I’ve spent years of my life traveling the world to receive tattoos performed via traditional, local methodologies.
In Cambodia, I received a sak yon, similar to neighboring Thailand’s more well-known sak yant, performed with a thick needle affixed to the end of a bamboo rod, shot into your flesh a la aiming a billiard cue. In New Zealand it was a Māori tā moko, and in Tahiti it was tātau, both performed via hand-crafted tapping tools, both of which hurt much less than anticipated, and then in New Delhi a roaming Naga tribesman performed his people’s traditional hand poking arts on my leg. I’ve also been carved up by a Japanese tebori master, Horimitsu, for no fewer than 30 hours spread across 10 sessions, first for a large arm piece depicting the Amida Buddha and now en route to a leg sleeve centered by my spiritual animal, the whisky tiger.
This doesn’t even count the time I sought out a viral tattoo artist in Lausanne, Switzerland for an intricate project, or when I was traveling with two of my best friends and we received matching tattoos commemorating a prior trip together for good measure. Suffice it to say, I’ve planned entire trips and traveled to the farthest reaches of the planet for the privilege. But I’ve never booked a hotel specifically so that I could receive a new tattoo while traveling. Until now.
Over a recent stint in New York between trips to Colombia and Central America, I posted up at The Standard East Village in order to take advantage of a promotion that was too good for me to pass up on. It was as if it had been dreamed up in a marketing meeting at my very behest. Stay at the hotel and get a tattoo, with extra perks thrown in for good measure. How could I not?
The experience is known as the Inked Out package, available via either The Standard’s East Village or High Line locations. Hotel guests who opt for the deal receive a $100 tattoo credit at Atelier Eva and prioritized appointment scheduling to align with their stay, with the offer apparently coming about since a third of the studio’s clients were already visiting them from out of town for the purpose of receiving a tattoo.
The package also includes a 15% discount off the hotel’s best available rates, and after the tattoo session, a complimentary tattoo aftercare package from Mad Rabbit. The kit included lotion, soothing gel, the brand’s popular enhancer product and soap, all contained with a reusable, zippered pouch. It was a pretty sweet enticement for a traveling tattoo fiend such as myself all on its own.
As far as the experience, after securing my stay I received a booking form for the studio, with a few dozen artists in their lineup to sort through. Slimming down that list based on who was available on my given days, I sorted through their artist portfolios until I found a person and style I was aligned with, and then sent them the specifics on what I wanted.
While the bulk of my tattoos are Very Serious Endeavors loaded with meaning I vow to cherish to the full lengths of eternity, I also have a few silly ones. For a small piece booked via a hotel, I decided to add to the latter inventory with a bowl of ramen a la the noodles emoji on my lower left leg. You don’t choose the noods life. The noods life chooses you.
Atelier Eva turned out to be a tattoo studio unlike any other I had ever visited. It felt more like a bougie Brooklyn hair salon than a tattoo parlor, the type of place that sells its own signature scented candle and has a Spotify playlist you can follow, with a glossy in-house printed magazine and potted plants strewn about a space styled with a calming neutral palate. Usually I like my tattoo studios as I like my boxing gyms: a bit of still-sanitary grunge is a good thing in these environments. Nevertheless, I was happy with the design that Pinar, a Turkish artist known for her cartoon-esque fine line tattoos, came up with for me. The fact that the shop was but a few blocks away from L’Industrie — my personal tattoo ritual very much entails the immediate intake of some proper food and drink — was all the better.
The Standard’s Inked Out deal is good through the end of the year, so you still have some time to get in on the tattoo travel fun for yourself. Enticing people to get some ink and enjoy a hotel stay is a perhaps more logical partnership than would have been considered even a few years ago. And they aren’t the only ones who have thought of the arrangement before:
Where Else You Can Sign up for a Travel Tattoo
The Siam
The Siam, a sultry Bill Bensley-designed hotel along the banks of the Chao Phraya river in Bangkok has an on-site sak yant tattoo studio. Guests are able to make reservations in advance for a session, with pricing dependent upon the specifics of the tattoo. Basic designs include the likes of a Hah Taew, a five-line yant, or Gao Yord, a nine-spire yant, though you’ll also be able to consult with the master artist to come up with a design that best suits your intended meaning, as well as desires for size and style. The tattoo studio is part of the property’s offerings via its Opium Spa, an indulgent basement retreat that also offers a range of Thai massages and treatments.
South Pacific Cruises
Cruising around the islands of the South Pacific is one of the best ways to maximize how much of the beautiful environs you’ll be able to take in over the course of a week or two. A number of operators now offer either onboard tattooing via resident artist programs, or on-site excursions to receive a tattoo from a local artist. For instance, Aranui Cruises works with Marquesan artist Eddy Tata, providing interested guests with traditional tattoos based on their personal backgrounds, and Paul Gauguin Cruises offers a comprehensive Polynesian tattoo educational program, even offering a child’s workshop in understanding and designing traditional tattoo artwork. Tahitian Mihimana Tetuaiterai, a member of the line’s dive team, is also a tattoo artist.
Of course, you don’t have to book a specific hotel or cruise ship to receive a tattoo while you travel, though the growing prevalence of such options shows how popular the hobby is becoming. If you’re traveling somewhere internationally and interested in exploring local tattoos, be sure to take your time doing research in advance.
I also recommend traveling with your own care kit: A&D ointment to protect a fresh tattoo in the immediate 48-72 hours after receiving it, and fragrance-free liquid soap to keep it clean afterwards, so you’re not reliant on low-quality hotel bars of soap in times of need. Take your time to understand the intricacies of the specific artwork and its style, designs and meaning, and find a reputable artist — a combination of strong Google reviews, an English-friendly web presence and a well-followed Instagram account is a good starting place.
But then sometimes you’ll end up egged on by locals and sitting down in an open-air shack on the side of a road in Phnom Penh, a hastily-arranged translator serving as a go-between during the scant three-hour window you have be brutalized by bamboo needle before your river boat sails down the Mekong without you and you never see it again.
Tattoos are personal, whether you’re at home or you’re traveling, and whether you’re undergoing ancient procedures layered with deep cultural implications or selecting a piece of flash applied in a few minutes from a tattoo gun the artist probably purchased on Amazon. Sometimes tattoos symbolize the most important facet of your personal philosophy or personality, and other times they depict a bowl of noodles. Sometimes it’s both. Ya never know.
More Like This
This article was featured in the InsideHook newsletter. Sign up now.
