TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Carry on guitar on smaller plane

After my trip last week, i have pretty much had it with the BVI ferry system. Each one hour trip took two and a half hours thanks to ferry lateness, waiting offshore for docked ferries to move to make room, line ups at immigration (somebody made the decision not to let passengers off while the previous ferry passengers were still in line to get processed at Customs), baggage screw ups (bags for two different destinations were piled together so people getting off at West End didn't know where their bags were and they had to wade through piles at the front, back and in the cabin), new visitors did not know that West End was not Roadtown so the ferry after leaving WE had to make an about face to go back and get them (a nice gesture but better communications between crew and passengers could have avoided this).

So for next year's trip, i am looking at flying directly to EIS (i figure the extra money will be worth it to keep my blood pressure under control).

I always carry a carry on Martin travel guitar when I travel. It is approximately 3/4 size of a regular sized guitar and with its case, it comes in around 32-34 inches in length. It fits above the seat in regular passenger jets including the Embraer commuter jet.

Does anybody know how this would work with the smaller commuter propeller planes that Seaborne or Air BVI (are they still around??)??? Its a soft shelled case so it wouldn't work well as a checked bag. I'm thinking of upgrading to a baby Taylor which is a bit longer but again I'm wondering how it would fit with local commuter planes around the islands (anyone ever seen one on one of those smaller twin engine Cessna's)????

Plan B is to strap it on my back and swim from Charlotte Amalie to West End....

cs

Are you chartering? If so, from whom?

The reason I ask is because TMM has a Martin guitar they rent to clients. I doubt they would rent it to anyone who is chartering from another company though, but it's worth calling them and asking.

Otherwise, I'm afraid I don't have a good solution for you. Delicate luggage is not likely to fare well if checked through ... and as far as I know, "smaller" carriers often insist that you check your luggage. I know I was rather ticked off when LIAT made me check my carry on which is small enough to go under a standard airline seat.

The whole [color:"red"]point[/color] of packing using a carry on bag only is so you don't have to worry about lost or damaged luggage! Having to check your carry on pretty much defeats that goal.

Hopefully, someone else will have a better solution. Sorry.

A true classic on traveling with a guitar!

http://youtu.be/5YGc4zOqozo

All fun aside you should have no trouble on Cape Air. Simply carry it out to the aircraft and have the pilot make sure it goes on the top of the luggage.
G

but they still let women take their purses with them into the cabin so maybe just call and ask and see if they will accommodate. I know Cape Air has super customer service.

I'll admit I don't know what a martin travel guitar is, but bviwatertoys.com rents guitars .... if you can't bring yours
http://www.bviwatertoys.com/guitar-rental-tortola-bvi/

I have one of these. They work great. Not the real thing but very small/portable

http://jamstik.com/?gclid=CKDuu-vEpcsCFQFkhgoda4oODQ

I took a mini Martin to the BVI last year.

Seaborne absolutely would NOT let me take it into the cabin although I know darn well that it would fit.

So it ended up in the back of the plane with the rest of the baggage.

So there you have it first hand.

FWIW, Taylor makes a similar guitar that you can easily remove the neck from. Put the neck in a suitcase and make some sort of rigid case for the body.

Another option is getting a private water taxi from STT to Tortola. We did that one way last year and the regular ferry on the way home. Have already decided that even though it was expensive we are definitely going to add it both ways to the budget for our next trip. It was so relaxing compared to our time on the regular ferry! That is unless I can convince my husband to fly to EIS - he's not too excited about taking the tiny plane over there.

I remember friend from college traveled to Boston
and wanted to play but was without a weapon.
I think it involved a girl he had met.
He went to a pawn shop
and bought an acoustic guitar for $80.
He took it back to the entrance to his hotel, opened up
the case and started to play. When he had collected
$80, he closed shop, presumably to find the girl.
On the day he left, he returned to the pawn shop
and sold the guitar back for $30.
Maybe not the best plan but better than swimming.

Mike

I don't know what sort of pawn shops exist in the BVI, but buying a cheap guitar at one and leaving it behind might not be such a bad idea.

My Martin Backpacker has made 3 trips to the BVI and I haven't had any problems. We used Air Sunshine and I made sure that it was the last item placed in the baggage area so that it was on top.

Bought a guitar at a local department store for a hundred bucks a few years back and donated it to the lady who cleans the boats upon return. It sounded and played like a $100 guitar, ie most definitely NOT a Martin but it got the job done.

We asked the folks at the VIP arrivals where to find a guitar, and they gave us a list of a few potential small electronics/hardware/department stores in the RT area. We had to go to a three or four places before we found it, I suspect it isn't the kind of thing normally carried in inventory so there's no real certainty you will be able to find one!

http://www.bviwatertoys.com/guitar-rental-tortola-bvi/

Not a guitar player, and no one wants me to bring my trumpet, but I've seen this listing before.

Cheers, RickG

There's a new kid in town: http://www.klosguitars.com . Has anyone seen one of these carbon fiber hybrids or used one in a tropical setting?