# Recommend Man and (Luton) Van - Europe?



## Fentum (May 1, 2017)

My GP and consultant have banned me from doing the following myself (especially the driving), so I was hoping that someone here could either offer or recommend a "man with a van" service to drive a Luton's load worth of furniture and household stuff (hifi and general boxes of china, tins of paint etc) down to North Italy and return with a less than half load of stuff (old wheels and other car parts). 

Alternatively, if someone is currently planning on going out empty to return with a full load, I don't urgently need the return load...

This would be at some time in May or June. The usual removal companies are asking a fortune.

The trip would be from one pick up in London (ground floor) to a delivery address in Stresa, Italy (ground floor). The return trip would be the reverse. 

I could either accompany the driver (and provide the Eurotunnel passages) or fly out to meet him and then fly back to meet him to unload again.

Grateful for any thoughts.

Peter


----------



## TRN Ent (Nov 16, 2008)

Have a look at two websites.
U-Ship and Shiply
You can place an "ad" and hauliers/men with vans can give you quotes for the job.
Tom.


----------



## Fentum (May 1, 2017)

TRN Ent said:


> Have a look at two websites.
> U-Ship and Shiply
> You can place an "ad" and hauliers/men with vans can give you quotes for the job.
> Tom.


Thanks Tom,

It might come to that.

But I've used Shiply a few times before and had very mixed experiences - as elsewhere in life, some decent fellows but also several chancers.

This forum seems populated with decent folk and hence the quest for a personal recommendation.

Peter


----------



## J306TD (May 19, 2008)

Could you get some prices from UShip and Shiply. Then get some prices to hire a van yourself and ask if any friends want to do it? That way you can trust who is helping you.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk


----------



## Fentum (May 1, 2017)

J306TD said:


> Could you get some prices from UShip and Shiply. Then get some prices to hire a van yourself and ask if any friends want to do it? That way you can trust who is helping you.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk


Thanks. That is an option I'm considering. And, if there are two of us, turn-and-turnabout every two hours on the driving should be consistent with my health and allow us to do the drive in one hit, assuming a pre-dawn start.

P


----------



## J306TD (May 19, 2008)

Fentum said:


> Thanks. That is an option I'm considering. And, if there are two of us, turn-and-turnabout every two hours on the driving should be consistent with my health and allow us to do the drive in one hit, assuming a pre-dawn start.
> 
> P


Seems a sensible option to me. At least you can share the driving then too. Nothing wrong with an early start. Be best option to get to the ferry before the traffic

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk


----------



## Fentum (May 1, 2017)

Just a quick update.

This forum really is the gift that keeps giving. A member here has very kindly offered his and his partner's services to accompany me in a hire van to Italy and back in return only for bed and board. It's so very kind of them. :thumb:

I'll leave him to decide if he wishes to reveal his identity...

So we're off on the 16th. 

Peter


----------



## Andyblue (Jun 20, 2017)

Fentum said:


> Just a quick update.
> 
> This forum really is the gift that keeps giving. A member here has very kindly offered his and his partner's services to accompany me in a hire van to Italy and back in return only for bed and board. It's so very kind of them. :thumb:
> 
> ...


Wow, very generous, a big :thumb:

There are some very generous people about and whether it's offering their advice and expertise on a subject, supporting fantastic causes or going the extra mile - got to love this forum :thumb:


----------



## Fentum (May 1, 2017)

Just an update. Trip completed. The DW member and his partner were delightful company and the journey passed relatively easily and in high spirits. I hope they enjoyed the trip as much as I did.

Although vans have become a lot more user-friendly since I drove them in my youth, they are still appreciably slower than driving a car - I'd say that each leg was a couple of hours longer than my usual run. Counter to that, being higher up gave us views we would never otherwise have seen. And driving on an unrestricted stretch of autobahn was also an experience on skinny Renault wheels, and a woefully mismatched electronic clutch.

We went out in the van on the Thursday, stayed over in Strasbourg and arrived in Italy on Friday evening. The weather on the way out was glorious, except for the spot over the Simplon Pass, natch. There was little danger of it happening, but the experience did bring to mind the coach sequence at the end of the Italian Job:doublesho!

We set out for the return on Saturday and arrived back in London on Sunday afternoon, having stayed over in Verdun. This time, although the weather was poor, we went via the ferry from Verbania to Laveno and then through the Gotthard Tunnel.

Interestingly, driving a hire van seems to attract the attention of customs. We were stopped, questioned and inspected by the Italian and UK authorities. Fortunately, we were clean as the proverbial whistle.

Anyway, mission accomplished.

I can only record again my gratitude to the DW member and his partner who made the trip possible and to encourage others here to do favours for others if they possibly can. I am certainly committed to paying such kindness forward. 

This is a great forum with great people on it.

Peter


----------



## Andy from Sandy (May 6, 2011)

My partner and I accompanied Peter from his home in London to his other home in Northern Italy.

Peter was an excellent host and his knowledge of the places we saw on the way made the trip very enjoyable in deed.

I have had no reason to go to Switzerland but to drive through the Alps was fantasitc. It might have to feature in a trip on my motorcycle one day.

More as a trial than anything else I stuck a GoPro to the windscreen and hoped for the best.

I have made the following shortish time lapsed videos of the trip. Nothing fancy mind.

The GoPro took a picture at 10 second intervals and I am displaying them in the video for 0.25 seconds.

Thursday 16th May 2019
Driving from London to Eurotunnel
Start time: 08:53
End time: 12:06
Journey time: 3 hours 13 minutes
Distance: 73 miles
Average speed: 23 miles per hour






Thursday 16th May 2019
Driving from Eurotunnel to Strasbourg
Start time: 12:55
End time: 19:51
Journey time: 6 hours 56 minutes
Distance: 393miles
Average speed: 56 miles per hour






Friday 17th May 2019
Driving from Strasbourg to Stresa
Start time: 07:41
End time: 16:17
Journey time: 8 hours 36 minutes
Distance: 292 miles
Average speed: 34 miles per hour


----------

