For Immediate Release:
November 2002

TOTO TOURS -- Still Pioneers in Travel Industry
More Than One Decade Later

Chicago: Toto Tours, founded in 1990, recently unveiled its 2003 annual trip calendar to the delight of the nation's gay community (conservatively estimated at 18.5 million), and travel industry analysts around the world. In keeping with its mission to provide extraordinary small-group adventures, Toto Tours is offering eighteen thrilling trips to accommodate the varied and diverse pursuits of gay outdoor adventure travel enthusiasts. The 2003 Catalog of Tours offers something for everyone in the gay community.

Toto Tours has once again proven to be a pioneer in this competitive market by remaining innovative, while answering the evolving demands of gay travelers everywhere. Toto Tours' departure from the mainstream adventure travel offerings are reflected in five unique tours outlined in their 2003 annual trip calendar. These unusual adventure experiences, developed by the creative minds at Toto, are designed to attract and meet the specific and valid needs of often overlooked segments of the gay travel population.

These respective adventure tour opportunities are as follows:

• Swashbucklers: This sailing trip to the British Virgin Islands (Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Jost Van Dyke, Cooper and Norman Islands) is described as a tall-ship adventure for gay men who are willing to "rough it." "This adventure turns the traditional concept of a gay cruise on its ear," smiles Dan Ware, president of Toto Tours. Adventurers can look forward to "normal" cruise activities such as eating great food, suntanning on fabulous beaches, snorkeling, scuba diving, hiking, swimming, and sightseeing. "What makes this trip totally unique," says Ware, "is the fact that our classic ship is a sail training vessel without any of the frills. No dressing for dinner here! Come just as you are, even if you're not wearing much at all!" Participants enjoy a hands-on experience, participating in every aspect of sailing including hoisting the sails, raising the anchor, manning the helm and, for the real adventuresome, climbing the mast!

• Circle of Life: A classic African Wildlife Safari to Tanzania for every gay man ever inspired by the prose of Hemmingway or the high drama of the amazing creatures seen on TV's "Wild Kingdom." "No other place on earth has the absolute knock-out combination of Kilimanjaro, the Ngorongoro Crater plus the Serengeti. No other country boasts such a range of wildlife in so vast a setting as yet untrammelled by hoards of tourists," says Dan Ware of Toto Tours. The adventure of staying at a classic Serengeti tented camp (a la Karen Blixen), where throaty lioness vocalizations sing participants to sleep, is complemented by being pampered at some of the most astonishingly luxurious lodges on the Continent of Africa. This is a safari in the grand style of days gone by.

• Morning of the World: The idyllic island paradise of Bali, whose inhabitants are among the most peaceful in the world, is currently reeling from the impact of a terrorist bombing in October 2002. Dan Ware, President of Toto Tours, has decided to carry forward with a cultural outing to Bali centered around the exciting festivals leading up to observance of the Balinese New Year, and he plans to escort the tour personally. "There has never been a better time for gay men with a spirit of adventure to travel to Bali!" says Ware. "Tourists are avoiding Bali like the plague, and we're going to have the entire island and its wonderful people practically to ourselves!"

• Phoenix Rising: "I turned 18 during those terrifying draft 'lotteries'," says Dan Ware of Toto Tours, "and I drew a very low number that absolutely guaranteed I would have to fight in the Vietnam War. A student deferment carried me through the abolition of the draft, but the specter of what might have been has always haunted me, making Vietnam one of my personal roads not traveled -- until now." Ware will personally escort an in-depth exploration of Vietnam commencing Memorial Day weekend in 2003. He encourages gay Vietnam War Veterans to share their experiences during a tour that will commemorate their heroism and at the same time celebrate the new spirit now reinvigorating this beautiful country.

• Shangri La: "It is becoming harder and harder to find places on this earth with timeless, unspoiled natural and cultural beauty," laments Dan Ware, President of Toto Tours, "but we have discovered the perfect spot!" That place is Shangri La, a Tibetan minority region in the westernmost part of China's majestic Yunnan Province. It is just now being discovered by tourists in spite of the favorable exposure of James Hilton's book Lost Horizon. "At this point there are primarily Asian tourists and western backpackers, but it is so unbelieveably beautiful that it cannot remain untouched for much longer," says Ware. Toto Tours pushes the boundaries once again with the very first all gay expedition to this hidden region of ravishing beauty.