More Amsterdam Photos!

Miss Ginger didn't want to clog Blogger with the 800 some odd photos she took at Amsterdam Pride, so as she's been shuffling through them she's uploaded them to Picasa. Check out the latest album here!

Miss Ginger's Amsterdam

Miss Ginger promised a full recap of her recent vacation, so here she goes with here insightful opinions of some great European vacation destinations. These are her opinions, and her recollections- no statement of fact should be expected to be accurate!

That said, here we go with Miss Ginger's Amsterdam!

ARRIVING:

Obviously most Americans will arrive in Amsterdam by plane, although cruise ships do call on Amsterdam as well. From Schiphol Airport

it's easy to take the train directly to Amsterdam Centraal Station, the transportation hub of the city. You can also take any number of high-speed trains into Amsterdam from other European gateways. The Thalys train serves Paris, Brussels, Germany and London and is clean, comfortable, and fast! At Schiphol, after clearing passport control and customs, follow the signs that say "to trains" and purchase your ticket from one of the bright yellow electronic kiosks. One note about these kiosks: they will accept American credit cards and debit cards, but will require a PIN code for both. Since most Americans don't use their credit cards with a PIN, and therefore don't know it, just save yourself some time and use the debit card! You'll purchase a one-way trip from Schipol to Centraal Station on NS, the Dutch National Railway, and once you arrive at Central Station, you're in the middle of it all!

If you want to cover more distance once you arrive in Amsterdam, purchase an Iamsterdam card for unlimited use of the GVB trams, subways, and buses that move people around the city. These cards, known as "chip cards" throughout Europe, are available at Schiphol, in Arrivals Hall 2, in the Centraal Station, near Track 2, and at the Stationsplein, across the street from Centraal Station. We bought ours at Stationsplein and had quite a long wait in line, so if you know you want one, check the lines at Schiphol and Centraal on your way in. If you're only there a few days, you can probably walk everywhere you'll want to go and won't need a chipcard at all!

Many of the nicest hotels are within walking distance of the train station, so unless the weather is bad or you've overpacked, walking will be the quickest way to get to most hotels.

ACCOMMODATIONS:

Miss Ginger has stayed twice at the Convent Hotel on Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal, which is the street leading out of the train station. On Miss Ginger's map above, the "H" indicates the location of the hotel, and her little pink path is noted. The hotel is perfectly situated within walking distance of everything, and a tram line runs right in front if you need to venture farther. As a part of the European Accor hotel chain, which also runs Sofitel, it is a first-class property, well-maintained, well-appointed, and comfortable. The staff is courteous, efficient, and pleasant, and the rooms are spacious by European standards. Miss Ginger gives the Convent 4 lipsticks!

Across the street from the Convent is the Avenue Hotel, which is listed in Damron's Guide for gay travelers. Miss G has not been inside the Avenue, but she can certainly vouch for it's location, and from outside it appeared to be clean and neat. Also in the same vicinity is a Crowne Plaza, if you are collecting points from their particular loyalty program. No one is a bigger point whore than Miss G, so stay where you can get 'em, I always say!

DIVERSIONS:

There is so much to see and do in Amsterdam, Miss Ginger can't imagine that anyone would ever get bored! The city is so imminently walkable that it's fun to just amble along the streets and alleyways, exploring the stores, cafes, and coffee shops along the way. Just remember, if you want coffee, go to a cafe. Coffee shops sell marijuana. If it were called Gingerdam, we would sell coffee in the coffee shops, and joints in the cafes, but I guess that would confuse the French too much! Anyway, smoke if you have them, but do it in the coffee shop; technically, that's the only only place it's legal to partake.

The other remarkable legal diversion in Amsterdam is prostitution, and no trip to Amsterdam is really complete without a trip to the red light district, indicated roughly by the big red star on Miss G's map. It's truly another world, where girls in bikinis ply their trade behind glass doors, occasionally opening it up to negotiate a deal with a potential client or perhaps attract the attention of one she thinks looks particularly lucrative. Two comments Miss G feels compelled to make about the RLD: first, if those girls have been "enslaved" or forced into this world, then they are the greatest actresses on Earth, because the all seem to be having the time of their lives! Secondly, it just goes to show there's a market for everything! The girls are neatly arranged by house and street, supermarket style, depending on what you want. Of course, the main street along the canal features buxom Eastern European girls, with blonde hair, long lashes, and lots of makeup. You want Asians? What flavor? Along that street, we have Thai, Chinese, Philippine, and lots more! You like them plump? Black or white?... we've got a street for each! Get drunk before you go, put your wallet in a secure place, and check your judgement at the door! It's there, it happens, so see it!

