Ponderings of a commute

Or, find the silver lining.

In case you missed it, my office moved into New Jersey a couple of weeks ago. I have now gone from a very short couple of miles commute to a rather longer, 52 mile one. And you know what? It hasn’t been all that bad.

Be thankful for the reverse
Ah, the reverse commute. Does this expression exist in the UK? If it does, I hadn’t heard it. It’s not rocket science though. It essentially means that you’re traveling in the opposite direction to everyone else. Which I am luckily doing. I go from NY across to NJ whereas many more people come from NJ to work in NYC.

I admit that the extent of this phenomenon did amaze me. I cross the River Hudson at 6:30am. I use the Tappan Zee Bridge, which is well north of Manhattan. Yet even at that time of day, it’s chockablock with traffic headed into the city. This is why the power of the reverse commute should never be underestimated.

Consider your vehicle
Fuel efficiency was my main concern when getting my new car, and little Rowan has not disappointed. I can get 37mpg which is phenomenal in America, the land of huge gas guzzling vehicles. This, combined with New Jersey’s cheap gas prices, means that I am only paying about $35 a week for my 400-ish miles of driving. And that’s for premium gas, not regular. I dread to think how much this would cost in England.

Become an early bird
I now get up at 5:30am every day. This is, of course, all kinds of wrong. But there are two significant silver linings here: the first, missing the traffic. The second, the blissful hour of productivity I get in the office before anyone else arrives.

Discover new things
I don’t know where I’ve been for the last 10 years but somehow I have only just discovered the world of podcasts. Every day this week, my commute has been filled with BTCC, NASCAR, BBC World News, Radio 4 comedy, TV and music. Living in America it can sometimes be difficult to get a handle on what’s going on around the world. For me, podcasts are filling this gap nicely.

Of course, I’m only two weeks in. And the weather so far has been pretty good. But, all things considered, this experience could have been a whole lot worse. And because it hasn’t been, I am thankful.

Want to read more?
I did a few short posts marking the first week of my life as a commuter. You can read them here:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5

Diary of a commute: day 5

Work from home day.

Productivity.

Lie in (yes, 7am is a lie in if you normally get up at 5:30am).

No driving.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

Diary of a commute: day 4

Miles travelled: 104 (first day driving to and from my own house instead of picking someone else up first)
Minutes of traffic encountered: 0
Weather conditions: still beautiful
Leaves: changing every day
Irresponsible, selfish, tailgating New Jersey drivers: 1 (for some reason even the 87/287 split was relatively calm yesterday)
Geocaches searched for: 0 (M was on caching duty)
Geocaches found: 0
Net calorie gain/loss: loss, as it’s spin day
State of mind: negative, due to a day spent on challenging work tasks
Other comments: I may knock New Jersey but the cheap, full serve gas sure makes up for the other stuff. And, working standing up is a revelation. I love my new fully adjustable desk. Even if it does make me feel like I should be drinking and/or serving beers.

Diary of a commute: day 3

Miles travelled: 10 (by car), 40 (by train)
Minutes of traffic encountered: 0
Weather conditions: vacation weather (sigh)
Leaves: will need clearing from the back garden sooner rather than later
Irresponsible, selfish, tailgating New Jersey drivers: 0. Mainly because I stayed firmly in New York
Geocaches searched for: 1
Geocaches found: 1 (on second attempt)
Net calorie gain/loss: loss, due to yoga and a very healthy dinner
State of mind: pleased to get more than 8 hours sleep
Other comments: today was definitely a day for drinking prosecco in the sunshine. A shame I had to be working.

Diary of a commute: day 2

Miles travelled: 110
Minutes of traffic encountered: 0 (I could get used to this)
Weather conditions: unseasonably warm (80F!)
Leaves: beautiful fall colors
Irresponsible, selfish, tailgating New Jersey drivers: 2
Geocaches searched for: 1
Geocaches found: 1
Net calorie gain/loss: loss, due to 3 mile run after work
State of mind: loving the quiet hour of work from 7:30-8:30am when nobody else is in
Other comments: fuel efficiency on the Mini is superb. Over 250 miles done and not even halfway down the tank.

Diary of a commute: day 1

Today marked day 1 of my new life as a road warrior. Well, as a commuter at least. Here’s how it went.

Miles travelled: 110
Minutes of traffic encountered: 0 (woop woop!)
Weather conditions: fine, sunny, warm.
Leaves: turning.
Irresponsible, selfish, tailgating New Jersey drivers: 3.
Geocaches searched for: 2.
Geocaches found: 1.
Net calorie gain/loss: break even I think, due to a lot of back-and-forth walking in our massive office.
State of mind: better than expected.