Posted By Stephen Woods
I have applied for a post, which would involve a 50 miles each way trip 1 ¼ - 1 ½ hrs each way.

Does anyone else travel a similar distance or further. I would welcome your comments.

Posted By David Bannister
Stephen, you should be considering the wear & tear on you (and possibly family) by adding up to 3 hours to your working day, each day. My work is done mainly to sustain my non-work life and I would not wish to restrict my leisure/family/lazy times by excessive tiredness. If driving then the cumulative effect of this may make your commute higher risk.
I took a job that involved a 2-hour each way commute, twice per week. I lasted 3 weeks!

Good luck.

Posted By Michael Griffith
Hi Steven,

How have you come up with those travelling times? have you done a trial run? I only travel 11 miles either way and for me it can take upto 50 mins due to speed restrictions and other traffic.

I suggest you give it a trial run at the times you would be travelling to make sure.

cheers, mick

Posted By Stephen Woods
The times come from a number of trial runs.

Driving on the M62 is no fun at the best of times.

The big worry is the 22,500 miles on the car and increased fuel costs. 37 miles per gallon= about £2210 per annum if taking holidays into account. Train not really an option.

Posted By Stephen Woods
What sort of remuneration would you require to commute for 3 hours per day using your own car?

Posted By Karen Todd
I used to travel to a job 44 miles away. A bit of motorway, some single carriageway, and a road over a mountain (well, it's probably a 'hill' but the road is nicknamed 'the mountain road'. Some of the roads were very bad (very twisty), used as a main route to the boat by psychotic lorry drivers, susceptible to extreme weather due to the height, and in the winter I frequently saw many accidents.

I'm used travelling typically 20 miles to work - 44 was the furthest, but in my current job I only travel 3.4 miles! Excellent - if I only travelled to work in the car I'd only need to put diesel in it once every 3 months. In saying that, I'm leaving to go to another job where I'll be travelling 20.

As Malcolm said, the journey provides thinking time, though sometimes it can seem like Groundhog Day - you see the same people in the same cars on the same roads.

My advice:

- drive a car that should the worst happen you have a decent chance of coming out of,

- invest in a multichanger and some good CDs (I got a 10CD multichanger and it's one of my best buys),

- if you travel too much you will know, it will seem as if your job and it's associated travelling become your whole life.

Regards,

Karen

Posted By Malcolm Hogarth
Reference the remuneration issue, I think I worked out that I would be paying about £2000.00 a year for fuel so I asked at the interview stage whether I would be entitled to a mileage allowance, I was told that it was not in the contract. However I weighed up the whole package, the fact that I was climbing the career ladder and that it was my decision in the end (And the nod of the domestic financial authority of course)

I took the job and it ultimately proved to be a move in the right direction and worth the financial loss. in fact I still earned more than in my previous role. I also bought a diesel car that brought the costs down a bit.

I have since moved on to a better position with a company car with a ten mile drive to work and five or six days a month on the road

Posted By Mark Eden
Last year I was driving from the south coast to London (73 miles each way) conducting site visits in and around London and once a month conducting a site visit to Bristol (360 miles in a day), fortunately the car was fully funded by my employer (the car covered 54K in 12 months). I was driving between 5to6 hours on a good day, not recommended. I've changed my job and now travel about 33 miles each way to work in around 50 minutes through the Sussex country side at a much more sedate pace. If you like driving and the job is worth while you will do it ,if not don't.
One thing to bear in mind there has been mutterings that the the time you travel to and from work may be included in the working week.

Posted By Heather Aston
Steve Williamson - you said "You could always turn up late and leave early every day too. "

Oooooooooh I want your job!! No I'm sure you don't Steve, just kidding.

Creative idea though...

Heather

Posted By Gary L
As others have said, it isn't the distance, its the time it takes. You do to an extent become desensitised to the length of trip.

I've done c.100 mile round trip each day for over a year & it is soul destroying when you sit, day-in day out in 10-15 mile queues on the M1 coming into Leeds (& out again). AND, it does appear to be getting worse - heaven knows what it will be like in a few years!!

