Working abroad - commuting

[naturalbaby]

I’m not sure where to put this thread but am looking for advice or experience about working abroad and travelling regularly. DH’s job has moved abroad and he reckons he can travel there and back pretty much every weekend. The current travel restrictions are making this quite a challenge - his flights and trains are cancelled every few days and I’m sure prices will go up at some point so that he won’t be able to afford to travel every weekend.
We’re trying to figure out the new quarantine rules but it seems he’s exempt as he’s commuting from a work place and fixed address in the UK.
Any ideas or experiences would be welcome!

Entirely depends on where it is he needs to commute to and from.

I’ve worked with people who commuted abroad but it relied on them working from home part of the week.

Can’t he work from home?

Sorry I'm being a bit dense, but advice on what?

Is he being offered a relocation package?

Are you considering moving with him?

I’ve got friends that do this. It’s a tough gig, and not really sustainable. Husband flies back late Friday, is tired on Saturday, and stressed on Sunday waiting for the 4am Monday morning alarm call. His wife and children look forward to ‘family time’ at the weekend, and his wife wants to go out for dinner, but as he’s living g in a hotel all week, all he wants to do is eat at home and chill. Wife and children are now moving to the country where husband’s job is.

How far away is the new country OP? The length of the flight and number of available flight times really impact how feasible this idea is. A few years ago I was working on a short term project (6 months) in Amsterdam and didn’t want to pull the kids out of school and relocate the whole family so decided to do similar and commute home for weekends. It worked and wasn’t too overwhelming because it was only a 45 minute flight, with a half an hour airport journey each side. I also negotiated flexible hours on each side, so one week I would work Friday morning and have the afternoon off and the next week had Monday morning off and worked the afternoon.

I couldn’t have done it long term though, no way. I think it only worked for our family because we all knew it wasn’t going to be for long. It’s very difficult to have a regular family life - it put a lot of pressure on DH and I felt I was missing so much time with the kids. I would weigh up the benefits for your family and your DH career- is he going to earn significantly more money? Is the position going to help him advance his CV?

Another difficult question to consider is what his main intentions are for doing this. I know of one couple in particular where it very much seems like the husband has chosen to work abroad for selfish reasons - living alone in a city without family and marriage commitments is a nice escape for some and makes them feel younger and more ‘free’. Of course this isn’t the case for everyone but it’s something to consider.

Thanks for the replies - the job is in Europe, if he leaves the office at the end of the day he’ll be back with us in the UK late evening. We’ve moved with him for jobs in the past and it hasn’t worked out for many reasons. I need/want to stay put with the DC’s for the foreseeable future.

The majority of other people’s experiences that we’re aware of seem to be negative in the long run but I’m hoping there are ways of making this work because I don’t know what the alternative is - possibly separation with him living away permanently. We’ve taken a long time to get to this point and have tried many other options so I could really do with making this work!

Is there any way he could work from home for one or two days a week? If he could be back on Thursday night that would help I think. As would travel on a Monday so he doesn’t have it hanging over him on Sunday.