Traveling Check List

Over this past weekend, Blessed Sacrament Open and Blessed Sacrament A team traveled to Pennsylvania for the 2019 WGI East Power Regional. We took a bus to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The bus ride for most was 5 hours, for me and a few others the ride was 4 hours. When traveling on a bus it is a good idea to make sure that you are prepared for the long trip.

Aside from making sure that you pack your essentials: practice clothes, pajamas, uniform, toiletries, and your gloves, you need to make sure that you pack for the bus ride as well.

Pillow and Blanket

This may seem like a simple thing to bring. Depending where you sit on a coach bus, you can be uncomfortable. It is a good idea to have a pillow to help get comfortable so that you can get rest so you are ready to go when you get to the destination. Blankets are another thing that can help you stay comfortable, sometimes the bus can be cold. If you don’t want to put on a jacket or sweatshirt you can use the blanket. You can also curl up when you want to get rest.

Movies

You have a lot of time to spare while on a long bus ride. One way to help the time pass is to put on a movie. If you are on a bus with younger children, have an appropriate movie to play for them. If you don’t want to play a movie, play videos of past color guard performances and get pumped up for the big event.

Snacks and Drinks

You want to make sure that there are snacks available. With a long bus ride and a location that you have to be at by a certain time, there may not be time to grab food or snacks along the way. It is also important to make sure that everyone is staying hydrated during the travel, helping them prepare for their weekend. Having snacks and drinks will keep those who are hungry satisfied and everyone hydrated during the trip.

Phone or Music Player

It is a good idea to make sure that everyone has a device to stay in contact with their coaches and teammates. A phone is important in-case someone needs to get in contact with their team. Most phones have features where they can play music, games, watch shows or movies. This is another way to keep occupied during a trip, as well as having another way of communicating with their staff and teammates.

Portable Charger

Not all buses that color guards use have wall chargers available to charge any electronic devices. It is a good idea to have everyone have some sort of charger to keep their device “alive” during the trip. If someone doesn’t have a charger, and their device dies, it could lead for a sad trip.

Headphones

Having headphones is a good thing. Sometimes the people on the bus can get loud, and with headphones, you can drown out the sound with music, or watching shows or movies, etc. If you don’t have headphones, the ride could be loud.

Honorable Mentions

1. Medications
2. Simple crafts
3. Books
4. What I bring everywhere: Knitting or Crocheting things

After traveling with large groups of people to WGI Regionals and Finals, you learn to figure out what is more important to have with you while traveling. Traveling can be very long, so it is a good thing to always be prepared with anything that you think is important.

Traveling to the WGI East Power Regional is just a warmup for us members. The next trip that we get to take is to the WGI Finals in Dayton, Ohio. For us, this will be a 16 hour bus trip.