Recently I was lucky enough to be able to visit Berlin for the annual Snax sportswear fetish party.
While I was there, I made sure that I had a great place to stay for the night in order to get party-ready and to have somewhere to rest my head before taking the train home again. The Mövenpick Hotel in Berlin was the perfect answer. Since I knew I was going to be partying all night long on Saturday night, I booked Sunday night as well so I could get home from the club and sleep before taking my late-night train home.
The hotel is easy to find from several U or S-bahn stations in Berlin, or of course by taxi. The foyer is tastefully decorated and bright, furnished with comfortable sofas so that any time you might spend in the lobby is a pleasure.
The Mövenpick hotels have developed the perfect room for people like me who have a hard time sleeping when things aren’t perfectly dark. Especially true when coming home after a long nights party and the sun has been up for a while already. The ‘sleep’ room has full blackout curtains and comes with a little package of goodies to help you sleep which includes an eye mask, herbal teas, chocolates, and little stickers that you can use to cover the standby lights of the devices in the room. Apart from all that, is probably the room’s best feature: the adjustable king size bed. The bed is split into two large beds which each have an electronic control which adjusts the firmness of the mattress. With the push of a button, you can sleep on something as hard as wood, or sink down into the mattress and be enveloped into a plush world of warm. Add to that the pillow selection from a form given when you book, which lets you choose the firmness of the pillows in your room, and the room is sure to give even the biggest insomniac a good night’s (or afternoon’s) sleep. This bed alone was enough for me to fall in love with this hotel. Coupled with the black-out ability of the room, I can say I have never had such a restful nights/afternoon’s sleep in a hotel when travelling. It really was a pleasure, and I wish I had spent more time there.
Outside the room, the Mövenpick Berlin has a fully stocked cocktail bar and restaurant, as well as a buffet breakfast, which for me was a godsend after spending a few hours dancing at Snax. The best thing about Sunday morning breakfast is that it runs until 1 pm, so if you’re like me and like to spend all night out partying, you can safely return home to the hotel to get some food whenever you want.
The hotel staff are attentive and always ready to provide you with whatever you need. In my case, it was a lot of extra black tea and fresh milk, which I found waiting for me in my minibar upon my return from being out for the afternoon.
The Mövenpick hotel can be found on Schöneberger Straße, a short walk from the Anhalter S-Bahn station, or the Ubahn stations of Gleisdreieck, Mendelsohn-Bartholdy-Park, and Kochstrasse. Bookings can be made directly on the hotel website.
As more and more countries work to make PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylactic) available for an affordable price, we thought it would be a good time to look at the pros and cons of people taking PrEP. But first, let’s cover the basics for those who don’t already know what PrEP is.
PrEP is a drug that people who are HIV- can take in order to prevent HIV infection. It is important to note that PrEP is not a vaccine against HIV, meaning that if you stop taking the pills they stop protecting your body. It is also not a cure for HIV. People who already have HIV use similar medication in order to keep the virus in check, or at an ‘undetectable’ level.
There is a lot of recent research into the effectiveness of PrEP, mostly because each country’s government that has looked into the drug has run its own tests. In some cases, this has been the cheapest way for people to obtain PrEP, as study participants obtain the drug and associated tests free of charge. Below we’ll look at five things you should know about when using PrEP.
You should get tested for HIV and other medical conditions before starting PrEP.
It is also important to note that the required testing that should take place before and during the administration of PrEP are important. Firstly one should be tested for HIV to make sure that you are HIV negative. Taking PrEP while HIV+ may cause mutations of the virus that become resistant to PrEP. Markus Feser who works with Hamburg-based HIV community action group Hein & Fiete remarks that it is also important to have a general check-up before beginning prep, as it is possible that taking PrEP for extended lengths of time can lower your bone density. Other side effects may also include headache, abdominal pain, decreased weight, nausea, and diarrhea. Less common side effects include lactic acidosis, liver dysfunction, and worsening of Hepatitis B infection. Recent studies have shown that there is no issue taking PrEP in conjunction with Hep B medication, however.
PrEP might not be your best solution.
You might hear things like ‘everyone should be on PrEP’ but this might not actually be the case. Most community action groups, and the doctors at 56 Dean Street, advocate a more measured approach to the uptake of PrEP. While PrEP is the latest defence against the rising number of HIV infections, it is not the only defence. There are of course people who prefer to use condoms as their prophylactic of choice, and decide not to use PrEP. For others who are not yet sexually active, or are only sexually active with one committed partner, there is no need to take PrEP. Likewise, if you are only having sex with someone who already has HIV but is undetectable, there may also be no need for you to take PrEP. If you fall into the category of people who have sex with multiple partners, has sex in high-risk situations (chem-sex, bareback, darkrooms etc.) then you may want to take PrEP regularly.
