Lydia Perez was about eight years old when she left her Laventille home for the United States.
But as soon as she was old enough and financially stable, she ensured to return home for Carnival.
That year was 2006 and she has not missed the ‘Greatest show on Earth’ since.
“Those two years were horrible we actually decided not to do any Carnivals in any other countries and save ourselves for Trinidad...this is not just my culture it’s my hobby,” she said.
The pandemic taking away two seasons made attending Carnival 2023 even more necessary. Perez started preparations for herself, her husband, and her friend months before.
“So, my family we do a lil bit different we kind of try to hack the system in terms of cost so we start banking points with our credit cards and the hotels we stay at,” she said.
She said she then reached out to promoters and designers to get into the parties and get the desired costumes.
Perez also organises a sou-sou (savings club) to accumulate funds.
But even with that, Perez said the cost of plane tickets to this country from the United States during Carnival season was expensive.
“If we didn’t have points, it would have been US$800 per ticket (TT$5,600). This year the tickers were astronomical, we purchased early and it was still 800 with what we do and the points we only paid 350 each per ticket,” she revealed.
Perez did the interview with Guardian Media outside the Hyatt Regency where she was staying at the time.
They checked into a Port-of-Spain guesthouse for the rest of their stay at US$150 (TT$1,000) per night.
“I personally like to spread my money around to many different people, not just corporations,” she explained.
This year he’s a frontline masquerader with Tribe, that costume cost approximately TT$15,000. But then there are hair, nails, make-up, and other necessary self-care procedures for Perez to look and feel her best on the road.
She estimated that cost to be US$1,000.
And since she and her team arrive the week before Carnival, they get the full experience by attending various fetes.
“We have a line up we usually do some of the bigger fetes some of the smaller fetes, we try to mix between boat rides, coolers fetes, breakfast parties,” she said.
Perez rounded up the cost of the Carnival for her and her team to TT$30,000 but if you ask her she would tell you that it was worth it.
Because according to her this means more than just jumping up in a band.
“This is something that is part of me it’s part of my culture, I have a daughter she is young but she is taking part,” she said.
She said she also believes that she’s giving back to her country.
“When you bring tourist dollars here everybody eats,” she said.
The born Trinbagonian also helps other tourists navigate their carnival experiences.
And from tonight Perez and her team will do like what her favourite soca songs suggested fete hard or whatever Bunji Garlin said because they budgeted and did everything necessary to “Come Home” for the Carnival.
