A Side Gig In A Big Rig: Baldur Keeps On Truckin’

“Everybody is fat, lazy and toothless. That’s the stereotype about truck drivers,” laughs Baldur Bjarman Teitsson. By day, he’s a carpenter, and by night, he’s behind the wheel of a big truck. Having just finished one of his two jobs, he gave us a sneak peek into his long daily haul.

Baldur Bjarman Teitsson, 34, a carpenter

I’m a carpenter — or, you could say, a “construction guy” — but on the side, I work as a truck driver. I’m still an apprentice, so I go to a carpentry school at night. Truck driving used to be my old job. I started in 2017 and when I quit, I said I would be able to take night shifts if possible.

I usually drive to Landeyjahöfn — the sea port for Vestmannaeyjar. My company delivers food and products that would then be shipped there. Now, in September, I have three driving shifts a week. They usually start roughly an hour after I finish my main job. Usually it starts at 17:30 and ends at 22:00 or 23:00. I rarely need to work until midnight, but it happens. It’s not that much money for the time I’m working. I mainly do it because I like driving around Iceland.

“My personal schedule for the day is just work, work, work.”

Sometimes I go home between jobs for a breather. But usually I just go straight from my main job to truck driving, and eat dinner when I have the time. If I’m driving through Selfoss, I’ll just eat there. My personal schedule for the day is just work, work, work, and because of my night school, I only have free evenings on Fridays and weekends.

I used to drive around the whole island when I was full-time. I thought it was very nice. I like travelling around my own country. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to become a truck driver in the first place.

Eyes on the road

The worst thing about being a truck driver is that your attention always has to be on the road. You can’t drift off or do anything else. You’re stuck in the cab, somewhere out of town, always alone. It’s kind of boring. But you’re driving around Iceland, and not just in Reykjavík. I like it, but I don’t like it at the same time.

Driving a truck is pretty easy. It’s just much bigger [than a car]. You just put it in drive and drive. The main thing to remember is that the truck and trailer are very heavy and large, but once you get used to it, it’s not that hard. The weather can be hard in Iceland, and tourists can be a problem when they stop in the middle of the road to look at horses or northern lights or something.

I’ve driven through very bad weather conditions and nearly crashed into the car in front of me a few times due to the extremely slippery roads. A few years ago, in the winter of 2018, there was a blackout in North Iceland. Around 50 to 70 trucks were driving from Reykjavík to Akureyri and Dalvík, which was hit particularly hard because some power lines had fallen during the storm. It was weird being surrounded by so many trucks at the same time, all waiting for the snowplows to clear the mountain pass we were driving through.

If you want to be a truck driver, make sure you get a really good sleep. I try to get eight hours but usually get six or seven. I can function okay on six. Falling asleep when you’re driving is not something that I recommend. And, of course, don’t use your phone while driving.

Mortgage grind

It’s so expensive to live here that we need more than one job. I have a mortgage that I pay and pay and pay, and nothing happens. The inflation never goes down. Prices never go down in Iceland, they’re always going up. Before the summer, my girlfriend was only working 20%, so my income was the main income for the house. Now, she has a full-time job, so we can save a bit more now.

I don’t think it’s a good thing that a lot of us have two jobs. It’s stressful. I would like to just one job that I go home from at four o’clock, and just chill.

Want to share how you’re making ends meet? Email us at grapevine@grapevine.is with the subject line “Side Hustle.” We’ll happily keep your identity anonymous.

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