Viva Espana !

Im well excited got a job today leaving next wednesday deliver friday Barcelona 3 pallets of brochures to a show think i might stay out there for the weekend, anyone else doing or done this trip in the past could do with a bit of advice on best way to go and any pitfalls  thanks.

If going threw France take enough cash for the thousands! Of toll roads 

Avoid the train. And take some handy hygiene wipes.And go loo before.
And avoid Paris, and make sure your sat nav does too.
Otherwise france is great.
You can avoid tolls ,and make good time ; get a really good atlas, and work point to point on your satnav rather than total route
 Poitiers is allways good for me travelling south. The Ibis Poitiers Sud has  secure parking, and a great steakhouse . Otel.com is good for booking on the move on your smartphone.
Allow goodtime for crossing france-spain as it can be twisty over hills ,when you are knocking 20hrs.
And that bridge, the millau viaduct, stunning.
When in spain - find a hypermarket and buy a ham. A whole one. Delish, for around 3 months, or share with friends on return
Finally, check if you can drive on a sunday. Some commercial vehicles can ,some cannot.

Nothing wrong with france, as said avoid Paris.

so many things to avoid...my plan?...put it on an exchange site..lol

hiya im over the water working a lot just watch the french police as thay have a habit of stopping the english vans for speeding,also you are ok to drive anytime of the day its 7.5t upwards which carnt drive on a weekend.Its a long drive through france though make sure  your van as got winter tyres on or carry snow chains with you as it is law theres plenty of snow over there at the moment aswell

Yep Bloody expensive on Toll roads but can be avoided if you have the time probably about £130 each way. Get a fuel card that can be used abroad DKV is prob the best and you can use this to pay the tolls, also it allows you to claim back some VAT if your registered. well worth going over the Milau bridge and some great views the further south you go. So take your time and enjoy.

Forgot to say Hi Vis Jacket, Spare bulbs, Warning Triangle and first aid kit also required and GB badge on van if you havent got the correct plates. And make sure you have the Ins cover abroad carry driving licence and Log book at all times. If the goods are for sale I think you need some paperwork as well but if its just print no need. I always go by train but you need to go as freight about £200 plus vat and you get 24 hours either side of your book in dates. If you go by boat i think Norfolkline is cheapest but goes to dunkerque only 25 miles up fom calais.nice cheap breakfast in kings of the road cafe on top deck but take your boarding card as they only let freight drivers in. hope this helps. or give it to a polish chap in a luton for £300 lol !!!!!! 

It's not just the Polish that will go to Southern Spain for £300 there are plenty of muppets in the UK that will do it for that price!!!!!!

Bison-fute. its a website and more. Has up to the hour traffic info, travel advice and more !
Traffic restrictions, tunnel and mountain pass info. legal requirements,  euro traffic issues, toll road info.
And thats for professional Joseph .
Joe public has his bit for cars .
Being French , it has it's " je ne sais quoi" or englished up ; "abit of i don't what ! "
What you need to know is the whole site is also in english, there's the flag just down to the left hand side. Use it, love it.
 Drive, enjoy that smooth and quiet road experience. feel 500 miles drop off easier than a quickie out of Chelmsford. Pop in services, eat real food. Quite nice way to earn a wage.

DRIVE ON RIGHT !!!!!!

Fly a white flag whilst driving through France.
It's always good to try and blend in!!

lol...nice one

The White flag is good advice lol !

On a more serious note if you are going to do European work be careful when qouting for Switzerland jobs as there is much paperwork and costs involved with Carnets etc.  Nothing but grief getting stamped out of france stamped in to swiss and the same on the way out and they are not open 24 hrs.

oh yes the swiss are a pain .. 2 of us in 40 footers got impounded there due to incorrect paper work for the weekend,  lucky the pub was a short walk!!

Im back or should i say "we" are back as i took my other half Juila lol, we loaded tuesday night but i took sorry we took on a additional drop to Gibralter for the courier firm  (they have 4 vans) that do work from the same company as me. We headed down to Dover early wednesday to sort all the paper work out at customs, the agent was sorted for us by the courier firm as was the channel crossing (£76 one way freight on the train + the vat ).

Once the other side we headed down towards Rouen onto Chartes, Tours etc Juila did the 1st stint, we have both driven in europe & once toured on a motorcycle before all this "long way down " stuff ,  our aim was to get to Barcelona early hrs Thursday as we were delivering for the mobile phone show at the exhibition centre but we had a address near the airport which was 24hr.

We arrived at Barcelona at 3am having driven nonstop and our drop off was open as promised, we decided to push on again sharing the driving Gibralter was almost 700 miles further on we ran the coast road which became pretty busy anyway we arrived at the border at just after 5pm only to be told by a english trucker that the border had shut at 3pm, damm !

We slept in the van and following morning approached the customs, the problems started ! our paper work described the goods as one item at 600kgs with the value, the customs wanted it broken down and a value of each item (it was signs & fixings for a hotel) this took us 4 hrs to sort out luckily Juila speaks good Spanish which i think helped ? we finally delivered lunchtime.

We had promise of a reload from Madrid to Basildon so we didnt hang around . Arrived at Madrid at 11pm and loaded 3 pallets at 1200kgs and headed home arriving at Calais Saturday afternoon and reached Basildon last night , at last!

Thanks to everyone pm ing me with advice  on the trip, tomorrow 1 drop Croydon  and 1 in Woking back to reality lol  anyway the van needs a service, light came on 100 miles from Calais so i expect to get fleeced by Essex Ford lol

Could have a trip to Helsinki next more mobile phone print just depends on the weight and timescale as to wetherthe fly it or i or sorry we drive it, will keep you updated !

Was it photo copy paper or  a photo copier?

Did you fly by photo copy paper areoplane?

Kind regards

Tony

Keep it to private messages Kingsdown as you was told, and its "aeroplane"

1.  What are you referring to?

2.  Why are you mentioning us, we or I?

I, we certainly "was told".

Kind regards

Tony.

Sounds like the trip from hell. I personally feel more's the pity that  you made a choice to do so little other than drive,
With all the chat on here about foreigners stealing loads , low pplm, working hours ,its good to know the british entrepreunerial spirit,  can push the envelope as wide as our  east  european friends.