Travel Tips to Ensure Success

By: Martin Schrama
While training on the West Coast with CVTC, one can always count on three constants. Rainy training days all year round, cuddly black bears in the backyard, and enormous amounts of travel throughout Canada for competitions and training camps. This season alone, the team has embarked upon some wildly epic trips throughout Canada. Some of these trips include a training camp in the Yukon, World Junior Trials in Thunder Bay, bike trips in BC, glacier camps, and so on.  Throughout my travels with the team I have learned two things. One: I don’t fit on airplanes… At all… And, two: ALWAYS BE PREPAIRED FOR THE UNEXPECTED. Never underestimate the possibilities of flight delays, road closures, power tripping check-in agents, and the famous “we lost your bag and you won’t get it for a week” type scenarios.  After encountering nearly every possible travel setback throughout my skiing career, I eventually developed an arsenal of travel tactics to ensure a smooth and efficient journey.

Travel Tip #1: Dress for success. Although some team members insist on wearing fashionable items such as sweatpants and crocs, team fashion consultant Chris Manhard leads by example. The challenge is finding the right balance between style and comfort, both of which must match the team’s “bad boy” persona. Icebreaker is typically the brand of choice for most athletes. Most articles of clothing provide the perfect poise between functionality and style.  The high quality merino wool will keeps you warm in cold weather, and cool in the sun. Another article worth investing in is a pair of compression socks. These knee high socks keep blood from pooling in your legs while sitting down for long periods of time and stay incognito under your pants (note: under your pants!  Compression socks should never be worn with shorts without concern for ridicule).

Travel Tip #2: Nutrition.  Airport food can be expensive and unhealthy. Solution? Wind the clock back to your school days and pack a lunch. Try to bring lots of vegetable to snack on throughout the day, along with a few water bottles to keep hydration levels optimal. Another strategy to contemplate is using supplements before heading out on the road. Our team typically takes Usana prior to travel, thereby ensuring our bodies have everything needed to fight of any initial forms of infection.

Travel Tip #3: Entertainment. Nothing is worse than finding yourself insanely bored on a long flight or while waiting at the terminal. It’s important to bring entertainment items to keep yourself relaxed and stress free.  A respectable book, movie, mp3 player, or any hand held device would suffice quite nicely.

Travel Tip #4: The Packing Process.  Although I should not be the one to lecture about packing well ahead of time, I must address its importance. In order to keep travel stress to a minimum, try packing well ahead of time. By doing this strategy, you virtually eliminate last minute stress, and maybe even remember that special item you always seem to forget. Another great idea is to use your bathrooms scale, pre-weighing your bags will give you an idea about any extra luggage fees you may encounter on your journey. 

I hope you found these tips helpful!