i,ve been earmarked for a run down to stutgart on the 2nd of january now i,ve never been that far in me life 
so what have i got to watch out for i;e bank holidays, snow chains, tolls ,timebans, all that sort of stuff,i,m green as grass at this oversea stuff a little guidence will go a long long way ,cheers
if the sign says no overtaking for lorries then dont overtake the [zb] catch you with a hellycopter.
Dont tell them âmy grandad used to come here tip in 10 minutes and then go back emptyâ cos they dont like that one lol!
language editâŚDenis F
No Bank Holiday problems then, unless you are still away on the 6th when Southern Germany has a holiday.
You will need a Vignette for each day you are in Belgium and Luxembourg, P&O no longer sell this but you can get it in Ashford or in Calais at Transmarck, someone will show you where it is. Best to buy it for the week as places to buy it over the water coming home are few and far betweenand it would be one thing less to worry about.
For Germany you will need to deal with the Maut, machines at border crossings and service stations, the services in Luxembourg have the machines I believe.
Snow chains are not compulsory in the areas you will be in. If it is bad enough for snow chains, use snow curtains instead i.e. park up, shut curtains and go to bed. 
No time bans if you are leaving on the Monday and will be back before the Sunday, except the 6th in Southern Germany when there will be a ban from 00:00 until 22:00.
Harry Monk:
if the sign says no overtaking for lorries then dont overtake the [zb] catch you with a hellycopter.Dont tell them âmy grandad used to come here tip in 10 minutes and then go back emptyâ cos they dont like that one lol!
language editâŚDenis F
you can find out more about the german maut system HERE
plot your route before hand, the roadside maut machines do not have junction numbers as per your german map, they use junction names instead, ie. stuttgart-fuerbach is junction 18 of the a81, stuttgart-mohringen is junction 52 of the a8 whilst stuttgart-degerloch is junction 52b.
make sure you know which name the exit is that you want to use to get on or off the autobahn.
the maut toll has a time limit so ensure you know roughly what time you want to start the booked journey, the longer the journey time the longer the time frame etc. ie. a short 25km journey will probably allow you 1 hour from your start time booking to complete the booked route whereas a 250km journey booking could allow you 12 hours to complete the booked route.
as you are new to the job i would suggest you use calais to gent to brussels (if you require fuel in luxembourg then go lux if not go aachen).
stick to the motorways.
aachen to koblenz to ludwigshafen to heilbronn then stuttgart.
a61 a61 a61/6 a6 a81
I have been this week, its the first time since the MAUT came in, although I have had a toll collect card and college boy training from the first attempt 
Anyway being very technical in our office they book the MAUT online using the satellite in my truck to work out my route 
All I got was a very long reference number, will this keep PC Plod happy?
at the moment the police are picking on the uk truks i know twice last week . thay are just on the A60 just befor you go on to the motoway at the end of the single carage and all so on the A1 duseldorf . make show you have straps on your load as thay are finenig you what thay think . it should be customes allso on the A 60 . so far its cost me 75 euros .dont get to close to the truck in front thay sneak up along side you and take a pic of you but i think thay zoom in to make it look closer than you are that was 75 euros . DO NOT OVER TAKE IF IT SAYS SO : apart from that just drive safe and have a good trip.
aachen to koblenz to ludwigshafen to heilbronn then stuttgart.
a61 a61 a61/6 a6 a81
Wouldnât it be cheaper and quicker to go via Lux, then into Germany via Perl then A8 through to the B10 at Pirmisan and on to Karlsruhe then the A5 and finally the A8
You can get from Purfleet to Pfzorhiem services on a 10 with a good run.
Linux-user:
aachen to koblenz to ludwigshafen to heilbronn then stuttgart.
a61 a61 a61/6 a6 a81Wouldnât it be cheaper and quicker to go via Lux, then into Germany via Perl then A8 through to the B10 at Pirmisan and on to Karlsruhe then the A5 and finally the A8
You can get from Purfleet to Pfzorhiem services on a 10 with a good run.
yes it would but as itâs his first trip to germany perhaps itâs best if the driver sticks to the easy route that the roadside maut machine will automatically give as the first option.
it isnât going to be easy to predict what time he exits at pirmasens then enters at landau etc.
at the moment the junction for pirmasens is closed and the diversion takes you to the next junction down and then back again.
lets make things easy for the first trip, people can pick things up later.