Traveling internationally....

[mdc2d]

I will be traveling to South Korea in August with our school wind ensemble, just wondering if there is anything particular I need to know about checking the tuba, etc. Any general advice would be great.

In case it matters, I'm taking a MW2141 in a Johnson flight case.

Thanks!! MC

[MartyNeilan]

I have toured internationally with school groups twice, the first to Guatemala and the second to Jordan. I only brought a mouthpiece to Jordan (brass in checked, kellyberg in carryon), so that obviously was not a major problem. Going to Guatemala, I took a school 186 in a hard case. I had a heavy cushion wedged at the end of the bell to help prevent wrinkles. But, I had a small screwdriver in the accessory compartment in case the linkage came loose on tour. Well, during an inspection they left the door unsnapped, and the screwdriver came out and rattled around inside the case scratching up the horn some. I would have been pretty unhappy if it was one of my horns. The other tubist had his case dropped, shattering one end of it but fortunately not causing significant damage to the horn; the airline refused any compensation.
Moral of the story - put nothing in the case except the tuba and padding. Imagine what would have happened if it was a mouthpiece rattling around instead?

[Tubaguyjoe]

Try phoning the airline to see what their policies are on oversized baggage...although, knowing it's a Walt case, it is probably oversize. You will need to pay an oversize, and sometimes overweight charge for it(usually about $60-$120x2). It can get pricey. If you are traveling with a school, maybe you can get them to pay for it. When I went overseas with my school and youth groups, I got them to pay for the extra cost. Good luck, and have fun in South Korea! -Joe

[DaTubaKid]

I just got back a few days ago from a tour with the Blue Lake Internation Youth Symphony Orchestra (phew..one heck of a name) to France and Germany, and I did a couple things to make sure my Miraphone 1291 (my baby) made it home alright. Firstly, amen to leaving nothing in your case. Our bass trombonist in the orchestra recommended I leave nothing in there, and that's exactly what I did. Our trumpet players left some things in their cases and it sounded like there a few new dings on their horns after the flight. Secondly, my horn has some very loose slides. If your horn has any slides that move smoothly at all, I highly recommend you tieing them down somehow. Having your slide fall out during flight and moving around can cause a lot of damage. I took a pair of socks, tied them together, and then tied each slide to the tuba so that it couldn't go far enough out to fall out. Worked like a charm. Thirdly, add some extra padding to your case. I was too poor to go out and buy some real padding, so I compesated. Clothing works great as padding as long as you are careful about buttons and other hard object on clothes. Try not to put rough clothing in the case, as they might scratch up the horn. Take some tshirts, ball them up loosely, and put them in the bell, around the bell, under the balls, and anywhere else you think necessary. Don't cram the stuff in, you want the horn to be able to move the tiniest bit. If you pack it too heavily, the clothes can actually damage the horn when it tries to move around. That's about all I did though.

Colby

[DaTubaKid]

Airlines are usually supposed to check cases for weapons and stuff like that. So when you check your instrument, try and see if you can be nearby when they open up your case. Nothing would be worse than them opening it and dropping your tuba on the floor. I was lucky when I checked my horn in. They simply put the case on a table, had four guys stand around in talking, and about five minutes later, they took it away. Something else you can do is to tape your latches shut. The latches might get damaged on the plane, and if they do, your horn could pop out. Taping them makes it harder for that to happen.

Colby