I don't know how some people can handle a long commute

[FlightlessDuck]

I've been spending the week in training at an office of another branch of my company near Philadelphia. It's "only 60 miles" from my house, but can take me anywhere between 1:20 and 2 hours to drive there or back.

I can't stand it. I don't know how people do this every day.

How long is your commute? Does it drive you nuts?

 

[A_Princess'_Daddy]

When we lived in Boston my commute was anywhere from an hour to ninety minutes, each way, and far more if there was snow, rain or a major accident (all common). It absolutely killed my soul and made me grumpy before the day even started. I'd leave the house by 6AM to get to my office by 7:30, leave at 5:00 to get home by 6:30, and it was so demoralizing.

That is one of the primary reasons we jumped at the chance to relocate to Des Moines when my wife was recruited. My commute is now fifteen minutes, we live in a far nicer home for a much lower price, and life is so much nicer! We miss certain aspects of the east coast, but the thought of moving back and facing that commute again gives me an anxiety attack!

 

[Fintastic]

My commute is 30 miles each way, and it takes me about an hour. But I have to drop DD off at elementary school and DS off at daycare before I can even get to my desk. It would be luxurious to be able to just get in the car and drive right to work!

 

[mickeyboat]

Mine is about 30 miles and a little less than 30 minutes. I can't stand it.

Prior to this I was only 1 mile from work and 2 miles from the kids' school. It was awesome!

 

[Kycha]

I've been spending the week in training at an office of another branch of my company near Philadelphia. It's "only 60 miles" from my house, but can take me anywhere between 1:20 and 2 hours to drive there or back.

I can't stand it. I don't know how people do this every day.

How long is your commute? Does it drive you nuts?

I used to commute from Reading/Ephrata to Plymouth Meeting every day, 55 miles one way. I would take the PA turnpike the whole way. As bad as my commute was, I think my coworkers had it worse. They only lived 15-20 miles from the office and it would take them the same amount of time as me to get to work. They had to deal with all the stop and go traffic, major congestion and headaches.

 

[a1tinkfans]

My commute is now about ...............
10'...self employed, I walk across a hall..... (and I LOVE it)
BUT
many moons ago, I used to commute by car and I hated it....especially on those Fridays before a holiday, goodness, the 1 hour would easily turn into 2-3 to get home.......just awful. I do not think I could do anything like that ever again....it is just too draining..........I thank my lucky stars.....

 

[SookieStackhouse]

Mine is about a mile each way... about 3 minutes each way. Before we moved to where we are now, it was about a 6 mile drive, which wasn't too bad either.

I am not a fan of long car rides, if I spend more than 30 minutes in a car I start to get antsy or something.

 

[Desnik]

I've been spending the week in training at an office of another branch of my company near Philadelphia. It's "only 60 miles" from my house, but can take me anywhere between 1:20 and 2 hours to drive there or back.

I can't stand it. I don't know how people do this every day.

How long is your commute? Does it drive you nuts?

That is exactly my DH's commute. He does it everyday for the past 12 years. He hates it but the job and pay are worth it so he deals. I think the wear and tare on the car, the cost of gas and tolls are also a real killer! Not to mention the fact he has to be on the road by 5:15am otherwise he's stuck in hours of traffic. On Fridays it's not uncommon to take 3 hours to get home!

 

[OceanAnnie]

I have had long commutes for several jobs. It was a love/hate thing. Sometimes it was great to decompress from a long day. By the time I was home, I was done with anything related to work. But there were times I just wanted to zip to an appointment or meet some friends after work. Those were not zippy rides. Not fun.

After awhile I did find books on tape. That helped a lot.

 

[poohfriend77]

I'm a SAHM, but my "commute" to DDs school is 10 minutes (12 if I hit red lights). I would not handle a long commute well if I had to drive! There are some days, however, when an hour on a train with my iPod and Kindle sound like heaven. My commuter friend assures me it's not as wonderful as it sounds.

DH has a 15 min drive to work, plus a 5 min walk from the parking lot to his office.

 

[Poohforyou]

I didn't mind commuting an hour each way when I worked in Manhattan for 10 years because I took the train and could read or nap. I commuted 30 miles (45min) each way for about 5 years but that wasn't only 2 days a week so it was tolerable. Now I could bike to work I'm so close.

 

[MM27]

My commute is about 45 miles each way and it takes me about an hour (on a good day) in morning traffic. If I time my departure right in the afternoon I can sometimes make it in 45 minutes, but that doesn't always happen. Depending on weather, accidents or other problems, it can take upwards of 2 hours.

 

[shinysparklybubbles]

My longest was 45mins which was pretty long since I was 18 at the time, I dis that for 5 years but was lucky enough that dh (Db at the time lived 5 mins from work so I stayed there a lot). After that it was 10 mins tops and now I'm a sahm. I'm such a baby about driving far now, it totally wipes me out!

 

[JCJRSmith]

It is 22 miles from my home to my office in Hershey. Takes about 35-45 minutes depending on traffic. Luckily I get to work from home on Fridays.

We have one guy who lives in Easton, PA (near the PA/NJ border) and communtes 4 days per week to Hershey. He lives closer to New York City.

 

[avgeek81]

my first job was about 2 min from my house. I would walk sometimes. My next job was 6 min, still not bad. Now i moved so i work at a different place and it is 15 min. We werent sure exactly where we were living when i was trying to transfer and i had a choice of 2 places. i almost went with the one across town which wouldve been about 30min but they took thier time getting back to me so i went for the place i am at now.

 

[golfgal]

I couldn't do a commute like that either, even on a bus/train, etc. you are still losing that much time out of your life each day. My "long" commute was 15 minutes and that was MORE than enough for me.

 

[Tink9721]

Right now, still in high school, my commute is about 5 minutes with traffic I live a mile away from the school. Next year, I'll be living at home and commuting about 25 minutes to college.

My mom's commute to work is a little over an hour without traffic.

 

[jsmith]

for three years i drove from the Northwest Denver Suburb of Arvada to Fort Carson which is South of Colorado Springs three times a week-97 miles each way. Most mornings it was about 90 minutes-going home Friday evening could take up to 4 hours. Then my husband worked in Cheyenne,Wyoming for a year and and a half and one of us drove 180 miles each way every other weekend-that could take from just under 3 to 6 hours depending on the traffic in the Colorado Springs and Denver Metro areas. it was a huge pain but my job in the springs is a good one and we didnt have a choice for the time he was in Cheyenne ( military active duty). We now live where neither of us drives more than 5 miles to work and we are loving it.

 

[Squirlz]

I took a job late in 2004 that was 55 miles away. I was driving a Dodge Ram pickup at the time and it was no fun. I bought a MINI Cooper to make the drive more fun, economical and safe!

Put 30K miles a year on that car until May '08 when the job ended. It was the only good thing I took from that experience. It made the drive tolerable.

 

[Pakey]

I did an hour each way for many years. I finally got tired of it, told my husband I was selling our dream home and moving into the city. I've got a 7 minute commute now and no regrets.