My daily commute is a 45-minute drive, each way, either on the highway or through neighborhoods and along the Chattahoochee River. Either way always gets backed up as I cross the river. I hate driving in this town – traffic is crazy, and I would rather take backroads to try to avoid other cars. I think I once heard that 1 in 3 drivers in Atlanta has been in an accident. No wonder car insurance is sky-high here.
My office is relocating, and I have a choice to switch to an office in a suburb north of me, or downtown. I’m actually having a hard time deciding for a few reasons (not all related to the commute). The northern office would be about the same commute time, and the southern one will add 15-minutes to my commute, but 30 minutes of that would be riding the MARTA (city rail).
One of our major complaints about this area is that things are so spread out. If our friends want to get together on a week night, we usually pass, because it means an extra drive to the city and back. It’s a big change from when we lived in Bloomington, which was only 5-miles wide. Thomas and I walked to work, restaurants, and the grocery store, and we really miss being able to do that.
On the positive side, I have enjoyed catching up on audio books during my daily commute. There’s a rental store right near my current office, so I can rent a new book every week. With my office moving, I guess I should look into an iPod so I can download books from iTunes.
What’s your daily commute like?
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Um, try this: http://blogs.chron.com/mamadrama/archives/2007/07/thanks_im_set.html
When I worked in Northern Virginia, I lived in West Virginia. I wanted to buy a house and that was where I could afford. I worked with a few other ladies that lived in WV near me and we would car pool. Our commute one way was between 1.5 and 2 hours, depending on traffic. (It was only a 55 mile commute.) When I took another job there, I was making the commute myself and you can only imagine the miles and stress it put on my car and me.
In January, I transferred with my company to Connecticut. I am from Vermont, and all my family still lives there. It was a good move for two reasons: My family only being 3.5 hours north of me and the 15 min. drive I now have. It’s very liberating to no longer become a slave to your commute.
Whew — Atlanta driving is awful. Almost as bad as D.C. I’d rather drive in New York city (and often do) than either of those two.
But I don’t commute by driving. When the A train isn’t screwed up because of repairs, it takes me about 40 minutes to get downtown. Oddly, it takes about 30 minutes to get home.
My car knows to go three streets, two east four miles to the two hospitals to volunteer or to the six doctors’ offices three, four or five days a week. The third is south to let my granddogs out a couple of times a week I live an exciting life these days.
Now that I’ve retired from teaching, I don’t have a daily commute, but my last job required about 20 minutes, depending on if I stopped for coffee along the way.
Is that the Chattahoochee River that Alan Jackson sings about?
Now it’s only 20 minutes each way. But is used to be over an hour. My Ipod became my best friend. I have the Ipod video. And I listened to books or watched tv shows that I had missed during the week. I , for one, think an Ipod is a commuters best friend.