Does anyone else have a long work commute?

melanchitty · August 2014

We chose to live in the suburbs, and my DH and I both work in the city. My office is about to move 10 more minutes past the city (basically a whole diff city) which will make my commute one way between an hour-hour and a half depending on traffic.

I get so sore from driving that long. I guess I'm just venting. Can anyone else relate?

mcr957 · August 2014

I can relate. I take public transportation since it's not feasible for us to have a car where we currently live and it takes me 2 hours each way. It's basically a part time job to get to my full time job, until I can find something closer.

hprice3467 · August 2014

WOW I thought my 45 minute drive was bad :-(

orange1414 · August 2014

My commute is a minimum of an hour and fifteen minutes and often an hour and forty five minutes. Fortunately, my boss is very supportive and I've been able to work from home a couple of days a week. I won't be returning after the baby is born--I don't want to spend that much time away from him and in the car!

freakyfast · August 2014

I can relate, however we just moved to be closer to work. We were able to carpool, but being in the car 2+ hours every day was really hard. Our commute now is 16-18 minutes. Being in the car that long is hard on your body and more importantly your mind. We were both very angry when we got home.

CandEChicago · August 2014

Mine could have been 1.5 hrs. Some of my clients were 2 hrs each way. Worst was a client was 70 miles away (50 of which was highway and the rest was country roads)...did that for about a week or two.

mammatoomc · August 2014

I work 12 hour days (8a-8p).. the ride to get in takes anywhere from an hour to 2 hours so I usually leave at 645am.. luckily coming home at 8p is traffic free and only takes a half hour. Im completely dreading once the baby is here.. I will basically be gone 14 hours a day from my new baby!!!! And possibly longer depending where I have to bring him for daycare for the day! AND hubby keeps trying to move us 30-40 minutes further.. I REFUSE! He is a student right now and goes 15 mins up the road. I am not moving further from my job than needed!! =( I feel your pain!

hellopartyof5 · August 2014

My office is 50ish miles away from me - they moved offices just like yours. I've found that the only way I can make my commute around an hour is to have flex hours, so I work 7-3 and I have Fridays to work from home. Is there anyway your boss would work with you about times/work from home days? Once baby gets here I'm going to see which schedule works for me - perhaps working longer days and having fridays off. Won't know until I try it though.

ToriGirl2014 · August 2014

I feel your pain. I've been doing a 50+ mile commute each way for about three years. It's been tougher since getting pregnant. I am hoping to transfer to a closer office with my current employer, but those talks have unfortunately stagnated recently. FX that the months between now and maternity leave go quickly for a bit of a break!

AngelSong76 · August 2014

Mine is an hour to work and an hour and a half home. Traffic is heavier in the evenings. I work in a resort town, so traffic is also worse in summer. I don't mind the commute, though. Half of the commute includes my toddler, so I use that time to talk to him, then after I drop him off, I listen to audio books, think, pray, talk to myself, listen to music, or whatever else. It's nice to have a little bit of "me" time, even though I'm driving during it.

melanchitty · August 2014

@AngelSong76‌ can you teach me the ways to your positivity ? That's a great way to look at it. I need to practice breathing or something.

hellopartyof5 · August 2014

@angelsong76 audio books save me!!!! I absolutely love them and they make the commute seem so much shorter

CandEChicago · August 2014

nauticallife said:
@angelsong76 audio books save me!!!! I absolutely love them and they make the commute seem so much shorter

Yes! This is how I "read" many books including the Harry Potter series.

AngelSong76 · August 2014

melanchitty said:

@AngelSong76‌ can you teach me the ways to your positivity ? That's a great way to look at it. I need to practice breathing or something.

Do you have a toddler? Trust me, the quiet time is something you will look forward to!

But honestly, it's a product of always having a long commute. I did an hour back and forth for college so I could save money and live with my parents, then my first job was an hour and a half away from home. I did that for almost 10 years. My husband and I got a house "in the middle" because he works in a neighboring city and I work in the resort town in the opposite direction. Our commutes are almost exactly the same, but his is across a bay, so the bridge traffic is sometimes worse for him. My commute is mostly back roads in a rural area, so it's actually kind of pretty and there are always fields and pastures and things like that to look at when you pass them. (I'm not always this Zen about it. Sometimes traffic makes me road ragey. I just choose to forget about those times. lol)

AngelSong76 · August 2014

nauticallife said:

@angelsong76 audio books save me!!!! I absolutely love them and they make the commute seem so much shorter

The day I discovered our public library had audio books was one of the best days of my life! They are free and I download them right to my phone using wi-fi connection, then I can listen to them anywhere. Seriously, it makes me so happy to have that on the commute. Except when I'm listening to a sad book and I show up at work with mascara running because I cried at the ending. That's happened a few times.

ajlmom · August 2014

I drive 70 miles a day round trip, the good thing is I go against traffic and it usually only takes 40-45 one way. I still feel very tired because there's no breaks in highway driving and you have to pay attention the whole time.

