My first working week in the new company showed me that domestic trucking is a totally different truck life from the long-haul driving I had done before. Most of my work is now within Slovakia, with occasional trips to Czechia, but compared to international trucking, this chapter feels much closer to domestic transport.
From the first days, I could feel a different rhythm: fewer kilometres, more loading and unloading, more physical work, more face-to-face communication, and more responsibility around the freight.
And somehow, it made me feel more alive than the work I had been doing before.
A Calm Start and a New Rhythm of Work
My first day in the new company was calm. I loaded successfully, thanked the people there, and set off. That day I drove only about two hours and twenty-eight minutes, which felt almost unusual after my previous long-haul runs. The first evening felt like the beginning of a calmer chapter.
On the second day, I noticed the difference. The rhythm was not only about driving as far as possible. One day could mean loading, the next day unloading, with more room for rest and less planning pushed to the limit.
Fewer Kilometres, More Work Around the Freight
I was carrying bottled water in an older and weaker, truck, and I could feel it especially in the hills. It was not just about driving fewer kilometres. There was also more physical work during loading and unloading, including work with a pallet truck. So even though I spent less time behind the wheel, the day still had its own kind of tiredness.
In long-haul driving, I was often closed inside the cab, dealing with routes, driving times, breaks, parking, and rules. Domestic trucking brought me closer to the practical side of transport: warehouses, ramps, pallets, documents, communication, and the rhythm of domestic work. At this stage of my trucking career, that was what I needed.
Old-School Truck Life in Front of the Trucks
On the fourth day I ended up at the central warehouse, where they allowed me to sleep. Since I was in a village, I went to the local pub for a beer. There I met older drivers from the company, and an ordinary beer turned into an evening I will remember for a long time.
They were old-school drivers who had driven before navigation, apps, AC and all the comfort we have today. They told stories, we laughed, and they gave me practical advice: how to keep my boundaries, how to drive more calmly, and how not to let the company push me too far. Later the evening moved back to the trucks and ended with a shared dinner outside. I did not take photos. Some moments are better when they stay only in memory.
Chaos, Boundaries, and Staying Calm
The fifth day started after an eleven-hour break, and I felt well rested. I could feel the older drivers’ advice directly in my driving. I drove more calmly, smoothly, and economically.
Later, the other side of this work appeared. There were cities Prešov and Tornaľa, a possible trip to Czechia, and the question of whether I would even get home on Friday. Then came the rules about driving time, working time, daily rest, and my boundary that I do not drive on Saturdays, except when I am returning home.
That was when I realised again that a driver has to know how to say no: not aggressively, but clearly.
If planning falls apart, the driver cannot be the solution to every piece of chaos. I brought the freight from point A to point B. If the next plan does not work out, it has to be solved within the legal rules, not at the expense of the driver’s rest.
What surprised me was my own calmness. Maybe I was simply starting to trust myself more. I knew that not every company problem was mine.
A Quiet Drive Home
After the required rest near Prešov, I drove home empty. It took about two and a half hours. No big drama, just the return after my first working week. The strange thing is that it did not really bother me. I thought I might be angry that I did not get home on Friday and had to spend one more night in the truck. But this time I did not take it that way.
Maybe because this work still feels better for me than what I had been doing before. It is not perfect, and there is chaos in it, but it gives me something I was missing in long-haul driving. I am moving, talking to people, handling real situations, and building a different kind of experience.
High Tatras in the distance.
I do not want to turn the first week into a fairy tale. The company may still prove to be chaotic, and there will be things I will not like. But this week showed me that domestic trucking makes sense for me right now.
I wanted to become a truck driver. Now I am a truck driver and I enjoy this life.