🚲 🚂 🚗 🚆 How long is your commute time and how do you cope with it?
Paul Isaris

Paul Isaris @pavlosisaris

About: Software Engineer @SciFY. Live to learn something new -and write cleaner and more sustainable code- every day. Passionate with learning and discovering new technologies, history, and psychology.

Location:
Athens, Greece
Joined:
Oct 4, 2017

🚲 🚂 🚗 🚆 How long is your commute time and how do you cope with it?

Publish Date: Apr 28 '19
27 41

Commute time: 2 hours (total)

Way I commute to work:

  1. walking (15 minutes)
  2. subway (25 minutes)
  3. bus or walking (10-20 minutes)

Ways I cope with commuting: I usually listen to audio books / podcasts or music. Sometimes I also aimlessly browse my phone :D

What do you do?

Comments 41 total

  • Ken Bellows
    Ken BellowsApr 28, 2019

    Ooph, an hour each way is rough. Are you driving, or taking the train, or something else?

    My commute is about 15 minutes currently, but used to be about 30 mins. Back then I got a lot more podcasting done

    • Paul Isaris
      Paul IsarisApr 28, 2019

      Updated the post to include the way I commute. 15 minutes is great!

  • Michiel Hendriks
    Michiel HendriksApr 28, 2019

    10 minutes walking from home to the train station. 20 minutes train ride. 5 minutes walk to the office.

    In the train I check my Twitter feed for interesting articles/posts since my last commute. (and Dev.to if there's time left)
    If there are big articles to go through I just bookmark them to read in the office or at home.

    • Paul Isaris
      Paul IsarisApr 28, 2019

      I don't have access to the Internet while on train :(

  • Joe Zack
    Joe ZackApr 28, 2019

    I work from home now, but I'm still a podcast addict after years of commuting.

  • Victor Samson
    Victor SamsonApr 28, 2019

    Approx 50mins each way via walking and train.

    Time is spent listening to podcasts, reading books (fiction), scrolling through twitter and day dreaming.

    A pair of noise cancelling headphones has been a great addition!

  • Juan F Gonzalez
    Juan F Gonzalez Apr 28, 2019

    About an hour and a half sometimes less, on a bus not a traditional one but anyways. I listen to podcasts that I previously downloaded, catch up with things on twitter, and do the lessons for a Portuguese course I have.

  • Michiel Sikkes
    Michiel SikkesApr 28, 2019

    I’m mostly remote! That said, I rented a small office in my home town. That allows me to “reset” my brain twice a day compared to fully working from home. Taking a break when working from home is also more difficult and I didn’t like that.

    So all in all:

    • Home: 0 minutes
    • Personal office space in hometown: 10 minutes by bike
    • Commuting to our HQ 40km away: 5 minute bike ride, 25 minute by train, 5 minute walk.

    What I enjoy very much when traveling to our HQ is that I get to listen to music or podcasts along the way. Commute time in home town is simply too short!

    • Paul Isaris
      Paul IsarisApr 28, 2019

      Which town is it? Sounds like a very bike friendly one!

      • Michiel Sikkes
        Michiel SikkesApr 28, 2019

        Gouda in The Netherlands. (Internationally famous for its cheese and old town hall).

        And yes, extremely bike friendly! But I’d say all cities and towns in The Netherlands are! Even the biggest ones like Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

  • Kostas Sar
    Kostas SarApr 28, 2019

    Listen to podcasts while being half-asleep in the morning.

    I used to listen to comedy podcasts but now I switched to more techy ones starting strong with Darknet Diaries!

    If I had a good night's sleep I usually read books and listen to music without lyrics so it doesn't distract me.

  • Hamida
    HamidaApr 28, 2019

    Commute time: 4 hours
    Way I commute: walking, taxi, bus(40 min) and taxi in the morning
    walking, bus, tram train, bus(40 min), walking in the evening
    Ways I cope: it depends on my mood: it might be music, reading (tech or fiction), watching talks, series, standup, browsing Dev.to,twitter, medium or StackOverflow :p

    • Paul Isaris
      Paul IsarisApr 28, 2019

      And I thought mine was long... For how long have you been doing this?

      • Hamida
        HamidaApr 28, 2019

        hhhhh a year and a half, surprisingly I got used to it, I kinda go back and forth between two cities that's why it's a pretty long commute
        I just don't like living and working in the capital city

  • Stefanos Kouroupis
    Stefanos KouroupisApr 28, 2019

    After nearly 3 hours of commuting per day (for 2 years).

    55 minutes each train route plus 25 minutes walking.

