12 Lessons from Trinidad Carnival and Tips for Surviving Your Next Carnival

1. Sunburn hurts and Trinidad sun nuh normal

I’ll admit, I’m not a regular user of sunscreen and I’ve never been sunburnt before. I’m not against using sunscreen. In fact, my daily face moisturiser has sunscreen. At the same time, you won’t typically find me lathering on sunscreen for a day at the beach.

However, after doing my pre-trip research and knowing that I’d be potentially spending multiple days in the sun, I grabbed a travel-sized bottle of sunscreen. And I promise, I did use it… when I remembered. I used it when I went to the beach, I used it on Carnival Monday AND I did use it on Carnival Tuesday. However, I forgot to apply it in the morning and this is when I think I got sunburnt.

The next day I woke up, my chest was red and irritated. I wasn’t quite sure if it was an allergic reaction (I have no known allergies) when it hit me. Was this sunburn?! After some googling, I came to the conclusion that it was indeed sunburn, which was later confirmed a few days later when the skin on my shoulders also started to peel. Fortunately, I had aloe vera at home and I was able to return my shoulders and chest to a beautiful glow.

Born and raised in Jamaica and never did I get sunburnt. Trinidad neva affi do me like dat. Apply sunscreen regularly when on the road for Trinidad Carnival. Don’t be like me. 

2. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!

I cannot stress this enough. Water is life. Water is crucial. Trinidad Carnival is a marathon, not a sprint. There’s a reason they have water stations in a marathon. And remember what I just said? Trinidad sun nuh normal. Plus you’ll probably be doing a lot of drinking at fetes, on The Avenue and on the road. Therefore, it is important to remember to drink your water and stay hydrated.

I was able to successfully stay hydrated throughout my trip, or at least hydrated enough to ward off any headaches. My main strategy for doing this was drinking a bottle/cup of water after every one or two drinks. After a while, friends who I went to fetes with knew to just bring me water regularly. However, I have to admit that this strategy wasn’t suitable for being on the road, particularly with regards to using the bathrooms on the road (discussed later). Therefore, what I did instead was to ensure I was chugging several bottles/cups of water at the end of each day.

3. Using the bathroom on the road will be a struggle

This one is more for the ladies. I’ll admit I didn’t really think about this one much before and honestly, I can’t say it will really affect my outfit/costume choices going forward. I’m already not much of a romper/jumpsuit person so not much can be changed beyond that.

I first realised this during A.M.Bush. Obviously, if you’re having several drinks on the road, you’ll eventually need to urinate. Hopefully, your bladder is good to you and it’s during a rest stop but if not, there are usually bathroom trucks at the back of the line of trucks. That’s the first hurdle.

Everyone is walking in one direction in the parade and suddenly you have to walk through the crowd of people in the opposite direction of traffic to get to the bathroom. Once you get to the bathroom, you might start to question whether you REALLY need to use the bathroom because they are dis.gus.ting, especially the later you go in the day. I also hate porta-potties with a passion. When it comes your turn to use the bathroom, have fun stripping out of your costume. If you’re wearing a monokini, one-piece, or a costume that has all these different parts that need to be untied and fishnet stockings, GOOD LUCK!

There’s not much that can be done about it. If you have to go, you have to go. You can always factor this into choosing your costume but who’s really out here choosing a costume based on ease of bathroom use? The only other advice I can give is to try to empty your bladder before you hit the road, at rest stops or while waiting for your section to cross the stage so that at the very least, the truck isn’t also moving. If possible, minimise your bathroom use if your bladder is strong enough. You can also consider having few strong drinks instead of several fruitier cocktails to lessen your liquid intake but BEWARE, you know yourself so always ensure you don’t overdo it on alcohol. (I did not do this.) Fortunately, Bliss had fancier porta-potties so using them was less painful/disturbing.

4. Beware of the lunchtime nap

On Carnival Monday and Tuesday, a lot of people will take a nap during lunchtime. By the time Monday and Tuesday roll around, most people are sleep deprived and try to sneak in a nap any chance they get. Some people can take a 10-20 minute nap and wake up like they got new batteries. However, if you are not a napper, you might want to keep your eyes open during lunchtime. You know yourselves. If you have 10 alarms to wake you up in the morning, I’m talking to you. If you always claim you’re going to close your eyes for 20 minutes and wake up groggier than when you went to sleep or wake up 4 hours later instead, it might be better to push through the fatigue and hunt down some coffee while everyone else naps.

On Carnival Tuesday, I fell victim to the lunchtime nap. While eating my lunch, I watched as everyone around me started to doze off but I had no plans to take a nap. However, after feting almost nonstop for a week and when the food coma hit, I gave in. When the time for the band to get back on the road and I was awoken, all I wanted to do was keep sleeping. I tried convincing my friend to return to our hotel so I could take a proper nap then find the band later. In retrospect, that would’ve been a horrible idea and I’m glad my friend talked sense into me (and the rideshare app wouldn’t find me a ride). After a few minutes back on the road, I shook off my post-nap grogginess and felt fine again. If it had been up to me, I would’ve returned to my hotel to take a “nap”, woken up in the middle of the night and regretted my decision.

