Travelling Bartenders Tips and Tricks
At some stage in our career as bartenders, managers, owners or ambassadors, we are going to have to travel. Sometimes for a few days nationally or a few weeks internationally, either or, there can be ways to make the trip a great success mentally and physically especially for the longer jaunts. Many brand ambassadors travel for weeks on end, bouncing between cities and countries representing their craft to fellow bartenders the world over. I have been travelling on and off for months now, between Portugal, the Bahamas, Toronto and Montreal and of course my long eight-week stints in Singapore. I posed the question on Facebook and received amazing feedback from bartenders, owners and brand ambassadors; here are their tricks and tips to travelling.
1. Self-Care
The consensus from everyone was a lot about self-care and looking after yourself mentally and physically. Nicola Riske, European Brand Ambassador of Macallan who travels throughout the Mediterranean is the queen of self-care, “ensuring I have time to work out - whether that is running outside or on the hotel tread or doing yoga on my travel yoga mat. Proper sleep. My nightly goal is 7 hours of sleep and I ensure I have proper 'quiet time' as well”. Jonathon Smolensky, Sovereign Spirits owner who spends a fundamentally large time on the road hosting events across Canada along with volunteering at multiple bar shows across the US, “You have to maintain exercise routine. Doesn’t matter what it is. Heck post about it if that's what motivates you to do. But you gotta do it. You can’t break your good habits from home just because you are away. You can’t feel like you are in a hurry to do everything in a market just because your time is limited there. You will always be back”.
2. Something from Home
Bringing something from home to bring a little bit of something with you seemed important, my daughter gave me a kangaroo as I was packing and said I had to take it with me to remember home. Micaela Piccolo, a driving force behind Shanghai’s cocktail renaissance takes a scent of her home or bed the same, and she bottles it and takes it with her; the familiar smell makes her feel relaxed and at home, she currently uses Palo santo spray. She also packs her own snacks, so she’s connected to her own pantry at home. Lauren Mote, Diageo Global Cocktailian has similar tactics to her crazy travel schedule which includes bringing her own protein shakes and teas to further reinforce herself care training schedule which includes yoga and spin. The once king of travelling brand ambassadors, Angus Winchester used to be on the road for so long that he officially didn’t have a home address; he would travel with four rubber duckies given out by Virgin airlines and place them in the hotel room to have one consistency in his day to day.
3. Scheduling Downtime
This is always tough one, especially on the short trips when you visit the city for the first time, the excitement and FOMO of the moment can push you to party more than you usually would. But Philip Duff of Old Duff Genever amongst everything else he does, says that booking a day off away from the industry influences and exploring the city really helps to put the visit into perspective. Jordan Bushell, National Moet Hennessey brand ambassador based in Toronto agrees, enjoying downtime away from the digital world is just as important as physical days off. Enjoying time away from the hecticness that can be our industry especially during bar shows is paramount in work life balance.
4. Staying connected with family
I remember the first years I started to travel a lot was about ten years ago, long before smart phones, facetime and connectivity. I remember going on trips to Europe for work and having to plan and book time to speak to my wife, it wasn’t as easy as it is now. Connectivity in the world is a modern technological miracle, Facetime, Skype and the world of smart phones has made connecting and chatting to loved ones easier than ever before. Treve Ring, roving wine educator/speaker/judge is a good friend and feels the connection with family is two fold, obviously making time for calls to keep in touch but she wants to instill in them that the world is small, explorable and that you can achieve anything that you put your mind to. Legendary beer writer, Stephen Beaumont makes sure to give his wife a detailed itinerary when travelling to allow her to have a shared experience.
5. Make Friends
This can sometimes be difficult when travelling, as an introvert, I find this one the hardest especially on the long stints in places. But Raj Nagra of Bombay Sapphire fame and now the “Vince McMahon” of Bartender Boxing says that when he is on the road, he enjoys the experience and having friends in cities all over the world makes being “away” so much easier. Jacob Sweetapple of Corby’s Canada takes it one step further when it comes to trips over a few days, he rents an Air BnB, gets groceries and invites over friends; bringing a relative homely feeling to the trip. Social Media is the best way to meet new people in the city you are visiting, you post that you are visiting and your whole network lights up with recommendations and who to go and see, you can never be alone as a bartender visiting a new city.
6. Find Somewhere That Makes You Feel Comfortable
A great point brought up by a few of the younger bartenders who have relocated out of the relatively small city of Victoria, BC gave the point of finding bars, restaurants and coffee shops that make you feel at ease. I have personally done that here in Singapore, I have my favourite bar, breakfast spot and beer bar that makes me feel at ease on these long stretches. Jeff Hawk and Ryan Simpson who both relocated to New York and Seoul respectively both suggested finding gyms, sports teams, connecting your PS4 to zone out and making sure you have things to dive into when not working. Being in bustling metropolis can become excessive if you don’t know how to unplug.
These are same tips and tricks that I was so happy to receive from so many travelling bartenders, but one thing stuck with me more than any of the other points and that was from Angus Winchester. He stated that the work and travel always energized him and made him grateful for the job that he had, this from a guy that travelled 360 plus days a year for over a decade. This brings us back to one point, that you have to truly love what you do in the position you are in, that is the root to all happiness in this industry whether it be pulling pints at the local or travelling the world over for weeks at a time. Travelling can be a soul enriching exercise but balance and true love for the job that you do, can make all the difference.