Traveling for a shop?

[Scott R]

driving 6 hrs to austin tx on october 12th from norman oklahoma. The trip isnt impressive but I like to give cudos to myself for booking 4 days after the OU vs texas game.

[Kev]

Is this the Scott trip, Cu-Bu, and what did you decide to get?

[Scott R]

it is indeed kev, I am getting a skull on my ribs. he told me he hoped I wanted it big because it wouldnt take him long. Is he that fast? I am thinking 6x6 but will let him tell me what would look best. I hope he touches back with me before the appt but our conversations have led me to believe I am in good hands. Your post introduced me to his work and prompted me to get a piece from him. I sincerely thank you.

Scott

[AlannaCA]

here in Toronto we have Porter airlines(short flights to surrounding US states,ontario, and out east) and after seeing buses with adds pass by me daily i finally looked it up and where they fly to. i was really surprised to see that they fly to chicago and to new york. both of which i want to go to. i want to get another tattoo by Nick Collella, especially since the new Amund Dietzel vol. 2 was just released!! I might be able to take this trip in the spring, fingers crossed! i also have it in mind to get something done by Bailey hunter robinson, i have no ETA on this one, only time will tell i guess! the state of grace convention(? i hope i just used the right name) happens right around my birthday every year and i figure it would be an awesome gift to myself for the year 2012!

[RoryQ]

Alanna- I use Porter every year going from Toronto to Chicago. Last time I flew was a little after the Toronto tattoo convention (I think). There was a dude on the plane who had fresh tattoos on both hands (a skull on one, a lady head on the other). So looks like a few people have the same idea as you, in a way. Porter is cool, all the free coffee and brownies you want in the airport, and on the plane they serve little cans of steam whistle beer.

[Ty Pilkey]

I was looking to travel to my home town to get a tattoo done. But I dont know how to get a hold of some of the local artists and see who would actually grasp my concept for my tattoo. How did you find/ talk to your tattoo artist?

[Dr Benway]

Travelling to Frith St from North Wales seems like a very reasonable distance for something so important, and given that I have prime retail space saved for Juan Puente and Thomas Hooper, it hardly seems like much hassle at all. Getting work from those two guys is going to be a far bigger commitment. The only irritating part is that until a few years ago, my wife and I lived in south-east London and didn't make proper use of our locality! I worked a 10min walk from both The Family Business and Into You. Je ne regrette rien.

[Stewart Robson]

@Ty Pilkey, telephone is usually a good start. Internet to find the telephone number. Quick answers, sorted.

[exume]

This spring I'm flying halfway across the country to start working on a chest piece from Ryan Mason

[Lochlan]

@Ty Pilkey I second @Stewart Robson. Use the internet resources to find tattooers/shops you like then contact them directly, maybe give them some reference then let them work their magic

[mtlsam]

I've made the 7-8 hour drive from montreal to brooklyn new york twice of late. Once in july and again in october. I went to Smith Street both times as well as getting an appointment with Bailey Robinson on my last trip. In my opinion it has been totally worthwhile. There are some very good tattooers in mtl, but nobody is putting out work that is so representative of that style.

[Duffa]

In about 6 weeks I will be traveling back to Japan to complete my sleeve and although there are some amazing Tattooers here in Australia (especially in my hometown) I thought it'd be cool to have at least one piece done by a Japanese Tattooer.

It started off as a one point while on a holiday, and then figured it may as well be completed by the same artist. Once its finished, I'll have travelled approximately... 45,000kms (27963 miles) and 3 trips for one sleeve lol. I probably could have been a bit more efficient with time but eh, its just how its worked out and each trip has been amazing so no complaints here.

And I intend to make a trip to the SFO convention one of these years ;)

[Tick]

I've only ever traveled to get tattooed...... well, the good ones. I got tattooed by Phil Holt in San Jose, San Francisco, and Tampa.... walk in tattoos in Oakland, and Brooklyn. last minute roses in San Diego, the LA area, San Francisco, and Chicago.... Made a lot of attempts to get tattoos in Cali (since it is only an 11 hour drive away), and been tattooed by friends in Dallas.... Got tattooed by Chris Dettmer in Germany w/appt once, got a Cape Town tiny party tat last year, and for the past 4 years I've been traveling back and forth to Denmark getting tattooed by Henning. The first 2 appts were for my ribs and a little over a year apart. For just over 2 years, we have worked on my back, so the trips have been more frequent.

I never thought twice about traveling to get tattooed. No matter how far it would be.

[Reyeslv]

@Tick that's awesome. One question are you single??

[Tick]

@Reyeslv ........ yeah,and I guess that probably makes it easier for me to travel, eh.

[Reyeslv]

@Reyeslv ........ yeah,and I guess that probably makes it easier for me to travel, eh.

It's great to be able to get out and see this world. Checked out your blog, really nice work!!!

[chrisnoluck]

just got back last night from an 11 hour drive home from chicago. went down to get tattooed by mario desa and frank william @ ctc. totally worth it.

[hgiles]

I can do day trips. I can't really justify any more expense (time, money, travel) than that. I am in Central Virginia and there are some great tattooists in the Richmond and DC areas... not really gonna do much better.

[Scott R]

@exume hows the ryan mason work coming?

[exume]

ended up being tougher to book than he first made it seem, probably a good thing, overstepped my bounds a bit with this lease. I'll stay in touch with him for something later this year, in the mean time, Denver is much closer, and I'm thinking of grabbing something from Mike Adams before he moves to nyc this summer when I'm in detroit

[SStu]

Day trips are a given. Just did a 6 hour round trip inside of 1 day, but I have driven 5.5 hours one-way and then spent the night before coming back. Would also like to book a vacation around my next session.

[smiling.politely]

as i've figured out what i'm going to do for my thighs when the time comes, and as my fiancee has gotten more into tattoos and following certain tattooers, we've decided to do a multi-trip, possibly multi-year honeymoon. New York, San Francisco, and London are definitely happening. we have a load of friends from the iron cast sculpture community all over the U.S.A. and U.K., so if it came down to it, we could couch surf for parts of those trips (London especially... unlikely for a kid from Kansas).

eventually, we reached the conclusion that it'd be worth the time waiting and money spent to try and get tattooed by the best in the world.

[mtlsam]

I just booked two appointments at BlackHeart in S.F. I'm going to get a Zeis style dragon from Jeff on my left forearm, and a day of the dead skull on my right inner bicep from Juan. I'm impressed that both Scott and Tim are pretty well booked solid 5 weeks ahead of time! I'm in on the 26th of July and super stoked about it. After that I've got a week to enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of the city.

[Mr. Smith]

I get tattooed at Name Brand in Ann Arbor fairly often, which is a four hour drive each way from where I live. I've made the trek to Chicago (8+ hours each way) to get tattooed by Mario a few times, and last year, I drove around 7.5 hours each way to Toronto to get tattooed by Lizzie Renaud and Adrian Menzies. There's a rad shop in my town, and I have a lot of tattoos from them, but there's something so fucking awesome about tattoo road trips.

[RoryQ]

I'm in Toronto until this Wednesday, then flying down to Chicago to get my knee done by Chris Smith at Deluxe. Considering trying to get a walk in with Tim Pausinger at the Pearl Gift Shop while I'm here, but we'll see...