Slovenia & Croatia

May 2, 2005-You’re Going Where?
(Photo:Traveling companions)

It has been a long time since we’ve traveled abroad. It’s good to be in touch with you all again. We’re now in Washington, D.C. where David is attending a national PFLAG (Parents, Families, & Friends of Lesbians and Gays) board meeting. On May 3, we leave from Dulles Airport for a trip to Slovenia & Croatia. Why there, you might ask? It started last summer when we were in Washington, D.C. with our friends, the Bruces, from Australia. We met with our friend Judi who lives here in D.C. I’ve known her since 6th grade & we roomed together for a while in college. She asked if we’d be interested in taking a trip to Slovenia & Croatia. She’d traveled with Grand Circle Tours many times & they had trips to that area in the spring. We told her that we had no interest.

When we got home we realized we had no plans to go anywhere so looked on the GCT web site. The itinerary seemed intriguing & we signed on. We were later able to convince three people from Akron to join us. One managed to get his cousin to come too so we’re our own sub-group. My hesitation is that we’re a sub-group of forty people on one bus. That’s not the way we usually travel, but we’ll see.

Meanwhile, here we are at The Helix Hotel in D.C. It’s part of the Kimpton chain & is now a contributor to PFLAG. As soon as we walked into the lobby I said that this is the gayest hotel I’ve ever been in. Its art deco contemporary funk motif is carried out in outrageous colors & patterns. The chartreuse dresser mini-bar combo is eye-catching as is the striped futon & paisley ottoman. The king bed is tucked in an alcove behind sheer curtains with a black & white photo of a surfer dude on the wall behind it. There are two leopard pattern terry cloth robes for our use & a hotel guide called “getting it straight.”

Wouldn’t you know we met a couple from Lubjlana (sp) Slovenia in the lobby of our hotel today. I’ll try to keep you up to date as we begin to travel. Just wanted to give you an early heads up.

Toby