Now that it's officially summer, tattoo convention season is upon us.

In cities all over the world (including pretty much every major city in America), hundreds of tattoo artists will gather for two or three days full of art, ink, and all of the fun and chaos that go along with it. Some tattoo diehards will travel across the country to get some work done by one of their favorite artists while many others will travel hours just to see some of tattooing's biggest names work.

If you've never been to a tattoo convention, it's probably best to just search for the ones in your area and check out those before you start taking road trips and booking flights to go to the big ones. For the veterans of their own local scenes, here are five that are worth traveling for just about every year.

International London Tattoo Convention

Ask any tattoo artist who's been around the industry for a while what the best convention is, and there's a good chance they'll tell you it's on the other side of the Atlantic. The London Tattoo Convention doesn't have the huge names in music or many of the other subcultures associated with tattooing like most of the major American conventions, but it's widely considered the biggest and best gathering of tattooers on the planet. If you're going to tattoo conventions to see the best tattoos and tattoo artists, then London should be on your bucket list. This year, it's taking place September 23-25 at Tobacco Dock.

NY Empire State Tattoo Expo

Alongside California, New York is one of the tattooing meccas of the United States. Therefore, it shouldn't come as a surprise that one of the state's most significant conventions is among the most noteworthy in the country. It's a who's who of East Coast tattooing (including dozens of New York's biggest names in the industry), and legendary guests from all over the world make it a must-see for anyone who's interested in tattoos. You won't see as many tattoos in the Northeast as you would on the West Coast, but that doesn't mean there aren't some top of the line tattoo conventions. Inked Magazine is presenting it, and this one goes down July 15-17 at the New York Hilton Midtown.

Musink Tattoo Convention & Music Festival

For the first handful of years of its existence, Travis Barker's Musink was the little brother of tattoo conventions in SoCal. Ink-N-Iron dominated every year aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, and even expos in Pomona, Pasadena, and other parts of LA took precedent for many local tattooers. But year after year, the Costa Mesa-based festival has grown, both in size and in recognition. Some of the biggest names in music, tattooing, and classic cars come together every year for the three-day festival, so it draws crowds for far more than just the artwork itself. With the convention formerly known as Ink-N-Iron still growing into itself as Art Collective LA, Musink should continue to be the biggest name in SoCal tattooing expos for at least the next few years. With the weekend generally taking place in March, you'll likely have to wait another nine months or so before you get a chance to check out Musink for yourself.

Texas Showdown Festival

Despite the name, the Showdown Festival actually takes place in a few spots outside of Texas as well. Their next spot will be at Rock Fest in Wisconsin (July 14-16), but the crew's homecoming in El Paso will be September 23-25. With a handful of locations throughout the U.S., there are plenty of great artists who travel with the festival -- and even more that show up at the festival when it comes through their neck of the woods. If you're lucky, you might not even have to travel for it. After all, they may stop by a city near you. Although, it's probably bigger (and more fun) in Texas, because isn't everything supposed to be?

Berlin Tattoo Convention

Among European conventions outside of the United Kingdom, it's tough to beat Berlin. With a laundry list of tattooing big shots from Asia, North America, and all over Europe, there's more than enough diversity to go around at this one. You might need to be multilingual to appreciate all of it, but the art of tattooing translates into any language. If you're into the European takes on various styles of tattooing (particularly their realism and traditional looks), you'll definitely want to book a ticket to Berlin sometime. Its been going on for more than a quarter of a century, and this year, it'll be August 12-14 at Arena Berlin.