- Laundry bag. Just a place to put your dirty clothes and lug them around with when you’re doing laundry. If you can find a small bottle of laundry soap, it’s probably not a bad idea to bring that along too if you have the room. Most truck stops sell it, but they charge way too much for it.
- Cell phone and charger. The truck I’m on has a limited number of AC outlets, but if you can get a DC charger for your phone it’s highly recommended. You might also want to get a headset for it. Shifting, driving, and talking all at the same time isn’t a good combo, especially for a student. I won’t get into a debate about whether you should talk and drive or not, but when you’re driving through New Mexico at midnight and you’re the only person on the road, chances are using a headset is going to be ok with your trainer if you need to make or receive a call.
- Laptop. This is very optional, and several people say you should leave your laptop at home as it’s a distraction. But I find email a very good way to communicate “outside the truck.” Having your laptop is pretty useless unless you have internet access. While truck stops do offer WiFi for a fee, I’d highly recommend getting an aircard for your laptop (uses cell phone towers). I personally use a company called Millenicom (http://www.millenicom.com/). They have no contracts and have been absolutely fantastic for me. I’ve been using it for 7 weeks out on the road now. I seem to get service pretty much everywhere, even in the middle of nowhere. The speed of my service does fluctuate a bit, but if I’m near any sort of moderate population, it does a real good job. If you do want to sign up for Millenicom, make sure you do so about a week or so before you leave. That way they can mail you the wireless card in time for you to leave. But also look into most cell phone providers as they generally offer the service as well.
- Boots? I personally brought steel toe boots with me and haven’t used them once. If you’re going into flatbed, it’s probably more of a necessity. But I’d say get a good pair of sneakers and that’s probably all you’ll need. They might be nice to have in case you need to pick up a trailer in a muddy lot or something, but if you don’t have any boots to bring with you, I wouldn’t worry about it.
Other than that, there’s really not much else you’ll need. Your trainer will have a truckers atlas, tools, locks, a CB, etc. Just save up for that when you’re ready to go solo. Remember, pack light! Just the necessities to get through your training, then you can load up your own truck with the creature comforts and toys from home.
Until next time, drive safely!
TruckerMike
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Thanks so much for this great list! My husband leaves for training in a month or so and we were looking for some advice on what to pack. Thanks also for the tip about Millenicom too – we have been looking at internet cards.