3 things that worked and 3 things that didn't as a first-time internationally touring belly dancer
I just finished my first European tour and I want to share some reflections on how traveling went.
I want to start by saying that this is by no means prescriptive. I am not a “seasoned” traveler, and I’m sure this blog doesn’t contain anything profound. However, this is the kind of thing I would have wanted to read before I embarked as a working belly dancer going on tour abroad, so maybe someone will find it helpful. And if you’re interested in buying any of the specific things I use, you’ll find them linked in my Amazon Storefront* and individually throughout the blog.
3 things that worked, and 3 things I would do differently
As a neurodivergent person with social anxiety, traveling is absolutely harrowing. I am not what you’d call a “go with the flow” kind of person. I do not do well sitting in the unknown and uncomfortable, and I do everything in my power to avoid being in such a situation. Here’s what I do that keeps me (mostly) sane.
Items that remove opportunities for me to lose my shit or get hit with surprise fees.
The first thing I bought when I knew I was going to be traveling abroad was a travel backpack, portable luggage scale, and Apple AirTags.
Do not underestimate the power of a travel backpack for your personal item. In the past I’ve used my regular school backpack and just shoved my packing cubes and zipper pouches in it, but it’s really not designed to hold that kind of stuff. I finally bit the bullet and bought a proper travel backpack and I am now a travel backpack evangelist. It opens completely flat, has external pouches to protect your other travel items, and has a strap to slide on your suitcase handle so you don’t have to bust a sweat with a 25lb monkey on your back.
Here is the one I bought.
It has incredible capacity, and holds so much more than my school backpack while taking up the same amount of space. Just get one.
A portable luggage scale gives me peace of mind when preparing for a flight, or if I have to redistribute stuff in between flights. No more blind guessing or relying on the bathroom scale (which you can’t take with you easily). When Kamrah and I had to make sure our personal items stayed ~2kg, this was our saving grace in what could have been a very expensive gate check.
The other peace of mind items are my Apple AirTags. They are pricey—about $100 for 4 of them—but when you’re having to fly all over the world, oftentimes with connections in foreign countries, they’re worth the peace of mind. It works like a mini GPS with your “Find My” app. It will show you where your bags are at all times, and even lets you trigger an alarm if you think your luggage has been taken or lost.
And finally, a zipper pouch. Yes, it looks dorky, but you know what’s not dorky? Securely having your passport and boarding pass at your fingertips. When it’s around my neck, I know I can’t shove it somewhere in a bag and forget it and then panic when I need to produce my documents. I won’t leave it on a table somewhere. I also use mine to hold my cash and coins, which I also want to keep close when in transit.
I got mine from Bristol renaissance faire
Organizational items
Tidiness is the best way I’ve found to keep track of my shit, and also fit all my shit into small luggage. Everything needs a dedicated place that is easy to access and functional for the size of your luggage. And yes, I’ve tried several versions of different kinds of organizational stuff, and here is what works best for me.
Cord and electronic organizers have been the bane of my packing existence. They’re either too roomy and chaotic, or too confined where I can’t get everything to fit. I’ve tried all manner of organizers, and so far, my favorite solution is to keep all my cords, dongles, and small electronics in a zipper case that is flat and wide. This way it easily slides wherever I need to move it, whether that’s an interior or exterior compartment. Mine holds chargers and cords for my phone, watch, laptop, micro usb-charged devices, plus a power bank, charging brick, dongle, wired earbuds, and still has plenty of room in the zipper pouch for other small electronic devices (flash drive? bluetooth headphone jack? airtag?).
If you have not jumped on the packing cube craze, you need to. Regular ones don’t necessarily save you space, but they keep everything tidy and organized so clothing entropy doesn’t happen in your suitcase when you shove everything in there trying to escape your hotel room before the criminally early checkout time. This helps me keep my civvies separate from my costumes, which both helps my costumes stay organized and together, and keeps my other items from damaging anything. Compression cubes do save you space by allowing you to squish all the air out of them, which is useful if you have bulkier items. I often use them for my costumes that have voluminous skirts. It saves a ton of space (and if you pack a travel steamer, you can quickly release any pesky wrinkles from the packing cube).
My final battle has been with my toiletry case. Now there are a variety of solutions to this: clear zipper bags, unfolding compartmentalized rolls, a toiletry case, etc. Different solutions work for different people. Because of who I am as a person, I’ve decided that I cannot travel light when it comes to toiletries. I need all my face products, oral hygiene products, and hair products. I have travel sizes of all of these things, but they still get quite bulky when grouped together.
