Kaiser RN Commutes From Home in PA to Job in Oakland (Concord: rent, transfer to)

[18Montclair]

He claims to be okay with it...

When Tom Fowkes tells his friends in Pennsylvania that he commutes to work in Oakland, they all tend to react in the same way:

"You work in California? Are you nuts?!"
And he couldn't disagree more. The Kaiser pediatric nurse began his bi-weekly trip to work 9 years ago, and, he is happy to report, it "has changed my life."

When Fowkes was working as a nurse in Pennsylvania, he had to work three jobs, barely made ends meet and never saw his son because he was working all the time. Now that he works at Kaiser, he says, "I am making California money and I live very nice."

This nurse commutes 2,600 miles to work in Oakland. Is he nuts? - SFGate

[BurnInTheMil]

Nuts but yet smart. The dude probably has thousands upon thousands of airline points/miles and flights really aren’t that expensive to the Bay Area. Flying from Louisville, KY to Oakland usually is only around $300 round trip for me on Southwest.

I couldn’t do this, so kudos to him. At least he doesn’t have to put up with the crazy Californians and traffic day in & out.

[SFBayBoomer]

When I saw the thread title I thought "Why doesn't this guy just transfer to the Redwood City Kaiser?"

PA as in Palo Alto.

[Ruth4Truth]

Article doesn't explain how his living expenses in CA figure into the overall economics of the situation. It only mentions the air commute. He'd probably come out ahead if he took a job in NYC, and commuted from PA, depending on where in PA he lives. People do that. There are commute buses that serve the PA/NJ border areas.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Article doesn't explain how his living expenses in CA figure into the overall economics of the situation. It only mentions the air commute. He'd probably come out ahead if he took a job in NYC, and commuted from PA, depending on where in PA he lives. People do that. There are commute buses that serve the PA/NJ border areas.

He lives in the Pittsburgh area.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

He lives in the Pittsburgh area.

OK, that leaves the NYC option out, then, unless he could fly in, and repeat whatever low-rent magic there, that he's pulling off in the Bay Area. That's the wild card in this scenario. But I imagine he enjoys his weekday CA lifestyle, & CA weather, fwiw.

[Cobb]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

OK, that leaves the NYC option out, then, unless he could fly in, and repeat whatever low-rent magic there, that he's pulling off in the Bay Area. That's the wild card in this scenario. But I imagine he enjoys his weekday CA lifestyle, & CA weather, fwiw.

He probably rents a room to keep expenses down which is smart.

There are several of us from Georgia that work around the b$$y area in hospitals for one reason and one reason only the MONEY.

We all rent rooms and go home once a month or every 2 months. We have a 4 bedroom 3 car and pool home on 3 acres about 20 miles from the ATL airport in PTC we paid $218,000. Thank to CA $$ . Can you do that in CA ? Those of us from other states that choose to work here for the money... that's all we want out of CA is the money and we here because we are goal specific and then we are out.

Thanks to my job, next year our home will be paid for after only 6 years.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by Cobb

He probably rents a room to keep expenses down which is smart.

There are several of us from Georgia that work around the b$$y area in hospitals for one reason and one reason only the MONEY.

We all rent rooms and go home once a month or every 2 months. We have a 4 bedroom 3 car and pool home on 3 acres about 20 miles from the ATL airport in PTC we paid $218,000. Thank to CA $$ . Can you do that in CA ? Those of us from other states that choose to work here for the money... that's all we want out of CA is the money and we here because we are goal specific and then we are out.

Thanks to my job, next year our home will be paid for after only 6 years.

lol Fascinating. But still, paying for a room can cost between $1000-$1500/month. Does that still leave you with enough $$ for everything else? And bear in mind the guy in the OP claims to commute out to the Bay Area weekly, not visit home every couple of months. I still don't quite see how his math works out. But thanks for posting, to let us know that that guy isn't an isolated phenom.

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by Cobb

He probably rents a room to keep expenses down which is smart.

There are several of us from Georgia that work around the b$$y area in hospitals for one reason and one reason only the MONEY.

We all rent rooms and go home once a month or every 2 months. We have a 4 bedroom 3 car and pool home on 3 acres about 20 miles from the ATL airport in PTC we paid $218,000. Thank to CA $$ . Can you do that in CA ? Those of us from other states that choose to work here for the money... that's all we want out of CA is the money and we here because we are goal specific and then we are out.

Thanks to my job, next year our home will be paid for after only 6 years.

Well, if you have family, that is a pretty steep sacrifice in terms of time away. How do you manage that?

[likealady]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

lol Fascinating. But still, paying for a room can cost between $1000-$1500/month.

At the time, he was sharing a trailer in Concord with a nurse from Mississippi. The trailer was small but all he needed was a place to sleep and shower since he was spending all his time working.

He shares a trailer, or at least used to, with another nurse.