<p>I’m currently looking for a job, and one potential opportunity would require a commute of at least an hour. </p>
<p>This commute would be against prevailing traffic and mostly on the highway, but still…</p>
<p>Those of you who commute long distances - what has been your experience? How do you cope with it? How does it affect your relationship with others in your office, who may arrive earlier or stay later since they don’t spend as much time on the road?</p>
<p>I did a pretty long commute for years when I was younger (45 minutes to work … more like 55 minutes home). At the time it wasn’t too bad. This was before we had kids or when they were real small so we didn’t have fixed obligations at night (like sports practices). I did leave for work earlier than most. A few nights a week I would go for my run/bike ride at work and then drive home … this helped avoid traffic. I also would typically work late, very late, one night a week; again to help avoid traffic.</p>
<p>Years later, as a 50+year old, I started a job about an hour from home. This time it was a lot harder to handle … I was much more tired from the drive than when I was 30. The biggest lesson from this experience for me is if I am going to have a long commute I better love the job. This last job sucked … and having an hour drive on both sides of the crappy job was miserable.</p>
<p>I would consider doing it again. We’ve picked where we want to live and what schools we want our kids to attend … my jobs have been the best opportunities I can find near this town … so commutes are part of the bargain.</p>
<p>Yes, 3togo, this job would be a fantastic opportunity, and also would require overseas travel, which would provide the benefit of avoiding the drive on those days. :)</p>
<p>I try to shift my travel hours a bit (earlier or later than rush hour) if I can when I have a long commute to a client. I also listen to a LOT of podcasts to pass the time. This American Life, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, The Moth, Science Friday, Decode DC, Fresh Air, Radiolab, and NPR Story of the Day are some of them that I regularly download for the road.</p>
<p>If I get tied up in traffic and am late to the office, I feel like I am starting the day behind and have to scramble a lot of times. The ability to work from home occasionally (if it is that type of job) is a pretty great thing when your commute is long. It is something you could ask about before accepting the job. I wouldn’t make any assumptions about it without asking (my last client had “rules” about it, and I didn’t fall under their “rules” to be allowed – fortunately I had asked in my interview and they said yes, so I was allowed after all).</p>
<p>Yes, I did ask about working at home, and this is a European company and sadly, not open to the idea. :(</p>
<p>If it gets that far, I will make a point about how they would handle a situation where heavy snow was expected during the day.</p>
<p>My long-term career field almost never had the right opportunities in my home area. This is honest: at first, I liked the distinct separation between where I lived/played and where I worked. Not just that, I liked the buffer time. And, home was near the beach. But I was always commuting with traffic. I couldn’t avoid morning rush, except by starting out early. Evening rush lasted hours. (I was always one of the late stays- not the others.) One fender-bender on the roads and I could be stuck for hours. No public transpo ever went where I needed to go. I’m female and always worried about a car issue. There wasn’t a way to run off to a doc apt in the middle of the work day- or get somewhere before they closed. When the last one ended, I was driving 75 miles, each way (3 traffic jam points) - and decided enough was enough.</p>
<p>Ok, that’s the bad part. But, at many points, the job was worth it. Yes. The excitement, productivity and satisfaction. That’s what you look at. </p>
<p>Friends in LA did that sort of commute, for years, to be able to afford housing where they wanted. A friend commutes that into DC now- for a grand (and over-paying) job. Friends in Chicago joked that their 15 mile commute could take over an hour. Flexibility matters. Sometimes, if it’s the right opportunity, you figure it out. Good luck.</p>
<p>When I was younger I had commutes in the Chicago area that while the distance wasn’t long with the traffic the commute was over 1 1/2 hours each way. Not fun but do able.</p>
<p>DH works in Atlanta its about 40 minutes with no traffic. However it’s more like an hour and 15 minutes with traffic during the week. He has been doing this commute for 11 years. Does he like it? No. You asked how do you handle co-workers that get in earlier or stay later. Unless you have a completely different traffic than Chicago or Atlanta the best thing to do is to drive in earlier than everyone else. DH leaves the hours before 6:00 so he beats a lot of the traffic into the office. He is usually one of the first to get to work. It’s a lot better to get there early. He can get a lot done plus he is not cutting into family time with our kids because they aren’t up yet.