    I got insanely tired (having a 2 year old at the time helped a lot) and now I am living a dream with just 20 minutes walking....no enough time to even get lost on my thoughts

    • Paul Isaris
      Paul IsarisApr 28, 2019

      I went from 10 minutes walking to 1 hour (one-way)... Good that you managed to change it ;)

  • Gabriel Laroche
    Gabriel LarocheApr 28, 2019

    My commute is only 15 minutes, but I usually read articles on dev and listen to music

  • Sandor Dargo
    Sandor DargoApr 28, 2019

    I live 7 kms from the office. I don't go early enough, it's a 40 minutes drive. If I go in early, it's 12 minutes. So I go early and I listen to the radio. A news channel, so I learn French (I'm a Hungarian living in France)

  • Henry Williams
    Henry WilliamsApr 28, 2019

    I have a 30-40 minute drive to work and 20-30 minute drive back. Depending on my mood I'll either listen to podcasts, listen to music, or just think about random stuff usually related to work.

  • Daniel Schep
    Daniel SchepApr 28, 2019

    I bike so there's not much to cope with, besides agessive and inattentive drivers.

  • K
    KApr 28, 2019

    Most jobs I had in the last 10 years only had a commute time of maximal 20min in one direction.

    I read all the "A Song Of Ice And Fire" books on the 40min I was in the subway.

    Since 2014 I don't work in offices anymore, only remote. So commuting isn't an issue for me.

  • Dave Garwacke
    Dave GarwackeApr 29, 2019

    My commute is about 45 min each way. I usually do a crossword on my phone to kill time if I don't leave at the same time as my fiancee. If I'm struggling I turn on auto-check so I finish before I get in. It'll bug me if I leave it half done.

    • 10 min walk
    • 35 min subway
  • Jennifer Haynes
    Jennifer HaynesApr 29, 2019
    1. Drive 20-30 minutes depending on traffic
    2. Bus for 45
    3. Walk for 5

    I’ve been using coding apps to practice during my bus commute or reading Sanderson’s Stormlight Archives!

  • Brett Stevenson
    Brett StevensonApr 29, 2019

    My commute is roughly 1.5-2 hrs each way at least four days a week.
    It drives me a little crazy sometimes, but since there isn't feasible public transportation, I usually call friends/family or listen to music cope.

  • Sunny Singh
    Sunny SinghApr 29, 2019

    Half hour one way. I normally listen to podcasts in the morning, and music on my way home.

    I've found that it's normally the only time I listen to podcasts. This fortunately makes me pretty selective with what I listen to.

  • Rahul Chowdhury 🕶
    Rahul Chowdhury 🕶Apr 29, 2019

    It takes anywhere from 35 mins to 1.5 hrs to reach the office from my place. Traffic gets crazy sometimes. :-P

    I take an Uber or Ola every day. Same while returning.

    I tried various things to make my commute interesting like music, podcasts, reading, video, etc. The only thing that has worked for me is music.

    Usually, I just open up a Daily Mix on Spotify and start listening. Oh yeah, I browse Twitter occasionally too.

  • Dag-Roger
    Dag-RogerApr 29, 2019

    Commute time: 90 minutes (total)

    Way I commute to work:

    1. walking (7 minutes)
    2. bus (30 minutes)
    3. walking (8 minutes)

    Ways I cope with commuting: I usually listen to podcasts / audio books or music, while on the bus I look out the window to rest my eyes before/after a long day in front of screens.

  • Joel Krause
    Joel KrauseApr 29, 2019

    All up my commute is about 1hour and 20 minutes each way.

    I use that time by catching up on podcasts and fitting in some work to get a head start on my day!

  • mkonstan
    mkonstanApr 29, 2019

    3-4 hours per day.
    First drive to park and ride 12-20min
    Second take a bus to NY Port Authority 1h or more depending on traffic at the tunnel.
    Lastly walk 15-20 min to the office
    Repeat above in reverse.

    I listen to audio books, podcasts, music and do a bit of reading or programming on my ThinkPad.

  • ben
    benApr 29, 2019

    15-minute 🚶 + 10-minute 🚅 (6tph; wi-fi and seats) + 5-minute 🚶.

    I deliberately don't have time to do anything much more than check my calendar so I know what to hit first when I get to my desk. Like any place I even consider working, I'm trusted to do a day's work rather than be at my desk 08:59 - 17:31.

    Done.

    I was lucky enough to be able to choose where we lived, and was even luckier to find somewhere that would be good for my new family to live and grow up as well as get me to/from work. After previous commutes of up to 1h30m, it was an important factor in the relocation.

  • James
    JamesApr 29, 2019

    This thread is making me feel a bit better about my commute.

    About 50 minutes each way. I mostly listen to podcasts, but sometimes music.

    More recently I've been jogging every few days. Two birds with one stone.