Water travel is a way of life in a city of concentric canals, so a canal tour is a must. Long glass topped boats replace the familiar red "hop off" buses one sees in most cities, so if you take a tour on one of those you can get on and off at your leisure and see what you want to see. Miss Ginger found the maze of street and canals quite confusing until she took a full 1 hour tour on a canal boat... after that, the map made sense in her head!

If you go to the Netherlands you simply MUST see a windmill... while you can!! Whereas windmills were once as common as tulips in Holland, and in fact allowed the creation of the country, there are only about 1,000 windmills still intact in the country, and only about 400 of those are still operable. There are a couple of windmills in and around Amsterdam proper, but if you book a bus tour near the Centraal Station, you can go out to the countryside and visit a working windmill. Miss G was fascinated to learn that each mill had it's own purpose, from pumping water, to sawing woods, or grinding grain. The mill she visited was actually a mill for grinding pigments, and was used to create the pigments that the Dutch Masters mixed with linseed oil to make their paints! The blades of the windmill are actually like giant sails, and when the sailed are furled, like this one, the mill is idle. But when the miller unfurls the sails and turns the top of the mill into the wind, the rotary motion is transferred to enormous mast down the center of the mill, transferring the wind power down to the business end- silently, gracefully, and effortlessly! Truly, truly amazing!

FOOD AND DRINK:

As one of the primary crossroads of Europe, Amsterdam boasts a very diverse assortment of restaurants and cuisines. Typical Dutch fare is simple country food, and the Dutch claim meatballs as their own over the Swedes, and pancakes are served morning, noon, and night. Most of the food we had was good, if not exceptional, and no specific meal stood out as noteworthy.

As far as drink, everyone knows that Amsterdam is extremely liberal, and expects a huge gay scene. Miss Ginger was no exception, and like most American tourists found herself sadly disappointed. She found that most gay bars in Amsterdam are there for the tourists, as the Dutch are so liberated that they don't feel the need to isolate themselves to "gay" bars. That said, there were a couple of establishments that Miss G particularly enjoyed, and a couple that she located, but never entered!

Her favorite is "Prik", indicated by a "P" on her map. In Dutch, prik means bubbles, and Miss G assumes the establishment was so named because of the Italian prosecco they serve on tap. It's a cute little place, with friendly- though not Dutch- staff, a nibbles menu, and delicious specialty cocktails. Aunt Tonya found the raspberry mojitos particularly enchanting- at least until they returned for a visit at 3am!!

Another fave is the "The Queens Head", shown as a "Q" on the map. It's a cute little place, on a really neat little street near Amsterdam's Chinatown. Along this little drag is another place called "The Angel" ("Engel" in Dutch- not to be confused with the "Eagle", which is down the road!)

Speaking of the Eagle, there are a number of leather/fetish bars that Miss G chose to avoid, but all are in the vicinity of the Queens Head. She assumed Getto, Dirty Dicks, the Sleeze Pit, and the Web to be aptly named and chose to avoid them. Enter at your own risk!

WHEN TO GO:

Miss G would venture to say anytime, although she has only been in August. For Miss G, Amsterdam in August is a perfect opportunity to escape the infernal Texas heat, as the temperatures there are a delightful 70 degrees Fahrenheit, even in midsummer! While the city is crowded with tourists that time of year, it handles them extremely well.

The other reason to go in August is Amsterdam Pride- a gay pride parade like no other on Earth! The "floats" truly float, as they are built on canal barges that moves through the canals! Because the streets are high above the waterline, there are numerous places along the rather long parade route to find a spot, and Miss suggests staking out a spot on one of the bridges. Better yet, do what Mee Maw did this year, and reserve a canal boat in lieu of a hotel room! From our little spot on the water, we were truly in the midst of it all, and had the time of our lives!! Just check out Miss G's snapshots of it all!

Don't miss Amsterdam- if it's not on your bucket list, add it! Everyone there is bi- or tri- lingual, at least, and unlike their neighbors to the south, will happily speak to you in perfect English!

