Xerobeagle,
I assume you have been involved in road transport if so you should have 100%
confidence in what you know i hope on general haulage, you need to be an outgoing sort of man, easy mixer, able to look after yourself , able to knock meals together, not rely on truck stops all the time if fact rough it a bit,do not ■■■■■■■■■ men on ferries will sus you out straight away it is best to say straight away if asked that its your first trip etc, and men will respect that… maybe take the ■■■■ a bit, all mens knowledge is generally gained from someone else .
IF you are as free as you say, i would, in your position get some experience on left-hand drive trucks, where i have no idea. maybe a driving school, if you want to work for any European haulage or agency they will be left-hand drive no one has mentioned that to you, although all the info you have had on these pages is correct, not that many BRITISH haulage companies i understand use left-hand drive trucks.
TIP OF THE DAY when driving a left-hand steer truck in the UK early on in your new career HIT EVERY drain hole in the road your side and you will never clip or clobber any other vehicle coming the other way…once you get the experience with that driving in EUROPE will be different esp at junctions also junctions in the UK ,if no other vehicle comes along when you are stopped you will really have to think which way do you turn ,left or right , that is what happened [inmy opinion]when that American lady had that accident near upper Heyford. so you really have to be switched on.
I ended up buy a pure chance driving a left ■■■■■■ I WAS 36 although been driving since i was 21 ,no previous knowledge and it was a drivers pride and joy and i clobbered, crumpled, the offside step of one of the first high spec cabs D.A.F33 after about 4 hours night driving, i got over it and carried on driving left hand trucks for 12 years like many many U,K,drivers.if i could do it anyone can.