Commuting - what's it really like?

[lll77]

I'm looking to move house and wonder if anyone has any experience to share of moving further away from work and managing a new, longer commute.

I'm an SL and currently live in a city suburb very close to the university. It takes me 20 minutes to cycle to work. I would like to move to a village or hamlet close to a market town. My commute there would probably be something like a 10-15 minute drive or cycle to the station, 45-50 minute train journey and 10 minute walk at the other end to get to campus.

I generally only work on campus 3 days a week (less outside of term) and would often not need to travel in rush hour at either end of the day. The benefits of moving would be a nicer place to live, closer to where I need to be for my outdoor hobbies and a cheaper house. If I stay where I am, I will paying the mortgage for another 20 odd years, by moving I could feasibly clear it in 12. I am someone who is much better suited to rural than city living and I am not concerned about isolation, loss of city amenities etc. I have grown up children who have now left home and I do not have a partner.

Given my lifestyle and circumstances, the commute seems doable to me, but I have never commuted this sort of distance before and I'm a bit worried that I'm glossing over the realities of commuting because the other benefits of moving are so appealing!

I'm on campus about 2-3 days a week and less outside of term too. It takes me 40-60 minutes to drive (30 minutes during half term and school holidays ). Train journeys would be 2 buses, 30 minutes train, 10 minutes walk, which I have done once or twice (no, I did not forget to MoT my car, no no no). TBH I'm quite happy with it - where we live is a city suburb with everything, while campus is in the sticks. I love where I live, and I love where I work, and I've got spotify that talks to the car stereo via bluetooth.

It's very close to what I do daily & it's fine for me. Often I read something work-related on train. Or gossip with other regulars. Or bury my nose in a book. Friend wrote her entire PhD on train (working FT in an unrelated job).

Getting exercise done (active travel) as part of commute is great.

About once a month I drive which is horrible (horrible ring road). Plus, parking on campus is challenging.

Londoners move to my area & then commute back to London or somewhere else at least 1-1.5 hours drive away (each way). Insanity imho.

Thanks both. It's good to know I'm not being totally unrealistic!

The train would definitely be my preferred option for travel. Although driving the whole journey would be possible, it is busy motorway/A roads and then I'd have to pay city centre parking prices once at work. I drive the journey regularly at the moment at weekends and without traffic it is 45 minutes, but I definitely wouldn't want to do it regularly in rush hour. Using the train time to read is definitely appealing :)

Forgetting to MOT the car could surely never happen...

2Forgetting to MOT the car could surely never happen."

Gmail buried the email reminder as junk mail. I have disabled all filtering. The fuckers.

argh, I live in horror of forgetting something like this! Off to check my MOT due date now...

I've commuted a similar distance for an academic job. It mostly worked fine - time to read/work, and not needing to be in every day helped a lot. There were some downsides - it tended to mean long days in the department, and less flexibility for seeing colleagues etc. In comparison, currently it's a fifteen-minute cycle into work, and I like the ability to drop in for a meeting and then go work at home, rather than feeling like I have to make it 'worth it' to do the journey. I also found that I couldn't easily work on the train on a regular basis (too tiring) - but actually the time to relax/read fiction was also quite useful for refreshing after the day. I did, I think, find it quite tiring (and commuting in for 9AM teaching was unpleasant, so I recommend trying to avoid that in your timetabling!), but overall perfectly doable. For you, given what you'd be gaining, it sounds like the right move to me!

I commuted a very similar journey and found it awful.

I tried to only go in 3 days a week.

I think it would partly depend how crowded the trains are and how frequent. Nothing worse than knowing you need to run for the train at the end of a lecture and a student comes and asks you something. Then you just miss the train and sit in the station for 55 minutes for the next. Don't underestimate train delays either.

I had visions of podcasts and reading and chilling out and was just a knackered stressed out mess.

Sorry to hear the commute was horrible for you NicoAndTheNiners :( Have you moved house or job now to somewhere with a better journey?

There are four trains an hour to and from the station I would use, so it wouldn't be too big a deal if one was missed or cancelled. Train delays on the way in to work could be a potential problem though, so I'm going to keep an eye on the departures and arrivals for a few weeks to see how reliable the service seems to be.

Deianira - it sounds like you have more or less swapped my potential commute for my current one! The short cycle is definitely a good way to travel to work :)

I moved job and now have the choice of a 15 min car journey or a 35 min cycle. Really feel my quality of life has improved. But trains every 15 mins should make a difference.