In this post I shall cover playing table tennis in your home or second home, buying bats and balls and net and a table, travelling with a table and/or bats and balls, and finding and playing on a table at a hotel or rented condo.
Second Hand Tables
You might be interested ping-pong or table tennis at home, on holiday, when travelling overseas on holiday or business. If your days of lawn tennis are over, or you may have room for a table tennis table in your house and back garden. You may be able to buy a folding table tennis table with bats, balls and net included. You could even put it inside a caravan or motorhome, or build one in, sliding behind a cupboard.
Online, you might be offered a second hand table with or without the bats and balls.
(In the USA the back garden would be called a yard - misleadingly to the British, who are puzzled to find Americans universally calling the back yard abbreviated to the word yard. Although modern homes London, like those in New York have just a yard, whilst many more homes in the USA have space for a garden - but I digress.)
Table Tennis At Home
When I was a teenager at girls' Grammar School in London, England, my parents bought for me, at my request, a folding table tennis table which was kept in the garage. Tables come in two sizes, full size and big enough for four players. We bought second hand, big enough. The table could be stored in the garage and set up in the garage. You had to move out the car. In those days most families had only one car).
Mostly we played in the sun in the garden in the summer. I was able to invite around girls - and boys! At least three friends. Suddenly, I was popular. Friends who lived in larger and smaller houses had a reason for coming round for afternoon tea - and of course strawberries and cream.
Table Tennis and Tennis in Condos and Hotels, USA and Singapore
Many condos and hotels in the USA have tennis courts. it is usually easier to spot the tennis court than the room with the table tennis table. Also in the USA and England there are clubs and public courts where you can play both tennis and table tennis. You often have to book both.
Singapore
In Singapore you can also play tennis or table tennis at Country clubs and town clubs such as The Tanglin and The American club. Ask the club and ask your friends and business associates.
Nowadays I stay in Singapore at a condo, similar to many other condos, where the grounds have outdoor tennis courts. I believe there is a table tennis table somewhere.
Finding Hidden Table Tennis At A Conference Centre In The UK
For example, I visited The Hayes Conference Centre in Derbyshire several years running before I discovered that a table tennis table was in a back room.
Many hotels and conference centres have a hidden table tennis table. You just have to ask and go looking for it. You may have to set it up and put it away again, for the evening, or the duration of your stay.
Free, Fee, Returnable Deposit
You might also have to pay a fee, or a returnable deposit, for the use of the bats and ping-pong balls. If you are planning a holiday and would like to play table tennis, check your spare room or attic for your own set to take with you on holiday.
Packing Ping-Pong Sets
Taking your own bats and balls is an advantage. A boxed set often includes the net. The hotel sometimes keep the net with the boxed set. This also guards against loss or damage of the net and the management ensures you have to pay.
Taking your own table tennis set, if you have a car with room, not worrying about weight when flying, your forethought will save you money. In addition, having your own equpiment will save you time. You might arrive at a rented flat or villa which has a table tennis table, even a large kitchen or dining or spare table which you could use, but no bats, balls and nets.
Time Collecting Bats and Balls
On one occasion (at the Writers Summer School, in Swanwick, Derbyshire) in I had to go off to reception to pay for and collect a table tennis bat. Maybe it was free, but you just had to sign for it so it didn't disappear. But by the time I'd gone to reception, or the busy bar serving drinkers, and queued (Americans would say lined up), and got back, my friends had finished or lost interest and disappeared to watch TV. In addition to the time collecting, you have to allow time for returning the set - before your meeting or plane or train home.
Add return Ping-pong bats, to your list of things to do at the end of the day or end of the trip, along with hotel door keys. After having to post back one lost of forgotten set, you usually remember the next time!
Sports Clothes and Flat Shoes
Finally, remember to pack or take in your tote bag suitable clothes or shoes. At a conference, dinner was followed by the evening speaker, then somebody suggested playing ping-pong in our only free time and to get some exercise after a heavy dinner and sitting around all day.
OK for the guys, wearing short sleeve shirts, trousers or Bermuda shorts and flat shoes. But I am wearing a tight skirt and high heels. Not ideal for running around the table and bending over to pick up table tennis balls.
