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Be sure to check out my other great posts about planning your trip to the Tucson Gem Show here!

Tips for Surviving the Tucson Gem Show: The Tucson Gem show can be overwhelming and exhausting if you are not careful.  Once you have made a plan for where you want to go, pace yourself.  You are not going to see the WHOLE gem show, even if you were able to stay for a month.

Anyone that does energy work or crystal healing will tell you that the energy of so many stones all buzzing in one small space can be dizzying and exhausting, even for the most grounded of souls.  Just try to go with the flow, relax and enjoy all of the pretty crystals.

Make sure you take a rolling bag with you (like a carry on sized rolling suitcase.)  Carrying all of your acquisitions in a backpack will quickly get tiring.  The rolling bag works well in most parts of the gem show. although it is a little bit of a liability in parts of the Electric Park show, as there is thick gravel in some places there.

Always carry bottled water with you, and drink plenty of it.  Some other things that might be helpful to you as you are traversing the vast landscape that is the gem show are toilet paper (many of the restrooms are frequently out of it), an notebook and pen (if you see something that you might like to come back to, write it down…you might find a better price further down the road.)

If you see a clean looking bathroom, use it even if you don’t think you need to go.  There are parts of the gem show where clean restrooms are hard to find.

If you end up with more purchases than will fit in your luggage, you will need to ship some of it back.  If it is just a little too much, it should fit in a flat rate USPS box and this is probably the cheapest option (these boxes are free at your local post office, and I always carry 2-3 to the gem show in the bottom of my suitcase, just in case.  You ca print the postage for them online and drop them in the mail at the hotel front desk if you are unable to find a post office.)  It is also helpful to travel with extra packing tape in case you need to reinforce any heavy boxes of stones.

If you have even more than this, there are shipping stations at many of the major shows where they can help you to easily pack and ship your goodies.

If you are bringing stones back in your luggage, a luggage scale might be helpful so you can make sure that you are not over your carry on limit.