For most Americans, it's a little hard to wrap your tongue around the Dutch language. In order to simplify things, Miss G and the gang developed their own little anglicized names for the streets, in order to gives each other understandable directions! We knew "straat" was street, and we assumed "voorburgwal" was bloulevard, so Spuitstraat became "Spit Street", and Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal became "New Weeds Boulevard"! I'm sure to the Dutch, it was "the Lost Language of Queens" but for us it was a necessity! MeeMaws Mississippi accent just couldn't handle "Voorbugwal"!

Have fun, and happy travels!

Where to Even Start?!

Miss Ginger is home, after a long, exhausting day of travel from Rome, via Newark, to Houston. After a hot shower in a stall the size of an entire European bathroom, a good night's sleep in her own king size bed, and a long snuggle with 2 very affectionate kitties, she is left to sort through the rubble of her now-ended journey.

She's got a suitcase full of dirty clothes, a camera with over 2,000 images in it, and copious notes and bon mots jotted into her iPad to share with you, gentle readers. Just how to organize such a project has her head spinning, but she's developed an idea.

In the style of her "Consumer Product Reports", Miss G has decided to create a page on her blog dedicated to Drag Queen travel. Using her lipstick rating system, she will sort out the sights, events, hotels, and gliteratti that make up her FABULOUS journeys! It's going to take a while, and she's got to get some work work done today, so, until she has a chance to get the project moving, here are a couple of highlights from the trip to whet your appetite:

Amsterdam was every bit as beautiful as Miss G remembered, and the weather was cool and comfortable, if a bit damp at times. Amsterdam was perhaps the first "master planned" community, with a series of concentric canals that lay the city out in a walkable, easy to learn semicircle, where all roads leads back the the center, the Centraal train station.

Of course, she went there for the Gay Pride parade, and her vantage point this year was from a houseboat rental on the canal: truly, the way to go! This spot allowed for some awesome photographs, so you can look forward to photos of floats, festivities, and lots of hot men! Miss G will post a couple of the best on here on the blog, and get the rest upload into albums so you can browse them at your leisure!

Miss G got to check another item off her bucket list: she's always wanted to see the inside of a windmill, and she was not disappointed! We were able to crawl all around inside it, and Miss G was truly amazed at the technology of the time! There's a whole post on windmills coming, so look forward to that!

Another bullet off the bucket list, overnight rail travel, was also checked off, thankfully. Here's Aunt Tonya in her bunk... MeeMaw was above and Miss G was below. That 60's era sardine can was a nightmare, and there's an entire post coming about European rail travel. It's a great way to move about the continent- IF you know what you're doing. Miss G is getting pretty good at it, so she'll have a few pointers for you!

The train trip absolved itself by delivering us to Venice, undoubtedly the most unique city on Earth! Breathtakingly beautiful, incredibly cultural, and very easy to get around, Miss G definitely wants to spend more time in Venice, and has a whole post planned on what she did, what she learned, and what she'll do differently

next time!

After Venice was Florence, and visits to the Uffizi to see Venus and to L'acadamia to see David. Florence was another great city, and an art lover's dream. Photos, and even this reproduction, of Michaelangelo's David just do not do it justice to the real thing! He is truly beautiful, and so much larger and perfect than I ever realized!

And finally, a quick visit to Rome, just enough time to see the major sights from the street. This is another "go back" place for Miss G, since it was really just a quick overnight to position herself near the airport for her return crossing. It was enough time to tell that Rome is definitely THE European city to city if you only have time for one. As a place where history, culture, and hospitality come together, it can't be beat!

Now, the phone is already ringing, and work is calling, because I KNOW they are going to want me back a day early! What good does it do to plan a jet lag day if you don't get to take it?!

Checking in from Amsterdam!

Well, GingerSnaps, Miss G has made it to Amsterdam, and the city is a clean and beautiful as she remembers! It's such a great city for travel... no wonder is one of the primary gateways to Europe! From plane, to train, to hotel, all within 30 minutes...no cabs, no long walks!

After checking Miss G into the hotel and

dropping off her bags, our travelling trio head over to canal #3 to find the boat where Captain Bill and Aunt Tonya will be staying. It's right up the street from Miss G's hotel, and it's so cute! It has a little "patio" on the back right at the water level, so we'll have a GREAT view of the boats when the parade starts! This is a picture of the view from the little patio.

