As we settle in to our winter blahs, holding in our disdain for the endless masses of sheep perusing the malls under the hypnotic guise of Bing Crosby Christmas lullabies being remixed by cartoon squirrels, our thoughts turn to escaping the mindless masses, and joining instead our tattooed brethren to exchange ink or convention war stories, or to enjoy each others company and create a few more good times. As a tribute to the wandering tattooed soul, here we have assembled what we think of as some of the best tattoo getaways after enduring another Holiday season to break up the winter with a tattoo getaway.
Cape Town, South Africa
A great way to spend your 2010 winter getaway, South Africa is known for their diversity in cultures, with indescribable scenery and amazing hospitality, it's a perfect place to escape those "winter blahs". The city of Cape Town is famous for its harbor as well as its natural setting in the Cape floral kingdom, including such well-known landmarks as Table Mountain and Cape Point. It's Africa's most popular destination for tourism and the largest city in South Africa. While you're there, join us for the greatest tattoo experience in Africa at the2nd Annual Southern Ink Xposure, January 22-24, 2010, with hundreds of top artists and vendors from all over the world. To top off the experience, they give you a wide variety of activities like wine tasting tours, peninsula tours, township tours . . . and of course the infamous shark cage diving excursion. A trip any tattoo enthusiast would not want to miss. The Tattoo Convention is located at the Cape Town International Convention Center, Cape Town, South Africa and will host top tattooists like Paul Booth, Bob Tyrrell, Nick Chaboya, and Joe Johns, just to name a few coming over from the US, there will be artists from all over Europe and Asia as well - go online to capetattooconvention.co.zato check out a complete list of artists and activities for entire week.
San Francisco Bay Area
Commonly referred to as America's tattoo mecca, the thriving tattoo culture in San Francisco can immediately be seen just by spending some time in the Bay area, where every second or third person you see walking down the street has a tattoo.
In the 1960's, when the city was all sex, drugs and rock n’ roll, and famous tattoo artists, such as Lyle Tuttle, now Tattoos.com's president, he is credited for bringing underground tattoo art into the mainstream by tattooing the likes of Janis Joplin, Cher, Peter Fonda, and the Allman Brothers, while Ed Hardy was incorporating Japanese techniques through his lengthy coorespondance with traditional Japanese tattooists like Horihide (Kazuo Oguri) and Horiyoshi III, bringing about large asian influenced custom concept work to the American shoreline throughou the contiuing evlution of tattoos modern renaissance in the seventies and eighties. This Resulted in San Francisco becoming a haven for tattooists and the tattooed. Great tattoo studios still dot San Francisco and the bay area such as Ed Hardy's Tattoo City, Everlasting Tattoo, Blackheart Tattoo, and Seventh Son Tattoo with a great line up of artists.
San Francisco is a popular international tourist destination renowned for its steep rolling hills, eclectic mix of Victorian and modern architecture and its famous landmarks, including the Golden Gate Bridge, the cable cars, and Chinatown. Plus the endless stream of high quality restaurants and fresh seafood isn't exactly a downside either.
New Zealand
Famous for Maori (facial tattoos), tattooing has been an integral part of traditional native life in New Zealand for a millennia. A great place to get away from it all, literally. New Zealand is notable for its geographic isolation, where it's cities consistently rank among the world's most livable. Sounds Perfect!
Yet another great nation full of tattooists and the tattooed. According to archaeological evidence, tattooing came to New Zealand from Eastern Polynesian culture. In New Zealand, it is in the early sites that the widest chisel blades are found, and this lends evidence to the theory that there was possibly a preference towards rectilinear tattoo patterns in earlier times.
Miki Vialletto's Milan tattoo convention has come up as Italy’s tattoo focal point by being home to one of Europe’s best conventions, the Milan Tattoo Convention, on February 14-16, 2010. If you can't make it for the convention, Primordial Pain and Quetzal Tattoo offer a taste of Italian tattooing all year long.
