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Paul Isaris
Paul Isaris

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๐Ÿšฒ ๐Ÿš‚ ๐Ÿš— ๐Ÿš† How long is your commute time and how do you cope with it?

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?

Top comments (41)

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michiels profile image
Michiel Sikkes

Iโ€™m mostly remote! That said, I rented a small office in my home town. That allows me to โ€œresetโ€ my brain twice a day compared to fully working from home. Taking a break when working from home is also more difficult and I didnโ€™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!

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pavlosisaris profile image
Paul Isaris

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

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michiels profile image
Michiel Sikkes

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

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

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Nans Dumortier

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 ? ๐Ÿ˜„

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pavlosisaris profile image
Paul Isaris

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!

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Nans Dumortier

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 ๐Ÿ˜…
Thank you !

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pavlosisaris profile image
Paul Isaris

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

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Ken Bellows

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

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pavlosisaris profile image
Paul Isaris

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

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Victor Samson

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!

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Kostas Sar

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.

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Stefanos Kouroupis

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

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pavlosisaris profile image
Paul Isaris

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

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cr8s profile image
cr8s.net • Edited

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!

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Hamida

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

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pavlosisaris profile image
Paul Isaris

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

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Hamida

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

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Juan F Gonzalez

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.

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Michiel Hendriks

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.

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pavlosisaris profile image
Paul Isaris

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