Oh yes, we like to travel. Especially when someone else is paying for...everything! It can indeed be a thrill to tell a promoter your fee plus hotels and flights, and getting out and about and seeing new places, meeting new people, on someone else's dime is one of the greatest parts of being a DJ in demand.

But, with every thrill there can be spills, and this article hopes to save you the aggravation of getting stuck in Prague without a passport, in Wales without a work permit or in Cambodia without a contract. Believe me, it happens...

Contracts
Hopefully, you've seen our Sample Contracts page and know the importance of keeping your bedroom tidy, legally speaking. If not, think about this - You're stranded in Toronto after a 12 hour flight, the gig was awful - nobody showed up - and now the promoter has disappeared. Well, you're on your own for now, but later on you can seek legal counsel and at least get paid if you have a contract. That should take the sting out of it.

But what's really great is that you're far less likely to get into a sticky situation when you use a contract because contracts say "I mean business." Your average two bit promoter is less likely to mess with you, and a reputable promoter will be impressed that you took the initiative. Get a contract you like, tailor it to fit, and use it every time - especially for out of town gigs where your capacity to be taken advantage of is ten times greater. Mail the promoter two copies, signed. Ask to have both copies signed by the promoter and mailed back to you. Most DJs do not consider themselves formally booked until they have a signed contract in one hand and a cleared deposit check in the bank. Keep your contract at home in a safe place when you travel, taking a copy to wave in his or her face if and when things go awry.

Work Permits and Passports
Make two copies of your passport. Keep one copy in your luggage (separate from the real thing) and one at home, in case you lose the original. And while it may come as no great surprise to some that going abroad requires a passport, and that going almost anywhere requires at least some form of identification, the fact that most countries require you to have a work permit in order to perform there has come as somewhat of a shock to some DJs we know. Heck, we even know DJs who knew, but decided to skip the formalities and ended up banned from certain countries for years. No fun.

You will want to tell your promoter that providing a work permit for you is part of the deal - work it into your contract - to avoid the embarrassment of using your return ticket home sooner than you thought. Don't, however, assume your promoter will do this. You know what happens when we assume... When in doubt consult with the embassy of the country you'll be visiting.

Flying with records
Some DJs screech "don't EVER check your crate in!" through gritted teeth, rolling their eyes, mopping their brow and gripping a voodoo doll and a rosary in their free hand, while others would allow a baggage handler to walk away with their elderly grandmother without a moment's hesitation. It's a hot topic, and rightly so: without your wax you're just a tourist. There are some things you should know.

Problem one: "No! They'll lose your crate!"
On the one hand, baggage handlers shift stuff for a living. If they and the airlines couldn't get luggage from point A to point B with reasonable accuracy most of the time, they'd go out of business tomorrow. On the other hand, a crate of wax isn't like a few T-shirts, a tube of toothpaste and a pair of sandals - you can't just pick up some records at the airport to tide you over if they do misplace your records for a few days. Also, the average DJ flies in on the day of, or the day before, their gig, and leaves the day after. Doesn't give you much time to scramble if things go wrong.

Our suggestion is to pack records in a soft shoulder bag and carry it on. Airlines have been known to throw a hissy fit if you try to take a heavy crate onboard, and may force you to check it in at the last second, their theory being that a loaded crate is like a loaded gun - it could fall out of an overhead locker and mash someone flat. Fair enough. When in doubt, check with the airline, and please - do you know what "carry on size" means? If not don't wait 'til the last second to find out.

Problem two: "No! A metal crate is the only way to protect your wax!"
Well, theoretically, yes, but one day I got on the phone with the manufacturers of some well-known "flight cases" in the $100 range. They freely admitted their cases would buckle under the average baggage handler's treatment (read: equivalent to being trampled by a rhino). All crates are not made the same! My fancy-schmancy Italian crate even got dented by some enthusiastic Czech luggage monkeys, so be warned.

Choose something reputable and well-known, preferably a crate with wheels in a carry on size just in case you can smuggle them on (see below.) And yes, they will ask you to open the crate and will rifle through every damn last record sleeve and the "secret" compartment at the bottom, so don't say I didn't warn you. At the airpost in Florence, Italy an elderly customs official went through my records, asking me all about my upcoming gig, and pretending he knew who the artists who made the tracks were "Aaahh! You like..uh..Freskanova All-stars, yes? Is very good! I like also!!" Right.

Problem three: "No! They'll break into your crate and steal your wax!"
Yeah? Well guess what - if they really want to they'll just steal the whole thing and help themselves to the contents later, at their leisure. Padlock it with a good solid lock and lay off the silver polish - if it looks too sparkly and new it's a target. Clear plastic crates are just begging to be broken into, and people who leave their headphones and needles in their crates deserve to lose them. (This applies at the gig, too - don't leave valuables behind the DJ booth because they will be stolen.)

Problem four: "Ouch."
On my last flight I weighed my crate - it was 40 pounds of deadweight. I have a little folding cart that attaches to the bottom - if you don't have wheels on your crate built in, get a folding cart. Now. Here are some sites featuring a wide range of cases:

http://www.hi-rollerstore.com
http://www.djmart.com/recordcases.html
http://www.zebra-records.com/cases.htm

Word to the wise: don't pack that crate too tightly. The grooves on your records will be damaged. No, you don't need over 100 records for one gig - get real. And while you're at it, mark the inside and outside of your crate with your name and address in some indelible manner. Adding a GPS tracking device or radio telemetry might be going too far, but some might disagree...

Personal Safety
Chances are pretty high, if you're reading this article, that you're in the Double X Crew - by that I mean you're female. Don't forget that women are the target of muggings, rape and general abuse the world over. I am not going to spoil your dinner by giving you the grisly statistics, but take it from me: if you're alone, at night, or even in daylight in some areas, you're at risk.

Who's picking you up from the airport? Do you know how far your hotel is from the event you're playing at? Do you know how you're getting there and back? How's security at the venue? Is it in an OK area? What would your mother say? Your chances of being abused run higher when you're drunk, or under the influence of some other substance. You know as well as I do that your steel balls and bravado won't help you one bit when it comes down to it. Stay safe. Stay with friends, in well-lit areas. Take along someone uglier and meaner than you, if you like. Carry pepper spray if it's legal where you're going (don't forget that you cannot legally take it on planes), and keep your eyes and ears open. No need to panic, but you'll want to play it safe.

The bottom line:
Newsflash: Mom won't be there. Travel smart by using all the right paperwork, the right equipment for your flight, and the right attitude to get home safe.