Haulage the world over

Let me remind myself how long ive been doing this job,hummmmm yep 20 years, so why on my first trip out am i a nervous wreck.Ok things are done different over here but surely its got to be the same wherever you are.My first run was pretty straight forward i had been there a week before so i had a good idea which way to head for,I was pennsylvania bound leaving saturday for a 8am booking monday morning,plenty of time to meander through New brunswick then down to Maine, then taking in a couple of other states before arriving in pennsylvannia.I arrive in the yard we had just had over 10cm of snow and gale force winds that had closed the Confederation Bridge for the last 12 hrs,Right all the paperwork in order,what do i do next, der!!!!! blank i can't think Calm Down Calm Down i kept saying, Ok Pretrip i must admit it wasn't as thorough as the one i did on my test but it was ok,right lets get my trailer engage reverse let clutch out and roll nope i just sit there in the same spot, i'm stuck not going anywhere right ive seen this done rock it back and forward that works, nope not for me after about half an hour a quick call "Blaine im stuck i need a hand"just rock it back and forward i was told or see if anyone in the yard could pull me out the long and short of it was i was being a bit girly with it and not giving it loads as another driver showed me what to do.I set off not long later and was doing ok now,i need to fuel up so at one of the Irving Big stops i pulled into,now i put my gloves into the side locker (that is relevant as you are about to find out)i filled one tank up then the other, now i need to fuel up the reefer so i need to pull the truck forward for the pump to reach, i reach for the handle, Nothing happened, in the cold light of day Cold being the opperative word it was minus 16 now ive only gonna locked myself out.After one almighty OH F**K the driver who was on the pump opposite came over to me after some dissucission we decided that i try to climb in(well pushed in) the side locker and through the underneath of the bed Well it worked so many thanks to the guy From Day and Ross who gave me one massive shove up luckily im pretty slim and at least it put a smile on his face.I went on my way Releaved to say the Least parking up in Massatusettes for the night.After waking mid morning and some cornflakes im ready for the off what a beautiful day for an 8 hour drive the sun was blaring down all afternoon what an absolute pleasure it was.I arrived at the customers that evening and relaxed with a 40 year old virgin nooooooo the film not a women (emma).After tipping my reload was from the Port of Wilmington in Delaware now not having a TWIC card im not allowed onto the docks because i haven't gotton security clearance by the Pentagon or someone from the whitehouse except if i pay them $25 im now allowed in, Magic or is this just a form of racketeering,IM loading Clementines bound for Toronto,now i had 18 empty pallets at the front of my trailer and due to the pallets of my load being double stacked i asked the nice gentleman on the fork truck if he wouldn't mind if he took them off and put them back on at the rear,well you would of thought i had asked him to unload the entire ship by hand the way he went of on one.19 Pallets later and clearance by the U S customs (this was a bonded load) im on my way first stop Flying J at Carneys point NJ for fuel for me and the truck and a nice free shower.We arrived in Toronto the following day i ran up with another driver Joe, thanks for all your help with the paperwork etc,we were empty within 20 mins, off to park up for a bit.My reload out of Toronto was 10 mins away so of i trotted off there, straight on a bay 2 hours later loaded and on my way back to Moncton NB which is just short of 1000 miles and plenty of time to do it.I made my booking in plenty of time then headed back to P E I.So after all the commotion, i made it unscathed and live to fight another day,the driving maybe different due to the distances etc but it sure is a lot less stressfull than sitting in the traffic back home i couldn't imagine trying to cover these distances in the uk or europe for that matter.