You don’t have to take it every day.
Purchasing PrEP is often an expensive prospect – which is why participating in a study is the way that many people can afford to be on the drug. But recent studies presented at the European AIDS Clinical Society 2017 Conference in Milan that show that taking PrEP on an as-needed basis, two to twenty-four hours before sexual activity and daily until two days after the last contact, known as the ‘event-based method’, or taking the pill 4 days a week: on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday; known as T’s and S’s are also effective ways to protect yourself against HIV infection. This new information, along with grey-market ways to obtain the drug, have made taking PrEP a more affordable prospect. In the UK up to a 3-month supply can be ordered online without a prescription from various websites, for those in Continental Europe, many of these same websites deliver directly to a few countries. If your country isn’t in the delivery lists, some will deliver to a middle-man delivery company who will then deliver onward to you. These orders will often incur import/VAT duties when arriving in the UK, and middle-man companies will charge a fee to forward the delivery. From my own experience, this makes the pills about 50€ per month, if taken every day. Obviously, this cost can be brought down if using intermittent methods.
There are good reasons to take it.
If you’re like me, you think that sex without condoms feels better. I usually don’t enjoy sex with a condom – if I’m the top – and quickly lose my erection while putting a condom on (though I have other pills to help with that now too). I often have sex in club darkrooms, when I’m heavily under the influence of various things, and not asking about my partner’s sexual history, and I often don’t carry condoms at all, though I use them if I’m asked to by my partner and he has them. In these situations though, knowing that I am on PrEP means that I don’t have to be concerned about what I have done, or what I might have done that I have forgotten about during the party. The official line from most doctors and activists is that PrEP should be used in conjunction with condoms, as a safety-net in case the condom breaks or something else goes wrong. In these cases, PrEP provides a way of knowing for sure that you’ll be safe from HIV infection when having high-risk sex.
It doesn’t protect against other STIs.
An important thing to remember about PrEP is that it is only a preventative against HIV. It doesn’t offer any protection against other transmittable STIs. For this reason, many people choose to use condoms to prevent against other STIs when having sex. Whether you take PrEP as a preventative against HIV or not, if you are having sex in high-risk situations, you should make sure that you are being tested regularly. Since the introduction of PrEP around the world, many areas have reported that HIV infections have fallen, including London, New York, and New South Wales. While HIV tests have remained steady, new HIV infections have dropped in places where PrEP is readily available. This is not only attributable to PrEP, as better HIV medications mean that those living with HIV are undetectable and so cannot pass on the virus to sexual partners. Here’s a side benefit: because PrEP users are encouraged to get STI tests regularly – every three months – rates of other STIs, particularly gonorrhoea, are also falling as people are having them treated more quickly. This may also be due to better health information people who aren’t on PrEP are also getting tested more frequently.
When you’re deciding whether PrEP is right for you, there are plenty of places to find more information. London clinic 56 Dean Street have a helpful series of YouTube videos which outline some of the points made above.
If you want to get PrEP, and you’re in London, you can visit 56 Dean Street clinic, 10 Hammersmith Broadway, or Homerton clinics. The NHS Impact trial has participating clinics all over the UK. Click the link to search for a clinic near you where you can take part. Participating in the trial is free for those who are selected to take part. 10,000 participants are required for the trial, with clinics already open, and others opening intake soon.
For those unable to participate in the trial, or who are able to pay for PrEP themselves, check I Want Prep Now.co.uk to find out where to purchase it online. If you’re in the Republic of Ireland, a website has been set up to help you obtain PrEP online.
If you’re in mainland Europe, Dynamix can also provide tested and proven PrEP, delivered to the UK and Europe. If you live in a country where you cannot get PrEP delivered directly, such as Germany, Dynamix will deliver to a middle-man delivery company such as Borderlinx who will pass the delivery on to you for a fee. This is the process I use, and Dynamix and Borderlinx have not contributed to THEGAYUK.com for this referral.
Readers in Barcelona can now contact the first European community PrEP centre to get advice and support while considering or taking PrEP.
As with any medical treatment, you should always consult with your doctor, and make sure you make the right choices for yourself.
