Funny that that documentary should be mentioned, I have been trying to rack my brains and everyone elses brains I know for a couple of weeks for the name of it. I must have only being about 9 or 10 when it was on, I taped it and eagerly watched it about a 1000 times over the years until one day it was accidentally taped over!
As I’m only 20 now I cant tell of my first trip abroad as such, but the first time I went with my dad was back in 1993 in an old C reg Iveco Turbo with an old style tilt with the very high and heavy doors. We loaded in Hull for a small village near Barcelona where we were weekended. We then loaded back out of Barcelona for 3 places in England, I dont recall where now.
Most of my later trips with him were to Holland and Germany, Germany being my favourite as my dad is German so we often got to call by and see our family there. Unfortunetly as you’ll all know, continental trips by British trucks are becoming rarer by the day now and I’m very worried as to what chance I’ll have this time next year when hopefully I’ll have my C+E. My dad used to ship out of Hull every sunday afternoon, now its more like once a month and its nearly always to Switzerland, with the exception of the occasional trip to Luxembourg, which is where he is at the moment. I dread to think how many Willi Betz and Hungariacamion’s he’ll see at Ashford Truckstop this week!
I’ve still got that documentary on tape - it was actually matey’s last trip for Davies Turner, a load of razor blades to Istanbul for £100 take home a week(so he reckoned).
Oh yeah, as for the topic in question: first trip with a 3.5 van: aid to Bratca, Romania. My first trip in an artic came the day after I got home. Plastic toolboxes to Charleville-Meziers, then backloaded from Rouen with a trailer load of window rubbers held in stillages (total weight about 3 tonnes) to Nissan, Sunderland.
my very first trip was in 1963…in an old leyland and a tilt…i worked for beck and pollitzer then (by the way the first name beck was a nickname that mr pollitzer gave to his wife rebecca) he was still running the company then before the dreaded t.d.g. took them over…he used to give us half a crown (am i giving ny age away) if our wagons were kept clean…
any way back on track i was given enough money to stay in hotels or b+b went to germany…
i remember a dreaded trip i did shortly afterwards to lyon…anyway i did the complete tour of the peripherique…in the rush hour…cos i couldnt find port de italy…i was directed in the end by a gendarme on a motorbike…but i think i learned my lesson and bought myself a map for future runs…oh what memories…no rush in those days…not even to catch a ferry…
have a nice day
truckboy i work them now on the engineering side ,what depot did you work from my freind there were so many years ago my first trip was to frankfurt i was kacking myself
Got back from Portugal this morning. It would have been a bit sooner but.
My first trip was a load of nappies to Mueng sur Loire, followed by a reload from Bethune.
For delivery to Cisterne de Latina, which is a bit south of Rome. It was for a company called Murfitts and I had a Daf 95 Space Cabbed wagon and drag, (known by them as a “Roadtrain” ) what we called a caravan . (Yes, I am an ex- Muppet, caravan club driver )
on the engineering side ,what depot did you work from my freind there were so many years ago my first trip was to frankfurt i was kacking myself 
) what we called a caravan 
. (Yes, I am an ex- Muppet, caravan club driver 