Hey I’m Marcus, and my long commute sucks
But so does yours, or you wouldn’t be here.
If you’re anything like me, you’re spending far more time commuting to work every day than you’d prefer.
Time which when added up, can amount to hundreds and hundreds of hours of travel; and travel that’s not even of the fun variety…like on a holiday, ugh!
We’re all trapped in a commuting cycle
There’s a bunch of reasons why people like you and me become trapped in these long commuting cycles.
Thanks to the pandemic(!), things have improved somewhat. Remote work is far more common than ever before, but even if you have one of these new fangled ‘flexible workplaces’, more often than not we’re still needing to go in a few days per week – and there’s always that pressure for more.
Sometimes we have control over the length of our commute but realistically, (and most often), we don’t.
We may have…
- made a lifestyle choice; we wanted to live out of town, by that beautiful lake or in the countryside, which is fine, other than the lack of local career opportunities.
- found the perfect job! …but in the next city over!
- been unable to afford to live closer – the sad reality for most of us.
- once had a much shorter commute – where everything from population growth to lack of infrastructure has made things so much longer. The roads are more congested, the train carriages full, etc.
Whatever the reason, long commutes a reality for many of us and yes, they can SUCK!
But on the flip side…
A long commute can sometimes be a valuable chunk of ‘me-time.’
Whenever I’ve been able to reduce my commuting time (sometimes to a mere 12 minute walk!), I’ve realized that alone time on the train was valuable ‘me-time’ – time away from my family duties, time dedicated to just one person – me!
Over the years my opinion of commuting has changed, and figured, given we’re stuck doing it, we may as well try to make the best out of what initially feels like a seriously crappy situation.
My mission with My Long Commute Sucks is to help you and I reduce the suck factor of our daily commutes. This is something I’ve become quite passionate about.
Whether you’re travelling by train, car, bus or bicycle, it doesn’t matter. Each form of commute can have their own negatives, but there are ways to make each of them more comfortable, feel faster and hell, if we’re really pushing it, maybe even a tiny little bit enjoyable 🙂
But before we get stuck into the good stuff, let me tell you a little bit about me and my own commute.
I’ve just changed from a very lengthy train commute to being back in the car again. My new commute is a 30 minute drive which is MUCH better, but I’ve just come off 5 years of train pain, let me tell you about it:
I’m a train commuter, aka I sit on a train and pray it gets me to work
In the past I’ve done the hard yards in a car and on a bus (ugh!).
My commute usually changes when I move homes, or jobs, and so these days you’ll find me on the train.
I’ll admit, of all the commuting options available, the train (when it’s running on time), at least allows me to just sit there and read, or watch tv, or sleep.
On the train I’m not needing to pay attention, like the bleary-eyed morning drives in heavy traffic, hoping that the unpredictable, equally tired drivers around me don’t crash into my vehicle.
My wife is a car commuter and after 90 minutes of bumper to bumper crawling through traffic on the way home from work…let’s just say when she finally gets home, her mood aint amazing!
But while being a train commuter has benefits, it also means you’re at the mercy of the train network itself; a network prone to some pretty damned annoying issues. Issues which occur far more frequently than I’d prefer. Issues which can end in epic delays, such as a 3 hour commute home!
My daily train commute looks something like this:
- 15 minutes drive from front door to train station
- 10 minutes waiting for the train
- 65 minutes on the train
- 5 minutes walk to work
Door to door that’s around 90 minutes each way – and that’s without disruptions!
That’s almost 3 hours of my day spent just getting to and from work!
The scary thing? There are people whose commutes are even worse, exponentially so.
My commute is not unbearable, but it takes a LONG time and with child care responsibilities and the like, it means i have much less time to myself when I finally get home.
But wherever possible on the train, I try and have a series of activities available and use my time productively, so I’m not simply watching the stations pass by, bored out of my brain.
My long commutes have allowed me to achieve some really positive outcomes
When I talk about using my time productively, this is what I’m talking about. While sitting on a train I’ve been able to actually achieves – real, genuine self-development.
Things such as:
- I made substantial progress studying a foreign language (Mandarin Chinese) by listening to audio lessons.
- I was able to ‘win’ the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge by hitting the 50,000 word milestone (I’m still pretty chuffed by this one) – I was writing on my smartphone.
- I’ve written multiple short stories including a novel in progress (the editing process is particularly good on the train – I’ll explain that in a separate post)
- I completed an online Digital Marketing course and also obtained my Google Analytics certification. I’m now 12+ months into a digital marketing career (and it all started with self study on the train!)
- I’ve obtained a plethora of new skills, from installing premium themes in wordpress, to SEO, to learning how to properly prune my garden (I kid you not!)
- I’ve read countless novels – and many more.
Of course in addition to the above, there’s been ridiculous hours spent watching YouTube, Netflix and about a bajillion songs on Spotify.
So while the above all sounds all well and good, on the flipside, there are a plethora of things which can (AND DO!) make my commute to work, absolutely SUCK!
Some of the reasons why my train commutes can suck the big one!
- Hot weather buckles the train tracks = train cancelled
- An incident/accident on the train line = massive delays
- Heavy rain = tracks flooded = massive delays
- Train cancelled for no reason = long delays + overcrowded train carriage
- Planned upgrades results in bus replacements = even bigger delays!!!
- Aggressive drunk/person on drugs intimidates the carriage = uncomfortable journey!
- Carriage climate control is broken on a hot/cold day = extremely uncomfortable journey
- Passenger opposite has breath bad enough to knock out a bear = you laugh but I experience this at least once per week, ugh!
- Passenger eating stinky food…and chews with their mouth open! = see above...
You get the idea.
Oh and the very worst thing that can happen on the train…
CELL PHONE BATTERY RUNS OUT OF CHARGE!
That last one is too horrible to contemplate.
So, my dear fellow commuter, if any of the above has resonated with you, please stick around. Let me help you with as many of these issues as possible, including ways to better utilize your commuting time, to those products you can buy, just to make things that little bit better.
Ultimately, I don’t want to be telling people my long commute sucks, but rather, my long commute sucks…but it’s bearable!
Not sure where to start? Check my Train Commuting Essentials!
Want to share your own commuting stories?
Leave a comment!