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I work in construction, which takes me around to a lot of different places. I've traveled to three different cities in two weeks ranging from 20 miles away to 60 miles.
To boost me career, for almost two years I worked several states away from home (I stayed above someone's garage) and flew home every three weeks. It was a drag of sorts but got me to a better place professionally.
An hour commute was not a big deal to me as long as not in heavy traffic. Soon to be retired brother lived on the east coast and worked in MS or LA weekly. F flyer miles become a big deal.
I may have an opportunity. Just curious to know about others experiences. The compensation is good enough to where I'll get a studio in the work city.
Your thoughts.
Let's say you want to go "home" once each week. You leave Friday at 5:00 PM and pull into your driveway at midnight presuming you stopped to get gas and eat. A little earlier or later depending on the traffic and weather. You will worry about your car a lot.
You will go to sleep Sunday evening and wake up at midnight. You'll leave Monday morning at 1:00 AM - 2:00 AM to arrive at 8:00 AM for your work week. As the weeks go by, fatigue will set in and you will find yourself falling asleep at the wheel and at work. Eventually you won't go home unless you have to. You will be looking at everything through the wrong end of the telescope.
I used to have to commute from town about an hour due north of Indianapolis to St. Louis a few times a week and it usually had to be done by car, but sometimes I was able to fly. That got old real quick.
Personally, I wouldn't do it again UNLESS there was some great promotion in my future and even then, I'd need some idea of when the commute would end. Now, I do work in a different city than I live in, but it's only about a 20-25 minute drive.
I did it when I was a Flight Attendant. I live in KC but worked out of Minneapolis. I rented a room from someone for $250 a month. I would work for 3 weeks in MSP and then fly back home for a week and then repeat again. It was a little harder in the winter since there were a lot of flight delays but overall not bad but then again I'm single so I didn't have a lot of other commitments to attend.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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Three years ago my husband's office closed in the DC area and they moved him and another guy to North Carolina - about 4 1/2 hours away. My husband considered doing the long-distance commute thing, but we decided to go all in and move. His co-worker, however (who is single) lived in DC his whole life and didn't want to move and sell his house. So he got an apartment in the work city in NC, and he goes home to DC about every other weekend and for vacations and such. He is closing in on 60, so I think he's planning on doing this until he retires. And I believe that's why he stayed with the company - too hard to find a job at his age, good benefits, etc. It works for him. And I'm actually sorry we didn't do it as well, as I liked where we used to live better.
Oh, one more story. I grew up in Phila. suburbs and we had a neighbor who got a good job in DC. His wife refused to move there, so he commuted by train every day - probably about 3 hours each way. When that got old, he got an apartment in DC and stayed there during the week. He did it for at least a dozen years.
With no wife and kids at home, what's holding you back from living in the other city full time?
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My Experience
