coffee,time,mart:
This is one of them subjects where,if Youve never done nights out,( like Me ) You always fancy ago,just to see whats its like,and the bit of adventure thing.
I know for certain,I’d get more sleep.Bet it takes some getting use of though.
But yeh,I’d give it ago.
Its a massive culture jump, we had a young lad come to our place keen as mustard, we do 4-5 nights out a week.
He was fine first day out, then end of the day parked up for the night, it really hit home how lonely the job can be, missing the home life and his lady, he lasted till wednesday, and had to jack it in!
Most of the drivers that point blank refuse to do them, would be in the same situation if it was forced on them! it takes a special kind of driver to do it.
Me, I love it, I could never ever do day/night trunking again, going to the same place on the same roads seeing the same people day in day out 48 weeks of the year, that is a mind numbing job!!
Most weeks I’ll have 1 or 2 nights out, some weeks if I’m doing ferry trailers it’ll be out every night, usually at Harwich.I don’t mind them, I find I sleep a lot better and am less tired than when I’m at home! The downside is missing the family, but I’ve always had jobs where I work irregular hours so we’ve pretty much got used to it.
I tend not to enjoy the days when I’m home every night, mostly because that means I’m on locals and not seeing much of the country.
you get your own truck,better work,more sleep and more money.
do your drops…have a ring round your mates…see whose parking where…meet up for a few vessels.sorted
you get your own truck,better work,more sleep and more money.
do your drops…have a ring round your mates…see whose parking where…meet up for a few vessels.sorted
This is the only thing I miss about nights out - the social life.
I’m on day work right now and settled in, “own” motor, different drops every day.
And I’m off the ■■■■ now anyway and I’m not chasing money any more.
I find nights out are a way of life rather than a job ? ive done both local and and nights out ? I found when I was local I was forever tired nodding at the wheel all day long I,d do my 15hr or 13hr day finish at 9pm and had to be back in at work 9hrs later so take off travel getting cleaned up and having my tea left me about 6 hrs of sleep ? I know that some local jobs don’t do as many hrs but they are the norn I find especially salaried jobs will keep you working the maximum hrs …
I don’t mind them. Hated them when I was Tramping but if I run out of duty time now I get put up in a hotel as we only have day cabs. It’s a hard life!
I,ve just started back doing nights out 4 on 4 off plus some xtra when needed. Tried the local stuff again but missed the scenery etc. I dropped 7k to get the job I’m in now but can make that up with 1 day xtra a week on average plus get the freedom of the open road again p.s. I worked on the Grangemouth site driving tankers ADR Work ( fuel refinery)
I’ve just gone back on nights out, it suits me because my missus works shifts and my last 2 jobs were local, 1 on lates and 1 on earlies and neither worked all week because of her shift pattern which changes in the middle of the week.
So, now back to nights out and I’ll still speak to her on the phone but won’t be woken at night by her coming in or in a morning by her alarm, so my sleep pattern is now effected by my jobs and tacho rules.
I also like to get further afield than 4.5hrs (max) from base, but tbh I could do the job I currently do and be home every night, so I still miss that side of ‘tramping’ even though I’m now doing nights out again
I did 4/5 nights out a week every week for years in the UK, I preferred it, because I never had to worry about rushing around trying to get home, you knew you wasn’t anyway, so no stress, well not until Friday anyway, I normally got nailed with a Friday night out anyway, so at least i wasn’t running out until Monday, if you got back Friday, you were always running out Sunday afternoon, without fail.
With a new job waiting in the wings I’m looking at 7 more nights out before I’m done with them.
I had always done nights out, 3 weeks away when on the continent, but 11years ago I got a local job driving for a plant hire outfit. It took me a good 6 months to adapt to being home every night but I got there and stayed with the company until redundancy in 2010.
Having had 2 kids during that 8 years i didnt really want to go back to being away all week but circumstances then dictated I went back into a job involving nights out and it scared me how easily I slotted back into doing them. I won’t go as far as to say I love doing them but I don’t find the going to work for 5 or 6 days at a time a problem.
I went back “up the road” just as my kids started school (twins) and I now find that I just don’t get enough time to do everything in the short weekend window that nights out leave you with.
As I said at the start of my post I have only 7 more nights out and then I’m changing jobs. I will be home every night and I know it will take some getting used to. Although it will be great for the kids I also think the wife has a big shock coming her way as she has got used to being on her own all week.
I miss the exploring the country side of things, always good when your next drop is a little village with great views and a friendly local pub. Not so great when your still 3 or 4 hours from the next drop, your in a MSA with all night trailer changes or someone who decides to show everyone how loud his Eminox is at 4am.
I do miss them sometimes but an industrial estate in Bishops Stortford is no match for being at home with a shower that actually supplies hot water.
i used to do nights out, all week some weeks.recently changed jobs and im home most nights now. ive lost quite a bit money wise but i dont miss it. sleep in my own bed, better social life. dont have to worry about finding somewhere to park or waking up to find my load or diesel missing.
I liked doing the nights out on European work but I think it’s crap on the UK work. Been doing it a good few years but I’m getting to the point where I’d like to be at home more instead of two weeks out in the truck with a fridge rattling away all night. I don’t think I’d miss it.
There’s nothing great about it in my opinion. I missed a lot of my kids younger years, a lot of the MSA’s are noisy and lay-bys and industrial estates you’ve got the worry of gypsies nicking your fuel. I’d do locals if there was work in my area.
Iv just packed nights out in due to needing to be home for medication,must say I feel a lot better for been home and even joined a gym for some exercise.
Miss the bit of extra cash but then again I used to spend it down the road anyway.
i did 16 years tramping uk n europe but i dont miss it one bit well the uk bit lol. got sick of parking in laybys or ind est and thinking well where can i park tonite cuz msa,a are a rip off and to be honest so are most uk truckstops.for me the german autohof is best but i dont live in germany and i prefer to be home at night now to be honest
I miss the nights out I had in the UK, down to a pub or bar after diner, down a few beers and enjoy myself with other drivers etc. In my last UK / Europe job I would spend anything up t a week in one spot and be on the booze every night. It’s different here, a night out mean shower, eat get in the cab and watch TV then fall asleep, the only difference to this is if I am in our Worcester MA or Baltimore MD yard for the the night, then I am usually eating in a bar so have a beer or two, sometimes in Yonkers myself and Rich (Longwayround) will go for a few bevies.
