Tips On Flying For A Bowling Tournament

bowlingball.com Staff Writer, Wesley Low

Published: 11/11/2021

Hello everyone, and welcome to Wesley's blog, which is different from the vlog. With this new partnership with BowlingBall.com, I will be bringing you insightful tips that will help you with your bowling game or an abundance of words that outline my experiences on the PBA Tour. Hopefully, this will help you better prepare yourself for your future competitions. Over the next couple of articles, I will be discussing tournament preparation. I spent the last couple of months traveling for the PBA Summer Tour and regionals. Hopefully, this will help you prepare for your upcoming competitions such as Junior Gold, USBC Open Championships, or just a local tournament.

Today, we will be discussing tournament preparation. Not from the bowling aspect, but how to prepare when traveling on the airlines. Especially for me, living in California for most of my life, driving was time-consuming across the country. Driving wouldn't allow me to rest for events properly. Now, as I am older, I have been traveling overseas. That's not a very feasible drive if you ask me. When I know that I am flying for an event, there are a few items of preparation that I think about to travel with ease.

Flight Preparations


For myself, I look for the best flight that allows me to get to a tournament at least a day before the event at the best price possible. The tricky part with airlines is limiting your baggage without being charged extra for your bowling bags or luggage. Note that most airlines only allow 50 pounds for checked bags. I'd recommend a tournament tote bag to stay at 50 pounds or under unless you throw 16 pounds.

•Southwest Airlines allows two free bags

•American, United, and Delta Airlines have a baggage fee unless you have acquired a status

•If flying another airline, they may also charge you for your carry-on luggage, so check their baggage policy



With these restrictions, strategically thinking about items you need such as clothes, bowling balls, and other miscellaneous items will be beneficial before traveling unless you want to pay extra baggage fees. My cheap self typically wouldn't give the airlines more money than I have to.

Checklist


Choosing your bowling arsenal will be discussed in future articles. Instead, we will look at a checklist of items that you will need for the event. I like to carry a backpack and duffle bag to hold all of my essentials. My checklist includes:

•BOWLING SHOES!!!

       •Bowling balls are easy to replace, but your favorite pair of bowling shoes can be difficult to replace. Typically, I bring them with me on board because I'm scared the airline will lose them.

•Bowling Attire

        •Make sure to look at the dress code for the event and pack appropriately.

•Everyday Clothing

         •Try to bring enough clothes for the event because who would want to wear sweaty bowling attire multiple days if you cannot do laundry.

•Phone Charge & Toiletry Bag

        •These are a must!!! We need our phones and proper hygiene.

•Bowling Accessories

        •Tape, rosin bag, towel, super glue, interchangeable thumbs, abrasion pads

         •It's hectic to replace all your essentials on a whim.



With all of this hectic preparation, you're probably thinking, "Wesley, this article is terrible!!! We want to know about our bowling balls..." Well, stay tuned for future articles or videos as I will start diving into bowling, especially when traveling.

Stay tuned.
Wesley