Reportage: from Russia to Germany in a truck

On the road...

After a while the truck drivers started using their own language - swear language, and it was getting hard to communicate with them. The first night we stayed over they decided to relax; my driver and the driver of the cameraman went together to a road bar and drank beer. I do not know if I should explain how the Russians drink, but they drink a lot. That time the drivers drank not too much, just a few bottles of beer. I thought it was ok, probably, they were tired of driving


By CHRISTINA DEMENSHINA (christina.demenshina@wavemagazine.net)
from Yekaterinburg, RUSSIA


A beautiful girl is standing on the road trying to stop a car. She needs to go to Las Vegas as soon as possible; she definitely knows she will have luck there.

Watching American movies I always dreamt to travel like that. But I could not find any fellow travelers among my friends. They considered such a traveling too dangerous and crazy.

But suddenly my dream came true. This summer I got a task from the regional television to shoot a documentary about truck drivers. I was mentally prepared for such a great adventure. Unfortunately, by that time I did not know exactly how it was going to be.

We left my home city Yekaterinburg (it is situated on the border between Europe and Asia, somewhere in the heart of Mother Russia) early in the morning. We came to the truck drivers' firm waiting until drivers checked their trucks, then put our stuff inside and started shooting. It was very impressive to see how such huge cars were leaving the parking place trying to fit their bodies in narrow streets of the city.

The long journey began: from Russia through Belarus and Poland to Germany. We had a goal to go to a small village somewhere in Bayern. It took about ten days to get there from Yekaterinburg, we overcame about 4000 kilometers.

First two days we were driving through Russia, everything seemed to be very exciting: beautiful landscapes, nice drivers telling stories about their everyday life. I was sitting next to one of them looking through the window at small cars passing by. For me it was like a new world filled with new impressions.

But usually good things run out fast. After a while the truck drivers started using their own language - swear language, and it was getting hard to communicate with them. The first night we stayed over they decided to relax; my driver and the driver of the cameraman (we used two trucks during our trip) went together to a road bar and drank beer. I do not know if I should explain how the Russians drink, but they drink a lot. That time the drivers drank not too much, just a few bottles of beer. I thought it was ok, probably, they were tired of driving.

After having watched them I went to the truck. Actually, trucks are very comfortable for living. They have huge cabs, so two persons do not bother each other very much. There are two beds on lower and upper level like in the trains of the Transiberian rail road. I jumped to my bed and fell asleep.

Next day was also good. I still enjoyed our trip. I got some useful experience how to prepare tea with the help of a burner, how to talk on walkie-talkie with other truck drivers, how to identify that the policemen were hiding in the bushes in order to penalize drivers who had lightning speed.

After two days we crossed the border between Russia and Belarus. The friendly state looked very quiet. As I thought there would be no surprises. But I was wrong. In the evening we reached Brest (the closest city to the Belarus-Polish border). We had to stay there for a day before we could go to Poland. It was a special place where all truck drivers from different countries gathered together, they took a rest, talked to each other and, of course, drank.

As I remember, our drivers started with one bottle of vodka that evening, because they met a few other truck drivers from the same truck drivers' firm. They put bread, hog's lard and several pickles on a tray. They were telling funny stories and listening to music. Not too bad - I would say. But next morning I figured out some details how the guys spent the rest of that evening.

One bottle was not enough for such a big company of friends. So they drank about 8 or 9 all together. Then one of the drivers was totally wasted and decided to find a prostitute. He invited one to his cab, but something went wrong, then he invited another, but something went wrong again. He was very upset about it and found a drunken homeless guy whom he started singing the entire night with. The cameraman could not sleep at all; he was watching the crazy performance.

Next stop was the Belarus-Polish border. It was fun too. As usual the border guards asked the truck drivers to give them a bribe if they did not want to check trucks. When I inquired what exactly they wanted, money for example, the driver said: No, they wanted a bottle of alcohol. But after the night in Brest there was no surprise. We spent a few hours on the border, at first on the Belarussian, then on the Polish where the border guard could not believe that I was an intern of the truck drivers' firm when my driver was joking like that.

- Your driving license, please - said the man in uniform to me. I was totally confused, I did not have any idea that my driver lied to him.

- Of course, I have them, but at home.

- Dear miss, you do not look like you are going to drive a truck - continued the man.

- Me? A truck? Why? Should I? No, I am a journalist from Yekaterinburg shooting a documentary about truck drivers' trip.

- Ok - laughed he kindly.

To ask the driver why he decided to be so funny was uselessly. It was obvious he had his own sense of humor. At least, I was in Europe.


(Published: 11.10.2009.)