V.com weekend vote: Are you traveling with an instrument this holiday season?
December 23, 2011 at 8:53 PM
I'm hoping that Miranda enjoys my fiddle, while I'm across the country, playing Jason's fiddle.
Because I just couldn't stand the idea of traveling with my violin, through Chicago, on Christmas Eve, on American Airlines. I mean, it's not United, but I'm still very wary, especially on such a zany travel day.
So when my kids' teacher asked if I had a fiddle I could lend to his visiting niece, I had an idea. Maybe I could borrow a fiddle, too! And so that's what I'm doing: both lending and borrowing, thanks to the kindness of another V.com member.
So I won't be traveling with my fiddle! How about you, will you be traveling with an instrument this season? Staying home? Whether you are taking your instrument somewhere or not, feel free to share your travel experiences:
Staying home. As for holiday travel -- I've left that to others since finishing school. You never know, at this time of year, what crazy weather you might run into -- especially at the rate our up-north v.commies keep pushing these Canadian air masses our way.
In school, I flew with the fiddle a number of times between Chicago and Lower Michigan -- also a few flights between Chicago and Boston. Very uneventful -- no hassles, no snafus. This was all before 9-11-2001. Security took about 10 seconds. Passengers walked through an archway. Carry-ons went on a conveyor belt. Passengers picked them up on the other side of the arch.
I stopped flying well before 9-11. Never really cared for being airborne -- it always felt unnatural to me. Still, somehow, I managed to have a little fun with it.
Right now, I'm traveling with three! I picked up a 1780 Josef Klotz at Fred Oster's today--but more about that later... ;) (Geez, I'm turning into a fiddle hoarder. I think I need help.)
I'm giving my mother-in-law a concert so I need a violin. Going from the SF Bay Area to southern Oregon there's always risk that the change in climate will do something to it, but I figure it would do the same to either my cheap or good violin so might as well take the chance with my good violin.
Only "traveling" about a half-hour from home. I promised my almost-90-year-old mother that I'd bring my violin along on Christmas and play Christmas music for her. So my violin ("Angelina") will be suited-up in her case cover and safely seat-belted into the car for the journey. :)
Merry Christmas to all!!
When I go on holiday, I usually travel by train with a violin. I put it on the overhead luggage rack, never in a general luggage-store facility. Since I do not otherwise have occasion to take a violin on a train, I make a special effort not to forget it. So far so good: this year I have made my Christmas away trip ten days in advance, complete with violin.
When I return to school after my Christmas holiday I shall have to take back two violins with me, possibly on a train! At least the school is only 2 hours away from me and not half way around the world like for some people!! :-)
From Joyce Lin
Posted on December 24, 2011 at 8:42 PM
Yes, I will be traveling with my violin soon. I fly with my violin 3-4 trips a year on average since I started. Most of the time, it's pretty uneventful, although I have had one scare (violin case went flying and crashing inside the overhead compartment and later fell out), one close call (flight attendant insisted on checking my violin to the belly of the plane), and lots of inconvenience - being subject to additional searches, trying to board early so I could find a spot in the overhead compartment, being watchful when someone puts stuff in the same bin. Yes, it's a hassle, and lugging the heavy case around in the airports is not fun, not to mention sometimes I have to pay extra fees for my violin, but I don't like missing practice if my trip is longer than 3 days. I probably could have left my violin home and rented one at the destinations in some cases, but in the end, I was usually very glad that I had my violin with me.
Joyce has painted a compelling word-picture of some of the hazards of flying with a violin. Fortunately my (business) trips by air with time away represent less than one week a year,though I, like Joyce, do not like to go without practice for more than three days. I usually make an exception for my annual business trip, but Joyce has hit on a very thought-provoking idea about hiring a violin at the other end of the journey. Admittedly this creates the extra job of collecting the violin from the hirers and returning it, but it could be useful in some circumstances. I'll bear it in mind.
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