well I think I can answer the ALL CAPS post about moving... (might want to take your caps lock off when you're posting bro....) and also about traveling with my instruments.
And this is actually a very fresh issue for me right now as i'm heading to Texas tomorrow for five days in the studio producing and playing on an album.
I'm going to take three basses with me - Fodera, and two P basses, my pedal board, my RH-450, my Studio Konekt 48, and my laptop....
How I travel with the instruments really depends on what the situation is. When I'm touring in the US for instance on a tour bus, I'll have the artist or label crate all my gear and deliver it to the first show once we get done with rehearsals in Los Angeles. Then the gear will be in flight cases for the duration of the tour, and loaded into the venue and set up by the tech each day. For one off fly dates I normally travel with just one bass, and whenever I'm flying with my fodera I carry it on the plane.
I do all my miles with one network of airlines (
http://www.staralliance.com/en/) which involves flying united, US and Continental a lot domestically in the US, and mainly lufthansa, Singapore, Thai, Swiss, Air New Zealand and BMI elsewhere... although the network is huge and so many countries and airlines are covered by it I can normally fly star alliance anywhere I go. This does one major thing for me... gives me elite membership with the network for my continued loyalty. With that come so many benefits for traveling that it makes my life very easy and lot cheaper to move gear around the world. I get three bags at 70lbs for free wherever I fly, and anyone on the same itinerary as me gets two bags at 70lbs. So when I travel with my band for instance there is never any overweight. They also don't mess with me about carrying on my bass as I'm always checking in at the first class desk whether I'm flying first or not (another elite member bonus) and as soon as they check my flying history when I swipe my card they realize I fly just about every week with the same airline and don't give me any trouble with anything I'm carrying with me. And I'm actually flying in first class most of the time too which comes with a few more added bonuses so there's never an issue with carry on.
Now, I'm not writing all this stuff to sound like some elite traveler being all fancy around the world in first class. Upgrades are just a nice little aspect of doing all your miles with the same airline. And I just want to highlight these facts if you're really traveling a lot, and say how important it's been for me to go that route and how little I've been messed with with carrying on my bass.
When I'm checking instruments I have a custom anvil case for my fodera which has never let me down. I have a double Fender Flight case that I ship my P-Basses in when I'm going on tour or heading out of town for a record date like tomorrow. And I have a crappy SKB pedalboard which I should never have bought, and need to upgrade it to a pedaltrain Pro.
Anyway, that's my insight into that side of things. At the end of the day it's a drag to fly, bass or no bass. I do around 150,000 miles a year on the play, and have done for many years now, and its' a drag. Unfortunately, as a band leader, getting to the next step of flying private is quite a big leap.... so I think I'll be dealing with airports, check in, and TSA for a few more years yet....
Janek