I’m not usually one for quiet weekends, for me, a quiet weekend usually means I didn’t go out Friday night but didn’t get home on Saturday night until Sunday afternoon. I had a weekend spare, and a friend of mine was having a birthday in Hamburg so I popped up and spent a couple of days touring the city on a surprisingly warm summer day, while still managing to fit in a night at a great club on the city’s party strip, the Reeperbahn. Aside from clubbing and meeting hot German boys, here are 4 things to do in Hamburg on a quiet weekend.
Take a harbour tour. The city of Hamburg is home to the largest commercial harbour in Germany, and the third busiest in Europe. Unsurprisingly, this makes it Hamburg’s largest tourist attraction. Most of the attractions of Hamburg can be found around the water, in fact, the water is almost everywhere: the city has more bridges than any other city in the world, with 2300 bridges within the city limits. While Hamburg is a very walkable city, and there is plenty to see when you travel around the city by foot, but there is nothing quite like taking a harbour tour and seeing it all from the water. The harbour boat tour company Barkassen-Mayer provides several boat trips throughout the day, and are easily found along the main harbour terminal near the Hamburg Hard Rock Café. The tour takes about an hour and takes you past several interesting features of the harbour, including military installations and the largest ships to be found in the port.
Take an open-topped bus tour with Red Double-Decker Busses.Like many cities, Hamburg has a hop-on-hop-off open-topped bus tour. The buses run all day long, and stops are all over the city. There’s even a helpful tour-guide to point out all the interesting things there are to see along the way. To make things easier, you can catch the bus at the main station, and take it down to the harbour to get the boat tour and continue the bus tour to another part of town. A perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon when nothing much else is happening.
Visit the Hamburg Miniature Wonderland. Not content with having the largest port in Germany or the most bridges in the world, Hamburg is also home to the world’s largest model railway. A really fun way to spend an afternoon – particularly on days when the weather isn’t the best for being outside.
Visit the Elbphilharmonie viewing platform. While bookings to get seats inside the brand-new Hamburg Phil are booked out until sometime in mid-2019, the open-access viewing platform is open to the public for free every day. Free tickets are available online or from machines at the entrance. These give you access to the 6th-floor viewing platform, which aside from providing a great view over the harbour, are also home to a number of great bars and restaurants which offer an excellent view with your dinner or drinks. After spending the weekend touring the city, a relaxing drink overlooking the harbour is the perfect way to wrap up a weekend in Hamburg.
While staying in Hamburg, you’ll need a convenient and well-appointed hotel. The Radisson Blu Hamburg Airport is a great option as it puts you a short walk from the airport, and is on the metro line that runs directly to the main station and on to the main party district of Hamburg city. The Radisson offers the level of comfort you expect from a high-quality hotel. The rooms are spacious and the large beds are comfortable and probably can give you a great night’s sleep – but whoever came to Germany to use a bed to sleep? They do however offer a great bar in the lobby, and the breakfast buffet is also excellent, with a wide range of options to suit all your needs. I’m a particularly big fan of the whole smoked salmon, but that’s just me.
The best way to get from A to B in Hamburg is the public transport system. Metro and buses run 24 hours to all parts of the city and there are handy machines at every metro station (including the one at the airport) where you can buy a Hamburg card which gives you unlimited travel on the HVV public transport system, as well as discounts on many museums, tours, and restaurants. Cards are also available online, can be purchased for groups of up to 5 people, and are valid for the day of purchase until 6 am the following day.
At the beginning of the German Summer, I had the pleasure of visiting the city of Dresden for the local Pride Festival, known locally as Christopher Street Day (CSD) after the street in New York which is home to the infamous Stonewall Hotel.
I caught up with local fashionista Mister Matthew, to discuss being a male fashion blogger in a small city in Germany. Mister Matthew’s blog (in German) is a great source of fashion advice for men wanting to give their wardrobe a bit of European flair.
Aaron Holloway: Why did you decide to make a fashion blog?
Mister Matthew: I always liked to show myself on the internet. But one day, social media was not enough anymore. My boyfriend taught me the idea of creating a place on the internet, where I can do whatever I want, where I can be the boss, the leader. He created a website for me and thought me some things about web hosting. Since that day, it was in May 2014, I have my own Blog. To write about the topic of fashion was quite clear because I always loved to dress myself up. I spend hours and hours with choosing the right piece of clothing. So I made fashion and style the main topics of my Blog. But there are a lot of more things that I am talking about, just like cosmetics, travel, lifestyle, events and so on.
AH: What makes your blog different from others?
