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What's the Longest Daily Commute You'd Be Prepared to Drive?

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    #31
    Originally posted by WTFH View Post
    Anything over 60 minutes on average and I would stay away for a few nights per week. Under two hours and you can still come home one or two nights, or if there's something on.
    I tried that for a while; staying one or two nights per week. But I'd find I'd be sitting in a Travelodge room at 7.30pm thinking "I could have been home by now". And the other thing with a commute is you need the routine; that's the only way you manage to do it. So ultimately I found it was preferable to simply do the drive 5 days a week than stay over.
    Will work inside IR35. Or for food.

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      #32
      Originally posted by VectraMan View Post
      I tried that for a while; staying one or two nights per week. But I'd find I'd be sitting in a Travelodge room at 7.30pm thinking "I could have been home by now". And the other thing with a commute is you need the routine; that's the only way you manage to do it. So ultimately I found it was preferable to simply do the drive 5 days a week than stay over.
      But being home for 7:30pm means you might have had to go through a 2 hour drive each way. 20 hours driving a week - which will be very tiring.

      Like I said above, I would go as far as possible (excuse the pun) to get home every night.

      Now I simply won't accept a contract unless it is reasonably commutable (1.5 hours max) or if it is further afield, then I would stay a couple of nights and request (eventually) a WFH for 1 or 2 days a week.

      Everyone's situation, wants and needs are different. Some don't have a reason to rush home, so why worry about the commute? Some are prepared to spend lots on nice hotels with a pool/gym/bar/ladies-of-the-night, so they might look forward to staying away?

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        #33
        I've got the full house at the moment of M6 (through the roadworks), M56 and M60. It's a journey of only 30 miles so as long as I set off at some ungodly hour I can be at my desk in an hour or less, but in the evenings it is always much more, and often (usually when the M6 has problems and has snarled up the alternate routes) it has taken me 2.5 hours.

        The equivalent train journey requires FOUR trains (3 changes - for a 30 mile journey, FFS).

        A steady 55 minute commute sounds fantastic. Even my woman spends 30 minutes driving 6 miles home each evening.
        Last edited by I just need to test it; 4 January 2017, 13:50.

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          #34
          Originally posted by I just need to test it View Post
          I've got the full house at the moment of M6 (through the roadworks), M56 and M60. It's a journey of only 30 miles so as long as I set off at some ungodly hour I can be at my desk in an hour or less, but in the evenings it is always much more, and often (usually when the M6 has problems and has snarled up the alternate routes) it has taken me 2.5 hours.

          The equivalent train journey requires FOUR trains (3 changes - for a 30 mile journey, FFS).

          A steady 55 minute commute sounds fantastic. Even my woman spends 30 minutes driving 6 miles home each evening.
          I used to have a car like that. HTHBIDI
          The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn't exist

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            #35
            As a permie I used to travel 3 hours a day to Cardiff and back.

            For the last 3 years I've been making the long commute from my bedroom to my study. Last 2 gigs fully WFH, not looking fwd to having to get out of my PJs before noon anytime soon...
            "why ride a vespa when you can push a lambretta?"

            As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding; like the Roman, I seem to see "the River Tiber foaming with much blood."

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              #36
              Originally posted by VectraMan View Post
              I tried that for a while; staying one or two nights per week. But I'd find I'd be sitting in a Travelodge room at 7.30pm thinking "I could have been home by now". And the other thing with a commute is you need the routine; that's the only way you manage to do it. So ultimately I found it was preferable to simply do the drive 5 days a week than stay over.
              Each to their own of course - but 1) Would you really be back at 7:30, or is it more like maybe just getting in at 8pm, just in time to make tea? 2) I find staying in hotels super productive - chuck in some running and cycling a couple of nights a week and you've killed half the evening. A bit of personal development, admin, Plan B etc for the others and the next thing you know it's Friday and you're home, with a free weekend feeling fresh as a daisy.

              (Edit: Just realised we were talking >1 hr - in which case yeah, I'd definitely commute for 90 minutes or so)
              Last edited by vwdan; 4 January 2017, 14:42.

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                #37
                Currently doing 1hr-1hr15, as are a lot of the permies here. In a previous contract I was doing 1hr30 for 45 miles if the traffic was good but become too unpredictable especially on the way home which invariably stretched to 2hrs; so I bought a motorbike and got the time down to a consistent 55 mins

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                  #38
                  Originally posted by vwdan View Post
                  Each to their own of course - but 1) Would you really be back at 7:30, or is it more like maybe just getting in at 8pm,
                  In that case I was getting back by 7.30. I tried taking the train on the same trip a few times and it would mean I'd have to leave home half an hour earlier (6.30!) and would get home an hour later (i.e. 8.30). I found there's a big difference between being home at 7.30 and still having the evening left to do stuff, and getting home at 8.30 and feeling like it's time for bed once you've eaten. Whilst I could hack the former, the latter was totally unacceptable, even if sitting on a train is less tiring. Trains: Should be better than driving but somehow aren't.

                  My last office job was 45 minutes away, which meant still not getting home before 6.30. Being WFH all last year the strangest thing was what to do with the time from 5.30 to 6.30; this whole part of the day that was filled with driving for as long as I could remember. (The answer often was to go to the pub.)
                  Will work inside IR35. Or for food.

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                    #39
                    The worth of train journeys very much vary depending upon your location compared to the office. Looking back, there's one commute that probably would have been easier by train. Downside was that there was only one train every 40 minutes, so you had to be prepared to down tools at a certain time to get out the door five minutes later (allowing for contingency chats). The hassle of missing said train and being sat on a railway platform for 37 minutes didn't appeal.

                    That said, if I got a contract near Stockport station, the train would be easier than battling round the M60 each morning.
                    The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn't exist

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                      #40
                      Originally posted by LondonManc View Post
                      That said, if I got a contract near Stockport station, the train would be easier than battling round the M60 each morning.
                      If you get a contract in Stockport. Big IF that isn't it lol.
                      'CUK forum personality of 2011 - Winner - Yes really!!!!

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