Personally, given the choice between a higher salary and a shorter trip to work - i know which i'd take.

Posted By Laurence Price
I travel for an hour each way and find it useful to start thinking of the day ahead and unwind at the end of the day, though I dont have to get stressed sitting in stationary traffic !

Posted By AlanPB
I used to travel 25 miles, which took 45 minutes, and I thought that was far. Then I moved further away to be with my girlfriend and now have a 70 mile, 1.5 hours trip each way every weekday. During summer it's not too bad, but during witer I never seem to see daylight. I've been doing this commute now for 9 months. It meant leaving for work at 6.30 am and getting home for 7.30pm. I used to love going to the gym, now that is restricted to once or twice a week (if I'm lucky, (as I'm either tired or wanting to spend some time with my grlfirend. At times it has felt like wake up, drive, work, drive, eat, bed and then do it all over again for another 4 days.

Think about it, especially if it's going to be a long-term thing. You'll need to either be very well paid, love your job or be promised a huge step up the career ladder for it to be worth it.

Good luck!

Posted By John Mackessack
Stephen,

Good luck.

I too was victim to the 3 hours spent in the car each day for years. Time wasted in my opinion.

I now have a 30 mile round trip (luxury!)which takes (each way) 25 minutes by car but only 17 minutes on the bike on an easy throttle.

I know this will horrify the ignorant and risk averse readers (and Volvo drivers) but my recommendation is:

Get a nice, big, comfy, fast bike (they're all fast compared to cars but 600cc upward is rule of thumb), some decent advanced training and some good kit.

Result is that the trip would be well under the hour and most days you would arrive with a slightly manic grin from ear to ear! The ride home would be an adventure, where you seek out all the best roads for additional fun.

Works for me!

Posted By TBC
I used to travel 12 miles to the office and it could take up to 1hour 30mins each way. I needed the car to go out and visit clients so couldn't use public transport.
I now travel 50 miles to the office and the trip takes on average 1hour 10mins each way - 1hour if the farmers stay out of the way.
I'm lucky enough to have a company car, fully expensed with no personal expense on fuel for private use, good rate of pay and most important a great SHE team.
Swings and roundabouts.
As mentioned before - Check it out before making a career move.

Posted By SIMON HOWES
.......and nobody, including your very fine self, seems to have mentioned the family who may not be best pleased at only seeing you at the weekends when you will be too tired anyway.

Move house or look elsewhere, I say.

Mind you I HATE commuting and ended up offshore because, inter alia, I spent less time and scarcely any more money flying from Plymouth to Aberdeen than commuting in the previous job



Simon

Posted By Hilary Charlton
I work 10 minutes walk from my front door (how convenient is that). However, my husband commuted to London from Eastbourne every day for 11 years. When he started working in Brighton about 20 miles from home he thought he was in heaven, even though he drives those 20 miles whereas he used to catch the train to London.

Travelling is draining, expensive and you have to consider how you are going to get to work when your car breaks down or is involved in an accident. Yes, while the car is working OK then you simply get in it and go, but when it is not functioning, you are seriously stuck.

Good luck to you if it is a positive career move but I think you may find it quite hard work.

Hilary

Posted By George Wedgwood
A risk assessment (personal) should show that a comfortable journey time is around 20-30 mins for a regular office-based job. many travel more but usually suffer as a result. I travel a lot but io have flexibility in the travelling time and the frequency, so although I have to travel from Birmingham to Warrington at least once a week, I don't find it difficult as I can vary the start times and finish times. The pain and suffering comes from daily commuting and the frustration of regualy jams! So cut your cloth depending on your job - is it worth it? I have written a company car policy that was agreed to have a two hour limit on any travel before taking a rest of at least 15 mins. And all company travel should be wiothin sensible working hours where possible. So if you seconded an employee, you should not expect that person to turn up at formal start time after a journey of more than 30 mins - i.e. travel time should be deducted from the working day.

OK, I know many companies would not care and most just expect the job to get done without even thinking about what hoops the employee has to jump through to get to work or home again. But if you adopt a sensible routine that you are comfortable with, stand you ground if questioned why you are turning up late or leaving early - and ask for re-location!