Do-able Commute to work

Loanranger

I had an hour and three quarter commute each way, did that for four years. The job was great and enabled me to eventually get a job at director level. I was in my forties. It meant I had no time to do much in the evenings as I had to get up at 5.30am and didn't get home til 6.45 pm. It's doable and getting up at 5.30 is just getting into the right mindset.

shortcrust

It can take an hour to go six miles in rush hour where I live!

gettingready

shortest was 10 min walk from home.

Longest was 2.5 hours each way - on multiple buses/tube/trains.
Lasted 14 months before I gave it up. It was absolutely awful, 5 hours per day, 5 days per week.

bugslet

For the last 26 (27 in Feb) years, I've had a 30 mile commute each way, Runcorn to Salford.

I get in early (up at 5.15), so it takes half an hour to get in, I live close to the motorway and work is half a mile from the motorway.

Going home, though, 45 minutes to an hour usually, occasionally up to an hour and a half.

I do not want to think how much of my life has been spent on either the M56 or the M62.

ReadingTim

Length of commute is but one aspect of the so-called work/life balance, and different people will have different views on what their ideal balance is. Furthermore, the same person's views may change over time - for example before and after having children. I don't think you can generalise, nor assume what works for someone else works for you.

The key thing is to try and make good use of the commuting time - to read or do work e-mails (if on the train) or catch up on news and current affairs by listening to the Today programme on Radio 4 if in the car. Don't just sleep, stare out of the window or listen to inane "breakfast shows". Likewise, what are you not doing if not commuting? Not being able to go to the gym, play sports, read the kids bedtime stories aren't great things to miss - slumped on the sofa watching Eastenders or Corrie or drinking down the pub could probably be skipped.

owen_money

I work from home, so bed to office is about 1 minute, although that can double if the landing is congested.

bugslet

owen_money wrote: »

I work from home, so bed to office is about 1 minute, although that can double if the landing is congested.

May I suggest white lines down the middle, or possibly a mini roundabout if width of landing is not an issue? Perhaps the laudry basket could suffice.

If that doesn't work out, traffic lights will be the only way to go.:D

bamgbost

Thank you all guys. The messages have been pretty insightful!

About-time

I work 12-hour shifts and have a 5 mile-ish commute to work. I can do it in ten minutes if I'm coming in/going home at the crack of dawn when there's no traffic on the roads. When I finish/start work in the early evenings I get caught up in the tail end of rush hour and it takes double that. The office relocated around 10 years ago (before my time), and I still have colleagues that drive an hour each way to work as a result of this (personally in 10 years I'd like to think I would have moved closer or found another job!).


I find driving quite stressful at the best of times and certainly wouldn't consider a long commute at the end of a 12-hour night shift, when I'm knackered and at a low ebb. I also probably wouldn't consider it if it meant driving in rush hour every day (i.e if I was working a 9-5 type job). What I would consider in that scenario is getting the train - less stressful and plenty of time for reading/winding down), but I have never ever fancied a long commute by road.

FBaby

It really all depends on the job, the income, the traffic etc... I have done it all, working only down my road to travelling for 1 1/2. All in all, I would say that I've preferred to travel over 1 hour for a job I like than down the road for a job I didn't.

There is also a big difference between travelling a long distance with no traffic than a shorter one hour stuck in traffic journey. There is then the factor of the time you need to get up, and therefore go to bed earlier, or lacking sleep.

As everything, it's about finding the right balance.