Long commutes

[MalfunctioningHuman]

I hate my commute. I've been commuting since I finished college. I have wasted an average of 2 hours every day going back and forth to and from work.

Does anybody here have a long commute? How do you deal with it?

I'd take a bus, but then it would be a 3 hour daily commute. I'd move closer to work, but in my experience moving is a painful and emotionally draining experience which is in itself an odyssey. And it is also expensive.

My dream is being able to work in my hometown or hit it big and be economically self reliant so that I don't have to work for anybody else.

[cgbier]

7 minutes if the wife drives. 5 if I have the wheel.

No chance to work from home? I can easily work at home "uhm, I need a specific tool (aka beer in the fridge) for that task that I only have at home" and off I am.

[Almohada]

7 minutes if the wife drives. 5 if I have the wheel.

LOL!

[Bif]

My dad had a 2 hour drive each way, it was Washington DC traffic not the distance that caused it. I had the same thing when stationed on Taiwan. Lived in a suburb of Taipei but duty station was at ShuLinKou Air Station up on a plateau south of the city. Again it was the traffic not the distance, most of the time I rode a navy shuttle bus and the trip took a full two hours each way. Boring as heck but safer than driving in that madhouse.

All of us learned to deal with it. But 4 hours a day was a waste, couldn't even read because the bus was anything but steady.

Bruce Foreman

[Krane]

Pff, you call that long. Why when I was a tike I'd walk ten miles to and from school every day. jk

Seriously, I used to go to one school where I'd have to take a train, another train, and a bus or shuttle to get there. I had to get up at 4:30 everyday to get to school on time.

The good new was that because I didn't have to drive I learned to make the best of the ride and did all my reading assignments and sometimes homework in route.

Once I figured out how to do that effectively, the time wasn't a waste. I even got a lasso and card holder so I wouldn't' be interrupted by that annoying guy asking me for my ticket. Travel time was now study time.

[MalfunctioningHuman]

7 minutes if the wife drives. 5 if I have the wheel.

No chance to work from home? I can easily work at home "uhm, I need a specific tool (aka beer in the fridge) for that task that I only have at home" and off I am.

Hey cgbier, how are you?

Working from home would be ideal. In this day an age you can take your laptop and go to the park, to the library, or wherever, so the degree of freedom that would give me would be awesome. I understand that for people that work at home self discipline can be a challenge, but I think I'd do OK. Not sure about the beer though. I love the stuff, but not sure it would be the way to go in the long run to be productive!

[MalfunctioningHuman]

My dad had a 2 hour drive each way, it was Washington DC traffic not the distance that caused it. I had the same thing when stationed on Taiwan. Lived in a suburb of Taipei but duty station was at ShuLinKou Air Station up on a plateau south of the city. Again it was the traffic not the distance, most of the time I rode a navy shuttle bus and the trip took a full two hours each way. Boring as heck but safer than driving in that madhouse.

All of us learned to deal with it. But 4 hours a day was a waste, couldn't even read because the bus was anything but steady.

Bruce Foreman

Bruce,

I can't imagine being able to remain sane with a 4 hour daily commute. But I sure admire you and your dad for being able to pull it off. I suppose that when you have no choice you need to adapt. Part of my problem is that I feel I have a choice and look at the commute as a trade-off, so I suppose that I am struggling with the idea of having to waste so much time out of my life just to get to work and back.

Maybe I should find a way to cope with it, or to justify it by finding something productive to do while I drive. Right now I listen to the radio, and although it can take my mind away from the drudgery of traffic, I for the most part see it as dead time.

In the end I suppose I should just buckle up and stop struggling mentally with the commute. My patience has never been my strong point, and it has been tested by my schedule. I need to work on that too.

[MalfunctioningHuman]

Pff, you call that long. Why when I was a tike I'd walk ten miles to and from school every day. jk

Seriously, I used to go to one school where I'd have to take a train, another train, and a bus or shuttle to get there. I had to get up at 4:30 everyday to get to school on time.

The good new was that because I didn't have to drive I learned to make the best of the ride and did all my reading assignments and sometimes homework in route.

