OutThere Magazine #20 The Thailand Rediscovered Issue Vorige editie

Ten years ago, we came up with the idea to create a luxury travel publication that told stories about our world in an inclusive way, one that is all about diversity, discovery and discernment. We knew that our own community of LGBTQ+ travellers was looking for more, and so was a wider audience, who never saw themselves represented in the mainstream press and didn’t always feel celebrated or that they ‘belonged’ as they travelled the globe.

Having recently launched its ‘Go Thai. Be Free.’ diversity programme, the Tourism Authority of Thailand recognised that it shared our values. So, we partnered up to make the first-ever issue of the then OutThere/Travel, ‘The Amazing Thailand Issue’. To celebrate a decade in print, we’ve come full circle, again with its support, to showcase what amazing new chapters lie in store there.

We explore the concept of healing in our Topography section, where our Experientialists report back from Mexico and The Islands of Tahiti. We visit a hotelier couple, who – in a way that only OutThere folk can – straddle properties in Provence and Bali. And, on the theme of coming full circle, we revisit the first hotel we ever reviewed in NYC.

The past 10 years have taught us a lot. We’ve been so lucky to have seen so much of the world, and perhaps that’s why we understand why we are at such a loss when we can’t. There has been positive change: more understanding and empathy, more collectivism, love and hope, and we like to think that’s down to travel. But we’ve also learnt that we mustn’t rest on our laurels, because the freedoms we enjoy can easily be taken away, a sentiment poignant as we write this at a time of war and the risk from a growing tide of rightwing politics and nationalism on our doorsteps. Plus, so much of the world is in desperate need to recover socially and economically from the pandemic. So, get OutThere and see the world, if you can. It needs you.