderful time. Our trip write up is here.

And finally in at number 10 is France. We love Paris but would love to explore further afield. It's such a beautiful country with plenty to offer in addition to the food. Our last weekend trip to Paris is detailed here. 

There are definitely some destinations on this list that we need to add to our to-do list - we chose Oslo, Norway over Denmark as we had friends who had just moved there but we'd love to head back to that part of the world. 

Have you been to any countries on the list? What was your experience? 

Being gay is so offensive!

Time for a quick rant. 

I was reading an article today on the Daily Mail (sorry) and ever since have been slightly seething. The article was about how advertising standards watchdogs allowed 'offensive' adverts to be aired in the UK last year.

There were a few where there may have been a point - I mean kicking a cat is not acceptable in any world. Here's the article for you to make you're own mind up: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4134232/Ten-offensive-TV-ads-cleared-watchdog.html

The reason I am mad though is because Match.com's advert for 'someone will love your imperfections' was the third most complained about because of this:

That's right two women kissing is the third most offensive thing on TV! I mean really!

And despite the tag line showing in the picture above potentially showing lesbianism as an imperfection the advert was actually normalising gay relationships and we loved it.

Here's the ad in case you missed it:

More over we need more of this type of advertising to silence those complainers. While Gay Pride parades in the UK have become somewhat of a advertising stage for major employers including Nando's, Sainsburys, Tesco, Marks and Spencers', British Airways and tons of others it has always been a positive for us. We want the visibility, we need the visibility and we need to continue to fight for it as long as any advert showing 'gay' is featured on a list of 'inappropriate/ offensive advertising.

May 2017 see more of these:

And

Sainsburys Christmas advert 2016

Not because I want to replace 'traditional' families but because the world is changing and if it isn't reflected in advertising then anyone outside of that 'traditional family' is discounted.

We know how key visibility is to those struggling, to those who feel isolated in within their own families and to those who think it's just them. If this blog has taught us anything it is that there are so many reasons to embrace being gay but to publicly show that love is love regardless of gender.

Visibility has always been a key thing for us, remember the post we did on whether Lesbian Tribes exist or more to the point are visible? Or when we were doing 'What's Happening hot Stuff' that always included the latest 'gay visibility news'

I hope in reading next years article things have moved on....please - especially with Trumps impending presidency - can we make acceptance the theme for 2017?!

Let us come together and dance in the light rather like those who gathered to dance outside mike Pence's house last night:

For we know that;

Stay strong, stay visible and know that you are never offensive if you are showing love. 

Delish Pride Cocktail Recipe - Getting Merry with Barefoot Wine on a Wednesday!

We've made it to Friday!

Pride London is tomorrow, and in celebration, Barefoot wine sent us a bottle of their Bubbly Pink Moscato and a request to try it in the Stride of Pride cocktail they created. Coincedentally, their moscato is our go-to wine, so of course we jumped at the chance! So on Wednesday that's exactly what we did - gathered together the ingredients, made it and had a lovely cocktail while watching Love Island (guilty pleasure, sorry we can't help it!)

Of course, it made our day to find out that our favourite wine company has a long history of celebrating and supporting the LGBTQ community - we go out of our way to support companies who support people like us! Extending its appreciation to wine lovers everywhere no matter who they are or whom they love, Barefoot is raising a glass to toast the LGBTQ community across the globe. Celebrating diversity with splashes of passionfruit, juicy pear and sparkling Barefoot Bubbly Pink Moscato – no Pride party should be without it this summer!

If you're heading to London tomorrow, you can check out the Stride of Pride at The Cocktail Trading Co. (London EC1A 9EJ), or you can make your own like we did!

Follow these simple steps to add a touch of sparkle to your life!

Ingredients

70ml Barefoot Bubbly Pink Moscato

10ml Passion Fruit Syrup 

10ml Pear Liqueur  

10ml Lemon Juice

Method

1.    Combine well-chilled Barefoot Bubbly Pink Moscato with passion fruit, pear liqueur and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker

2.    Pour over crushed ice into a cup

3.    Top off garnished with some fun!

Serves 1

We replaced the passionfruit syrup with coulis, as per The Cocktail Trading Co.'s recommendation - we used Tesco's Finest Passionfruit Coulis, another LGBTQ-friendly company!

We'll be drinking this all summer, so cheers!

Happy Pride everyone!!

#4 Top LGBT Blog in the UK, Youtube's Pride month video, and Other Pre-Pride London Musings

As it's only 3 (!!!) days until Pride London, some awesomely 'gay' things are happening this week that we wanted to share with you.

