To consider a job that involves a 2hour commute?

[MrsPatrickDempsey]

I have just applied for a job online. Really excited /enthusiastic about it; have been questioning my current role and whether it's for me, had a rubbish day and hit the nhs jobs website!

But it's a 2 hour each way commute into London. My kids are 9 and 14 and the role is part time (prob 3 days). It will be ok won't it? Experiences please!

I took a job like that a few years ago, then when I saved up enough I moved a bit closer. I rent though, I wouldn't do it if it was a long term commute situation with no hope of moving closer unless the pay was really worth it.

Long term? No way

240 (mins commute) X 3 (days) X 50 (weeks) = 36,000 minutes per year

= 600 hours per year

= 16.7 working weeks (36 hour) worth of travel per year.

My DC has a 2 hour commute each way. But (sounding like a 1950s housewife) that's all he does: go to work, come home, eat supper, watch telly, go to bed. I do everything else. If you're working part-time you'll still have house and family stuff to do. You'll be knackered. I think you already know the answer. Good luck!

I'm in two minds about this. I had a 1 hour door to door commute into London, but it worked out as being more like 2 hours, to be on time.

Would you be able to leave at bang on the hour to get your train in your role, or would you have to see out births?

But then if you love your job, life is pretty short, you may as well do something that you love and are good at.

Sorry, you probably got that far on your own. Would you get a seat on the train? Have you got family support for childcare? Would they mind waiting for you?

A colleague's partner took a job away from home and initially couldn't find accommodation close to work in the SE, so he stayed with friends in London until he found somewhere. He gave up after 2 weeks and is now sleeping on someone's sofa close to work until he can find a place to rent locally.

No children involved, no house to run, and he still couldn't stand it.

Not in a million years. You seriously couldn't pay me enough.

Yep, go for it. I've had longer commutes but only if the job was worth it. [try Liverpool / London].

I would not do it. All that travelling and the cost of train fares. What line would you be travelling on? and at what time?

It's a no from me.
within a month, you'll be sick to the back teeth of it.

I've done it. Wouldn't do it again, sorry. Even if the job is a promotion, you'll still be surprised how much a dent the travel costs make in your wages. Plus, the added stress. I didn't find it stressful at first because it was a bit of a novelty (I was quite happy with my kindle and a cup of tea on the train) but it soon gets tedious, particularly when you're in the sort of job when you regularly end up working over your agreed hours and leaving late.

I did 1.5 hrs each way when I commuted and did it for 10 years before moving to the Midlands

One of the main issues to consider is how frequently your train is. If it's 1 every hour, and you miss it by 5 mins thanks to the tube etc, a hour is a long time to wait if you journey is already really long.

Mine were every 20 minutes so it wasn't too bad but now my journey is 30 mins by car and I love it!

I did a 1.5hrs each way commute for about two months that involved a train and two buses. That was horrific and I wouldn't want to repeat it.

But... were it 1.5hrs on a single train that wasn't too busy I'd probably quite enjoy it. You can read, write, organise stuff. There's a lot you can get done in that time which you might otherwise have to do in your 'free' time.

For me it would depend on the quality of the commute, if that makes sense. The only way to know for sure is to do a trial run, at the same time you'd do it if you took the job.

I did a 1hr 45 door to door commute into London, working full time, for six months. For the first month I enjoyed it- I always got a seat in the morning so I could read, and I always left work bang on time- 'train to catch, must dash'- of course there were later trains! After a month I started gradually hating it, and I would never do a similar commute again. Of course part time might be better.

For me the negatives were:

• having to get up very early each morning, I ended up going to bed v early and missing my evenings
• worrying about missing the train, as I had to be on time, so I had to get absolutely everything ready the night before to avoid any panics in the morning, which meant I couldn't relax when I got home as I needed to pack my bag, make my lunch, lay out my clothes etc
• train delays were frustratingly frequent
• the trains were ridicuhously over crowded, had little leg room so even with a seat in the morning I was squashed with my bag crammed on my lap
• I couldn't get a seat going home and standing up crammed in like sardines was miserable
• a key thing is whether you also need to take another form of transport in London. Once off the train I needed to take a bus, and I had to allow lots of extra leeway here as they weren't reliable

Saying that, some people do commute very well. I knew a guy who happily commuted 3 HOURS each way. He took a train from his home town into London, travelled by tube across London, then another train out of London on the other side to another town. He said it was fine, he read a book or a bloody library a week. He was single, no ties, and even I asked why he didn't move to the town where he worked, he Said he enjoyed his commute!

Three days a week on public transport might not be too bad. I've just negotiated a new working pattern which means I'll only be in the office two days a week, in part because DP and I are househunting, and now we can consider houses up to 1.5 hours' drive away.

Didn't finish... No way would I consider doing that commute five days a week though.

Doing a rural supposedly 90 minute commute by car was bad enough, I hated every second and using public transport was a non-starter.
Did it for a year then changed jobs.

You'd be stark raving bonkers because it'd be 2 hours on a good day.