Well, I guess my 720 mile commute is better than 1000 miles. But this is becoming a bit of a trend. People working in other states, away from home in order to have a decent job. I know exactly how these guys feel. This part of the article really hits home for me:
Now, he says, there's a grueling Monday to Friday work schedule, heading home Friday at 2:40, arriving around 10 p.m., often too wired to sleep. On Saturdays, it's reconnect-with-the-family time. And that can mean more driving: His 15-year-old son's recent choral competition put him on the road five more hours one Saturday.
On Sundays, he heads back at about 1 p.m. — 39 hours after arriving.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100222/ap_on_re_us/us_the1000_mile_commute (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100222/ap_on_re_us/us_the1000_mile_commute)
Yikes, definitely not something people do willingly I''m sure. I've moved twice for work, couldn't imagine commuting quite that much. I know it's tough for you as well Rico.
Yup - just reading about this.
I simply can't imagine this. Then again, my country isn't big enough to support it.
lol, just get a job in Scotland! Didn't Top Gear do London to Edinburgh and back on a single tank of gas once?
According to Google, one tip of the country to the other is only 836.7 miles. Mind you, it states 15hrs 35mins as required to drive that so I guess I could drive for longer in a smaller country.
lol we would have to drive in the water all the way to the big island, and drive to the other side of the chain to get near that
Needs must..
I like the tenacity of these guys. People are sacrificing a lot these days - and I don't just mean material things obviously. I am wondering what this shift in lifestyle will do to people over the months and years to come? Guess I'll find out!
My family is doing decently fine but even I am looking for a job, but most business don't know Hawaii has a "Part time job for 15 year old" thing...
It is at the 800 mile line that I would just fly. I've flown less than 800 miles and the time is worth the costs.
Quote from: Just X on February 24, 2010, 10:51:54 AM
It is at the 800 mile line that I would just fly. I've flown less than 800 miles and the time is worth the costs.
I'm guessing that's round trip. One factor is the cities involved. Some places just don't have great air service. I've looked into Chicago flights and if I book 3-4 weeks out I can get a round trip to Detroit for about $110. But, it will take me at least an hour to get O'Hare airport, park, etc. I need to be there about 90 min. early or so so now that's 2.5 hours, 1 hour'ish flight, and we live an hour from the airport. So overall, it's not a big time saver. But it would save some miles on the car and I don't have to drive it - which would be nice one weekend.
While I used to love driving, I love flying more and having worked at an airport, I ignore all those arrive early rules and only bring carry ons. I also have airline attire so that I don't need to remove more than ipod, phone, and wallet from my pockets.
I spend less time in airports than most because I preprep. I think it took longer waiting on bags on earlier trips, but I get where you are coming from.
Since you have two homes setup, you wouldn't even need a carry on and if you were on the prefered flyer list, you could do the airport thing in less than 30 minutes.
How much is gas + wear vs the ticket price? Which would be cheaper for you Rico? Is it a noticable difference?
Even with the cheapest airfares it's more expensive to fly for me. Got to park too and pay for that. When all is said and done flying probably about an extra $100 vs. driving. The biggest benefit is it would let me have a bit more time at home and I don't have to drive 12 hours in one weekend. Like I said, I'm sure I'll try it sometime. Just have to schedule it. I like to fly too and have plenty of air miles to show for it.
Interestingly I was just looking at Porter airlines and they have a 'flight pass' for 10 trips (so 5 round trips) from between Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal for 1000 dollars. Fran and i are seriously looking at it.
I wonder if you could find a similar package deal between Detroit and Chicago? Maybe even fly in Friday night and fly out early Monday morning?
At my company they pay for use of a personal car for business travel, based on the USG current rate, which is 50 cents per mile. So it doesn't take much in the way of distance to make up the flight if you check the math. Food for thought.
I'm only a contractor right now here at Testor's, so things like mileage don't apply. I used to get that type of thing at the last job. As I said before, the new job and pay make the occasional commute back to Michigan worth it or I wouldn't be here. But, it's still a lot of miles to go to get back home.
In the past, my brother, a friend and I would make a trip to Vancouver every summer, it was usually a 10 to 12 hour drive each way depending on traffic and road construction. The first few times was ok, but then we found that it really drained us out. Last few times we went, we flew, and found we were much more refreshed going and coming back. I agree that there is probably some lost hours getting through the airport, but like Chris mentioned, can be minimized. It might help in at least when you are at home, you are not so tired from the long drive. Another thought might be the bus, might not save anytime, but at least you can sleep and not have the stress of having to do the drive.
This morning I watched a documentary on a GM plant that was shut down when the Auto Industry collapsed. It was heart wrenching at times, and really showed the effect the collapse on the economy had on people. There was a point in the documentary where they had some clips of the Media Vilifying the workers due to the supposed salaries they made. Sad to me, that some journalist who probably makes so much more, would feel the need to bash others for making a decent wage. A lot of people such as yourself Rico have made so much sacrifices to keep working, I hope that you all are rewarded at some point for it. I must admit, if the same ever happens to me, I am not sure how I would handle it, I guess would never really know until faced with it.
My motto these days....
"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few - or the one."