So you’ve fallen in love with a certain place, at the perfect time and with the perfect people and you want something that will encapsulate this time in your life so you’ll be able to remember it forever, and like many (not all of course) people what is it that comes to mind?…a tattoo!

Firstly to all of those worried parents/grandparents/partners/lovers/friends out there, here at Tru we in no way encourage anyone to get a tattoo but at the same time we understand that people do get inked whilst travelling and thought it would be a good idea to give y’all a few helpful tips to getting inked up the RIGHT way whilst on your travels.

Know what you want

The amount of times I’ve been in a tattoo shop and people have walked in without a clue of what they would like tattooed, though within an hour or so they have walked out with a piece that not so long ago they’d never set their eyes on, remember y’all this going to be on your skin forever! Give it some thought and take your time, it’s your body.

Research

So you’ve been on an island chillin’ for a few days and that really friendly bar man who ‘just happens’ to do tattoos will do you a really good deal at ‘friend price’, that’s seem too good to be true right?…well actually only about 30% of the time you’d be right. Across Thailand there are hundreds of extremely talented tattoo artists (arguably some of the best in the world), though in most cases just like at home, you get what you pay for, If you’re being offered a tattoo at a 10^th of the price of what you’d pay back home, you’re probably going to end up with something you’ll regret in a couple of hours time.

Your Artist

Would you genuinely like to sit down and have a conversation with someone you despised for hours and let them tattoo you? I’m sure the answer Is no, and if the feeling is reciprocated by the artist then the end result is only going to be bad. Not only is this your tattoo, this is also someone else’s work of art, the tattoo is not just saying a lot about you, it’s also the actual work of an artist’s on your skin. Build a relationship with your tattoo artist, get to know them (it’s surprisingly easy outside the western world), go for a coffee and truly try to mutually understand what you really want before committing.

Pricing

Though it’s already been mentioned, it’s an important one to cover. Many people go travelling expecting to be able to get what they want at a quarter of the price, this though sadly is not a fact. Respect the fact that Tattoo artists are still artists, their time and ability has taken them years to perfect, all in all you really get what you pay for.

One last tip to leave you with, for f*ck sake whatever you do…..don’t do it drunk!

See you on the beach x