There are different reasons to travel: food, wine, history, adventure - all offering memories and trinkets. For the brave and committed, however, there's a different kind of travel souvenir: a tattoo. Those in the know will travel to St Petersburg for Sasha Unisex's bright geometric watercolour washes or to Los Angeles for Dr Woo's miniature monochrome marvels. They'll seek out the iconic irezumi - traditional Japanese style - of Asakusa Horiyasu or even the bold line-work of Manuela Gray from Cape Town's Wildfire Tattoos.It was a tattoo artist that drew me to Spain.On a Pinterest page I often visit, I found the work of Cohete Fernández and was attracted to her line-work and off-kilter approach to her children's book-like illustrations. After some research, Instagram stalking and haphazard Google-translated e-mails , we coordinated dates, times, price, place, and most importantly, design .I caught a plane to Barcelona then took a train to Valencia, where I met Fernández and some of her friends in a little square. She led me through winding alleys to a shared artist studio and a tattoo table. It was in this space - home to photographers, painters, a puppet-maker and a jewellery designer - that we spent the next three hours bonding as she made her mark on me with ink and a needle.We were friends by the time it was complete and spent the rest of the day eating lunch and hanging out at the beach. Later, she dropped me off again at the train station - a tattoo, a friendship and a life story richer.I don't think that getting tattooed by an obscure and elusive artist who doesn't speak English is for everyone, nor do I advocate overseas artists, as we have talented local tattooists - but I do champion researching the art thoroughly before you commit it to your body.Look at different artists' work, see if it's in the style you want and talk to them about it. A talented artist can imitate any technique but will work better in a style that comes naturally; you wouldn't ask Warhol to paint like Picasso.Global connectivity has enabled us to go the extra mile or 14000 to get what we want, so why not make an adventure out of it? It will last the rest of your life...