BEST STAYCATION
W Dallas — Victory Hotel
2440 Victory Park Lane
214-397-4100
If you’ve never taken a staycation — or even heard of one — trust us: If gas prices continue to head the way they are, you will. A lot. Staycations allow you to get away without going away (and paying for travel). Crave a spa treatment, clean sheets every night, a breathtaking view of a miraculous city skyline, access to a swimming pool and fine dining without stepping outside? Then you’re talking about a few nights in the W Dallas Hotel in Victory Park. With Craft restaurant serving up top-notch meals and the notorious Ghostbar providing pulsing dance music and loads of delicious cocktails, it’s just like a vacation to WeHo or Lauderdale without the TSA agents performing a cavity search. Save that experience for your birthday.
— Arnold Wayne Jones
TOP SINGLES GET LAID
DESTINATION
Palm Springs, Calif.
It’s not in any official guidebook, but it’s probably a pretty safe assumption to say that Palm Springs has more naked gay men per capita than just about anywhere in the world. Home to tons of intimate gay resorts where clothing is almost always optional (except in line for the continental breakfast), it’s no wonder that people consider this one of the best places for singles to “have relations.” It’s a quaint little city where you not only don’t have to buy the milk, the cow will show you everything it’s got for free. And then some. Of course, even if your goal isn’t to get busy in the desert, Palm Springs is a great gay destination for anybody looking for plenty of sunshine, beautiful pools and scenic views in every direction. Just don’t be scared if there’s a nude man behind that cactus when you go to take your new profile pic for Facebook.
— Steven Lindsey
BEST SMARTPHONE TRAVEL APP
American Airlines
Travel tech junkies rejoice with the American Airlines app available for iPhone, iPad and Android to make flying easier — even fun. The app can be used for check-in, to review schedules and notifications, to access AAdvantage accounts, book flights and even act as a mobile boarding pass, complete with scanable code. It’ll even give you gate and seating information and track your spot on the standby list. American has made traveling as simple as a swipe and a tap. And for those with layovers and delays, it has you covered: The app features a Sudoku program to play while waiting for your group to be called.
— Rich Lopez
BEST PLACE TO TAKE
OUT OF TOWN GUESTS
Where the Cowboys Are
In announcing this selection, we aren’t referring to the kind of cowboy you’ll see wearing Wranglers and Stetsons and showing out every weekend dancing together at the Round-Up Saloon (although that’s a good spot for this category, too). Give your visitors a taste of real cowboy culture at the Fort Worth Stockyards, which not only has some dandy shopping (best place for boots and leather goods) and restaurants (Tim Love’s Lonesome Dove, for instance), but does a twice-daily cattle drive of Texas Longhorns, at 11:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Find out more about the Fort Worth Herd at FortWorth.com/TheHerd. They’ll even let you pick one out.
Or, for another kind of Cowboy-spotting, but one no less sexy, take them on a tour of Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. It got a lot of not-so-positive press attention when Super Bowl XLV was hosted there, but the facilities themselves are pretty amazing, despite the seating issues for the big game. It’s also a monument to hubris, and in our state, that’s not necessarily a bad thing: We are famous for boasting that everything is bigger here.
— Mark Lowry
BEST AIRLINE
American Airlines
ULTIMATE DOMESTIC LGBT
DESTINATION • TIE
San Francisco
New York City
Provincetown, Mass.
ULTIMATE INTERNATIONAL
LGBT DESTINATION
Puerto Vallerta, Mexico
TOP COUPLES ROMANTIC GETAWAY
Cross Timber Ranch Bed & Breakfast
6271 FM 858, Ben Wheeler, Texas 75754
903-833-9000
CrossTimberRanch.com
BEST WEEKEND GETAWAY
Austin
BEST LGBT CRUISE COMPANY
Atlantis Cruises
AtlantisEvents.com
BEST ONLINE TRAVEL SITE
Orbitz.com
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition March 18, 2011.
