Long commute vs shorter, more stressful commute

[Gumbo Robot]

Option 1:

Drive to Brislington park&ride - 45 mins
Bus to Bristol TM - 15 mins + 5 mins wait
Train to Cheltenham - 40 mins
Walk to office - 15 mins

Total: 2 hours

Option 2:

Drive to Westbury station - 25 mins
Train to Cheltenham: 2 hours
Walk to office: 15 mins

Total: 2 hours 40 mins

So the second option is 40 minutes longer but its on s train that seems to be mostly empty. Less stress & fewer things to go wrong compared to option 1

What would you do?

[jmo21]

Neither. I'd stay over.

[Gumbo Robot]

Neither. I'd stay over.

I'm mixing it up so I'll only have to do the journey both ways twice a week.

I'm loathe to do a Mon - Fri on this one because its only 65 miles from home. Problem is, I've got Bath/Bristol between me and Cheltenham so driving isn't really an option . train fare is £23 return so saving denting my daily rate by not staying up.

[sal]

Neither. I'd stay over.

Probably this ^even if you have family, 5 hours commute + 9 hours at the office + 8 hours sleep will only give you like 2 hours with your family. Better to stay over and try to arrange 1 day/week work from home which will give you more total time with family per week and a lot less stress.

Edit: just saw your reply, if it's only twice a week i would go with the longer less stressful commute, you can spend the time in the train to watch a movie or read a book or even nap.

[Crossroads]

Drive all the way?

[Gumbo Robot]

Edit: just saw your reply, if it's only twice a week i would go with the longer less stressful commute, you can spend the time in the train to watch a movie or read a book or even nap.

That's my thought. Will try it out tomorrow. Already done the Bristol route - park and ride isn't as quick as I thought as there aren't bus lanes all the way into town. Plus I had go wait 25 minutes for a bus on the way back.

Could always load bike into car, park at p&r & cycle to station but it's another load of dicking around.

Drive all the way?

Got to get past Bristol & onto M5 & then get into the centre of Cheltenham. That roundabout at the top of the M32 where you come off the ring road was a nightmare last time I tried it;even at 7 am.

[Bozwell]

i'd do the train. That 2hrs is essentially your time to do what you want with, as long as it can be done on a train. I'm driving 1hr 30 each way currently and it really makes me tired. Unfortunately it's too expensive for me to go by train (especially the car parking cost!) and involves having to change trains.

[SimonMac]

I'm mixing it up so I'll only have to do the journey both ways twice a week.

I'm loathe to do a Mon - Fri on this one because its only 65 miles from home. Problem is, I've got Bath/Bristol between me and Cheltenham so driving isn't really an option . train fare is £23 return so saving denting my daily rate by not staying up.

Can you not drive and go through Chippenham and Cirenchester?

[BrilloPad]

The less things that can go wrong the better. Even if it takes a bit longer.

[Gumbo Robot]

Can you not drive and go through Chippenham and Cirenchester?

Have thought about that but it's an extra 15-20 miles plus it's the A350 which is pretty nasty around Chippenham at certain times of day.