Removal Illogistics!

So, some months ago I decided on a rough date to move to Berlin.
Time passed, and continued to pass and it was easy to put off having to plan such a big move. And then "suddenly" it was just one month away and I had NO idea how I would do it - hire a magician perhaps?
Panic!

I'm a non-driver, so already that ruled me out for driving duties. My initial plan was to hire a van and then nicely ask (beg) or BRIBE ("I'll buy you dinner!") a couple of friends to drive it all the way there from London. I figured that all the big international hire firms would let me hire a van and let me drop it off at one of their depots in Berlin. I figured wrongly. Hertz were the only one who offered this service, and at £1000 I had no problem turning them down.
Panic!

So, then I managed to convince said driving pals to drive the van all the way there and all the way back again. One agreed to drive it out and the other agreed to drive it back, but neither felt they could do both, so I suggested that I'd buy them both cheap one-way flights (they were both based in London).
All seemed like it might work out ok, until I started to add up the numbers: van-hire (around £400-£500 for a good one including various taxes, insurance and papers), Eurotunnel tickets both ways, petrol, maybe somewhere to sleep halfway through the long journey, "cheap" flights (fingers crossed) and maybe throw in another £100 for surprise expenses along the way. Hmmm, not so cheap.
Panic!

I decided to check out proper removals companies. I requested quotes from a good handful of different companies. Most of them quoted me an average of £1200 (before other weird charges) for a PART LOAD of a large van. In return my own quote was "you must be joking". You can quote me on that.
Panic!

But then, desperately asking around (friends, relatives work colleagues, taxi drivers, checkout girls, etc) two friends of my boss, known here as "Trudie and Del", mentioned that they'd used a small company to ferry large items of furniture, anvils and stuffed rhinos between London and their holiday home in France. They put in a good word for me, I called up the guy and he agreed to do it. Nice large van driven all the way there in around 24 hours plus a bit of enjoyable lifting at both ends, £900. Not bad at all. If it all works I'll probably post the company's details here. Thanks Trudie! Thanks Del!
Relief.

So, now it's all set up, the van arrives on Easter sunday and with a sprinkle of luck, it won't collapse under the weight of the garbage that I'm dragging over to Germany with me. However, I promise to take a photograph if it does.