Swing Dynamite Blog

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Travel Checklist for Swing Events

[ No Comments ] Posted by on Nov 24, 2011 in Competitions, Travelling to Swing Events

Are you going on your first trip to a swing event? Or have you finally realized that every single time, you forget something? After over a decade of travelling–whether to learn, to teach, to DJ, to perform, to compete, or just to have fun–I’ve collected a pretty extensive list of stuff to remember.

First, a few extra tips for travelling:

  1. If you travel a lot–say more than one weekend a month–it can be worth it not to completely unpack. I usually leave items in my suitcase that I’m not likely to need until the next time I travel.
  2. Get extras of everything. I like to have a travel toiletries bag with extra everything–toothpaste, a toothbrush, etc. In fact it’s useful to own a lot of extra socks and underwear.
  3. Cash, plastic, papers, and shoes. Remember that as long as you have travel documentation (eg. passport, visa, driver’s license etc.) and money (cash, credit card, debit card) you can probably buy just about anything else you might need, so those are the big priorities. Next is dance shoes, although you can buy those at most dance events.
I actually have separate checklists depending on whether I’m teaching, competing, bringing a performance team or just social dancing, but I’ve combined them and added items that don’t apply to me but have been problems for other dancers I’ve known.

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