Yesterday, we sat out there through the late afternoon, sipping vodka and watching the sun go down. We made ourselves a little snack tray of meats, Dutch cheeses, and other treats, and drank, and gossiped, and waved at the boats till bedtime. What a great evening!

Last night was a great night's sleep, so Miss G a up and attem, ready for the parade! She's had a nice "English Breakfast" at the hotel, and she's got all her party gear ready to head over to the canal and take her place on the "patio". Happy pride, everyone!

Here She Goes... Again!

Tonight is repack night for Miss G. She arrived home after 2 nights in NOLA on business, and she has tonight and tomorrow AM to wash and repack before heading off to Europe for her annual trip across the pond!

She had so much fun last year at Amsterdam Pride that she has decided to return, and make this year bigger and better than ever!

On last year's trip the trio decided the only way to do it was on a canal boat, and we vowed in our drunken stupor that next year, a boat on the canal was the only to go! Lucky for Miss G, she sobered up the next day! Even luckier for her, Aunt Tonya and Captain Bill didn't, so, while she sleeps in her first class room at the Sofitel, the boys will be "roughing it" on their rented canal houseboat! But, for the parade, Miss G can put on that fabulous dress she made from the Minnow's sails and have a day of fun right on the canal! And the best news yet... even if a terrible storm blows across the canal, Miss G can just scramble up to the street in safety and not risk being stuck on a desert island with that lecherous Skipper or the lesbious Mary Ann!!

After a long party weekend and a full Monday to recover, the worldly Miss G and her companions will board the Artisia overnight train and head down to Venice, Italy, for a couple of nights of sightseeing and pasta, but mostly wine. As you know, Miss G LOVES her some Pinot Grigio, and she intends to scour Italy trying to find the very best!! After Venice, we'll spend a couple of nights in Firenze, and then on to Rome for a quick overnight tour before winging back to Texas!

She knows from experience that she can post from Amsterdam, and she's pretty sure she can upload from Italia, so you can look forward to lots of FABULOUS pics of our adventures!

Miss Ginger Bids Amsterdam a FABULOUS Farewell!

After a bit of travel consternation this morning, Miss G got her issues resolved and is ready to end her lovely vacation in Holland. As she went to check in for her homeward flights, she realized her stupid travel agent, Boy G, had booked WAAAAY too tight of a connection in Dublin for her to get home tomorrow. A 45 minute connection in an international airport is not gonna cut it. Trouble is, the flight to Dublin can't be changed. Aer Lingus is already oversold. And the European offices for Continental are closed on Sunday. Quelle dommage! Luckily, being the clever international traveller that she is, Miss G had brought along her internationally enabled cell phone for just such an emergency! She dialed back to the One Pass operators in the states and rebooked herself directly from Amsterdam, cutting Dublin out of the return altogether. Yes, she had to grab her ankles and pull out her credit card, but at least she won't have to stay in some Dublin Airport Marriott because she missed her transatlantic connection. C'est la vie!
Miss Ginger sadly says goodbye at the end of a FABULOUS few days in Amsterdam! She's actually been here once before, but got to see much more of the city this time and really developed a much better respect and appreciation for it! We started the day with breakfast near the edge of the famed "Red Light District", which really is not as seedy and gross as one might expect. Miss G also learned that the "XXX" that is Amsterdam's claim to fame is just sort of a strange coincidence- the early settlers used "XXX" to mark the harbor for boats and fisherman trying to find their way back, and it was adopted into the city's coat of arms long before the invention of film and the "porn" industry.

After breakfast we headed to the open flower market and oohed and ahhed over the tulips, orchids, and bonsais in all of the shops!

While we were browsing, we heard drums from the next block, and discovered an informal "parade" of latin dancers and drummers in the street. Low and behold, it turned out to be a block with several of the bars we had yet to visit, so we decided to stop in at "Soho" since Miss G was in need for a bloody!

After several. MeeMaw remined us we promised we would have lunch at "Burger Bar" so she could have a Kobe Beef hamburger. Damn, they were good!
After Burger Bar, we stopped back by the hotel for a package drop off, and then stopped by "Prik" for 5 euro cocktails. We sampled several from the menu, and met a cool guy from Boston who now lives in the Netherlands. He wanted all the scoop on American politics- he truly has become totally European! Why are they SO fascinated by our political system?!