MM: There are so many female fashion blogger in the scene it is almost scary. As a male fashion blogger, I am a bit more unique, which I like. I do not like to compare myself too much with different bloggers, but if I have to, I need to say that I make a painting for every outfit that I show on my blog, which is quite unique. With my blog and my fashion, I always try to be political or maybe provocatively. For example last year I showed a burka experiment on my Blog, which was quite crazy.
AH: Is Dresden a fashion city?
MM: Not really, no. I like the architecture and the sense of art from the city. Dresden is a really nice place to live, but not a fashion city. In relation to London, Paris and Milano, Dresden is just like the people never ever heard of something more than just basic-fashion. Sometimes it’s quite depressing, sometimes It’s good because I can be more unique that way.
AH: What is your favourite item of clothing?
MM: My favourite item of clothing is a huge, heavy, beautiful coat. I just love autumn and winter, because I love the fashion in it so much. I could not live without a real good coat. It always looks nice in combination with leather shoes.
AH: What would you say is the best part of your job?
MM: The people. My Blog/my job brought me together with so many beautiful people, just like you. Writers, readers, photographers, designer, blogger… the list is endless. I just love to meet or get in contact with people because of my Blog. There have been so many in the last 3 years, it’s insane. I meet the most people because of my Blog at Fashion Weeks or Events.
AH: What is the best Fashion Event to travel to?
MM: I think it depends on what kind of fashion and what kind of events do you like. Some people like it bigger, some people like it smaller. For me, Berlin Fashion Week was the best Fashion Event for me to travel to. But I am pretty sure, there will be different events in the future that I’ll like more.
AH: What is the best perk of being a blogger?
MM: The benefit I like the most is the fact that I am able to manage my time by myself. I do not have a boss or something. I do not have a strict work plan. That is quite refreshing and after 12 years of school just really cool.
AH: Are you given the clothes you feature on your blog or are they personal items that you love?
MM: It’s a mixture of both things. I show a lot of things that I bought for myself, of course. But I also get featured with fashion from different labels and designers. To be honest: I really love it to get fashion for free, because I love fashion so much. And at the end of every month, my money is empty because I freaked out at the shop around the corner.
AH: What advice would you have for people interested in being a blogger?
MM: Just be yourself and please: be as much as creative as possible. I think the blogger scene could need a little bit more of creativity.
AH: Where can we see more of Mister Matthew?
MM: On my Blog, of course, or at the German television series “Diktator”, that aired a few months ago on German Television.
If you, like me, are always looking for an excuse to soak up the sun, regardless of it being summer yet or not, look no further than the sunny Croatian peninsula of the Istrian region.
Pula is the main centre and on the edge of the water lies a large resort complex run by Park Plaza. I had the pleasure of staying at the Park Plaza Arena Pula, which is a beautifully built new resort complex nestled among the trees, right at the water’s edge. The resort has 175 rooms, which are beautifully appointed with large comfortable beds, spacious bathrooms, and balconies you can sit in to enjoy the sun. At Arena Pula you have the option of waterside or park side rooms, either side gives you a wonderful vista across the peninsula. For those with a little more pocket money, or just in need of a little more space, you can splash out for the penthouse suite, a favourite of celebrities that come to Pula to perform. Or the newly build garden suites which include two bedroom, two bathroom suites and a large patio or balcony, depending if you’re on the ground or level one.
Park Plaza Arena Pula, Croatia:
Prices from £101(EURO 117) per room per night, based on two people sharing a standard room with breakfast.
Price inclusive of VAT. Tourist tax not included: daily 1,00 Euro per adult and 0,50 Euro per child (12-18)
To book, visit: www.parkplaza.com/croatia
Once you have settled your luggage, the resort facilities offer a pool, access to the Adriatic Sea via a small beach directly in front of the hotel, a spa and massage service (extra fees apply), I highly recommend the Gold Massage, where you are luxuriously pampered as you are massaged with gold-infused oil. The massage left me feeling very relaxed and shimmering with a golden sheen that lasted all afternoon. Also available in the facilities in the resort are a small gymnasium, which is open daily, and a comfortable foyer bar and terrace where you can enjoy drinks as you soak up the sun’s rays. The bar has a more than competent staff, and a decent cocktail list. They can also whip something up for you should you so ask.
The resort also provides a buffet breakfast and dinner, and an a la carte lunch. While we visited, we were able to sample some wonderful local style foods, which take their influence from the rich history of Croatia, particularly Pula, which has at times been controlled by the Romans, Venetians and Austria-Hungary. This gives their food a wide range of influences, not least of which is the use of locally pressed olive oils in pretty much everything, as well as an excellent, and award winning local wine industry. Each of our courses on this trip were coupled with a different local wine, chosen to suit the food we ate.