CandEChicago · August 2014

Maybe a work from home option? Especially if there is not a viable hospital/L&D room nearby.

weezy29 · August 2014

I'm in the middle of a 3 week training for my new job and it's 1.5 hours each way.

The bad: my tailbone kills me everyday from sitting so long. I have developed a bad case of road rage. I feel like I never see my kids. My gas bill is insane.

The good: I only have one more week left and then I'm free to work from home!!!!

After reading how many of you ladies have a daily long commute, I refuse to complain for the remainder of my training session!

feeshah · August 2014

I drive 78 miles to work and 78 miles home. Mon-Fri 730am-4pm. It takes about an hour and 15 on my way to work. But about 2 hours coming home because of the traffic.
It-FUCKING-SUCKS.
I hate it. It's such a waste of 3hours of my life. That's 3 hours I can spend at home or at the gym or taking an online college class. DH and I had a terrible fight over where we live. We just can't afford to live in the city. I invested in a fast pass thing so I can use the car pool lane and that helps a lot.

I totally feel your pain. I am super stiff and my butt bone hurts when I get home.

I LOVE the idea if audio books. I'm def going to look into those.

megbmeg · August 2014

My commute is better now than it was, but it is still 45 min. And I get sore just from that!

I agree that audio books are awesome. I have a subscription to audible and listen to it through my phone hooked up to the car speakers. When I was a grad student and more broke I found the library has all sorts of awesome audio books on cd. I listened to all of game of thrones that way!!

Eliz77 · August 2014

I drive 50 minutes without traffic, up to an hour and half with traffic, especially once school in back in session. It sucks! Then I am on my feet majority of the day. I try to drink a lot of water, and so far, have managed to keep puffy ankles, sore feet to a minimum. When I get home, I do put my feet up and drink a huge glass of water before I do anything else-usually walk and play with my dogs before making dinner.

I'm actually curious what will happen as I get closer to my due date. I will be about a 45 minutes drive from my husband and the hospital I plan to deliver at. I guess another thing to ask the Dr!

kaytastic25 · August 2014

One hour. And 2 in traffic. I probably wont be returning after maternity leave.

AngelSong76 · August 2014

BoxerLove1983 said:

@bvsbabymomma I would love if my doctor made me quit work a little early. I have enough days saved up that it wouldn't affect my pay.
@Eliz77 I am about 50 minutes from home, but my DH drives in the complete opposite direction for work. So, while we are both only about an hour from home, he is two hours from me during the day.

That's almost my exact situation. My husband works in the opposite direction and we are over 2 hours away from each other during the day. I'm also 30 minutes away from our son and he's about an hour and a half away.

Hubbs had a car accident (not serious) a few days ago on his way to work and I HATED being so far away from him. He was totally fine, but I was really feeling awful about not being able to go see him and make sure for myself that he was okay.

megbmeg · August 2014

amw0914 said:

@megbmeg‌ I just started the games of thrones books and am having issues with the narrators voice. Do you use audible? And did it get better the longer you listened?

When I listened to them, I was listening on CD. I'm not sure if it was the same narrator as the one on audible. I remember getting so used to that narrator that I was super mad when they had someone else narrate book 4.

AngelSong76 · August 2014

BoxerLove1983 said:

@AngelSong76 I'm just wondering the logistics of everything once it gets closer to when we will deliver. I mean, I can't imagine #1 driving that far with a massive stomach, and #2 going into labor and being at the hospital alone (FTM) until DH can get there. I would much rather quit working at the beginning of December and then DH would only have to drive an hour to the hospital if I went into labor while he was at work.

With our first, the situation was a little different. We both had a commute, but we were working closer together. But we went to the hospital from a doctor's appointment (early induction due to complications) so it wasn't an issue. This time, I'm hoping we go until the scheduled repeat c-section so that we don't have to worry about it. The way things are now, I have to pass a hospital (that I would NEVER want to use) to get to the one I'm going to use. And the hospital I will be using is about 45 minutes from my office and about 15 minutes from my house. I'm just hoping if I do go into labor, it will be at a time when both of us are at home.

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