London ( CNN ) -- Retro ruled at the Ninth International London Tattoo Convention over the weekend . It was a reminder of how central the theme of travel has long been to tattoos . How so ? Consider the vintage designs that proved so popular among the thousands of inky fans gathered from all over the world at the three-day meet . Mermaids . Anchors and sailing ships . Coy 50s pin-ups . Gypsy girls . It 's the classic iconography of the sailor 's bicep -- signifiers , in other words , of the professional , inveterate traveler . Traditional swing . `` There 's definitely a swing back to traditional . The fashion is the old U.S. marine styles , '' Marcus Berriman , co-organiser of the convention , told the Guardian . But another trend on show had an equally strong travel imprint . Along with `` [ t ] he old-school sailor stuff ... the Japanese are really in vogue now , '' Aimee Cornwell , a second-generation tattooist at the show told the paper , referring to designs thick with swords and samurais . Such oriental themes hark back to the allure of the exotic , when wearing a tattoo so often symbolized that you 'd been somewhere foreign -- possibly very foreign -- and were therefore also probably a little suspicious . Now all a tat need signify is that you know how to find your way to a trendy inner-city tattoo parlor . Could it be that a return to rootless maritime themes and the mysterious east are an attempt to restore a demimonde thrill to a practice that 's becoming so mainstream that the next radical statement could be to go entirely tattoo-free ? Or to tattoo your head -- another unmissable trend at the convention that one artist present called a potential `` life-ruiner , '' and something she , like many of her fellow practitioners , never offered . Scrubbed clean . Seen as one of the great follies of youth , tattooing -- especially when it 's on someone 's head -- can make you want to scream , `` You ca n't scrub it off ! '' Except that you can . Painful and expensive it might be , but lasering can now return a tattooed body to a blank , if slightly smudgy , canvas . Leaving you to travel the world in search of new tattoos . Judging by the skilled artists present , by invitation only , at the convention , electrifying designs are on offer in a growing number of countries around the world . And to think you just used to sew little flags on to your backpack to show all the places you 'd traveled to .
Sailing boat , anchors among favorite designs at international tattoo shows . Exotic is another popular theme on shows in London . They celebrate tattoos ' long relationship with travel .