10 tips while Packing for a skate trip-

Tired of skating the same old spots with your friends? You need to make a skate trip out of town for a couple of days and your budget is low. Here is a list of

ideas which will help ease your journey to the next skate spot.

1. Pack light -

This is strictly a skate trip with your buddies, there is no space for unnecessary stuff like fancy clothes and extra blankets. A couple of jeans and no more than 4

shirts. Get extra socks and underwear they take up less space and make you feel comfortable even if you havent washed your pants since the last session in them.

2. Bags with straps-

On a cheap trip you may have to carry all your stuff around in a new city if you dont have a place to leave your bag. You can never have enough straps on your bag

for a skate trip. Straps hanging off your bag can be used to hang extra shoes, plastic bags of food, tents, sleeping bag and ofcourse your skateboard. This will let you

cruise the city with your hands free.

3. Skate bearings-

India is filled with dusty and dirty spots which would be ideal to skate in. The dirt reduces the life of your bearings and you dont want a skate trip ruined just because

of a jammed bearing. Always carry extra bearings and a skate tool for changing parts and making adjustments to your board. They are very light, dont take much

space and could solve your problems on a trip away from home.

4. Metal water bottle-

Buying a water bottle which would last long is way cheaper than buying bottled water every where you travel. You can easily find restaurants where you can refill

your bottle with drinking water for free while saving the world from plastic contamination. Stay hydrated and kill the new terrain.

5. Cameras, chargers and memory drives-

The most important thing to do on a skate trip is to document it. You want to come home and show your friends that awesome tail slide you made this bench next to

the ocean at sunset. That tail slide might take a bunch of attempts so make sure there is enough charge and memory in your cameras to capture the make.

6. Carry epoxy and wax-

In a new city finding skate spots is hard enough and when you do find one and it is too rough to skate it might be too big of a task to find a hardware store. So

remember to carry wax and epoxy for quickly fixing up spots to skate. 

7. A first aid and a roll of crepe bandage-

On any skate trip there is a potential for some one getting hurt on the first day rendering him or her unable to skate the rest of the trip. So if you just got off the bus

and after a few hours of being immobile you decide to jump on the kerb at the first spot you saw, chances are you are stiff and roll your ankle or take a fall on your

wrist. A first aid kit can help disinfect your wounds and a crepe bandage will provide the support to continue skating the rest of the trip.

8. Brush with hard bristles-

If you go out street skating in India there is a large chance that you might step on wet mud, food, garbage or even animal faeces. This would then get transfered from

your shoe to your grip tape. It would be unthinkable to continue skating like this and the nearest shop which sells new griptape is hundreds of kilometers away. A

good brush with stong bristles can help clean off the crud and let you skate a stink free board again.

9. Shoe goo and shoe laces-

Skate shoes take tremendous amounts of stress while skating. The rough grip tape will eat through your shoes as you keep ollieing and flipping over obstacles.

Eventually the grip tape will start to rip through your socks and after that it will start to cut your feet. You dont want the last layer of your skate shoe giving up and

leaving you stranded shoeless on your skate trip. Carry shoe goo which is a synthetic glue which you can apply on your shoes to fix them temporarily. The shoe goo

makes a thick layer on top of the tear in your shoe which allows you to keep skating without injury till you can get back home and buy some new shoes. Extra shoe

laces are also important since the grip tape may tear your laces also.

10. Knife-

A knife is always good to have no matter where you are travelling. A small knife is a versatile tool which has too many uses to make a list. A few things you could use

a knife for are for making cups out of empty plastic bottles, pulling out the rubber cover on the skate bearing for cleaning out dirt and fending off small creatures like

hungry rats, over enthusiastic monkeys etc.