We are gutted that we won't be attending Pride London this year - it is our 'first' Pride, as we have been attending every year (except 2010, when we were in Sydney, and 2014 when we were getting married!) since we got together, over 7 years ago! Last year, we were honoured to be there for our first year wedding anniversary, and were featured in this beautiful video from Youtube in the wake of gay marriage being legalised across the USA:

This year's video to celebrate Pride month is about Identity - and it is beautiful and moving as always:

We have differing opinions on Identity - I have always liked labels, since I was a high school student, labelling myself as a choir geek and part of the 'second smartest group in my class' - as an adult, labelling myself a lesbian has helped me become prouder of that part of myself, and has helped me be a part of an amazing lgbt community I personally might not have had the courage to seek without my identity. To clarify, I only like self-made labels and identities - I'm not pro- people putting others into boxes where they don't want to be.

Sarah, on the other hand, doesn't like labels - she finds them derisive and restrictive and is way too picky to be defined by just a few descriptors.

Anyway!

We were notified today that we have made it to number 4 (!!) on Vuelio's Top 10 LGBT UK Blogs! This is fantastic news, and we are in great company - you can check out the article and the write up on us and our fellow bloggers here - make sure you check them out!

Photo courtesy of Barefoot

Finally, Barefoot wine has sent us a bottle of their pink muscato (coincidentally our favourite ever wine, we love a bubbly pink!) to make a cocktail they dreamed up specifically for Pride London this weekend. We've bought pear liqueur, passionfruit coulis, and we can't WAIT to have our own little celebration this evening! Look out for that recipe so you can try your own!




Happy Pride to our friends in London, have an amazing, safe time, and don't do anything we wouldn't do :)

Love is love,

For Orlando. Stand proud, Keep Dancing.

We didn't plan to write a blog post on the atrocity that took place in Orlando. Social media is filled with better written passages than we could ever create and stronger images than we could envisage. However over the course of today the united in love messages are giving way to something awful and we didn't want to stand by and not say anything. For taking no action is still taking an action - for letting the hate and support for the shooting take over and doing nothing is allowing negativity to win. Therefore we hope this post goes some way to pushing a negative post out of the way.

Before work today scrolling through comments on a number of Instagram posts we were horrified to see things like this on posts sending love to Orlando:

There were so many more but I don't want to give them any further publicity

It was only weeks ago that we wrote a post asking are gay rights still relevant - not because we don't think they are, but because so much of the battle seemed to have been won - at least in the Western world. These very comments we see posted on social media prove in fact that gay rights are still very relevant. While this one awful act does nothing to undo the work already done, what it shows it that changing hearts and minds is still very far from over. 

It is clear that people STILL do not understand that being gay is NOT a choice. 

Gay people are not perverted.

We are not an abomination.

Two people of the same sex holding hand is not a reason for disgust.

Two people of the same sex kissing is not a reason for anger.
 

Did you know in France in the 16th century there was no word for homosexuality or being gay?! That is because it was described as just a man loving a man - it was not judged or talked about in disgust, it just was. Love is just that - love. It shouldn't need a term to describe who the love is between, it should just be called love. 

Our marriage is just called marriage.

Our love is just love. 

'It matters not who you love, where you love, why you love, when you love or how you love, it matters only that you love' - John Lennon

To us this sums it up.

So while there are many in this world who are so ready to hate something they don't understand, those of us evolved enough to realise that love is a chemical reaction that can take many forms, we must be the bigger people. While awful, senseless individuals will find any excuse to hate we must do the opposite. While race, gender, religion and sexuality can all be reason to divide us surely love, peace and happiness are bigger reasons that could unite us?

Our hearts, thoughts and sympathies go out to everyone in Orlando and to anyone effected, while we may not have lost anyone we know, we know people who have. That is one thing we will take away from this - the world is really, truly, a small place, so the kindness you show to someone really can change the world. 

To anyone who is heading to a Pride this year, stay safe, stay proud, keep dancing, and never ever forget that by standing strong, by being 'out', we being brave. We are helping make things better for the next generation of LGBT people. Just as those who came before us risked their lives so we can attend these amazing Pride events, we must stand up in unity against the hatred and show that one individual cannot destroy the great work of many.

   

We are heading to a candlelight vigil at the Gay Village in Birmingham, tonight at 10pm. There are many similar events happening today around the world - if you can spare some time, head to one, remember the heroes that we've lost, and let's support one another.