Travel Prep & Safety
Plan ahead
It’ s a good idea to make travel plans several months in advance. Work with your club director to obtain travel dates and hotel information. Know exactly what time your club expects your athlete to arrive at the competition.
Hotels
Determine which competitions will require a hotel stay. Before making arrangements, check with your club owner to determine if there are specific housing requirements for the competition. For example:
• Does the event producer require teams to book hotels through a specific housing company?
• Does your club owner already have a block of rooms for the team?
• Can you book independently from the club?
• When is the awards ceremony for your team’ s division? Awards ceremonies sometimes occur late on the last night of the competition.
Flights
Determine which competitions will require a flight, check rates early and consider booking at least three months in advance. Check with your club director to learn the requirements and timelines for travel. For example:
• When is your team’ s last at-home practice or show night before the competition?
• Are you required to arrive the night before the competition?
• When is the competition awards ceremony? Many occur late on the last night of the competition.
• Consider booking flights that can be changed, allowing you more flexibility. Being flexible is key to planning.
Travel Safely
Flying
• If possible, book a flight that arrives the day before the competition. This allows time to handle delays or cancellations. Plan ground transportation along with your flight( shuttle, taxi, or rental car).
• When flying during winter months, try to avoid airports prone to weather delays or cancellations.
• The week of travel, keep an eye on the weather for all cities you will be traveling through. Check in advance for possible reroutes due to weather.
• Arrive at the airport two hours before your scheduled flight.
• If you have flight issues, airline employees will do their best to help you arrive at your destination, especially if you remain professional. Try multiple forms of communication if you have several people in your party.
Have one person call the airline and another work with the airline staff at the airport. One method may work better than another at finding a solution.
• Pack your uniform, costume and anything you absolutely NEED in a carry-on bag and it have with you at all times!
Driving
• A good rule of thumb is to take the estimated travel time and multiply it by 1.5— if it takes six hours to drive somewhere, allow at least nine hours.
• Make sure your car is safe to drive. Check the oil and tire pressure.
• If you are running late, communicate with the coach or club contact as soon as you know things are not going as planned so that they have as much advance notice as possible.
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