It is probably a tribute to the qualities of my steed (and the ones I owned previously), but the majority of my border crossings have been made without FIS, or any other contact with ATC.
Now guess what? Yes, she kept flying beautifully 
I might be wrong, but I think it’s an ICAO requirement, so everyone copies it into their AIP. But in practice nobody seems to care.
I am sure it is a requirement to speak to “somebody”, and going e.g. Shoreham tower to Le Touquer tower meets that requirement. Why would it not? Even if “FIS” was specified, a tower can offer an FIS.