While in Pula, travel further afar from the resort area to the local sites. In Pula city, you will find the ancient Roman amphitheatre, which you can explore as a tourist. The building is mostly destroyed, though there are still some seats remaining, as well as an exhibition of an ancient olive oil press that once ran underneath the complex. If you are in town at the right time, you can enjoy the arena as a functioning entertainment stadium. Throughout the year the stadium hosts the opening night of the Pula International Film Festival (July) and the opening night of the local music festivals which continue throughout the summer months in various abandoned Venetian fortresses which surround the city. Outside of the festivals, the fortresses can be visited to look at and wander around, but not to enter. The Old town in Pula boasts several squares where one can enjoy a coffee, or many local stores.
If you’re staying in Pula at the Park Plaza Arena Pula, I suggest hiring a car so that you can explore the local areas. One of which is Fažana, a local sea-side village, from where you can take a short ferry ride to the Brijuni National Park. Here you can take a ‘train’ ride tour of the islands, where you get a trip through the zoo, populated with animals that were mostly given as gifts to the President of Yugoslavia. The President, Tito, had a summer residence on the island, which is now used by the President of Croatia, and visiting dignitaries from other countries. My advice would be to visit the island in the morning, as school trips and the majority of tourists head over in the early afternoon. We returned on the 1 pm Ferry to Fažana, where we found the village mostly empty of tourists, as they had all been on the return ferry. We enjoyed lunch at the Stara Konoba, where we were treated to several local specialities, including Boskarin (ox meat) and sardines cooked in more ways than there are numbers. This was again accompanied by a selection of local white wine.
Once in Fazana, you can take an hour or two and enjoy an olive oil tasting session with one of the local producer. I enjoyed the olive oil of Balija a small local producer, one of the few managed by a woman. She and her team produce only 2000 bottles of olive oil per year.
Getting there: Jet2.com – Stansted-Pula Leading leisure airline Jet2.com offers friendly low fares and great flight times to Pula from London Stansted Airport, with flights operating up to two times per week. Jet2.com also flies to Pula from Edinburgh, Leeds Bradford and Manchester Airports. Fares from Stansted Airport to Pula with Jet2.com start at £25 one way including taxes. Fares from Edinburgh Airport to Pula with Jet2.com start at £25 one way including taxes.
While Pula is a small city, of about 85,000 people, during the summer it comes alive with the hundreds of thousands of tourists who arrive to enjoy the many natural delights. During the summer the small city entertains 2 million overnight stays. There are of course a number of bars and clubs that are available to enjoy, long into the morning. While we were there, we found a little bar called the Shipyard, Pula’s newest bar. Filled with the young people of Pula, attentive bar staff and a DJ to play music, it is a great place to take in a few drinks.
Back at the resort, if you’re interested in exploring various local things, the hotel can arrange a culinary experience, where you can learn how to make some local pasta, which you can enjoy as a side to your next meal. For guests at the Park Plaza hotels, the hotels guest relations people have a large range of activities that can be organised at the front desk of the hotel. These include information about places around the Istrian region that you can drive to with your rental car or towns you can get to by taxi for short excursions. The Histria hotel also has a 300msq gym, an indoor heated pool and a large spa/massage centre which can be booked by guests of that hotel. In addition, a yacht club restaurant is open to the public to enjoy a great selection of local food and excellent cocktails right on the waterfront.
Not far from the Histria hotel is the Ribarska Koliba restaurant. A local seafood restaurant situated directly in the marina. Here you can try some truly wonderful locally sources seafood, prepared freshly each day. The new chef recently hired at the restaurant has created a menu that is rooted in the local cuisine of Istria with a modern twist.
Getting there: Jet2.com flies directly to Pula from Stanstead, Edinburgh, Leeds Bradford, and Manchester. Flights from Stanstead leave at a bright and early 8am, so you might want to stay at or near the airport. Holiday Extras offers a choice of UK airport hotels that can include your holiday parking along with lounges at all major UK airports.
