PA and Secretary Community - Deskdemon.com

How do you get to work everyday? Do you find your commute long, boring, relaxing?

I drive to work each day (I sooo don't do public transport ).  Having recently changed jobs (yippee!) my journey into work is now just under 15 miles (was 7 before) but it takes me only 40 minutes as against sometimes 30 before.  

I've always enjoyed driving so I don't find it boring at all ... the CDs are playing loud enough to drown out my own singing (!) so I find it quite relaxing - even if I'm stuck in traffic.  I like the journey into work as it gets me into work mode and, similarly, going home at night let's me wind down into a relaxed frame of mind.  Once upon a time I lived only 10 mins drive away from where I worked - close enough to go home at lunchtime if I wanted to - but I found that far too short a journey to either get into or out of work mode.

I would hate to use trains or buses to get to work (I used to, a long time ago) but I think I'm borderline claustrophobic so can get quite anxious crammed in with a load of other people that, ordinarily, I wouldn't want to pass the time of day with!  I remember sitting on a train into London next to a woman who'd had a very strong curry the night before and she reeked of it ... found myself gagging and actually gave up my seat on a crowded one-hour journey to get away from her.  I think it was this that turned me off public transport!

I walk - it's a 15 minute walk from home to work or 20 minutes if I want to take it easy.  I love the walk, it gives me time to clear my head from the frantic morning of trying to get a teenager up for school in the mornings and then clear my head of work for when I get home.

I get to work by Tube each day.  The train journey itself is at least 45 minutes, depending upon how the system is working.  I also have a fifteen minute walk at either end of my journey.

Is it long? I spend two and a half hours a day travelling to and from work and I only live in London, so I expect you might call that "long".  I don't mind.

Is it boring?  Not really, although it can be very crowded.  I read on the train - newspaper, book, Bible, sometimes do work.

Is it relaxing?  It can be.  I fell asleep this morning and woke up just before my destination with my head on someone's shoulder.  Never set eyes on him before, and he wasn't there at the start of my journey!  So I guess I was quite relaxed.  And he was very charming about it (no, I didn't get his name or address).

Raindance

I walk - takes 20-25 mins.

G

When I interviewed for this job I was told there was staff parking but it turned out you only got a parking space if you car shared and unfortunately no one comes my way.  So I started getting the bus but as I only had one bus in to work and one bus home, this wasn't always suitable but it did mean I could spend the commute studying.  Now, as from today, they have withdrawn my bus service completely so I have no choice but to drive.   I now have a parking space every second week which meant today, when I didn't have a parking space, I got into work at 7am for a 9am start to make sure I got parked somewhere.  

It's all the more annoying because the journey is only 20 minutes if the traffic is moving well.  You'd think I lived in the middle nowhere.  

caroleanne

I drive, it's about a 20-25 minute commute from the Southerntier into the outer skirts of the city.  By city I mean a large town that banks downtown, and the town is rather large that I work in, so it's really busy traffic, four lanes 2 going each way mostly and it's heavy during lunchtime traffic.  But it's not bad coming from the South.  I used to live 4 miles from work to home, and I used to go home at lunch time, but this is not possible anymore, because by the time I got there, I would have to turn around and come home .  I kinda miss that, but I have a much nicer house out in the country and love it!  

Now with a new car, the ride into work is much more pleasant with more creature comforts in the car than I care to count.  Much quieter ride, as my ole Dodge would moan and groan all the way into work.  Now I have a  CD player, so will start playing my CD's on the way home.  On the way in, I like to listen to the morning crew on the radio for company, they are great together, and make for an interesting commute.  Never bored driving!



Diamondlady
Peer Moderator

I drive AND walk.  Public transport is not really an option; I live on a road off a main route, so I have the best part of a 30 minute walk before I even get to a bus stop.  So, I drive to the outskirts of the city, park, and then walk in.  15-20 minutes in the morning, nearer 30 in the evening (it's all uphill :-( )  There is parking on site, but it's very limited, and to be honest I think it's often as quick to walk, rather than negotiating city streets.  When the roads are snarled up because of an accident, or the level crossing barriers not going up, it's certainly much quicker.

By the way dont forget to do the poll on the home page for this same topic!

