Survival guide to hotel (camping) for NPS, *please add your own tips, too!!!*
I’m always learning new things and look forward to sharing stories & tips about how we get to NPS & then live with each other once we’re there, including some ways to cut corners. Whoopeecat gave me useful tips when I started about long road trip food, ( like burritos in his motorcycle’s tail pipe!) keeping a small cooler for beverages & another one for food. Road dog stories.I love these (& it often helps me to remember what to pack!)
Some of us will be driving, some flying, some can be adapted. If I fly, I still usually try to seek out some kind of grocery.
So I thought it might be interesting to set up a thread where we talk about this stuff & exchange tips on how we do this. Might be especially helpful for newer teams & sms.
Have a hard time packing light? Maybe someone is really good at that, or just figured something out to share.
I’ll get started.
~Slam mama’s overnight bag inventory. I go through a checklist of things to have in my bath bag, with a related “throat bag.”
~In the throat bag; lozenges/cough drop assortments, throat coat/lemon ginger/lemon/sleepytime/camomile assorted teas, salt, cayenne, singer spray, honey (packets or bear). Going in & out of heat & A/C, plus all our talking & yelling really do damage on our instruments. The coffeemaker in a room is a godsend, not only for coffee or tea, but gargles & tinctures, too.
~EARPLUGS- Sleeping in a room with lumberjacks (I am one) & a chorus of snores, don’t leave home without these. Trust.
~Also, my bath bag should never be without an extra little tube of paste, advil, safety pins, tums, immodium, Emergen-C, condoms, tampons, Neosporin, bandages, hand sanitizer, tissues, wipes, rubber bands & razors.
~Dryer sheets/ Arm & Hammer. Sheets can go in shoes, clothes & drawers to keep them fresh. A box of baking soda & odor eaters are good for this, too. Being in a room for a week, in the summer can be pretty odiferous. Check in with your team--some have allergies to strong colognes, perfumes & air freshners (that would be me) to be aware of, some have a dulled sense of smell while others are hypersensitive. Incense rarely hides anything.
~Swimwear, work-out clothes. People overload happens, poem overload happens & the pressure of good strategy & not second guessing game plan, workshops, meetings---all of it accumulates and over stimulates. I strongly encourage taking a little self-time every day. Many of us are introverts, doing this very extroverted activity—take space & check in with yourself & your boundaries. Personally, I love floating in a pool, especially in the afternoon before our last preliminary bout. Or pushing some weights around. Or shooting pool. Pack for whatever your solitary time requires.
~Coolers, room food. I tend toward low blood sugar & get cranky if I don’t eat properly. I like to have some control over my food & my budget. The Pita Pit across the street from the hotel is great. I don’t remember it being open at 3am, though. I always pack a bag of instant-hot-water-only food, crackers, peanut butter, fruit, energy cookies from my local earthy crunchy food store & stuff I can put in my bag if I’m out most of the day. I also bring water & coffee containers. If I’m flying in to an event, I find a grocery. If I drive to an event, I pack a cooler & instead of using bags of ice, I freeze water in empty juice containers I can then reload from the ice maker at the hotel. Take ownership of your hunger—it can be difficult to be on a team with very different eating patterns & hunger cycles.
What are some of your guidelines, tips, hints & tricks?
