At home on four wheels

It’s four am on a Monday morning and Steffka is off to work, heading from one end of Germany to the other. She has been driving her truck all over Germany for five years now. Hamburg, Rostock and Frankfurt am Main are often on the itinerary, but her job takes her to every corner of the country. Rather than staying in hotels, she prefers to spend the night in her truck, lovingly christened “Ulf”. She’s got everything she needs: a bed, a fridge, and even an air fryer! “My truck is my home, like a Wendy house on wheels,” she says.

Finding your dream job during lockdown

Steffka, 38, comes from Aachen and spent many years working in restaurants. But the pandemic meant she needed to rethink her career plans. And she found the job of her dreams. “I had trained as a warehousing specialist and already had experience in loading and unloading trucks. So I thought, why not drive yourself?”Thanks to a retraining programme, Steffka got her licence within three months, since when she has been behind the wheel.

New adventures every day

Steffka Arnold loves driving and the stunning view she gets in the cab. While others curse the morning traffic jam, she watches the sun rise over fields wreathed in mist. “When I’m driving down the autobahn alone in the evening with the setting sun in my rear view mirror, it feels a bit like “The Lion King”, just with roads instead of the savanna.”

Steffka particularly loves discovering new places. “One day I might be driving past the Alster in Hamburg, the next my route might take me through the vineyards along the Bergstraße in Hesse,” smiles Steffka.

A community on wheels

Steffka uses an app to keep in touch with fellow truckers where she can discuss problems or arrange to meet for a break. “Sometimes we meet and have a barbecue together, but there are other days when you just want to draw the curtains and enjoy an evening alone.” 

The demands of the road

No two days on the road are the same. Some days, friends welcome Steffka with coffee and sandwiches, but on others she has to fight traffic jams and impatient car drivers. “Many people think trucks just get in the way. But without us, they wouldn’t have any food, any furniture, any new trainers!” she observes.

A passion for the open road

Even when Steffka gets home at the end of the week, she is already looking forward to Monday again. “I’m passionate about this job. People always say, ‘Find a job that you love and you’ll never work another day’ – that’s how I feel.” Her infectious enthusiasm has caught on with a big audience, as Steffka is often accompanied by a camera team from the show “Trucker Babes”. What does she hope to see in the future? “More young drivers! Driving trucks is an adventure!”