Would you travel 2 hours to work?

I have an opportunity to work at a great place, but it’s a 2 hour journey to get there. I’m very uncertain. I just imagine getting out of work at 5pm and knowing you have a 2 hour ahead of you.

Any opinions?

I done it for nearly two years.

I hated it.
I was travelling on 3 trains and never had a seat.
Always standing, buried in someone's arm pit was disgusting.

However, I am glad that I had the job as I did get professional qualifications and then progressed onwards.

Is there an opportunity for you to use the job as a stepping stone to a better job ?
I.E. stick it out for now and progress on further.

Thank you for the reply. That's just it,if i take it, my CV and the experience looks great. Its a tough one.

For me it would depend on the pay. If it's high enough to cover the transport costs associated with going to and from work, and then still good pay on top of it, then yeah I would take it.

Or like the last poster said, if it's a stepping stone to a higher position.

Good luck man, I just wish I could find ANY job right now... :/

I hope you find something soon.


For me, I cant do it. its 2 trains and one LONG bus ride. damn!

I do all the time. Sometimes travel 4-5 hrs. One way. But I get paid $350-$500 for each service call.

They take about an hour. Then I'm on road home again.

Jackpot when I get two near each other.

The other day I had 6 all within an hour of each other (but 4 hours from me)

I went did 3. Stayed in hotel. Did 3 more. Drove home.

reply to post by mandroids


I travel 2 hours to university. 4 hours a day for 3 hour lectures. No harm in trying.

2 Trains, on a good day with them running how they should and about 1 hour and a half each way, mind i get paid enough to read the paper on the way in and on the way home

Did it for two years, 71 mile door to door commute....You have to ask yourself if the job is worth it...no one can do that for you.

I think the drive time is a good thing...you get time to think and then when you get home...work is not coming into your house.

but work out the costs of the travel...it maybe that will eat into your budget...car maintenance, tyres etc.

I am thinking about buying a little place 40 minutes rural from where I work... weighing up the costs of travel is important.

I have a work vehicle but I still have a budget there...

oh and I did laugh then to myself...

2 hours think time one way 4 hours in total... you may not need that much time to dump your thoughts!

But it is always good to have the music up really loud and sing your head off...

reply to post by mandroids


Accept the job and start finding more suituable acommodation closer to work.

I currently travell 1 hour and 30 minutes each way to and from work. (i leave home at 7 in the morning and get home again at 7)

The first thing i did when i got the job, was to invest in an eReader and tbh then i think the time on transport is to short now .

But yes for me it was diffinetly worth it, i get my daily reading done, and i have a job .

The question is will you see a gain in income after filling your gas tank at least twice a week or will you be taking mass transit?

But ask yourself this question too..are you happy at your current job?

Good luck and congrats on the new job....especially in this economy!

I traveled 100 miles each way to work 3-4 days a week for 7 years. Depending on how motivated I was...and late, it could take from just over an hour...no comment....to up to 2 hours in bad weather. The biggest thing I hated was I worked 12 hour days. Count another 3 hours at least on the road....on average, and pretty much I would work, come home and sleep, then get up and go to work again.

In this day and time though...I would think pretty much any job would be worth it...as long as your travel expenses didn't get out of hand.

That's a tough one. Worst I ever had to worry about was 40 min to 1 hour...and I though that was bad. Best thing would be in my opinion is to try it out for a bit, and see how you like it. Worst situation, you find something else but gain some experience and cash.

I said 90 mins will do me. otherwise, its a move situation and the job wasnt only temporary, so forget it.

reply to post by webpirate


that is a really good point to make...

fatigue !! After a long day, fatigue is an issue.

well done!!!

reply to post by Thurisaz


Yeah....I can't tell you how many times I drove while asleep! Fortunately for me, it was literally 98-99% interstate travel. But other big factors were bad-to really bad weather and road conditions, and dodging or more often HITTING deer and other assorted wildlife.

With shorter days it might not have been so bad, but then again I would have had to drive it more often per week. But fatigue led to some really really cranky days for me.

I live outside DC and a lot of the population here commutes 1.5 to 2.0 to DC, the city itself is too expensive to live in and so are some of the surrounding counties. People come as far as Pennsylvania.

My mother is one of teh 1.5 hour commutes.

If you are young, you should be fine. But not if you have a family or if you are older.

She is retiring. She loves her job, but despises the commute.
She tells people she is retiring from commuting.

Look at it this way, some days you just don't feel like getting up and going to work. Now imagine that is is preceded by a 2 hour commute. And when you leave, its another 2 hours till you get home. You get too tired to do anything.
Then your weekends are packed with all the stuff you couldn't do during the week.

Now if you think this is a stepping stone and the opportunity is good, go for it.

People come up with creative ways to keep themselves busy.