Who am I?
I’m Francesco Mevoli, the founder of Gay Up Travel — a boutique LGBTQ+ travel agency I started in 2021. I grew up in Italy and have lived in France, Germany and the UK, and traveled extensively across the rest of Europe and well beyond, from the Netherlands and Belgium to Morocco and Vietnam. I’ve spent the last ten years getting to know these places from the inside — not as a tourist, but as someone who lives here, speaks the languages, and has built real relationships with the people who make travel memorable. Gay Up Travel is a U.S.-registered company and a member of the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association (IGLTA), serving primarily North American clients.
Gay Up Travel began in 2021 as a UK limited company. Almost all of our travelers are in North America, so in February 2024 I moved the business to the United States, where it operates as Gay Up Travel LLC, and voluntarily closed the UK company at the end of 2024. Same founder, same work.
I built it because I wanted gay men to have what I always looked for when I traveled: a trip where nothing feels like an afterthought. Where the hotel genuinely welcomes you. Where every detail has been thought through by someone who understands what it means to be yourself, fully, on holiday.
I personally curate every itinerary, vet every partner, and stay available throughout your trip. You’re not dealing with a call center — you’re dealing with me.
PHILOSOPHY
Travel as you are
The best trips are the ones where you never have to think twice about holding hands at dinner, asking for a double bed, or simply being who you are in public. That freedom shouldn’t be a luxury — it should be the baseline.
Every destination, hotel and experience I recommend has been chosen with that in mind. Not because it ticked a box on a checklist, but because I’ve been there, I know the people, and I trust them.
CERTIFICATION
A network you can trust
Gay Up Travel is a proud member of the IGLTA — the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association, the world’s leading network of LGBTQ+-welcoming tourism businesses. Membership isn’t automatic: it means operating to standards that put the safety and comfort of LGBTQ+ travelers first. For you, it’s one more reason to travel with confidence.