… impressed with me.

Perhaps it’s merely a matter of expectations after having lived in Istanbul, Turkey — where cats truly rule. Or maybe for some unknown reason there just are …

… having loved in past places we’ve visited, like Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; Split, Croatia; and Istanbul, Turkey.
What’s the difference between street art and graffiti? There’s definitely an …

… straight people might have about us.
But that’s complicated too. When we lived in Istanbul, Michael got to know the man who ran the bakery near our apartment.
In …

… to protect these groups.
Last year, conservative Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan withdrew from the Istanbul Convention – an agreement between 45 countries to better protect women from violence – after stating …

… a dipping sauce.
Empanadas in Malta, mango shakes in Thailand, Khinkali dumplings in Georgia
In Istanbul, I enjoyed a daily freshly squeezed orange juice, available on every corner, and Michael …

… accepting, as we saw for ourselves when we got tear-gassed during last year’s Istanbul Pride.
Back in America, the change is even more astonishing. The LGBTQ community has …

… public, while in Georgia, transgender women face high rates of discrimination, abuse, and murder.
In Istanbul, a young female friend felt so unsafe, she encrypted her email to gay friends …

… as we do?
Maybe, but maybe not. Because, sure, travel is partly about the locations. Istanbul is an objectively grand city, compared to all the others on Earth. Romania is …

… Bulgaria, where we had a nice two-bedroom apartment, our rent was $300/month. In Istanbul, Turkey, in one of the city’s trendiest neighborhoods, our apartment was $650/month …

… we’re about to start traveling again, picking up where we left off. Next stop Istanbul, Turkey.
Michael has been making the preparations: applying for a Turkish visa; scheduling COVID …

… confirmed administrators were being instructed to end any participation in the project. The art museum Istanbul Modern has been promoting the effort to comfort neighbors and children during the pandemic …

… a journalist and dissident from Saudi Arabia who, in 2018, entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul for paperwork and never left. News reports said that he was killed and dismembered …

… of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi with bone saws in a Saudi consulate building in Istanbul, Turkey, Trump said, “It could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge …

… anti-LGBTQ — with police using tear gas and rubber bullets to shut down the annual Istanbul Pride parade — criticism of the government and positive depictions of queer people are more …

… way, we’ve made shorter stops in cities like Lisbon, Barcelona, Geneva, Bologna, Rome, Athens, Istanbul, Florence, and literally dozens of other places.
We had lots of crazy adventures along …

… 2008 anti-marriage ballot measure, Proposition 8.
Back in San Francisco, Subhi, a man from Istanbul, says his first Pride in his home country involved violent protestors throwing bottles—the …

… pair were dedicated throughout the Byzantine Empire — some of which, like Little Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey — exist today.
Of course, many reported of their close friendship, placing them even …

… Gay Syria, is a crowdfunded project about Syrian refugees finding themselves far from home in Istanbul in an increasingly homophobic environment. Turkish director and former Al Jazeera reporter Ayse Toprak …

… was scheduled to arrive Saturday in Los Angeles on a Turkish Airlines flight departing from Istanbul. But his plans have been upended after U.S. officials reported finding “derogatory information …

… East.
A bombing at a Brussels airport in March and another attack in June at Istanbul‘s airport by gunmen with explosives killed a total of nearly 80 people. More …