A night’s stay at an airport hotel is the perfect way to get your holiday off to a hassle-free start. Holiday Extras offers a choice of UK airport hotels that can include your holiday parking along with lounges at all major UK airports so you can start your holiday in style. Hotel room at Stansted Airport from £55.00. To book, visit www.holidayextras.co.uk or call 0800 1313 777
She’s a DJ, a singer, and a French Big Brother celebrity. You may remember her famous tune ‘Soundwaves’ from back in 2009. The catchy Dance song was signed in 27 countries including Ministry Of Sound for the UK, reaching number 4 in the Italian Charts and no. 16 in France. She had even won the prestigious Eurodanceweb Award this year, an honour shared with Basshunter (2006), Ultrabeat (2007), Inna (2010) and Milk Inc (2012). The voluptuous blonde ended up on magazine covers countless times and dated famous soccer player Toifilou Maoulida for some time, before taking a break from her music career.
in 2017 she’s BACK and not just with one exciting project, but two!
First of all, she’s teaming up with DJ/Producer BLUE ME (aka Manuel Blanch). Together, they are starting a worldwide club tour. “Blue Me is an incredible DJ, I’ve always loved his track Airwave 99 and his wild energy on stage. We’ll be the perfect combination I’m sure: we’ll both be behind the decks, and he can also play a synthesizer on stage while I can sing live. We won’t be a boring DJ duo, that’s for sure!”. They have recently been posing for the talented photographer Joel Dart (L’Oréal, Puma, Elle Magazine). Here are the sexy results below as well as their deliciously exhilarating official mix!
And finally, she’s also back with a brand new single titled “All Your Love” that should be released soon. The song was composed and produced by an LA-based music team behind the making of hit singles for superstars Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and Justin Bieber. The Radio Edit of the song has just been finalized and remixes are being made at the moment. Of the song, Be says: “All Your Love is a perfect summer tune with catchy lyrics, that will get stuck in your head! I’m extremely happy to finally come back with this amazing song. We’ve been working so hard on it, and I’m confident it will be worth it.”
We’re really excited to break the news of this project, and having heard a short clip of Angie Be’s new track we’re sure it’s gonna be a massive club hit! We hope to be able to bring you the full track as soon as it’s officially released!
Madrid, Spain – this year for the New Year’s celebration my boyfriend, I and a few friends travelled to Spain to check out the WE New Years Eve Festival.
CREDIT: Aaron Holloway
The WE circuit dance party is one of the biggest brands in the world, hosting parties in Spain, Germany, UK, and America. The party in Madrid is WE on its home turf. Madrid is known for its party lifestyle and the plethora of clubs the city offers makes it the perfect home for a week-long dance festival. We attended two of the parties, the Matinee theme night (Matinee has its home in Ibiza) and the main WE party on New Year’s Eve which was held at La Riviera, a massive club that could well be described as the home base of WE Madrid.
In true Spanish style, the clubs don’t get really going until around 1 am, but after that they are jam packed full of hot guys and occasionally girls looking to dance the night away. One thing can be said for the WE parties: they are excellently managed. The lines to get in are kept moving at a good pace so you’ve got more time to enjoy the party rather than stand outside, the coat check staff were quick and efficient, and the bars, which use a ticket system that I’m not personally a big fan of, were fast and the clubs are arranged to have lots of large bars so that you don’t spend most of your night waiting in line for a drink.
As is to be expected, the music is excellent and provided by some of the world’s best DJs including GSP and Phil Romano. On New Year’s Eve we were even provided with a couple of attractive hosts to help us count down to midnight when we partook in a glass of prosecco and the traditional 12 grapes on the strokes of midnight.
Madrid is host to many excellent gay events, not only the WE New Years Festival but also the WE summer festival which happens during the Madrid Pride week.
In 2017 WE Festival is one of the sponsoring events at World Pride in Madrid at the end of June. Having attended Pride, or Orgullo to the locals, two years ago and having an excellent experience at both the clubs and pride events which take over the city’s gay area Chueca, one can be certain that World Pride hosted by Madrid is going to be one hell of a party. Keep an eye on their website for details and ticket sales.
Aaron attended the WE New Years Festival as a guest of WE Party Group
Earlier this year I had the pleasure of attending this year’s Hustlaball Gay Porn Awards at the Kitkat Club in Berlin. While staying in Berlin for the weekend, I had the pleasure of staying at the Art’Otel Berlin Mitte. The hotel is one of a chain of hotels around Europe that specialise in featuring a particular artist in the décor of the hotel building. The Berlin Mitte art’otel features German artist Georg Baselitz throughout and has been recently renovated giving the hotel a fresh contemporary feel.