5. Some group travel logistics

If travelling in a group or going to a fete with others, ensure you have the numbers of everyone in your party in case anyone gets separated from the group. Even if someone else in the group has the phone numbers, you should too. You never know whose phone might die and suddenly you’re missing a person and no one else has their number.

As a plan B, when you get to a fete or the parade, you should all agree on a meeting location if you get separated. There is a good chance your phone service won’t be working. If you’re on the road, choose a particular side of a specific truck “right side of Truck #2” and if at a fete, choose a fixed location “front of the stage by the right” or “by the main bar”. I recommend choosing somewhere that you can still enjoy the fete so no one ends up waiting 15 minutes for people and not enjoying themselves. At least by the bar they can still be getting drinks.

ALSO, if you know you are travelling with a group and decide to leave the group for whatever reason, let them know. Don’t ruin their night by causing them to worry about you and your safety. Be considerate and communicate.

6. And some costume logistics

You see the costumes online and you fall in love. Most of us are coming from outside the country so we don’t get to see the costume in person until we pick it up from the band a few days before the parade. What you might come to realise is that this beautiful costume is a collection of several pieces and suddenly on Carnival Tuesday morning you find yourself wondering which string goes where and how to tie things together. So a couple of things:

• If you pick up your costume yourself, which I recommend, see if the band has a fitting area. Try on the costume to make sure it fits and also to get help figuring it out. This will also help you check that you have all the necessary pieces and know where they go. You might even be able to snag some extra strap to help provide more support on the road.
• In the fitting room, you won’t actually put on the full costume or maybe you just didn’t pick up the costume yourself. Before Carnival Tuesday, also do a practice run of putting on the full costume so you don’t waste time on Tuesday figuring out what goes where and how to tie straps. This is also a great opportunity to practise how you can most easily get out of the costume to use the bathroom.

7. Also some packing logistics

I’m not one to plan out my outfits before a trip. In fact, I’ve had trips where I’m packing mere hours before I have to be at the airport which often results in be just throwing some things when push comes to shove. However, because I had to plan my outfits for fetes, I pretty much thought through most of my outfits ahead of time. I highly recommend packing complete outfits together. You can use ziplock bags, packing cubes or even just ensure you put them together in the suitcase. When you’re living out of a suitcase, it’s much easier to be able to grab the things you need without digging through your bag to find what top goes with which bottom. This is especially beneficial if you have back-to-back fetes so you can quickly go home and change when necessary and focus on getting ready. 

You also want to leave space in your suitcase for all the goodies you will get. When you pick up your costume, you’ll get a goodie bag with products from the band’s sponsors and designers. You might also get souvenirs from some of your fetes, particularly all-inclusive fetes. At the very least you’ll end up with a collection of cups. If you get a checked bag and a carry on free with your flight, I recommend only taking your checked bag and bringing a bag that you can use as a carry on for your return flight. Yes, you really get that much stuff. I brought home at least six cups/mugs from fetes and my bands.

8. What’s the rush?

Don’t leave on ash Wednesday. If I could go back, this is the first thing I would change. I really wish that I had gone to the beach more than once. I had also hoped to make it to Tobago but because of my fete schedule, I wasn’t able to find flights to Tobago that fit in. I also spent most of my days sleeping in (when I did not have a daytime fete) to recover from staying up the night before. 

You just spent several days or a week partying like there’s no tomorrow. By the time you’re done, you need a vacation from your vacation. If you’re like me, you might also want to spend some time exploring the island “outside of carnival”. Visit the bird sanctuary, hop over to Tobago, lime on the beach.

Next time I’ll definitely stay at least the rest of the week.

9. Additional Tips for Surviving Carnival

• Try to find out when your band crosses the stage. I missed crossing the Savannah stage both day because Bliss crosses pretty early in the day and this is something I didn’t think about beforehand. If crossing the Savannah is very important to you, you either want to choose a band conducive to your sleep schedule or plan properly so you can make it for crossing the stage.
• Get a driver. We thought about getting a driver to take us to all our fetes but ended up defaulting to TTRideshare. On a normal day, the rideshare app was fine, but during busy times, it was basically useless. Unfortunately, there weren’t enough drivers to meet the demand so we were often left stranded (to walk) after fetes. We eventually got the phone numbers for some taxi drivers and prearranged pickups for some of our fetes.
• Ensure that your driver knows how to get to your destination. For example, A.M.Bush is known to be in some back a bush (secluded) area in the middle of the morning, hence the name. Unfortunately, the driver we had arranged to take up to the location, the Trinidadian, did not know where it was and expected us to give him directions. Fortunately, a member of our group stayed awake during the ride and had data on her phone and was able to look up directions.
• For the parade, j’ouvert and A.M.Bush, you’ll get your cups beforehand. Get some tape and paper, write your drink of choice and tape it to your mug. The general setup on the road is music truck – drink trunk – music truck – repeat. So imagine all the music around you and trying to shout up to the bartender on the truck from the ground while it is also moving. When the bartender on the truck is asking for your order, it’s easier to point to your note than trying to shout over the music trucks on either side of the drink truck.