  • Jakob Christensen
    Jakob ChristensenApr 29, 2019

    I have a 450 km commute!

    🚂 By train it takes me 5½ hours door to door. I spend that time working through remote desktop.

    🛫 By plane it takes me 2-3 hours door to door. That time is mostly wasted on security checks, waiting at the gate and other "fun" stuff. Sometimes I read a bit or sip a Pepsi Max through the waiting.

    When I have to go, I spend a couple of days there. The rest of the time I work from home.

  • Doaa Mahely
    Doaa MahelyApr 30, 2019

    When I had university it was walking to the bus stop to catch bus #1 which took 15 minutes, then getting off at another bus stop to catch bus #2 which took 55 minutes. So I had to leave home 1.5 hours before my classes started, but it took 25-30 minutes by car.
    I went through about a book per week, usually fiction.

  • Thomas H Jones II
    Thomas H Jones IIMay 1, 2019

    For the past few years, I've split my work-time between my couch and my customer site (has probably averaged about 65/35 over that time-span). My primary customer-site is a 9mi, 15 minute drive (when I work 0600-1400 to avoid traffic). When I have to go to a different site for meetings, it's anywhere from 15-30 miles, each way ...and depending on time of day, that distance can be covered at a rate of a little less than two minutes per mile to over five minutes per mile (love the DC area :p).

    When I initially took the job, part of the reason for doing so was the proximity of the customer-site. I figured, "awesome: I can bike there and back" ...but then I discovered that there's really no direct, bikable path from where I live and the bikable paths that are anything resembling "direct" go through not especially "nice" neighborhoods.

  • cr8s.net
    cr8s.netMay 2, 2019

    My commute used to be about 2 hours, door-to-door, to get into Manhattan. I hated it. Every day was a challenge and even when using podcasts, books, audio books, news, etc... it was the worst part of my day and I felt like I had no life at home.

    So, I insisted on getting the ability to work remotely. I make just as much, and now I'm only in the city 1 day a month. I had to change jobs a couple of times to get the terms I wanted, but my life is TEN THOUSAND TIMES BETTER now as a result. I have time with my family, time for my own life, and I'm living life on my own terms.

    When I take a lunch break, I can spend time with my newborn daughter. When I am done for the day, I'm right there with my family and can help with dinner. I can take a swing dance class in the evening. If the team needs me, I can be on-call 24/7 and it's no skin off my back. It means my employer has to pay for less resources (they can give that cube to someone else, and office space in NYC is SUPER expensive). It's substantially better for everyone!

    Best of all, I'm now reclaiming 20 hours a week for myself (that's 2 hours each way, or 4 hours a day, 5 days a week)! I take that 20 hours and pour it into my hobbies, home life and the music I love to create. It's like having the extra hours you'd put into a part-time job. It's like having another "me" around for 20 hours a week. My family and friends love that I'm available!

  • Herb Wolfe
    Herb WolfeMay 2, 2019

    Mine is a less than 10 minute drive each way, depending on the traffic lights. I listen to FM radio, and hope that my favorite stations aren't all playing commercials at the same time.

  • Nans Dumortier
    Nans DumortierOct 29, 2019

    I walk for like 5 minutes, then take the subway for around 20 minutes, then walk again for 5-10 minutes.
    I read articles on my phone and take care of quick emails/messages while I'm in the subway, but I don't do much more.

    I'd be interested in listening to some audiobooks though. Do you have any title to suggest ? 😄

    • Paul Isaris
      Paul IsarisOct 29, 2019

      Right now I am listening to Barking Up the Wrong Tree, which I really enjoy. But my all-time favorite audiobook is definitely Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, so you should try it!

      • Nans Dumortier
        Nans DumortierNov 7, 2019

        I have started listening to Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, and I find it really interesting. It makes me dive into deep thoughts about who we are, and leads me to great debates with my girlfriend afterwards 😅
        Thank you !

        • Paul Isaris
          Paul IsarisNov 7, 2019

          Glad that you like it! You should also check the other books by the author, he is really good!

  • Samuele Zanca
    Samuele ZancaDec 3, 2019

    Currently my commute is:

    1. walking (10-15 minutes)
    2. subway (30-40 minutes + more depending if people let the doors close)
    3. more walking (3minutes)

    However I'm actually planning on getting a better apartment and the new place would have:

    Option 1:

    1. Walking (20minutes)
    2. Subway (5 minutes)

    Option 2:

    1. Walking (5 minutes)
    2. Bus (10 minutes)
    3. subway (10 minutes)
    4. walking (3 minutes)

    if i get a cheap car I can make that into simply:

    1. Car (10 minutes)

    (Milan italy)

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