Ravi Round the World’s LGBTQ+ Pride Survival Tips
Vacationer connects with Ravi Round the World for some of his Pride Survival Tips as the world returns to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community with large-scale festivals and parades again.
LGBTQ+ Pride celebrations are scheduled throughout the year, but most local queer communities in large and small cities or towns gather for parades, parties, protests, and more between May and August. At least that’s according to Ravi Roth also known to most as Ravi Round the World.
With one season of Ravi’s Road to Pride under his belt, the boisterously fun traveler has his bags packed to visit more Pride events across the country and abroad. So, we thought we’d catch up with Ravi to get his advice about pre-Pride planning, survival tips for newbie queer revelers, and some of his favorite Pride celebrations and recommendations.
It’s Basic But Get the Details Before You Go
If you’re planning a trip to attend a Pride celebration, there’s probably a website that will provide more details about scheduled events, dates, times, and more. “Surprise! Pride is not just a parade. There are conferences, human rights forums, dance parties, street festivals, art gallery exhibitions, and LGBTQ+ activism talks,” said Ravi. “I know this is really basic, but there is a lot that goes into a Pride celebration and every event is completely different. So, it’s not like you can prepare for New York City Pride the same as you would for Dallas Southern Black Pride. Do your research before you go and find out what specific events speak to you.”
Don’t Bring a Backpack and Don’t Rely on a Fanny Pack
Consider purchasing a lightweight backpack similar to the photo below. Toting around a large backpack isn’t exactly the best option when navigating through a dense crowd. And a fanny pack isn’t big enough to keep the essentials you may need during the course of the day. Ravi shared his go-to list of items needed during a day-long celebration or back-to-back events:
- Full water bottle to stay hydrated
- Sunscreen to protect your skin during the long outdoor events
- Hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes because we’re still living in a world of COVID
- External charger to keep your phone powered up to capture those fab Instagram pics
- Harness or jockstrap if you’re attending one of “those” parties
- Clack fan because you never know when you’re going to need it
What First-Time Revelers Should Know About Pride
Ravi admits that Pride celebrations and events can be a bit overwhelming to queer newcomers. “There are going to be the most amount of gays than you’ve ever seen in a tight space. So, be prepared for that and know that you don’t have to do everything. Pace yourself because it’s going to be a long day and, in some places, it’s a long week.”
The Instagram phenom said, “You should also determine why you’re going. Is your goal to party? Are you going to protest? Everyone has a different mission, so what’s important to you?” He goes on further to explain that your reason for attending doesn’t have to be that deep because, at the end of the day, “Pride is a protest and Pride is a celebration. There’s no shame in how you want to celebrate or participate.”
Instead of going to a parade, you can opt to go to a street fair, which can be really fun, especially if you enjoy people-watching or it may provide you with an opportunity to find a potential boo IRL and not via a dating app. Again, street fairs are great alternatives for people who don’t want to go to extremely crowded parades in big cities, such as Madrid or New York City.
Ravi’s Recommendations for Must-Do Pride Celebrations
So, as we mentioned before, Ravi’s Road to Pride highlights the queer traveler’s visit to eight different cities for Pride last year during the pandemic. He offered up his shortlist of Pride recommendations, starting with Greater Palm Springs Pride, which usually falls on the first weekend in November.
“The most organized Pride I’ve ever been to is in Palm Springs. It was tight and super fun! The parade started on time, and everything was organized. The street vendors had their specific spots. It was not mayhem; it was like organized chaos,” said Ravi. “All the bars had parties on the street. It was just a super-organized Pride. They know their shit; they’ve been doing it for years.”
He’s also excited about New York City Pride because of its “Unapologetically Us” theme this year. “New York City is just insane in the best way possible. They really get it in terms of the diversity. Every Pride wants to be like, ‘I’m diverse and wants to throw things back to the homage of trans people created rights for us,’ but then on all their posters it’s white people,” he said. “This year NYC Pride will feature some of the most incredible people who are pioneers in New York City, including some up-and-coming LGBTQ+ activists and leaders that have a disability or are nonbinary, trans, Black, Brown, and Asian – I mean it’s really inclusive.”
He may be a little biased because he lives in New York City, but Ravi believes the programming for NYC Pride will offer queer locals and visitors a variety of diverse events to attend such as a Juneteenth Brunch, a Human Rights Conference, a two-day music festival, Youth Pride, and an avant-garde queer party in Brooklyn at the same time as a circuit party on a rooftop in Manhattan. So, it really has something for everyone.”
More of Ravi’s recommended Pride events include Miami Pride because he believes it has the most solid programming outside of New York. “I was able to go last year, and it just blew my mind.”
World Pride happens every two years. He was able to attend World Pride hosted in Denmark cities – Copenhagen and Malmo. So if you’re looking for that same energy and scale, he thinks the 50th Pride in London will be epic this year.
“It’s not World Pride, but their 50th will be pretty close to what I expect will be an enormous gathering. And there is a large protest element to London Pride similar to what you see in New York.”
Ravi also said he likes to step outside his comfort zone and attend niche Pride celebrations. He plans to attend Dallas Southern Black Pride this year. “I’m excited about it. Last year, I was able to go to the Tri-State Black Pride. That’s where I fell in love with this idea of going to all these Pride events because they are so different. And at the end of the day, it’s a celebration, but there’s also an educational element in every mission for each Pride.”
Ultimately, Ravi wants queer people to get out there and travel as the world opens up again. He ends our Pride Survival Tips interview with a few inspirational words. “There’s no judgment on how you celebrate Pride. You are all entitled to see and celebrate Pride in an authentic way that’s personal to you. It’s your time to live out loud.”
Follow Ravi’s Pride adventures on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Who knows he may be visiting your city this year!
