Commuting for 2hrs each way every day. Any thoughts?

[psychocandy]

I've been doing two hours a day each way for the best part of 15 years (Hampshire to City of London\Canary Wharf). I'm one of the 50+ guys you mention. My kids are all growed up and it's just me and the Missus at home. I'm 2-3 years off retirement.

I leave home at 05:15, get into town at 07:15 do an hour in the gym and I'm at my desk by 08:15. Coming home I leave at 17:30 and get home at 19:25. All of this is train dependent. 1 hour 20 mins of each way is on a train. I cycle to\from the station at both ends.

My tips are;

Get into a routine.
Stay fit.
Go to bed early.
Do not work longer hours than necessary.
Do not go on the sauce midweek.
Do something interesting on the train. I watch films or learn French\Italian.

At the end of the day it's all about the money. When that equation no longer works, I'll stop. It's not for everyone but I'm a hard b*stard.

Fair play good way to do it . Gym and cycling as well. Not much time at home though? If it was me I'd stay hotel.

[northernladuk]

I've been doing two hours a day each way for the best part of 15 years (Hampshire to City of London\Canary Wharf). I'm one of the 50+ guys you mention. My kids are all growed up and it's just me and the Missus at home. I'm 2-3 years off retirement.

I leave home at 05:15, get into town at 07:15 do an hour in the gym and I'm at my desk by 08:15. Coming home I leave at 17:30 and get home at 19:25. All of this is train dependent. 1 hour 20 mins of each way is on a train. I cycle to\from the station at both ends.

My tips are;

Get into a routine.
Stay fit.
Go to bed early.
Do not work longer hours than necessary.
Do not go on the sauce midweek.
Do something interesting on the train. I watch films or learn French\Italian.

At the end of the day it's all about the money. When that equation no longer works, I'll stop. It's not for everyone but even though I'm a southerner I'm a hard b*stard.

I doff my cap to that sir....

and FTFY

[BR14]

I've had a three yard commute for four years+ now.
12 yards if i go via kitchen and toilet.
tiring, so it is

[SteelyDan]

Currently daily commute should be 1.5 hours (each way)...mostly turns out to be 2 hours though due to probs on m/way or local roads into city. Been doing this for past 18 months, & really looking fwd to not renewing & being free of this kinda 5hite. As you get older it gets more of grind, or has the grind of it made me feel older? dunno. Either way, out of it soon & feet up for a while

[Lockhouse]

Fair play good way to do it . Gym and cycling as well. Not much time at home though? If it was me I'd stay hotel.

Not much time at home during the week, that's true. I do it for the cash so won't spend money on a hotel. Plus as the main part of my journey doesn't change even when I work for different clients I'm constantly caught by the two year rule - there would be problems with claiming it back.

I doff my cap to that sir....

and FTFY

[LondonManc]

I have met and worked with people who did that via the train and it may work provided your commute has little effort involved. It falls apart as soon as they started driving and had to concentrate when dealing with traffic.

Personally why would you do it 5 days a week - you won't gain anything from those extra hours and its probably as cheap to stay in a hotel all week or at least one or 2 nights a week...

+1

Driving is a killer if you're constantly doing it.

I read about someone whose daily commute was from 20 miles north of Manchester to Man Picc station, train to Euston, tube to Bank, walk to office and then back home each day. Must be absolutely under the thumb or have some other sort of issues because that's a journey of 40 minutes to the station, 2hr 10 on the train, and 30 minutes to the office with everything running fine. That's without the cost of the morning train tickets to take into consideration, or the evening ones unless they're departing after 6:55.

[northernladuk]

So there you go. OP has all his feedback so now has to decide if he's hard like me and Lockhouse or he's a pussy like everyone else.

[BR14]

So there you go. OP has all his feedback so now has to decide if he's daft like me and Lockhouse or he's sensible like everyone else.

FTFY

[unixman]

Never commuted by train or coach, only by car. And it sucks. We all have our own threshold, but I say: More than 1 hour each way and Premier Inn is your friend. So is payasyougym.com. Stay over, work out, have a nice meal. Longer term, a room in a house, if it is a nice area.

[mattfx]

When I was doing professional services I would regularly get weeks where I would have to commute 2-3 hours a day in the car for clients up toward the north. I hated it. The only thing that made it tolerable was that I was able to turn up on site at 10 and usually left around 4.

For me, any more than an hour in the car and I start getting agitated.

Trains on the other hand I do not mind so much; at least you can read or watch a film or sleep.