The other thing is that usually once you figure out the traffic patterns you may find out like DH did that it doesn’t make any sense to leave before 5:30 pm. All you are going to do is sit in traffic. It’s better to wait until after that and you end up getting home at the same time anyway.</p>
<p>fendrock, have you actually made the drive during the times that you would be doing it? The points made by lookingforward were good ones re: possible traffic jams, no possibility of public transportation, bad weather. Most employers aren’t going to be willing to accept that you can’t get to work in bad weather, in my experience, simply because you live further away. That actually reminds me of a teacher a couple of my Ds had who had an hour and a half commute each way to school. She taught at that school for 17 years and never missed a day because of weather! In fact, she was usually the first one there.</p>
<p>Good luck with your decision. It’s funny, my first thought when reading your post was that a commute of an hour isn’t a long commute. Most people who commute into large urban centers have a commute of an hour or more. :)</p>
<p>Besides the time it will take you, another consideration is the cost of gas and the wear and tear on your car.</p>
<p>For two years I had a job 70 miles away, through some of the worst traffic in the country. I wound up renting a nice lady’s spare bedroom during the week so I wouldn’t have to make that drive every day.</p>
<p>For many years I commuted by train into NYC – the train itself was about an hour, plus on either side of that hour getting to the train station and then getting to my job. That was a total of 1 hour and 45 minutes each way – horrible. But I could read, sleep, work or just relax on the train, so that helped considerably.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the responses – it’s reassuring that so many people have dealt with this (for years even!) and lived to tell the tale.</p>
<p>I’ll let you know what happens. Hopefully I’ll be fortunate enough to have to make the decision, not just theorize about it…</p>
<p>My husband drives 50 minutes each way to work. He lived on 93rd in NYC and worked in the garment district for years. He said any commute under an hour beat his commute on the subway during rush hour in NYC! So…when we bought our house, it was 12 minutes from my job, and all of his have been an hour or so away.</p>
<p>As an FYI, my first seven years of work, I lived in northern NH and drove easily 45-60 minutes each way to work. It was well worth it because I got to live where I wanted to live!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes, or if you have workman coming to your house or something… you don’t want to have to take a vacation day for stuff like that if you can help it.</p>
<p>Also, there is a distinction between being able to at least get at your email from home, and being able to get are more stuff (files on the network, etc.). At my last client they didn’t even want to give me email access from outside the office! I felt like I was stuck back in the 1980s… You might ask about whether that is available, too. Again, once you have the offer. :)</p>
<p>I did a one hour commute each way for two years. It was worth it to log the time at a job that was great, but I could not have done it for much longer.
In the worst weather, I booked a hotel room and stayed for a couple of days midweek near my workplace.
My family complained that I was completely unwilling to get in a car on the weekends.</p>
<p>Lived to tell the tale? It’s sort of a club with its own rituals and oddities. Over time, I knew where every easy to get to public bathroom was, along my routes. Where to get coffee. You get sensitive to what can affect traffic, besides weather and accidents- that sports game, a concert, a big convention in town. Depends on where you are.</p>
<p>Fendrock…I don’t recall where you live…but if you have dreadful winter weather, that might impact your decision. When it’s nasty here, my husband’s office never closes…and it can take him well over an hour to get to and from work. </p>
<p>Still, if you feel this is a good opportunity, it might be worth the commute.</p>
<p>I am in the MetroWest area near Boston, and the company is just over the border into NH, off I-495.</p>
<p>Would you traveling around 128 or 495? And up Route 3 or 93? It might not be too bad depending on your starting and ending locations.</p>
<p>Go for it. My bet is you are not the only one who lives in MA and commutes to NH. We had a friend who made the same commute. After three years, she and family just moved to NH. She loved her job there, knew it had an upward career track, and felt secure in the employment situation.</p>
<p>When the weather is really wretched there, the governor just closes the roads (like they did in the blizzard last February). Otherwise, those roads get good attention in bad weather.</p>
<p>fendrock, I think that bceagle91 is in NH and possibly commutes into MA so he might be a good resource for info on the roads/traffic/bad spots, etc. I haven’t seen him around lately so checked and it appears he hasn’t posted since July, which is very strange. I hope all is okay with him. Does anyone know?</p>
<p>Audiobooks are another resource that several of my friends enjoy. They’re free at the library and from a few other venues as well. My H has a geographically short commute that can take 30 minutes or less without traffic but easily over an hour with traffic. He worked there over 45 years – loved his job and the places he’s lived over those years.</p>