Once I figured out how to do that effectively, the time wasn't a waste. I even got a lasso and card holder so I wouldn't' be interrupted by that annoying guy asking me for my ticket. Travel time was now study time.

Hi Krane,

Yeah, I think that being able to employ that time doing something productive makes all the difference. Plus, you keep your mind busy and avoid thinking about the commute itself.

When I was going to college the first 3 years I had no car, so I did what you did (took a shuttle, then a train, then another train, and finally a bus to college.) This could easily take 2 hours each way. I figured out that I could use all that time to study my subjects, so in the end the time I used during the commute was freed up from the rest of my day because I had taken care of things I needed to work on.

[Playing]

Could Flexi time work for you?
Get to work at 5am and go home at lunch time.
Where I live we have rush hour at 7 am and 4 pm and I do anything to avoid it.
I rather have breakfast or read my book at the airport for 2 hours than sit in traffic.

[Dr. Benway]

5 if I have the wheel.

15 minutes if I walk very slowly. 2 if I take the motorcycle.

But 4 hours a day was a waste,

And I have always thought that that is time we should be paid for. Either that or live next door to your place of work.

[cgbier]

And I have always thought that that is time we should be paid for.

I was back in Germany. ~60 miles a day got me a yearly tax rebate of ~ 1200 bucks. Paid at least for car tax and insurance.

[Janke]

7 minutes if the wife drives. 5 if I have the wheel.

30 seconds, walking downstairs. Being a freelancer does have some advantages...

[homestar_kevin]

I'm about to come up on a year anniversary for my job. It's about an hour and a half commute each way with traffic, but only about 41 miles each way.

Recently I've started working 9 hours days and getting a day off each pay period. This flex time has been nice.

I am very much in the same boat as you, got out of college, this job is the best option on the table. It still is.

I can't afford to move, so the commute it is.

Working until 6 everyday has cut down so much on the end of day commute. It is a lot nicer.

[Khaver]

For a couple years I got to work from home. Commute was a walk down the hall to my office. Lunch break was a round of golf or dip in the pool. The Phoenix summer got tiring so moved back to Oregon and now my commute is a little over 45 minutes one way. 35 miles to the office but I love living out in the country in a 1910 house on an acre. The radio or CD makes the time go fast so I don't mind the drive. Cruise control on most of the way.

[Timbit]

Does anybody here have a long commute? How do you deal with it?

I drive the better part of two hours a day to get to and from work, but it's only a 25+ minute drive one way.

[Almohada]

1 second for me

[Krane]

30 seconds, walking downstairs. Being a freelancer does have some advantages...

Lucky you. That's my dream job but I still have a couple of years before I get all the bugs worked out. Good for control, not so good for taxes. At least here the States.

1 second for me

What you mean 1 second jester?

[Almohada]

What you mean 1 second jester?

Damn, I knew I shouldn't have said that. Oh well, the secret is out... I can teleport!

[cgbier]

I can teleport!

...and pretty slow. I can do that instantaneously....

[Halsu]

30 seconds, walking downstairs. Being a freelancer does have some advantages...

I have a 10 second walk from one room to the next. Yes, freelancing from home has it's perks ;-)

[Janke]

If I want to, I can also commute by train; 300 meters in 2 minutes:

[Almohada]

My bed is half a foot away from my desk. Can't get any closer. Well... A laptop IN bed. Hahaha

[cgbier]

With no more existing market around me any more, I'm glad to be salaried right now. The benefit package is also cheaper.

[Krane]

With no more existing market around me any more, I'm glad to be salaried right now. The benefit package is also cheaper.

There are pros and cons to each but that's one of the bigger pro to having an employer. Still, after spending many years in the subordinate capacity, I feel it's come time for me to bite the bullet and go it on my own. The U.S. needs more entrepreneurs right now to get us back on track. If I fail I can always come back home to daddy. My boss that is.

[cgbier]

The U.S. needs more entrepreneurs right now to get us back on track.

And what do those entrepreneurs want to sell if there is no market for their product?