Miami, Florida
A major coastal city, and the most populous county, in southeastern Florida. The city is home to many company headquarters, banks, and television studios. It is an international center for popular entertainment in television, music, fashion, film, and the performing arts. So it's no wonder tattoos, being so mainstream, have been the root for some top television shows aired today, such as Miami Ink. In 2008, Miami was ranked as "America's Cleanest City" for its year-round good air quality, vast green spaces, clean drinking water, clean streets and city-wide recycling programs.
There is no place like the Netherlands, on the coast of the North Sea, it is twice the size of New Jersey. Who hasn't heard of Amsterdam, the capital of culture, coffeeshops and canals? Its mesmerizing beauty is hard to overestimate, and best of all, it can all be seen from the comfort of a bicycle seat. Well-known Dutch specialties include raw herring, smoked eel and pea soup, as well as a wide variety of cheeses such as Edam and Gouda. Not to mention hashish and marijuana, plus it's way to cold to visit Vancouver for bud and the olympics there are gonna be a security nightmare. So all you tattooed snowboarders that smoke to much pot to qualify for the olympics take a break this year and go get stoned in Amsterdam instead, don't worry dude, BC will be there when you get back.
Besides their amazing culture and cheese, the Netherlands has a great line of tattoo studios and a great convention coming up, Tattoo N' Roll, in in February 20-21, 2010, at the Stadion Galgenwaard in Utrecht. The convention will feature artists and studios such as Magic Tattoo Studio, Megan Hoogland, Burning Heart, and so many more. Check out the Tattoo N' Roll website for the full list of artists and further information. If you can't make it to the convention, you can visit some shops like Black magic tattoo, Kustom Art, Tattoo Palace Amsterdam, and loads more. To find more studios, you can go to Tattoopedia.
Sydney, Australia
From the prehistoric gorges of Kakadu National Park, to the white sails of the Sydney Opera House, Australia is a country as big your imagination. Full of wide open skies, dramatic landscapes, countless activities, fine wining and dining, and friendly locals. Sure it's got deadly spiders, snakes and sharks, but they don't stop people from coming here, in fact, you'll soon realize Australia is a place to be discovered, not feared.
Australia has a rich historical background in which the art of tattooing has a special place. The modern art of tattooing, here in Australia, began when the European prisoners were sent into exile here in the early 1800's, where the prisoners used to make tattoos by etching the black sediments of the oil lamps into their skin.
Now, in 2010, it is home to some great conventions, like the 2nd Sydney Tattoo & Body Art Expo at the Sydney Olympic Park in Sydney Australia on March 6th-8th, 2010. As well as fantastic tattoo studios like The Tattoo Gallery, one of Australia's oldest working tattoo studios, operating since the early 70's, and Sleeve Master Tattoo, first opened in 1984, situated in Kings Cross, the heart of Sydney’s ‘red light’ district, Sleevemasters has established itself as Australia’s most highly-regarded and well-known tattoo studio.
Bangkok
Bangkok is the home of famous tattoo artist Jimmy Wong, see Tattoos.com article "Bangkok Past and Present and the Tattoos of Indochina" by Jimmy Wong, who today works from his shop on Soi 5 at Sukhumvit Road in an atmosphere that is about as close as you are going to get to how it used to be when things were good in tattooing, before the avalanche of “Looky Loos” showed up. He has been tattooing at this location for twenty years but he started out tattooing US Marines and other soldiers on leave from the Vietnam war starting in the early seventies bringing hi tattoo career to pretty close to forty years altogether.
Bangkok will be hosting it's very own Bangkok International Tattoo Convention in January 15-17, 2010, presenting renowned artists from around the globe such as Mick Zurich all the way from Switzerland and Mike Ledger from the U.S.A. The show is set to be like no other; bringing you the best of modern tattoo styles while showcasing works of long-standing tradition.
from it all, literally. New Zealand is notable for its geographic isolation, where it's cities consistently rank among the world's most livable. Sounds Perfect! 
A major coastal city, and the most populous county, in southeastern Florida. The city is home to many company headquarters, banks, and television studios. It is an international center for popular entertainment in television, music, fashion, film, and the performing arts. So it's no wonder tattoos, being so mainstream, have been the root for some top television shows aired today, such as 
