Questions and concerns

[bigtomhammer]

I posted this on Swedespeed as well so sorry if some of you have read. Just trying to get as much information as possible.

I purchased a 05 XC90 2.5 AWD a couple of weeks ago and am now researching stuff to do in Europe. We will fly into Gotenburg on July 8 at around 9-10 am and go directly to the factory. Last time I did this it worked out pretty good. Anyway, I am planning on emailing the FDC and asking them to do the following options:
Put heated seats to max
Set rearview mirror to medium (not sure what setting are available)
Autolocking (I know that some don't care for it but I would like to have it)

I think there are other things I would like done, just can't think of them right now.

Now, to the drop off locations. We were planning on dropping off in Bremerhaven, Germany but come to find that if we do that, we need to take a train to Hamburg, Germany to get on our flight. And the people where we made our reservation said we should do it the day before since it is about a 2 hr trainride. So my wife and I think ok, so we went to look for prices online and found that there is no trains available from Bremerhaven to Bremen. But there are from Bremen to Hamburg. So for people who have dropped off in Bremerhaven, where did you find information on the trains (besides http://www.raileurope.com). Has anyone dropped off in Hamburg, Germany? It costs about 131 euros (pretty close to what I found on train prices). Would it be better to drop off in Hamburg and have the car another day? I would think so. Also, where is the drop off location in Hamburg? How close is it to the airport? And how does it get to Bremerhaven? A truck? Train? Or (better not be this one), they drive it? Also, who do we notify that we are dropping off in Hamburg? I read on Williams website that "you need to contact the drop off center to confirm use of the service and to make necessary arrangements prior to leaving your Volvo"

Seems like we are missing something. Seems like we are on our own alot. When we talked to the person on the phone to make our reservations, she said that Volvo just makes the flight reservations and not anything else (ie. train, ferry, ect...). Am I missing something? Granted, we saved alot of money on the car, but very stressful to find other things online. Where do most people look?

Another thing, we wanted to come back to the states on Tuesday, July 12 but all of the flights are booked so we have to stay another day. Most of you will say "yeah you get to stay another day for free" but I really don't want to be away from my kids along time. We ended up getting on a flight on the 13th but we don't get to sit next to each other due to a full flight. Go figure. Some words of advise to future OSDers, book early!!! Especially in the summer months. When we did it Oct 2003, seemed better but we booked really early since we ordered it in June 2003. I am afraid to check out hotels but have no choice.

One more, who has taken the ferry from Trelleborg to Sassnitz. I have found 2 ferry company websites: TT-line and Scandlines. Which one is better? When checking prices, it says that you need to be up to 1.95 meters and length up to 6 meters, what is the XC90 in compairison? Bigger, smaller, not really sure.

Sorry for all of the complaining, just want to have a good time but it sure does seem like alot of work. Maybe it is just me.

Tom

[virginians]

Hey there big Tom, my wife and I met you when we were getting our XC 70 the same day you got your V 70 back in Oct. '03. In fact you told us about this site, so thanks for that.

If I had it to do again, and one day I probably will, I'd plan it better, spend more time in Europe, and drive to some places outside of Sweden.

We would have gone up into Norway but there was confusion over the schedule. Because we picked the car up on a Friday and were flying out Sunday, we didn't think it would be possible to take the car out and turn it in Sunday morning, but Volvo let us bring it back to their 24-hr security gate.

So we were happy about that, but had we known, we'd have planned some excursions.

Hope you've enjoyed your car as much as we've enjoyed ours, and good luck on the next trip.

[bigtomhammer]

Hey glad to see you guys found this site. Hope you are still enjoying your XC. Most of the complaining I did on the earlier post isn't as bad as it sounded. We finally decided to drop off in Hamburg and pay the 131 Euros. Worth it to us to have the car another day.

The hotels weren't as bad as I thought either. Found plenty of deals online. And staying at a castle one of those nights so that will be pretty cool.

As for the flight, we still don't get to sit next to each other but could be worse I guess. I shouldn't complain so much. Just a frustrating day that was I guess.

Tom