The Essentials of Planning - Italy - page 585

Recommended publications offering travel resources and discounts for seniors
include the quarterly magazine Travel 50 & Beyond (www.travel50andbeyond.
com); Travel Unlimited: Uncommon Adventures for the Mature Traveler
(Avalon); 101 Tips for Mature Travelers, available from Grand Circle Travel
( % 800/221-2610 or 617/350-7500; www.gct.com); and Unbelievably Good
Deals and Great Adventures That You Absolutely Can't Get Unless You're
Over 50 (McGraw-Hill), by Joann Rattner Heilman.
FOR GAY & LESBIAN TRAVELERS
While Italy is a traditional Catholic country in many respects, it has become more
tolerant of homosexuality in recent years. That being said, aside from a few larger
cities like Florence and Rome, there isn't much of a gay “scene.” But Italy does
have a national support group, ARCI-Gay/Lesbica (www.arcigay.it), headquar-
tered in Bologna with “political and recreational” offices in 57 cities across the
country offering information and welfare services.
The International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association ( IGLTA; % 800/448-
8550 or 954/776-2626; www.iglta.org) is the trade association for the gay-and-
lesbian travel industry, and offers an online directory of gay- and lesbian-friendly
travel businesses; go to their website and click on “Members.”
Many agencies offer tours and travel itineraries specifically for gay and lesbian
travelers. Above and Beyond Tours ( % 800/397-2681; www.abovebeyondtours.
com) is the exclusive gay-and-lesbian tour operator for United Airlines. Now,
Voyager ( % 800/255-6951; www.nowvoyager.com) is a well-known San Francisco-
based, gay-owned and -operated travel service. Gay.com Travel ( % 800/929-2268
or 415/644-8044; www.gay.com/travel), is an excellent online successor to the
popular Out & About print magazine.
The following travel guides are available at many bookstores, or you can order
them from any online bookseller: Frommer's Gay & Lesbian Europe (www.
frommers.com), an excellent travel resource to the top European cities and resorts;
Spartacus International Gay Guide (Bruno Gmünder Verlag; www.spartacus
world.com/gayguide) and Odysseus: The International Gay Travel Planner
(Odysseus Enterprises Ltd.), both good, annual, English-language guidebooks
Staying Wired While Away
Internet cafes abound in the larger cities in Italy, and the amount of competition
helps keep prices down. Most hotels in Florence, Rome, and Venice will have at
least one “Internet point,” where guests can check their e-mail at no charge. Once
you get out of the larger cities, things change: Hotels charge for access, upwards
of € 10 an hour. And Internet cafes are few and far between—those that exist
charge higher ( € 3 for 30 min.) rates than cafes in the larger cities. The free wire-
less “hot spot” concept has yet to catch on in Italy, so don't expect to go to a
local coffee shop with your laptop and get connected, although Starbucks is mak-
ing some inroads.