Working Away - Experiences?!

[BolshieBastard]

Located where I am I have a pretty wide area that I can look for contracts, I guess with in two hours I can be anywhere from the midlands to the Newcastle, coast to coast but it still seems most of the very lucrative contracts are M4 Corridor / South East so if I were to apply it would probably mean staying away through the week. I'm single and my kids don't live with me so nothing would prevent me from working away, does anyone have any experience, good or bad for working away through the week?

My first contract saw me working away from home. Ended up working in Newcastle upon Tyne for nearly 5 years.

Within the first year, I'd pick up a rather tasty nymphet whose husband had lost interest in her. She used to come over to my room at Premier Inn on City Road (very good place as you dont have to walk through the reception to get to the rooms!) until I got an apartment in Benton. Then I moved into her place.

Great times! Another good thing was with the metro, there was no commute! Well, only 10 minutes each way!

[Fred Bloggs]

Where do you find these cheaper season tickets? Only on each operator's website? Are they usable on any train, or tied to specific operators/routes/times? I don't think I ever saw a ticket that could only be used on one operator's trains except those only valid on a single train.

There are different season tickets by single operator or any operator, length of ticket, 1st or 2nd class etc.. I used this page for London Midland but it links through to National Rail website. The multi operator tickets are much more (~double) for Crewe to Euston. But London Midland have a good timetable for that route. Ofcourse, YMMV. HTH.

[kingcook]

Funny you should say that, this thread prompted me to look at season tickets Crewe > London. I found that you can get a Crewe/Euston London Midland weekly season ticket for £221 First Class. It costs the same as that to do the trip Monday morning Friday afternoon so if you can manage the long commute it actually works out considerably cheaper commuting daily than commuting weekly and staying in hotels. It now takes 1hr 35 mins Crewe to Euston, not bad. How reliable it is I don't know.

I live in Crewe, small world! Beware of the Midland season tickets, as the Midland trains take over 3 hours to get to Euston That's why i pay the extra so i can go on Virgin trains

[Fred Bloggs]

I live in Crewe, small world! Beware of the Midland season tickets, as the Midland trains take over 3 hours to get to Euston That's why i pay the extra so i can go on Virgin trains

The timetable on their website shows indeed, some trains do take over 3 hours, but about 50% of them are timed at between 1hr 35min and 1hr 40min. Do you commute Crewe > London daily?

[NotAllThere]

I've worked away from home many times. First time, I was living near Bath, and commuting to East of London. Second time I was living East of London, and commuting to near Bath...

I've got things better arranged since those days.

I've stayed in B&B, as a lodger, in a shared apartment, and in hotels. If the people you're staying with are a laugh, then lodging is brilliant. But otherwise, I'll stay in a reasonable hotel or B&B. I'll pay extra for the comfort, as the longer I stay sane, the more I'll earn. One place I stayed, every wednesday evening after the restuarant was closed, I and the owner would settle down to a bottle of single malt and put the world to rights.

At various places I negotiated long working days in return for short weeks, and working from home.

The worst commute was from Switzerland to Leamington Spa. The plane left early Monday, and arrived back late Friday. Did that for 10 weeks, then found a contract, still commuting, but just a 2 hour drive from home. .

[kingcook]

The timetable on their website shows indeed, some trains do take over 3 hours, but about 50% of them are timed at between 1hr 35min and 1hr 40min. Do you commute Crewe > London daily?

The 50% of them timed between 1hr 35 mins and 1hr 40mins are the Virgin trains (the columns with "VT" at the top). VT only have 2 or 3 stops (none on the way back usually!). The LM ones stop everywhere.

Yeah i commute every day Crewe > London everyday.

[Fred Bloggs]

The 50% of them timed between 1hr 35 mins and 1hr 40mins are the Virgin trains (the columns with "VT" at the top). VT only have 2 or 3 stops (none on the way back usually!). The LM ones stop everywhere.

Yeah i commute every day Crewe > London everyday.

That's very naughty then because on the London Midland website it shows most of the trains are in the 1.35 to 1.40 category. But you're correct, I just double checked.

[manclarky]

Perhaps we can swap roles? You wouldnt happen to work in SQL/BI by any chance?

Bizarrely, almost....Oracle (I assume you're SQL Server??) BI at present.

[manclarky]

Why not kick the wife out?

I wouldn't be able to live with myself - well, not if she left the kids with me...who'd look after them? I believe they need feeding all the time and create "mess" everywhere (that's my wife's description of anything that isn't in its correct place).

Anyway, I like working away - all my mates are in London and if I'm in a hotel during the week I can watch all the footy I like.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Bizarrely, almost....Oracle (I assume you're SQL Server??) BI at present.

Yep SQL, SSIS, SSRS, .NET etc

Surely it's not that hard to swap technologies? Same fundamental idea?