Mr Samsara said:
Perhaps you have a point regarding the Fed Ex solution in regards to a 200 year old violin (but really.... are there very many musicians who are on tour w/ gigs in Italy one night and the UK on the next night with 200 year old violins?), but like I said... I spent 2 minutes max on it. I'm sure with some thought and energy put into creating a solution rather than complaining, asking for an exception or special treatment..... one could be found... and that's all I'm really trying to say.
easy for you to say.... come up with a good one instead of saying "it's so easy, easy!"
say you're a professional musician, let's say you have a €30.000 violiin? any good violin is easily worth that money.
i would NEVER EVER fedex it. really.
-it takes/could take too long (sometimes they loose it for a few weeks)
-it could be damaged
-it could be lost
i spend some time on guitar boards, just a small grab from stories i've heard so far:
someone buys a guitar from the US (im in the Netherlands), it gets delivered almost half a year later, after spending time on the phone with UPS for almost every week.
someone buys a combo amp and it comes home wrecked. apparently customs didnt trust it, they wanted to open it, were VERY blunt with it. the speaker was removed and all torn, backpanel removed and nowhere to be found, and it was in very shaky condition over all. customs denied responsibility of course, and so did the transport company...
and yes, then there was the infamous story of the PRS that got lost by UPS....
then imagine sending something 30x as expensive, not insurable, with a cultural heritage, AND to top it all, with strong emotional value (NOBODY touches my bass....).
it sucks. i would NOT do it.
so far, the only workable solution would be to take a ferry to the mainland, i.e. from Dover to Hoek van Holland, take a train from there to Schiphol. From there you can fly anywhere. takes a lot of extra time though... and money.
by the way, the UK government is also trying to make all EU countries enforce the same policy. if they have their way, soon this solution will vanish as well. the effectivity of the measures is unproven...
