Wanted - a travel agent who'll do multi-country self-drive tours

There are plenty out there who'll do you a holiday in Germany. or
France. Or Belgium. Or any other _single_ country. The only one I
know who'll cross any boundary at all is Brittany Ferries, who'll do you
a round trip from the UK, across the channel to France, down through to
Spain, and back to the UK from Santander. (or vice versa). There must
be more - suggestions please?

I know I could book it myself, but I like the idea of one complaint when
it all falls apart!

Andy

Andy Champ wrote:
There are plenty out there who'll do you a holiday in Germany. or
France. Or Belgium. Or any other _single_ country. The only one I
know who'll cross any boundary at all is Brittany Ferries, who'll do
you a round trip from the UK, across the channel to France, down
through to Spain, and back to the UK from Santander. (or vice versa).
There must be more - suggestions please?

I know I could book it myself, but I like the idea of one complaint
when it all falls apart!

Andy
Road Scholar--formerly Elderhostel--does a WIDE variety of multi-country
trips for reasonable prices and the minimum age is well below "elder"
nowadays 8-)

--
Erilar, biblioholic medievalist

On 30/08/2010 22:16, Erilar wrote:
Road Scholar--formerly Elderhostel--does a WIDE variety of multi-country
trips for reasonable prices and the minimum age is well below "elder"
nowadays 8-)

-- Erilar, biblioholic medievalist

All the ones I've looked at seem to be bike, boat or coach. And with
large parties.

I was looking for self-drive, for myself and my wife.

Andy

Andy Champ wrote:
On 30/08/2010 22:16, Erilar wrote:
Road Scholar--formerly Elderhostel--does a WIDE variety of
multi-country
trips for reasonable prices and the minimum age is well below "elder"
nowadays 8-)

-- Erilar, biblioholic medievalist

All the ones I've looked at seem to be bike, boat or coach. And with
large parties.

I was looking for self-drive, for myself and my wife.

Then you ought to start from scratch; i find planning a large part of
the fun 8-). However, when I do that, I stick to areas where at least
most of the people speak either German or English.


--
Erilar, biblioholic medievalist

"Andy Champ" wrote in message
...
On 30/08/2010 22:16, Erilar wrote:
Road Scholar--formerly Elderhostel--does a WIDE variety of multi-country
trips for reasonable prices and the minimum age is well below "elder"
nowadays 8-)

-- Erilar, biblioholic medievalist

All the ones I've looked at seem to be bike, boat or coach. And with
large parties.

I was looking for self-drive, for myself and my wife.

Andy

Surely if you visit a reputable travel agent in your home town they will be
able to do all the bookings for you?

Getting the travel agent to do the bookings may be slightly more expensive
than if you do your own bookings but you will have one person to complain to
if there is a problem.

I gather from the headers on your message that you are from the UK. If so
doesn't the AA have a travel service for this sort of tour? I know the ANWB
in Holland does have an arrangement with Pharos that does this.
http://www.pharosreizen.nl/?AfID=3000



Gerrit - Oz


--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---

On 8/30/2010 11:50 AM, Andy Champ wrote:
There are plenty out there who'll do you a holiday in Germany. or
France. Or Belgium. Or any other _single_ country. The only one I know
who'll cross any boundary at all is Brittany Ferries, who'll do you a
round trip from the UK, across the channel to France, down through to
Spain, and back to the UK from Santander. (or vice versa). There must be
more - suggestions please?

I know I could book it myself, but I like the idea of one complaint when
it all falls apart!

Andy

Hi,

I'd be happy to book it for you... but the "self drive" puts you in a
rental car and I'd shy away from anything but the booking and
suggestions of where to go etc.

the book first and last day with a rental in the middle can be a lot of
fun... and a real adventure... but the agent can't guarantee you will
make the hotel in time etc and can't really be responsible if you get
lost and drive 500 miles in the wrong direction...

ttyl

http://www.hackamoretravel.com

Andy Champ wrote on Aug 30, 2010:

There are plenty out there who'll do you a holiday in Germany. or
France. Or Belgium. Or any other _single_ country. The only one I
know who'll cross any boundary at all is Brittany Ferries, who'll do you
a round trip from the UK, across the channel to France, down through to
Spain, and back to the UK from Santander. (or vice versa). There must
be more - suggestions please?

I know I could book it myself, but I like the idea of one complaint when
it all falls apart!

Andy

I regularly drive myself across Europe without booking anything much in
advance. I would hate the idea of travelling between a series of booked
places since, if you get delayed en route for a day or two somewhere,
everything would fall apart.

I do normally book my return ferry passage, but only because these days I
take the longer north sea crossing from Hull to Belgium. In the past when I
used the cross-channel ferries I would book the outward trip, but on my
return simply turn up at the port and take the next available ferry.

--
Mike Lane
UK North Yorkshire
mike_lane at mac dot com

On 01/09/2010 06:24, Anonymouse wrote:

Hi,

I'd be happy to book it for you... but the "self drive" puts you in a
rental car and I'd shy away from anything but the booking and
suggestions of where to go etc.

the book first and last day with a rental in the middle can be a lot of
fun... and a real adventure... but the agent can't guarantee you will
make the hotel in time etc and can't really be responsible if you get
lost and drive 500 miles in the wrong direction...

ttyl

http://www.hackamoretravel.com


As Gerrit spotted, I'm in the UK, and it's my own car. The one that
bothers me is arriving at the ferry port, only to find the ferry's been
cancelled, "and here's a full refund of your ticket" - leaving me with a
weeks worth of hotels the other side of a bit of sea.

Shame you aren't this side of the pond!

Andy

On 31/08/2010 22:07, Erilar wrote:

Then you ought to start from scratch; i find planning a large part of
the fun 8-). However, when I do that, I stick to areas where at least
most of the people speak either German or English.



See my reply to Anonymouse. It's if it goes wrong that bothers me.

Speaking German doesn't help me - I have a little French, and that's
all. My wife, OTOH, has fluent French and is pretty good at German and
Spanish too. (Though for some reason American flummoxes her totally)

Andy

Andy Champ wrote on Sep 1, 2010:

On 01/09/2010 06:24, Anonymouse wrote:

Hi,

I'd be happy to book it for you... but the "self drive" puts you in a
rental car and I'd shy away from anything but the booking and
suggestions of where to go etc.

the book first and last day with a rental in the middle can be a lot of
fun... and a real adventure... but the agent can't guarantee you will
make the hotel in time etc and can't really be responsible if you get
lost and drive 500 miles in the wrong direction...

ttyl

http://www.hackamoretravel.com


As Gerrit spotted, I'm in the UK, and it's my own car.

It would be helpful if you included that information in your original post.

The one that bothers me is arriving at the ferry port, only to find the
ferry's been cancelled, "and here's a full refund of your ticket" -
leaving me with a weeks worth of hotels the other side of a bit of sea.


There are ways to get around that problem. The obvious one is what I do -
i.e. not to book most of your accommodation in advance. It might seem scary
but with your own transport it works in my experience.

Also you can build a lot of 'slack' into your itinerary. I normally drive on
back roads as far as possible and reckon to cover only 200 miles in a day.
It's much more restful and you see a great deal more of the country. It also
means that if I lose a day for any reason I can easily make it up by
switching to motorways for part of the journey.


--
Mike Lane
UK North Yorkshire
mike_lane at mac dot com