All 109 rooms and suites, as well as the entrance, lobby and reception, have received an inspiring new look, featuring new bathrooms, modern beds and bold furnishings, with the design encompassing Georg Baselitz’s use of wood with metallic, Gold and Copper themes. In addition, the grey walls in the public areas, combined with the famous Baselitz paintings provide a striking new feature, whilst the elegant furniture, such as the comfortable armchairs, alongside the seven-metre sculptural concrete seat, gives the hotel its very own unique touch.
Since its original opening in 1997, art’otel berlin mitte has displayed a permanent exhibition with 328 works by Georg Baselitz. From large pictures to smaller charcoal drawings, each room includes a painting, an etching or a graphic of his work. Baselitz focused early on deformations, the power of the subject, and the liveliness of the colours, which has been brought to life within the hotel’s renovation.
The hotel features a number of rooms of different sizes, from the spacious twin rooms through to XL Suites which have a king size beds, a two-seater sofa that pulls out into a double bed, and a few have access to the balcony that looks out towards the Berlin Cathedral and the Museum Island.
Check in is a breeze with the numerous and friendly staff, and they are on hand to help you with whatever you need at any hour of day or night. Even if you come back from the club and realise you’ve left your key in the room at 3 am.
Before getting your night started, you can enjoy a drink or dinner at the Upside Down Bar in the foyer, where every Friday night there is a live DJ playing from 6 – 10 pm. The Upside Down Bar is so named in reference to Baselitz’s painting style which was largely upside-down images, while the menu is inspired by various Mediterranean sources. Other than the Friday night events, on the 2nd Thursday of each month the DJ plays from 5-8 for after work drinks, and on the last Wednesday of each month you can come along and take in a cocktail making masterclass for 25€, or if you’re not like me, and are actually getting out of bed on Sunday morning instead of in it, you can go along for Sunday Funky Jazz Brunch from 11 am to 2 pm on the 2nd Sunday of each month for just 20€.
Art’Otel Berlin Mitte is located next to the Märkisches Museum Ubahn station at Wallstrasse 70. It’s easy to find either by taxi or public transport as it is centrally located, and sits next to the Australian Embassy building. The Berlin Mitte art’otel features rooms starting at 134€ per night though readers of TheGayUK.com can save up to 20% by booking 30 days in advance through the following link: www.artotels.com/offers/5692590
Aaron stayed in Berlin as a guest of Art’otel Berlin Mitte.
We sent brave Aaron Holloway to get waxed. Firstly we wanted to know how much it hurt and secondly we wanted to know what it was like to have a perfect stranger fiddle about with your junk.
CREDIT: Dmytro-Sidelnikov-bigstock (FILE PHOTO)
Looking for that “perfect” no hair look – then a professional wax might just be the ticket.
It was a surprisingly sunny morning in London when I arrived at the Chelsea office of Wax in the City.
The front desk assistant was especially friendly, helping me with a place to store my many bags since I had just arrived from the airport. Wax in the City has a drop-in style service, so you don’t need to bother with an appointment, and the wait time was short when I arrived.
I had just enough time to catch my breath and have a nice cold, albeit super wanky lemonade at a local café (where I was later informed the real housewives of Chelsea – apparently that’s a thing – meet for brunch or whatever) before I was called in to see my expert ‘Depiladora’ (Wax in the City’s own word for their hair removal experts).
My Depiladora was a very friendly young lady, who made me feel very comfortable before leaving the room so I could undress and lie on the table. I was there to have my back waxed, so I wasn’t expecting it to be too painful. The process used by Wax in the City was different to my previous experience with waxing strips. Here they use a larger patch of hardening wax, which is removed after a few minutes of cooling. This process allows for larger areas to be waxed than cloth strips, and this means less time, and less pain overall. I was informed that they use different waxes for different areas, so if you have a more sensitive region done, you may have another type of wax applied.
During the process we chatted about what she was doing to me, and how long she’s be working there. I got the feeling that I was the only chatty-Cathy because there seemed to be a lot of silence coming from the other booths in the salon. Perhaps we were alone, or maybe women just don’t like to chat while they’re having hair ripped out of their naughty-bits. Who knows.
After only about 30 minutes my back was ready to go and I was brushed off and given a few care tips to look after my newly bare back.
Waxing offers a few benefits over shaving in that the regrowth is much longer coming in, and is also softer than shaving stubble. I did notice a slight amount of itching about 3-4 weeks later as the hair began reappearing on my back, but this soon passed and was not as irritable as shaving stubble. The other obvious benefits are that the waxed area is hairless for much longer than shaving, and never has the feeling of dry sand when running your hand over the regrowth when it does come in. The pain is minimal, and worth the results.
