(Not so) Travelling Minstrel

In the light of this week’s events, it appears that my last post on leaving Jersey may well end up being the last post I do sitting in an airport lounge with my cello. It may well actually be the last post I do from an airport lounge full-stop. As someone who travels a lot, I appreciate everything that’s done to ensure our safety when we travel. Although it’s annoying that my ‘work-wear’ style shoes, with their steel eyelets, cause me to get frisked and searched every time I go through a metal detector, but it makes me feel safe. However, I lose that appreciation when it means the entire reason I travel is going to be taken away from me.

The majority of my travel is music-related. This means I have to take my cello. This week’s events mean that my cello has to go in the hold. This is impossible because a)No insurance policy covers against damage in the hold of an aircraft, mostly because b)the temperature of the average aircraft hold hits minus 40c, which means it would almost certainly fall apart.

So I may well have to resign myself to a life of staying put. Although, one thought astounds me – As of this week I’m no longer able to travel with a bottle of water on a plane, but last week (and for many years before and after September 11th), my cello has travelled on it’s own seat on the plane, complete with it’s 40cm metal spike with a very sharp end…

BBC News: Baggage ban hits musicians