What's the furthest you have travelled to buy an item in person?

Feek said:
Drove from West London to Blackpool for a McDonald's breakfast. When lockdown was lifted they first introduced breakfast in the UK, it was only trialled at a few of their restaurants.
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Your secret is out Feek, you're one of them :D
 
Late 80s Richer Sounds in London were selling a device called an Enhancer which I wanted for my recording studio.
I begged the staff in the London shop to post one if I sent them money, even offered £20 which was a lot.
I ended up in the shop, pretty sure Madame Tussauds was close, and as I was leaving voiced my thoughts.
The Manager took me to the side and couldn't be more apologetic, he threw me a £50 discount, 5 Maxell Reel to Reel tapes and various leads & cables.

Another unit in the late 80s was a cassette recorder that used a special new form of Dolby.
The shop said they had two and wouldn't post.
I made my way to the shop which was a train ride and two Tubes into a really bad looking area.
i got there as the shop opened and the bloke said "I haven't got any" :(
So why did you get me here all the way from Stoke? and he just said "because you might buy something else".
I was really pee'd off, made my way back to central London and accidentally came across Tottenham Court Road which was a Mecca for that type of stuff and the first HiFi shop had this unit for £50 less.

To be honest since the 70s I've been to London many times to buy stuff I'd got no chance of getting in Stoke, mainly music gear.
 
~2000 miles round trip to buy wine. I used to travel to various parts of France (a new area each year plus returns to old favourites) on wine-tasting holidays and would come back with 96 litres of wine from all sorts of vintners.
 
Not me personally but sold a motorbike to someone who traveled from Cumbria to South London. Long way to go if it turns out to be a lemon. 600+ mile round trip.
 
Not far at all for me. I think around 80 miles each way for a bargain electric wood splitter. Just factored in the money spent on fuel and my time and it worked out a good deal.
The seller then chucked in their left over wood from their store as they were taking out their log burner.
The car was rammed to the gunnels with seats down and wood fuel wedged everywhere.
Was very much driving miss daisy on the way back, given the weight in the hatchback car.
 
Norfolk to Chilcompton (so 500 mile/10 hour round trip) to purchase my Corrado in 2005 and then 400 mile/7hour round trip to Stafford last weekend to purchase a replacement wing, also for the Corrado (Right colour, right age and in fantastic nick, didn't want to risk a courier stamping on it)
 
I went from leicestershire up to scotland to buy a motorbike off an old mate, It involved a train that got cancelled due to an obstruction on the line, a replacment bus that i gave up waiting for, hitchhiking, sleeping in a bus shelter, being woken up by the police who must have felt sorry for me as they drove me to the train station and i eventually got picked up by my mate and rode it back home.

I also sold a hdd to some guy who drove a 4 hour round trip to pick it up, it wasnt even anything special i cant remember exactly what it was something like a 500gb 10,000 rpm barracuda, he said he just really liked them and didnt mind the drive.
 
Me - 140 miles trip to get a vacuum cleaner. Argos had an excellent deal on a Dyson and nearest one on sale was in Rotherham.

Parents - 320 miles for 2 leather sofas. Even with the cost of hiring a van for the day and a meal at a pub was miles cheaper than buying it in a sofa shop. A similar distance for buying a dining chair as one leg got damaged. They made a day out of it by stopping off at a NT property after collecting said chair. They have lifetime NT membership.
 
Got the train from Wolves to Brough, Humberside, to buy a motorbike. Left early doors as I was on night shift that night, and the starter motor died on the way back down. Had to bump start the bike at the services.
 
Travelled from Easy Anglia to Valencia to buy something. Had to spend a night or two in an airbnb.

If you want the item and there aren't any others of that type available then you go wherever you have to go.

Also don't various travels around the UK to buy motorcycles. Last trip was to buy a bicycle for a ride around France. Train from Birmingham to Sheffield. Sheffield to Rotherham, Rotherham to some small town, then a 15 min walk.

On the way back, ride 15 miles to Rotherham, train to Sheffield, Sheffield to Derby, Derby to New Street, 15 mile ride to where I was staying on a bike that wan't setup for me in the slightest. Damn that saddle got replaced by a Brooks the next day.
 
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A ~250 mile, 5 hour round trip to buy a 2nd hand fish tank, after I dropped our current tank and broke it :cry:
Needed the same tank again ASAP and saved £400, compared to a new one (£650). Journey cost £5.20 in my EV :)
 
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Went to new forest to buy a car. 382 miles round trip.

I also technically went to Australia to buy a PAL version of Animal Crossing for the GameCube (Wasn't available in Europe and Aus is PAL). Okay it was a holiday but I wasn't leaving without a copy :).
 
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I flew from Lossiemouth (Scotland) to Keflavick (Iceland) to buy a kettle barbecue - round trip distance 1550 miles!

"Technically" we were going to Kef anyway :cry:
 
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