Wax in the City in London can be found at 370 King’s Road in Chelsea, SW3 5UZ, and is close to transport stops. They are open every day from 10am to 8pm, except Sundays when they are open from 12 – 5pm.
Not so brave but want to try waxing at home – we’ve got some advice for waxing your bum and your sack.
The newest Hilton Hotel in Dublin is the recently acquired Hilton Garden Inn at Customs House. Situated on the river, on the edge of the financial district, the hotel is easy to find from the airport as well as being conveniently situated for shopping and dining.
The hotel boasts 239 spacious rooms, each with a 40-inch TV screen and mini-bar. The minibar can be stocked easily from a large selection of items at the ‘pavilion pantry’ in the foyer 24 hours a day.
The professional and helpful hotel staff are able to assist you with finding your way around town, though public transport choices are also easy to find near the hotel, with local buses stopping just outside the main door, and the tram system running along the street behind. To help you sort through the many dining options the city has to offer, there is a Dublin Dining magazine including all the restaurants in the city and a map showing their locations.
The hotel itself is a short 20 – 30-minute walk from most of the inner city areas such as Temple Bar, Grafton Street (Dublin’s most famous shopping street), EPIC Ireland museum is within 5 minutes’ walk, and much of Dublin’s main shopping areas are within 20 minutes.
The rooms themselves are spacious with a large comfortable bed, television screen with multiple channels from both Ireland and the UK. The bathrooms are bright and well appointed.
The hotel is a short walk from the majority of Dublin’s gay bars, of which there are a few to choose from, with The George being the only one open past 12pm every night of the week with live drag acts, however it is simple enough to order an Uber and get there quicker for about 5 euro.
It’s a quick cab ride to the area of Temple Bar, where you can find hundreds of restaurants of various styles and varieties. It’s a good idea to check the traffic situation as mid-to-late afternoon traffic runs peak hour right past the hotel, and it might actually be quicker to walk.
To find out more about the hotel, or to make reservations, visit their website.
Age: 25 Lives in: Paris Eye colour: Blue Favourite drink : A (Double 😉 ) Mojito Bull. Favourite food : Alternating between delicious healthy food and super-fattening filling fast food. Favourite place to go on holiday : I don’t like to go to places “on holiday”, I like to go to places for work 😀
Paris, France – I first met Manuel earlier this year in Nice at the Queernaval celebrations. At that party, he was dressed in an impossibly tight t-shirt with a large set of angel wings strapped to his back. He was there to be the poster boy, lead of the parade and to play a few tracks to the crowd. He would later play a full set at one of the local nightclubs. Fast forward a few months and I find out that Manuel is now playing fairly regularly at Paris’ largest gay club Gibus (Jee-boos). I decided to go along, check out the night and explore some of Paris’ nightlife.
We met Saturday night, before the party at a little cafe restaurant in the Republique square in Paris, along with his very good friend, French singer Angie Be. Blanch began mixing a few years ago in Marseille in the south of France but soon decided that he would need to be in Paris if he was going to go pro and be a full-time DJ. Since making the move he has been featured in France’s largest LGBT magazine Garcon, appeared in Nice at the Queernaval, and had a short residency at Nice nightclub Le Six. He is also a regular DJ at Gibus. The night I visited, he was the final DJ to end the night for their Heros XXL event which was a massive 10 hours of clubbing in Paris’ gay district.
Blanch’s style is described as Trance – a mixture of solid base beats and remixed dance tracks by performers like Sia and David Guetta. His sound is a happy, upbeat blend of seamlessly mixed tracks that matches his sunny and always enthusiastic personality, and had the crowd at Gibus dancing until nearly 10am. His musical influences include the 2001-2004 period and German and Belgian dance and trance projects.
CREDIT: Aaron Holloway
Strikingly beautiful, Blanch gathers followers whenever people see him or hear his music, which attests to the large groups of screaming fans when he took to the decks in Gibus Sunday morning at 7am – fans who had waited all night to hear him play.
For those of you in London, you don’t have to travel so far or wait that long to see and hear Manuel for yourselves. He will be appearing at the Mighty Party, an upcoming tea dance in London, this December. Despite the cliché, Blanch hopes to score a gig in Ibiza soon, but in the meantime, I’ll be heading across to Dresden next week to hear him play there on the 20th at the Gaynight Pool Party at Puro, and he’ll also be appearing at the Sinners Party in Munich in October.
To hear Manuel now check out his soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/manuelblanch
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