The Adequate Blog

There’s only one full weekend Renaissance Faire in Oregon, so I wind up travelling a lot during “Season” to faires out of state. Since I’m a Part-Time Pro, and have to get back to my Day Job by Monday morning, this means flying.

Flying as a working magician is… interesting.  Flying as a working magician who works Renaissance Faires… that’s an adventure.

First, of course, there’s all the magic stuff. Since I work with chain and rope and swords and the like… this means I have to check that stuff through.

True Story: The one time I tried to carry-on my act, the 8 feet of chain I use for the Big Stupid Finale got confiscated in Sacramento.  Just the chain. Amazing.

Since I have three or four shows a day, everything that gets “consumed” during the act has to be packed in multiples: that’s 4 hanks of rope, plus any paper goods I might be using. Rope is light, but it takes up space.

The metal bits (sword, scissors, chain, steel animal traps, etc) may be compact, but they add weight. Sometimes a lot more weight than you might think.

Now pack your RenFaire costume, boots, accoutrements, civilian clothes, toiletries, something to read on the plane…  and this adds up.

I’m in a constant competition with the laws of physics to pack everything into one bag which is easy to move and weighs less than 50 lbs - that’s the “oversized luggage” limit for Southwest, my favoritest airline in the whole wide world. Sometimes I do well, but sometimes it just can’t be done, so I wind up with two bags. This can be really entertaining when I’m juggling two rolling bags while attempting to get from the airport to the rental car place, but it means I can tote twice as much… which, considering all the infrastructure we’ve been putting together, is a good thing.

Lately I’ve gotten smart enough to listen to my own advice and pack lots of little bags into the big bags to keep bits organized. This is really a good idea on Sunday when I’m usually wrapping up my last show and proceeding with all due haste back to the car, changing hastily and hauling to the airport so as not to miss my return flight.

… of course, it’s never as tidily packed on the way home as it was on the way out.

Since I have the aforementioned Day Job, I wind out flying out after the work day is done - usually around 9pm or so to allow for travelling to the airport during rush hour. This is exciting no matter which way you travel - driving is, well, driving, and taking the train means juggling one or more bags on the train for a couple hours, then taking the bags to the airport to check in.

Coming back, I have a little more leeway on when I fly home - for the past two years I’ve booked the latest possible flight home to allow for time to drive back to the airport. I’ve been experimenting lately with an earlier flight - a little more impetus to Get Out after my last show, but I get to return to an airport that is not darn near abandoned.

… and getting to bed at a sane time so I can get some sleep before Monday is nice too.

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