After Prik. we wandered back to Soho (it was a long way!) and stopped into another club called "Arc" that was so ultraloungey it was too cool even for Miss G. It's been YEARS since someone charged Miss G to pee, and the music was that cheesy, monotonous, no-lyrics, ultraloungey dance shit that just drives Miss G apeshit, so we downed our overpriced beverages and headed 2 doors down, back to Soho. There was a better crowd there, but the real crowd was another couple of doors down at a place called "April". We couldn't figure out why the crowd was so huge outside of a bar 2 doors down from Soho, yet completey separate and distinct from the people outside of Soho. In New Orleans, our closest frame of reference, the crowd would have just sort of blended together, but not here!

After Soho we realized we have an early day of travel tomorrow, so we headed back to the hotel. Miss G discovered this fascinating store! Unfortunately, it was Sunday night, so the store was closed, but you can bet next time Miss G is in Amsterdam (and there will definitely be a next time) she will visit "Sissy-boy Homeland!"


Time to pack! See ya back in the States! Love to all!

A Few Pics...

Aunt Tonya has arisen and has almost pulled herself together for breakfast, so Miss G decided to take a moment to post a couple of pics of Amsterdam Pride from the last few days. First is a shot of the awesome crowds in and around the canal for the parade. This canal actually circles around the city center, so this scene was repeated for miles. Miss G hasn't had time to dig through the "weareproud.nl" website to determine the number of people viewing the parade, but it wouldn't surprise Miss G to find out it numbered around a million! If you dig around the website, click on the british flag for English. I guess the Brits do far outweigh the Americans here!

Next is the hottie who was hanging out with his pals in the boat right below us. As a teaser to keep you coming back to TFBOMGG, I will throw out there that Miss G has video of this hottie. Shirtless! Stay tuned!

And just so you know that we really were here, I present this shot of Miss G, Aunt Tonya, and MeeMaw. Though looking at the pics I realize that it could be taken just about anywhere in the world! And it was actually taken in Dublin! But we were so busy "oohing" and "ahhhing" at the parade it never occurred to us to snap photos of ourselves!

More later! Off to brekkie!

Miss Ginger has a FABULOUS Day of Dutch Pride!

Miss G can barely even figure out where to BEGIN to tell you about the FABULOUS day of Pride she had here in Amsterdam!! Miss G, MeeMaw, and Aunt Tonya got moving around 11am-ish, had a quick brekkie and then staked out a spot along the canal route, toward the beginning, not far from our hotel. Clever Aunt Tonya had thought to buy a bottle of Absolut at the duty free on her way in, so all we needed was a mixer to keep us flawlessly beveraged during the parade without having to scramble to find a bar, stand in line, etc. We discovered 2 liter bottles of Orangina, the yummy little orange fizzie drink you can only buy in the US at expensive cafes in little tiny bottles. So, we poured off the top of the fruit juice, replacing it with vodka, and made the yummiest drink ever! You really should try it!

Just remember, ORangina. A mistake could have tragic consequences!

Miss Ginger cannot BEGIN to describe the spirit, feeling, and atmosphere in Amsterdam on this very special day. The mood is exhuberant, and EVERYONE is partying, celebrating, and having a good time! The spirit is more like Mardi Gras than Gay Pride, in that EVERYONE is included, not just "the Gays". Anyone who is Gay or loves someone who is Gay should make a point to experience Gay Pride in Amsterdam at some point in their lives! It's unlike anything Miss G has seen elsewhere!

In talking about the positive mood, we realized that what sets Amsterdam apart is how extremely positive the attitudes seem to be. There is no mention of equal rights, or gay marriage, or fair treatment, or non-descrimination- those things are simply a given here. Many of the issues and controversaries that seem to dampen and polarize our American Pride celebrations simply don't exist here, leaving the people of the Netherlands to openly, loudly, and enthusiastically share their pride with the rest of the world!

We found a great spot along a railing at the end of a bridge crossing the canal that the parade would travel. Once we situated our selves, scoped out appropriate "facilities" (right around the corner!) and prepared our beverages, the parade began! And what a great parade! Miss G has almost 2 hours of video, which she needs to edit, crop, and combine, but she will try to get a little teaser for you together soon!

We also had the immense pleasure of having a boatfull of HOTTIES just below us, and Miss G has some great shots of that as well!

After the parade, we popped into our favorite little cocktail spot, Prik, just ahead of the crowd. Perfect! After polishing of 750ml of Absolut, we needed potties and toddies to keep the day going!