I take the only option available to me... I drive.  It's normally a 30-minute nice drive, but with a stop-off for daycare and all, from start to finish can be upwards of an hour.  But it's nice.  In the morning, the babies and I can sing and be silly on the way to daycare, from there I listen to my morning radio guys (the 2 sexiest fat-men on the radio, Rick and Bubba) and depending on my mood, can stop off for a coffee or muffin or something on the way to work, or even stop by the bank for some much-needed money (as I did this morning).  Then on the way home, I have options to stop and do my grocery shopping on the way to pick up the kids (pass 2 good grocery stores on the way to pick them up) or stop off and have a relaxing drink, or after I pick up the kids we can go to supper, run errands, etc. before heading home.  And while we're running errands and heading home, the kids and I talk about their day and just act silly, playing games and singing songs in the van. (Ok, so one is only 10 months and not much on converstation, but it's fun! )

I tried to share-ride with my husband for a while, but that didn't work out at all.  With our rental's, and his side-business of looking for these and caring for them and all, he'd often be at one end of town or another at the end of the day, or he'd need to go by one of them before work, or whatever, and we ran into problems with daycare hours.  Plus, I missed my quiet time without him or the kids and the ability to run errands if needed.  So that stopped, thankfully.

CountriGal
Peer Moderator

I drive... can usually make it from city I live in to city I work in about...20 mins if in a real hurry.  Most days I don't care for the drive... because other drivers are idiots and I'm too busy having to pay attention to the potential of what they're doing to enjoy the quiet time.  Of course that's assuming I get quiet time... typically my boyfriend has to talk with me on my way to work.  And then I have to let him know when I'm on my way home so we can coordinate dropping off his work truck, picking up kidlet, store runs, etc.  

But occassionally I get the time to myself to listen to the radio and think...and usually talk out loud to myself.  I'm able to work out things better that way if I need to discuss something 'touchy' with someone... I practice what and how I want to say whatever it is.  

I drive... and would rather not. It takes 40 minutes one-way on a good day; 65-70 on a bad day. To travel all of 14 miles...

DonnaP99

I drive to work, no public transportation available out here and walking isn't an option because I often work until after it's dark.  It's only an 8-minute drive so it's very nice.

Now I have a car I drive to work (takes 15-20 mins).
Before that I used to walk to the train station and then get a direct train (all in all, used to take me about 1 hour)

H.

I drive also (no public transportation in this area).  If school is out, it's a 20 minute drive.  If school is in and I have to drop off DD, it's usually 30 minutes or more if she's dragging her feet and I get in all the school traffic.

Marie   (Have I mentioned how READY I am for school to be out for summer?!!?)

Driving to work would be great, but not across London where I live and work. The traffic can be fiendish and we have to pay to drive through the centre of town.  

Raindance

I drive  - about a 22 minute country drive to my Mom's house to drop off my daughter and then a 3 minute ride to work.....I sure miss living with my parents - I could sleep much later and get to work on time.

Carol

If it's a working from home day, either across the landing to my office, or up the stairs if I've been downstairs!

If it's a day I'm out, then I drive.  It usually takes me anything from 15-30 minutes to get where I'm going and park, depending on traffic and what school holidays there are!  It's currently the Easter break and so the rush hour traffic (such as it is after 9 am) is relatively quiet so the journey time when out is currently halved.

Jackie, Peer Moderator
www.iqps.org

I guess I am very very lucky.....................all of a 2 mile/5 min drive down a country lane and I am at work.  I can even pop home at lunchtime to let my dog out too!

I drive too and it's 10 minutes if there's no traffic, so I sometimes go home at lunch time. I would vastly prefer to take public transportation and do the environment a favor, but our town isn't really set up for that--I'd have to ride to a central transfer point and then take another bus to get out here (kind of like flying from San Francisco to Los Angeles with a stopover in Denver). In warm weather, I'd rather ride my bike for the exercise, but I have to pick up my son at school and that's ten minutes (by car) in the OTHER direction from my house, so no way.

If I could walk or take public transportation, I'd do that for just about every destination but the supermarket.

I take the Good ol' MBTA (Mass. Bay Transit Authority) in the form of the "commuter rail".  I have a ten minute drive to the train station in the next town over from me and the train ride can range from 50 minutes to an hour - it just depends on the # of stops ("express" or "local") and the # of people at each stop.  After the train, I have a 5 minute walk to my office.  All in all, it's not too bad.  I can drive if I want to, but do so only on a rare occasion.  The cost for gas and the wear and tear on my car is not worth driving into Boston every day.  

Me too - except I don't have a dog to go home to!

I feel sorry for my car though - it is probably dying for a long drive!!!

I work at home so I don't have to travel. If it wasn't for taking the kids to school I wouldn't have to do any travelling.

Edited by jackie on 10/04/06 07:48 PM.