For me, traveling is like sugar. When I was younger, I would do anything to get some sugar. As I get older, I will do anything I can to avoid it. I know it’s not good for me, but I still crave it. After years in the shop and local theaters, all I wanted to do was travel and see the world. Concert touring provided the sugar rush that I craved. Now that I’m in my 40s, I’ve had more than my fill. I still enjoy the taste, but the gluttony has gotten to me. Thanks to my skills in entertainment, I was able to see all seven continents before the age of 30. I can never fully express my gratitude to our industry for providing that for me. But now, traveling does not mean the same as it used to. Traveling used to mean that I would go and explore the pubs, sites, and museums all over the world. Nowadays, it’s more like exploring the loading docks, hotel showers, and ballroom carpets of the world. If you are looking to join the ranks of the touring vagabonds, let’s explore the different types of travel that our industry can provide for you.
Cruise Ships
My first major expeditions came thanks to Crystal Cruises. I was hired as a Production Manager onboard the Crystal Harmony, a ship which has long been retired. My first few cruises were out of San Francisco to Alaska. Much like the arc of my career, going to Alaska was thrilling, adventurous, and monumental. The first three times you see Glacier Bay, your jaw will drop to the frosty deck and your breath will be ripped from your face. The fourth through 20th time you see it, the glaciers will just fade into the background of your daily tasks. Working on cruise ships can provide the thrills you seek if you are given the right itineraries. You will have to put in your time doing the three months in the Caribbean visiting the same four ports before the offer to do a world cruise comes along. They need to know that you are seaworthy before signing you up to be onboard for four to nine months at a time. The monotony will get to you at first, but soon, you will be considered a local in most ports that you frequent. Feeling like a local in the Mediterranean can be prodigious. Onboard, the hours will be long, but your port days will more than make up for it.
Concert Touring
This article was inspired by a few chance rendezvous with long-time industry friends. Traveling through Scandinavia, I ran into Rob Koenig, Chris Stuba, and Jimmy Boman in two days’ time. The concert touring world can be optimal for chance meet ups in random locations. But not all tours are equal. If you are fortunate enough to get on a summer festival run, your days will be packed with new and old friends alike. If you get on a stadium run, you will be smelling the farts of the same 12 people for months. Some tours will provide you with decent hotels, adequate per diem, and functional A/C. Other tours will demand you share a room, give you a $15 lunch buy out, and enough time to shower from a water bottle. After my cruise ship days, I thought that I would have the stamina to still go out and find the nearest local pub in every city. Eventually the drudgery of trying to find a pub that is open after nine in the rural B and C markets wore me down. Getting Uber Eats delivered to my hotel room became far more comfortable than trying to find vegan options in the South. If you don’t require much sleep, concert touring can still provide the adventures that you seek long before it becomes a barrage of semi-familiar loading dock doors and locker room showers.
Corporate Work
Corporate work can provide the best of both worlds. Unlike concert touring, most corporate shows are limited to 10-hour workdays. After 10 hours of deciphering how they chose this pattern for the ballroom carpet, you will still have time to take in the local cuisine and unwind in the hotel lobby or taxi to the nearest gastropub. Also, unlike concert touring, you will be responsible for your own flights and travel. If you are a fan of mileage rewards programs, this line of work can do wonders for your status. When I was younger, I had no problem flying coach anywhere. As soon as the plane took off, the engine would lull me to sleep, and I could go into a coma-like state not moving for the entire flight no matter what position I was crammed into. But then, as my career progressed, I was offered business, and even first-class seats on the plane. Once I experienced the difference, my eyes became open to why people pay so much more for the upgrade.
Television
Now this is the way to see the world. While filming a documentary or live broadcast, you will often be on location for several weeks. You will have days off when scenic falls behind schedule and you will have opportunities to rent a car to visit the local scenery. While in China, we would often have several days in a row to explore the bamboo fields, museums, and markets while automation figured out how to make a chair swivel properly. TV budgets often far exceed that of concert touring and even corporate work. One thing I have learned from television travel is that the more boutique the hotel is, the less chance you will have a shower door. Working on a TV shoot will almost certainly mean bottomless catering, decent per diems, and an indeterminate amount of down time waiting on someone else to do something.
Broadway-Style Theater
I have not done a Broadway-style tour yet, but I have heard great things. While touring a theatrical production, you will often be given an apartment, a flat, or an Airbnb. After load-in, you will most likely have at least two days off per week over the course of a few weeks. You will be immersed in the local culture. You may even find your favorite grocery store is close by and you can cook your own meals. This might be the only style of entertainment touring that affords you the luxury of cooking your own meals on a stove. You may have time to learn a few key words in the local language or dialect. I’ve heard from people who intentionally took a tour as a married couple because they get to spend more time together on tour than they would at home.
On the Road Again
All forms of entertainment travel will include flight delays spent in airport bars, flat tires on the road, and truck stop brunches. As long as the benefits outweigh the downsides, you will be willing and able to keep it up long enough to make some decent money. Much like sugar, the vagabond lifestyle can be sweet if you are able to moderate your intake.
Reach Chris Lose at [email protected]
