Commute of 300 miles over 3 days

[watchuswreckthemic]

Last week I was in the office 3 days which is a 50 mile each trip. I average 2 ish days a week in the office plus around once every 3 weeks I travel to an off site location of 100 miles each way. The other days I work from home.
It’s starting to wear me down- is this more usual then I think or is it actually a lot?

Depends on what sort of roads the 50 miles is. My partner does that daily (so 100 miles a day) but it's mostly motorway. It would be a lot on country roads.

Everyone's capacity for this sort of thing varies, doesn't it? I'm sure some people could do it everyday and not find it a problem, others would struggle to do it even occasionally.

I had a 130m roundtrip to work (approx 1hr20 in the car each way) for about 9 years. But I typically only had to be in 2-3 days a week and not every week (over the year, about 35 weeks in total). So it was bearable. But I really didn't like it and found it increasingly exhausting. Especially in the winter/ dark/ wet/ on the way home. It was one of the factors in me deciding to leave that job.

I think it very much depends on what’s normal for your role/industry and only you can decide if it’s too much for you. I don’t think it’s excessive but it sounds like it’s no longer working for you. Or it could just feel worse than usual because of the current weather!

It’s not excessive in my industry. I usually do 2 days a week in London, which is 300 miles round trip each day, plus 2 in Birmingham which is 90 miles round trip each day, so nearly 800 miles in 4 days, but that’s pretty standard amongst my colleagues. I find it much harder in the winter.

I love a mile away from a motorway junction. In that direction, 50 miles would take me 50 minutes. I work in the opposite direction, and take single carriageway roads, it often takes 50 minutes to drive 15 miles so maybe a couple of hours to do 50 on a good day.

Only you can say if it's too much for you.

I used to do 120 miles a day, 5 days a week. Most of it was by motorway, so it could get a bit tedious, but I stuck it out for a couple of years. If you're only doing 3 days a week I think it's fine.

Really helpful to hear other peoples perspectives. Think the change in weather isn’t helpful and the dark nights and mornings.
People are right that only I can decide if it’s too much or not.
Thank you all for your views.

I think it’s too much, but my commute is only 10 minutes so perhaps my viewpoint is skewed. Life is too short to spend that much (unpaid) time getting to and from work.

I agree very much dependent on roads and traffic. I used to have a 25 mile daily commute (45 mins) all on winding A roads and mostly unlit. Absolutely fine in daylight but it became much more tiring in winter in the dark with all the headlight glare. If it had all been on clear, fast roads with more lighting it would have been a totally different matter. The question is I suppose is there anything you can do about it, like shift your hours to avoid rush hours or do more driving in daylight.

I think a daily commute up to an hour each way is fine. This morning, that was just 16 miles. If it's more, that can still be okay, if it's just once or twice a week. Also, getting the train can be a different level from having to drive, depending on whether you get a seat or have to change trains... it's going to depend on you.

So in general it’s 15 mins to a motorway junction, an hour going from one major motorway to another to then a dual carriageway and then 15 mins into a city centre. Averaging around 1 hr 40 each way at the moment as it’s just so busy everywhere.
I’m one of those people who actually like their jobs so on reflection think I need to just suck it up over winter and really appreciate my WFH days!