So, remember to pack your ping pong bats and flats.
More details about the table tennis museum in Shanghai in the previous post:
http://www.ittf.com/museum/
More details about the writer:
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Second Hand Tables
You might be interested ping-pong or table tennis at home, on holiday, when travelling overseas on holiday or business. If your days of lawn tennis are over, or you may have room for a table tennis table in your house and back garden. You may be able to buy a folding table tennis table with bats, balls and net included. You could even put it inside a caravan or motorhome, or build one in, sliding behind a cupboard.
Online, you might be offered a second hand table with or without the bats and balls.
(In the USA the back garden would be called a yard - misleadingly to the British, who are puzzled to find Americans universally calling the back yard abbreviated to the word yard. Although modern homes London, like those in New York have just a yard, whilst many more homes in the USA have space for a garden - but I digress.)
Table Tennis At Home
When I was a teenager at girls' Grammar School in London, England, my parents bought for me, at my request, a folding table tennis table which was kept in the garage. Tables come in two sizes, full size and big enough for four players. We bought second hand, big enough. The table could be stored in the garage and set up in the garage. You had to move out the car. In those days most families had only one car).
Mostly we played in the sun in the garden in the summer. I was able to invite around girls - and boys! At least three friends. Suddenly, I was popular. Friends who lived in larger and smaller houses had a reason for coming round for afternoon tea - and of course strawberries and cream.
Table Tennis and Tennis in Condos and Hotels, USA and Singapore
Many condos and hotels in the USA have tennis courts. it is usually easier to spot the tennis court than the room with the table tennis table. Also in the USA and England there are clubs and public courts where you can play both tennis and table tennis. You often have to book both.
Singapore
In Singapore you can also play tennis or table tennis at Country clubs and town clubs such as The Tanglin and The American club. Ask the club and ask your friends and business associates.
Nowadays I stay in Singapore at a condo, similar to many other condos, where the grounds have outdoor tennis courts. I believe there is a table tennis table somewhere.
Finding Hidden Table Tennis At A Conference Centre In The UK
For example, I visited The Hayes Conference Centre in Derbyshire several years running before I discovered that a table tennis table was in a back room.
Free, Fee, Returnable Deposit
You might also have to pay a fee, or a returnable deposit, for the use of the bats and ping-pong balls. If you are planning a holiday and would like to play table tennis, check your spare room or attic for your own set to take with you on holiday.
Packing Ping-Pong Sets
Taking your own bats and balls is an advantage. A boxed set often includes the net. The hotel sometimes keep the net with the boxed set. This also guards against loss or damage of the net and the management ensures you have to pay.
Taking your own table tennis set, if you have a car with room, not worrying about weight when flying, your forethought will save you money. In addition, having your own equpiment will save you time. You might arrive at a rented flat or villa which has a table tennis table, even a large kitchen or dining or spare table which you could use, but no bats, balls and nets.
Time Collecting Bats and Balls
On one occasion (at the Writers Summer School, in Swanwick, Derbyshire) in I had to go off to reception to pay for and collect a table tennis bat. Maybe it was free, but you just had to sign for it so it didn't disappear. But by the time I'd gone to reception, or the busy bar serving drinkers, and queued (Americans would say lined up), and got back, my friends had finished or lost interest and disappeared to watch TV. In addition to the time collecting, you have to allow time for returning the set - before your meeting or plane or train home.
Add return Ping-pong bats, to your list of things to do at the end of the day or end of the trip, along with hotel door keys. After having to post back one lost of forgotten set, you usually remember the next time!
Sports Clothes and Flat Shoes
Finally, remember to pack or take in your tote bag suitable clothes or shoes. At a conference, dinner was followed by the evening speaker, then somebody suggested playing ping-pong in our only free time and to get some exercise after a heavy dinner and sitting around all day.
OK for the guys, wearing short sleeve shirts, trousers or Bermuda shorts and flat shoes. But I am wearing a tight skirt and high heels. Not ideal for running around the table and bending over to pick up table tennis balls.
So, remember to pack your ping pong bats and flats.
More details about the table tennis museum in Shanghai in the previous post:
http://www.ittf.com/museum/
More details about the writer:
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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