We had a couple of cocktails there, then headed

over to The Queens Head for more drinking and partying on the streets. The street was really crowded, and by this point Aunt Tonya was getting a bit "full", so we found a great spot in the back of the bar, with windows that overlooked the canals. By then the parade was over, and all the boaters and party barges were just crusing the canals, waving, drinking, and having a good 'ole time! From our perch in the window, MeeMaw and Miss G waved and smiled at the boaters and had fun trying to get them to wave and smile back at our camera. Video to come of that, also. Aunt Tonya practiced her Spanish on the Germans, and smoked a lot.

After a while the bartender made us close the window, and we decided we were hungry anyway, so we went to a little steak place that had a table available, and then headed back to the hotel for showers, disco naps, and costume changes. While Miss G is AMAZED that she wasn't drunker and more tired (how much IS 1 third of 750ml, anyway?!) she certainly would welcome a shower at that point, and a disco nap seemed like a good idea, especially if she had any intention of discoing any time this century.

We made plans to muster in the lobby at 11:45pm, then head over to "the Cockring" to ogle the crowd there. Miss G actually awakened and reported as planned, but, unfortunately, Aunt Tony apparently had been a tad overserved, and was down for the count. MeeMaw needed to stay at the hotel to take care of her, so Miss G decided to call it a night as well, giving her a chance to report in to you lovely people, and maybe do a little research on what kind of trouble we can stir up tomorrow! Meanwhile, I promise to catch up on your blogs and such some day real soon! Love to all!

Back to the Real World!!!

Miss Ginger had a great time in Ireland, and although she may have previously described her hotel there as "rustic" or "cozy", since checking into the Amsterdam Sofitel she will honestly say that it was a dump! She is SO HAPPY to be back in the lap of luxury with a huge room, fabulous toiletries, a cozy bathroom, and a WORKING INTERNET CONNECTION!!!! Back to the real world!

The trip here was gruelling. Although the Aer Lingus Airbus was nice enough, and it was only a two hour flight, Miss G was unable to get the richly deserved sleep she desired on the plane for numerous reasons. The extremely handsome members of the EUFA football team (that's really soccer, but Miss G is feeling tres continental!) that occupied the five seats behind her chattered insessintly (and loudly) in their native slavish toungue, and they giggled and cut up like high school girls. Miss G couldn't understand a word they said, but she's pretty sure they weren't talking about her extreme beauty. In addition, a small child about 6 rows back squalled the entire flight! Loudly! I kept thinking surely the poor dear would exhaust himself, but apparently he had too much sugar a breakfast so he had lots of energy. Thankfull I was in 1C so I was the first one off!

The first day in Amsterdam has been lovely. We caught the Drag Queen Olympics (Miss G is pretty sure she will be back to compete next year) and then did a bit of bar hopping. Miss G got just got back to the room a few minutes ago (2:30am local time) and she's planning on sleeping in tomorrow! More later, but I leave you with the "uncut" version of the opening ceremony from the Drag Queen Olympics!

Wanderlust...

Miss Ginger always gets Wanderlust this time of year, when the weather gets pretty and people start moving around a bit.

So she's putting her travel agenda together for the summer, and it's coming along nicely! Her first stop will be the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, known to most people as simply "jazzfest". Flights from Chicago, Newark, Cleveland, and Atlanta are cheap, so if anyone wants a guided tour, book the trip and Miss G will show you around the Big Easy!

Then she's headed to Vegas in May to meet up with her bubba for drinking, eating, and gambling, in priority order. He's great to travel with because he is perfectly content to nibble and sip our way through the city, with no agenda and no schedule. That's how Miss G like to travel. Maybe they will drag themselves down the strip in search of Shanel!

Then her big trip for the year, her "vacation", if you will, happens at the end of July when she jets across the pond to Ireland to see Dublin and to kiss the Blarney Stone.... or just to get blarney stoned. Maybe both will happen. And since she'll be across the pond anyway, she's booked an Aer Lingus flight (doesn't that sound like a disgusting lesbian sex act... aer lingus?) to hop over to Amdsterdam for their Gay Pride festival.

She's travelling with her co lieutenant and his handsome partner, and they have travelled together successfully before so it should be lots of fun.

The lesbians are dying to go to NYC so I promised we would book a weekend trip sometime soon- hopefully in May.

And of course Miss G never travels without laptop and digicam, so you can plan on enjoying the trip, too!