Yeah well that’s the way the world goes. I am by no means bitter, I am actually really glad over the fact that I’ve found a world beyond the steering wheel 
So after the lunchbreak, head on down the road, through Örebro, through Västerås, Stockholm, east towards the port of Kapellskär, self-proclaimed biggest port of export in Sweden.
Passing Arboga services, remember all the weekends spent there, or the nights. Like the one where I woke up at 4am to bellowing smoke in the cabin. There was nothing wrong with the Volvo I was driving that was a couple of months young, but a Euro 0 PL puddlejumper was parked next to me and the exhaust went straight into my cab.
This is IKEA country after all
Driving embarrassingly slow again…
A frequent visitor in local trucking periodicals thanks to the clamped up EE lorries, this checkpoint was pretty empty.
Took another break here, some 100 miles from the port. I’ve been a regular visitor here, since it’s a stones throw from Stockholm, but far enough to forego big city troubles. Funnily I was never bothered to be parked up here for 45 hours or more. Two years of civilian life have obviously made me soft, as now it just seems depressing for these two lithuanian fellas
Brand new Kapellskär Hamn, many a great unwashed waiting for the ferry from Sweden to Finland. No swedish trucks, a couple of finnish.
On the left, the DFDS ferry heading to Estonia, the other one the one I’m going on to Finland. There was also a Viking Line ferry present, also stopping at Åland during the voyage to Finland. As do the Finnlink ferries and the Tallink Tallinn-Stockholm ones.
You’d think that Åland was a big transit hub, or at least a huge tourist destination,
but the cold hard fact is, that it’s an autonomous region and without stopping there the ferries would have no basis to continue tax-free sales of alcohol and tobacco.
Trailer hooked up, started on electric, all good, time to head upstairs. With a fridge you get loaded firsthand.
A view of the DFDS ferry. This one is M/S Sailor, the other one is M/S Liverpool afaik, previously of Gothenburg-UK service.
Drop the gear in the cabin, Finnlink always a pleasure. I’ve sailed on this one loads of times before, on both the Fin-Swe crossing, but also Malmö-Travemünde crossing, where it was the afternoon departure from Malmö and 02.30 from Travemünde.
After the free (of course) buffet dinner and a chat with Janno, who loaded in Roadfeeders with me in the morning, watched the ending of a good estonian/finnish film on the flatscreen in the cabin and got caught in a bit of conundrum regarding the wake up time, as the time zones are different in Swe/Fin and I couldn’t even remember when it was supposed to arrive anyway.
Heading down for breakfast
Disembarked a little past 7am sunday morning, nobody awake yet in Turku
All the estonians heading for the Vantaa airport. The Ahrens one might be coming down from Schiphol in one hit, changing drivers along the way, and trailers of course.
Terrible aerodynamics with the trailer gap, this was the top speed downhill.
Nearing the airport, Kehä III, the ringroad of Helsinki
It’s nice driving in Finland. There is nowhere you can’t fit an artic through. I’m just shivering remembering my trails in southern Europe and parts of Asia, where a helicopter evacuation did seem like a viable alternative sometimes.
Well another driver of the company called me while I was in Sweden to explain where I had to go to get unloaded in Vantaa. Unfortunately I dozed off halfway through the call and had to make my way through the jungle of northern Helsinki by myself. It was hard, but Google Maps saw me through. There was a TomTom present, but not for all the money in the world. Not this money anyway 
Speaking of Janno, a copatriate of mine, he drives this nice V8 for a slavely wage of a €100 per day. The work is fish from northern Norway to Denmark usually, not something I would enjoy, especially the week-long waiting times one should get accustomed to on this type of work, but to each his own.
Was a decent fella to chat with, unfortunately had the whole tracksuit dress-code down already, oh well, he’s young, maybe he’ll evolve.
Off the trailer and onto the plane. According to the forkies, everything will be airborne today.
Also, when delivering my papers to the office (that by the looks of it works 24/7), I was immediately confronted by a barrage in english, as to where I was to park and who would send me an sms and such.
Apparently nobody speaks in finnish here apart from the staff. See I knew there was no point in learning it when I was 6 years old 
Navigating myself out of the airport premises
Huge reconstruction going on in Helsinki. Considering the hiatus I’ve had from working in Norway, maybe I should apply for a job here
Closing in on the port
It’s about two hours to Tallinn here on a ferry, with tickets starting from €5, so many estonians driving in finnish companies leave their trucks here for the weekend.
Yup, that’s ice for ya
Back when I got my class 1 in 2005, I started with a job that regularly had me tip in Croatia and over to Ancona empty for several collections in eastern Italy and then back home asap, come hell or high water
the Jadrolinja ferry from hell was docked next to a shipyard, where I saw this new ferry being built, always closer to completion each time over. Until it was nearing completion and the letters TALLINK were painted on
So this is the same ferry, Tallink Star.
Why must I suffer this way? I mean, a breakfast at 6.30am, it’s already 1pm, am I expected to prepare my own meals inbetween or what?
But eventually the doors opened and the food was delicious. Don’t know if the menu was especially made for the 100th anniversary of Estonian independence (save for the 50 years under soviet rule), but my compliments to the chef. No pictures cause I’m no saddo taking pictures of food. Oh wait…
Even for a two hour trip, as a cargo driver you get free food, a cabin and access to sauna. Only used the cabin to take a leak before diesmbarkation.
I really should go to church more often, to thank for the fact that for a dumb and lazy ■■■■, I have done too well in life
Twenty minutes from the port, closing in on the yard
Got to the yard, the gate was locked, the gaffers father was on the plane from the UK and the gaffer herself out of reach.
Yeah I’ve got stuff to do, so leave the Volvo there as it is.
Only to return three hours later to park it properly after remembering that I had forgotten my tacho card
Looks like they also have a Dual Clutch FH. Not an FH16 though, connections to the dutch are few and far between apparently
Yeah the yard was a sight to itself. I left in a hurry, before somebody tried to sell me some vodka or an AK47. Or some vodka with the persuasion of an AK.
