More Pro tips for your carnival 2023 experience.
In the past I have given you a list of basic tips in the past to help make for a more satisfying and comfortable carnival experience.
Here are a few more that can help make all your memories positive.
- Buy food for after the road.
On carnival Sunday when you buy dinner, buy TWO extra meals. Big ones!
Put them in the hotel fridge so they can save your life on carnival Monday and Tuesday evenings.
After Jamming on the road for 12 hours you are going to be exhausted (if you do it right). After dragging yourself back to the room within an inch of total depletion, having food just waiting for you in that fridge is PRICELESS!
- Buy a portable umbrella.
Now when I started with this before the pandemic, I would see people laughing at me holding my little portable umbrella. I would often see those same people being incinerated by the Trini equitorial sun while we waited to cross stage or got stuck by the hospital etc.
Having my umbrella to provide a little respite from the hellfire raining down from above was PRICELESS. These come in many colours so you can get one to match your costume.
- Install zips or buy fanny pack.
there is nothing worse than the inconvenience of losing a valuable item when you are on the road. Crawling back to the hotel with no key or losing your cellphone because it fell out of your pocket SUCKS!
Avoid this by having a seamstress stitch zips onto your pockets. This keeps things in place and can save you a lot of trouble.
I have to lug around a bunch of camera batteries and other items so I go the extra mile and get a wearable pouch (aka fanny pack).
- 4. Buy vasoline baby oil for your head for J’ouvert.
Long ago, I heard of the usefulness of using baby oil to ease the process of washing jouvert paint off your body. I’m here to take that advice one step forward. Even with lots of baby oil, its common for it to wear off during the night and morning and also for you to end up with traces of paint on your skin even after thorough washing. My advice….Buy the Gel consistency oil to place on your head, face, neck, upper back/traps and ears. This oil is thicker and stays put even with lots of rubbing and serves as a better barrier to the paint. So, why not use it over your entire body you ask? The issue I have with it is that wherever you put it, water will bead on the surface and drip down. So if you lather it all over, you will find that instead of a light sheen of sweat that evaporates, you are covered in rivulets of sweat running down the oil on your body and because there is no evaporation you feel hot as HELL. Stick to my advice, put it on your head, neck and ears only!
