Does anyone have any idea how two old people with a lot of luggage might get from Southampton to France ( Paris or Lille ).
We're going by boat because we can no longer deal with dragging our stuff through airports where there is little or no help. The same would be
true for train travel.
What we really need is a car and driver to pick us up in Southampton and drive us to/through the chunnel and on to Paris or Lille, where we can pick up a car.
Many thanks for any helpfull suggestions.
LynFrance

I know what you mean about trains. Airports have more help than train stations, though, I'm surprised you find that more trouble than a boat. I would have thought you'd have a lot more problems dragging stuff on/off a boat without help (at least those ferries or Hovercraft or whatever still do the channel runs).

I'm not following why you would need a driver to go all the way to Paris or Lille to rent a car, why wouldn't you do it at Calais, the closest entry city? they don't have a lot of car rental companies right at the Calais Eurotunnel terminal, but they have all the majors around Calais somewhere, like at the ferry dock.

ANyway, I've never used one but if you've heard of Autoeurope, the car rental broker, they also have private driver services, they could give you a quote.
https://www.autoeurope.com/chauffeur-services/

what would that cost - a few grand? Maybe hire a private boat?

Thank you Christina.
We'll try AutoEurope.
We're not arriving by Ferry, but by ship from U.S. because it has plenty of people to help with baggage, etc.

First of all slim down your packing! Hauling everything + the kitchen sink is difficult for young people let alone folks 'of a certain age'.

Second -- hire a driver to take you to Ashford in Kent and take the Eurostar from there to France. If you have so much luggage you can't manage boarding the Eurostar . . . you have too much luggage.

What is "old"?

It all depends on your point of view.
When I was 20 I considered 40 old.
I now consider 70 young!

Why not just take a ferry to Normandy like Oustreham (Caen) and have car waiting at dock and someone onboard will help with luggage.

LynFrance: I used these people for clients in the past, although not recently

https://www.deluxedrivers.com/

I must have liked them because I saved their correspondence

Will try Deluxe Drivers.
Many thanks.