Extreme Commuting

Chamar said:
Well, I don't think it would cost 250 a week to commute up, more like half that. You have to remember too that 1000 a month rent in Dublin doesn't include utilities etc. plus I still have utilities to pay in Wex.
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I think you are dramatically underestimating the financial cost of this commute.

Conservatively speaking you are looking at doing about 65,000 kms a year (and depending on where you are in wexford that could be more).

Without knowing what car you have we'll assume an average of roughly 35mpg or 8l/100kms that works out today at well over €5k a year in petrol. You'll require 3 services in that year(€250x3 = €750?) and possibly two new sets of tyres (€300 x 2 = €600?). I'm underestimating here by quite a ways.

The real killer though will be depreciation. Doing that kind of milage on a new car would reduce the value to around 25% after three years.

This are all shooting in the dark a bit and doing so very conservatively but i really think you need to run the maths on this before writing off the move to Dublin or finding an alternative locally. When comparing to a 'lesser' job locally don't exclude the fact that you are considering doing 20 hours a week without pay in order to reach the job in Dublin.

As an animal lover i appreciate not wanting to get rid of the cat but you're not even going to be home for a minimum 12 hours a day!(and i presume you'll want to sleep some of the rest). Is the cat alone during this time? Who feeds it?

I honestly reckon this whole plan needs reconsidering.

Here's a thought; For the next five days why not simulate the experience by doing the roundtrip exactly as you imagine it. Leave in order to reach Dublin at 1pm at stay there till 9pm. It doesn't matter what you occupy your time with since you will be tired after a days work anyway.

Do it for real and see how you like it. If you reckon you can cope then you have an answer. If you found it tougher than you thought (my guess) then you can reconsider.
 
I agree with Eurofans assessment of costs.
Also you will be shattered at the end of a hard weeks work and commuting. Your extreme commute will almost certainly increase your chances of being involved in an road accident. Personally I believe that a significant (and much larger than is credited) amount of the accidents on our roads are due to over-tired drivers.

It is not worth it.
 
I think it would be very very hard to do. however, if you really can't find a job at the moment, it may be worth applying for a job in Dublin and see how it goes. Even if you can stick it for 6 months to a year, that is that more work experiance that you have. I work with someone who found it cheaper to drive up to Dublin on a monday morning, stay 4 nights in a B&B and go home Friday night (though I realise that doesn't help with the cat!), than to rent a place in Dublin. Maybe you could find an understanding land lady who takes cats?
 
I was thinking about the 6 month option too - although I don't want to take a job with the fair chance of leaving it soon after - it's not really fair. That moggy really complicates things for me but she is a very special kit. This is her by the way

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Right, I'd say this thread is now a whisker away from being closed!
 
Chamar said:
This is her by the way

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My dog says he loves her too :D

I love animals but the lengths that you would have to go to, go beyond love and I'm not being smart here. Could some relative not look after her during the week while you live in Dublin?
 
I hope your dog loves her in a friendly way rather than a hungry way Suellen!;)

I don't have any relatives unfortunately. Well, none remotely local that could help with her. And well, part of the reason I won't consider giving her away is that she belonged to my closest living relative before he died (he was MAD about her) - that was also when I moved home & stopped working and got stuck in this rut. I don't know, maybe I should try and find a cat-lover that might foster her for a while...:confused:
 
Hey Chamar,

I only have to drive for about 40 mins in and out of college at the minute and it sometimes drives me bonkers.

It's the worst time of the year to consider starting this, I think. Its starts getting dark from 5pm and its hard on your eyes driving with all the car lights coming in the opposite direction. I think two hours of that might be a killer.

It sounds like a terrible lifestyle really. And as the other posters say, its not going to be great for moggie either :( I'm an animal person so I understand you putting the cat so high on your priorities but I don't think this will help you or moggie...

Why don't u look at other parts of Ireland to see if there are jobs there...if you wanted to move then, at least the property price wouldn't be so high. Or sit down and re-think you're options or see are there other ways you could look for work that you haven't thought of yet...looking outside the box kind of stuff...

good luck, mica
 
For what it's worth, I have a 3 hour commute (1 1/2 hours each way) only three days a week and it is very difficult. I would happily eat the cat to get a shorter commute. It is the worst draw on my own quality of life without a doubt.
 
I used to drive to work and back, an hour each way - it was only some 10 - 15 miles, mostly sitting in traffic and watching people walking their dogs etc and feeling jealous and guilty! In the twelve months or so that I drove to work, I was plagued with back pain, and even my left leg (thigh, knee and calf) was aching (from being on/off clutch pedal I guess)!! I wouldn’t recommend long drives to work at all. I now commute by train. I still need to get up early and spend nearly the same amount of time commuting, but this gives me a chance to catch up on sleep, reading and even work if I want to!

Here’s a mad idea, how about a big camper van/bus? Drive up on Monday morning, and go back on Thursday or something! :D
 
I communuted for about 10 years. 19 miles each way. at first it was a doddle, driving out of traffic and into a smaller town but for the past 2 years this smaller town has become a nightmare. T junction entering the town and traffic backed up half a mile some mornings ( no lights, needless to say). the difference in those 10 odd years is unbelievable. road slightly improved but the traffic 20 times worse. anyway no longer have this commute and IMO anything up to 40 minutes is probably ok but I wouldn't like anything above that.
to put those big delays on the M50/M11 into perspective. about 4 weeks ago, I got up at around 8.30am, had breakfast around 9, caught a taxi to the airport, got flight, caught a bus back to dundalk from dublin airport( 1.25 hours and he was late at that) and was sitting at home before 4pm having a cuppa tea. I know there is a time difference of 2 hours to take into consideration but 9am to 6pm is a total of 9 hours. from Istanbul to Dundalk. So I sympathise with those commuters. it was disgraceful.
 
Where I work, in South County Dublin, colleagues drive each day from Portarlington, Gorey, Arklow, Nobber, Rush and a couple of DNS locations.

In a different section, a contractor has been driving from County Monaghan each day for many years.

Another colleague got caught in the N11 mess 2 weeks ago and took 4 hours to get to Greystones with her 10 month old daughter howling in the back seat.
 
brian.mobile said:
A new term has been coined folks. You heard it on AAM!
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While far from the first to coin the term this thread is already showing up as the sixth hit on google! Worth having a read through some of the other articles Chamar (or anyone else considering a long commute) as there's a variety of first hand experiences there.
 
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