In addition to that, I travel with a few other things in my toiletry case. TMI warning: As someone prone to traveler’s constipation, I travel with a refillable enema bulb and tube of Aquaphor. Listen, for me, there is nothing worse than trying to teach 6 hours of workshops when you’re literally full of shit. It’s not always necessary, but when all else fails, it’s nice to have a reliable nuclear option. In that same vein, I also roll with a travel bidet. You can probably figure out the need for that one yourself.
Sensory-modulating items
And my last category, stuff that keeps me from committing federal crimes. My neurodivergence causes me to have what I refer to as an “allergy to sound.” I have severe misophonia, and traveling is a misophonic’s living nightmare. I will never go to an airport without these items.
I would die without noise canceling headphones. When at the airport, all around you are people chewing gum, eating, crunching, babies screaming, people clearing their throats and coughing, etc. With headphones, I can exist in peace and not resort to stabbing my ears with pencils. (And if you’ve ever been in a workshop with me and I asked everyone to spit their gum out, this is why. The misophonia rage is real.)
And if you’re also allergic to the sun and are a light sleeper, I swear by the tried and true combo of ear plugs and a sleeping mask. Being hosted for workshops puts you in a variety of sleeping situations, and when you don’t have the luxury of blackout curtains and thick walls, these items create that environment for you. This isn’t revolutionary advice, of course, but I will say that April Rose turned me on to the silicone ear plugs. They don’t fall out when I’m sleeping, they’re discrete, and very comfortable. Your hair does get stuck in them though, so maybe sleep with your hair in a bun or a bonnet.
Now for stuff I would do differently.
I learned a lot of hard lessons on this trip, many of which might have been avoided with more oversight, but many that I also couldn’t have easily anticipated because I’ve never been to Europe prior to this. Luckily everything was manageable, but here is a list of the comedy of errors that gave me funny stories for later.
I should have asked for more help.
Full-stop, I am a people pleaser through and through. One of the ways this manifests is my inability to ask for help in an effort to be “low maintenance.” So when I was given my travel stipend, I just went ahead and booked most of my own trains and hotels. This caused a lot of unnecessarily complicated train transfers, routes, and ticket types. If I had reached out for help when booking my tickets, I could have had more efficient routes, fewer transfers, and more flexible tickets in the event I needed to change my schedule.
Check your timezones. Then check again.
Something fun I learned was that when I book a ticket and my email asks to add it to my calendar, it doesn’t update the time zone when you change time zones. As a result, tickets that I thought were for 6am ended up being for 1pm in Europe. This meant that instead of arriving at my destination in the afternoon, it was much later in the evening. This wouldn’t normally be a problem in the US, but I also learned that in Europe, 24-hour front desk staff at the hotel is not guaranteed, so if you miss your check-in, you are shit out of luck.
Ask me how I know.
This was a very expensive mistake that required Kamrah to call around hotels and ask about vacancies at 1am while I was having a minor menty b on the sidewalk. Luckily we got the last room at a central hotel, but the hotel I booked originally kept my entire booking fee, and there was nothing I could do. I took the L and set that money on fire.
And another thing about European hotels…
It’s rare to get a budget-friendly hotel that has a microwave, much less a mini fridge. In the US, most standard hotel rooms have a fridge and microwave and coffee maker. The rooms I booked in Europe had a kettle and instant coffee if I was lucky, but nothing else. This makes things complicated for meal planning. It’s very challenging to get groceries for several days if you have no way of storing perishables or heating up stuff. This meant we relied mostly on shelf-stable food and restaurant takeout, which isn’t ideal for our digestion.
Now I fully recognize that my ignorance of all these things is my own fault. I subconsciously assumed that the hotel experience would be comparable to what I’m used to in the US, so the fact that I got locked out of the building and had to survive on instant noodles and protein bars is a result of my own hubris. And obviously, in spite of these challenges, we survived and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.
In conclusion
Travel is hard, time zones are hard, ignorance is not bliss, and I am looking forward to being a potato for at least 2 weeks after I get home.
*Yes, this means I make like, 1% commission if you buy it through my link. I’m a broke PhD student doin my best. Keep in mind that these are the products I have actually used and tested, so I do personally vouch for the ones in my Storefront, but I cannot give advice on similar items.
