Reply to: Organising weekel EU commute

[expat]

i've done that london amsterdam commut for a tad over 3 years in total (not all concurrent). are you more concerned with reducing commute time or using the commute time to do other stuff? i had two key factors - the first stint was about time reduction and the second stint was all about cost reduction. so, as an example, the first used lots of taxis the second most certainly did not. there are loads tricks to tip the process in one direction or another depending on your criteria

as a basic starter:
minimise your luggage (cram it all into hand only) reduces queues
keep stuff in the office on the continent to use when you get there
work 5 days in 4 or 4 in 3 to give yourself more time at home this does mean getting the earliet flight on the first working day but get used to it - it is worth it. hell - what are you gonna do in the evening anyway?

Thanks for the suggestions, but I'm not a rookie, I'm years into optimising the foreign commute. Keeping stuff over there, definitely. Checked baggage, NEVER. This time I even have a flat there, spare old laptop over there and everything, nothing to carry (hand baggage = 1 paperback).

Easy and fast security: all-plastic belt, titanium wristwatch, slip-on shoes..... Privium and Iris.

Your question is the right one: what am I trying to do with the commute? Ultimately my aim is to maximise "quality time" at home (sorry but it's hard to say concisely otherwise) while not risking the office work. So, if I can make the commute shorter, I can gain some home time; but equally, if I can turn some commute time into working time, I can turn some working time into home time.

The secondary aim that has prompted this discussion is to improve the commute:
avoid unpleasantness,
reduce commute time especially fragmented useless time,
shift to less awkward times,
and finally, if I could use the time, that would make up for all the rest.

As usual I am short of both time and money, but at age 57 I'm leaning towards saving time. There's less of it left than I'd like.

I don't like the earliest flight on Monday morning because it really ruins the whole night's sleep for me and for my partner too (we both have a restless night), but it may have to be done: if that one little unpleasantness avoids the need for several others. (This is not a "get used to it", I am used to it but I want not to be!) My big idea there is to change the 1 home work day/week to Monday, so that the early day becomes Tuesday and the spoilt night's sleep is not Sunday's, so the weekend is better (that would matter to some people and not at all to others).
(Incidentally it's the stress of absolutely having to get up on the alarm that kills the sleep; so for example if I just paid full fare and could catch the next flight, I wouldn't lose the sleep. You can always exchange time for money).


I do actually have things to do in the evening too: I have solitary interests that I never get round to at home because they are so self-centred: good films, in cinema or DVD; Photoshop work on photos, reading books because I want to, not just to fill in time. So there is no time any time that is worthless to me, that I can just throw away on commuting. I guess it's a min-time/max-cost option I need, but it's more than just min-time; not every hour at home is the same as every other.


I would like to say that, although I may seem to have rejected most suggestions, this thread has brought out a lot of good contributions from people who are doing similar things. The guys have put in some good stuff. I think this is an area where we can learn from each other; and I may try to introduce more discussions like this.

[DS23]

I'll try being smart for once, and ask the real question behind my 3G-on-train question......So I want to use the time better. The work-on-train idea came from the fact that 8 useful hours travelling would be vastly superior to 6 hours wasted; but looking wider, has anyone else come up with some good ideas for doing the weekly commute better...

i've done that london amsterdam commut for a tad over 3 years in total (not all concurrent). are you more concerned with reducing commute time or using the commute time to do other stuff? i had two key factors - the first stint was about time reduction and the second stint was all about cost reduction. so, as an example, the first used lots of taxis the second most certainly did not. there are loads tricks to tip the process in one direction or another depending on your criteria

as a basic starter:
minimise your luggage (cram it all into hand only) reduces queues
keep stuff in the office on the continent to use when you get there
work 5 days in 4 or 4 in 3 to give yourself more time at home this does mean getting the earliet flight on the first working day but get used to it - it is worth it. hell - what are you gonna do in the evening anyway?

[Advocate]

Up at 6:00
leave house 6:35 on foot to local station arr 6:50,
train dep 6:53 to Euston.
arr Bank 7:50, dep DLR 7:55
arr LCY 8:18.
flight 9:25
arr AMS 11:55.
Miss train 12:13, get 12:43
Arr Utrecht 13:15.

Can't really do a full day then.

I think the trains at Schiphol are deliberately timed to leave approximately 1 minute before it's possible to get there from the aircraft!

[expat]

Expat, how easy is it for you to get to City Airport? Most efficient airport in my experience although flights from there may be expensive.

Up at 6:00
leave house 6:35 on foot to local station arr 6:50,
train dep 6:53 to Euston.
arr Bank 7:50, dep DLR 7:55
arr LCY 8:18.
flight 9:25
arr AMS 11:55.
Miss train 12:13, get 12:43
Arr Utrecht 13:15.

Can't really do a full day then.

[TimberWolf]

http://www.spartantailgate.com/forum...ragliding.html

[TheBigYinJames]

I've failed, I buy one of those wooden tulips (that's the flower everyone, NOT I repeat NOT wooden excrement)

Aww, I would love a wooden excrement as a paperweight too, was going to ask where you got one.

[Advocate]

Note (v. important): Do not get into the habbit of buying presents at the airport as this will become expected. Much better to turn up slightly drunk.

HTH

I've failed, I buy one of those wooden tulips (that's the flower everyone, NOT I repeat NOT wooden excrement) everytime I return but then I am a hopeless romantic!

I also offer to drive back...

[Spartacus]

• Invite partner to stay in NL every few weekends
• Sleep on Eurostar instead of working
• Build a personal flying machine (or buy a paraglider )
• Travel at night
• Relocate
• Get another job

Time Machine.

HTH
Threaded.

[expat]

• Invite partner to stay in NL every few weekends
• Sleep on Eurostar instead of working
• Build a personal flying machine (or buy a paraglider )
• Travel at night
• Relocate
• Get another job

Oh yes.
No 1 is part of the plan, she comes to NL. Not perfect because she can not be flexible at work so has to get in to Luton early on Monday morning; will not fly back Sunday since she would either have to get a taxi (no smoking), or drive (no drinking).
Indeed, sleep on Eurostar. Better than the current commute.

But changing location or job were diallowed in the question and travelling at night is how I came to the Harwich ferry. Good ideas but now new.

[TimberWolf]

• Invite partner to stay in NL every few weekends
• Sleep on Eurostar instead of working
• Build a personal flying machine (or buy a paraglider )
• Travel at night
• Relocate
• Get another job

[expat]

Eh? Walk to bank branch of Northern Line, get on, get out at Bank, walk to DLR.

Sorry, you're right. OK, it's not so bad then. Still unpleasant, like I get a London commute AND a flight.

[expat]

Hmmm seems to me the easiest solution is to turn your non-variable Bedfordshire residence into another different constant. There's always ways to get round strong typing you know ....

Well, yes, you are noticing that if that is a given then the choices are constrained. The explanation is kind of irrelevant to the discussion, but it is worth noticing. However, it is not easy to change, and more importantly I might well not like the result if I did.

[Moscow Mule]

...2 sections of tube, DLR (bizarrely you cannot get from Euston to any DLR station in a single tube journey). ....

Eh? Walk to bank branch of Northern Line, get on, get out at Bank, walk to DLR.

[expat]

Pondlife's top tips.

Find an airport as close to home as possible that KLM uses.

Fly out Monday. The 4:30am get up is a bitch but you do get a full Sunday at home. Oh, and start drinking earlier and go to bed earlier (or sleep on the plane)

Leave your washing kit in your flat/hotel so no need to carry liquids and you can fly with hand luggage only. Personally I check mine in cos I can't be arsed to wheel it along.

Fly back on Thurs day evening and work in your dressing gown on Friday. Don't make any plans for the Thursday night apart from making sure the missus has a bottle of red at room temp or a nice white in the fridge.

Whilst at the airport on a Thurs make dinner reservations for Friday night.
The call will be free because of all the compensation phone cards you get from KLM due to their delays.

Ideally get her to pick you up from the airport on the Thurs. That way you can turn up stinking of booze and whinge about what a hard week you've had.

It's a tried and tested system that I've had in place for ages.

Note (v. important): Do not get into the habbit of buying presents at the airport as this will become expected. Much better to turn up slightly drunk.

HTH

Thanks. I'm already there on all of this except

Find an airport as close to home as possible that KLM uses

There isn't one, in real terms. Heathrow is 40 miles but I have to allow over 3 hours from the door to the gate, whether public transport or car.

[sasguru]

Hmmm seems to me the easiest solution is to turn your non-variable Bedfordshire residence into another different constant. There's always ways to get round strong typing you know ....