Evaluating mostly-remote, LCOL, and occasional long commute

[Villanelle]

How would you evaluate whether/when it becomes worth it to live in L(er)COL area with a mostly-remote job, if you had to make a long commute for the days you weren't remote?  There are so many moving parts, that I'm having trouble coming up with any kind of decision metric. 

Once a week in-office with a 90 minute drive, but saving $20k year on other expenses?  Once a month, 2 hour drive, $10k?  Four-six times a year, have to take a 4 hour flight, save $25k?  And then there are the intangibles like living close to family, weather/seasons you enjoy, near activities you like, in a place where you fit with the culture, etc.  And what the alternatives would be in terms of commute: 10 minutes by train or 30 minutes by car, or...?

(I'm not currently evaluating a specific opportunity.  This is more of a what-if thought exercise but also preparation for what may come.)

How would you evaluate these types of trade offs.  Are there any hard nos for you, regardless of the savings?  (Like, you aren't doing a plane commute more than 2x/yr, even if it saves you >$50k year, for example.)

The idea of remote work is super appealing, especially if it comes with a flex schedule (9/80, 4/10, ability to take an hour or 2 mid day and then work later or start earlier, etc.).  But IDK if the trade-off of having a crazy long drive occasionally, or even having to take a flight occasionally, is worth it. Any thoughts or perspective welcomed. 

[Laura33]

Hmmmm.  Well, I'm FI and so am very biased about what I'd be willing to do.

Far and away the most important considerations would be lifestyle, not money.  Do I like where I live?  Will that location give me the activities that I enjoy, the kind of house/neighborhood that I want to live in, the kind of environment and schools I want for my family.  E.g., I gravitate toward first-ring suburbs vs. out in the boonies, because I like sidewalks and grid patterns that make sense and shops/amenities close by, but I also like having a larger city within maybe 30 minutes to go do things in.  That means I'm never going to be willing to live in a VCOL area.  OTOH, someone who wants lots of privacy and acreage would weigh those things very differently.

The next consideration is how much the commute and hours would affect that daily life.  I'd much rather fly somewhere a couple times a year than drive somewhere every week -- those commuting days are going to be shot anyway with all the extra time, so I'd rather detach from home completely, jam to get all my stuff done, and then go back to my real life.  (I was always someone who worked more on business trips to have more time for my family when I got home).  I did the daily commute to DC for a while -- 1.5 years on the train, 1.5 hrs total each way, followed by 2.5 years on the Metro, 45 mins each way -- and I found that completely not feasible on top of the kind of hours I was working.  OTOH, my stepdad worked for the government and took the train in each day; it made for a long day, but he had regular hours and grown kids he didn't need to worry about daycare for, so he did it for 25 years.

Next is would I like the job/people?  Am I ok with being fully remote?  I actually telecommuted across 1600 miles for a couple of years, so I know I can do it -- but I'd also worked in-person at my firm before, so I knew people, and the full-time telecommuting was unsatisfying after a few years because I wasn't making the career progress I wanted.  OTOH, I was fine with being alone most of the time, as I'm an introvert.  You need to know yourself, know the kind of work you enjoy, know the kind of environment you enjoy working in, and have a pretty clear vision of where you want the job/career path to go to see if any particular option would mesh. 

Once I get through all that and figure out whether the particular location and job would work for the kind of life I want, then I'd turn to the finances.  This is where I am spoiled -- I don't need a job, so it's easy for me to say that there are some jobs they'd never be willing to pay me enough for me to take.*  I have friends who work for [fast-moving tech company taking over the world] and who have amazing comp packages; I'm extremely happy for them, but there's no way on God's green earth I'm taking that job (at least not for less than about $5M/yr -- and then for a year).  But the situation is different depending on where you are in your FIRE journey; if you're earlier on, or you've got CC debt that you're trying to dig out of, then you need to suck it up and be willing to accept some hard tradeoffs for all the extra cash to stash. 

Sorry I'm kinda rambling here.  I just can't think of a simple equation or calculus.  It all has to start from where you are financially, what kind of life you want, and how much you're willing to give up of the latter to push harder on the former.


*I'd actually be much more likely to take a job with a financial hit if it provides some unique experience, like living abroad for a year or two.  Or, like now, my DH has a job that allows periodic international travel, so now that the kids are grown, I'm hoping he decides to stay in it for a while, so I can accompany him on half-paid vacations.

[ChpBstrd]

90 minutes of driving one day a week is the same cost as a daily commuting time of 18 minutes. Would you take the job if it was 18 minutes of daily driving and you had to go to the office daily?

Similarly, a monthly 120 minute drive is the same cost as an additional 5.5 minutes of driving daily. So would you take the job if the daily commute was (18+5.5=) 23.5 minutes?

[Tasse]

Four-six times a year, have to take a 4 hour flight, save $25k?

I currently do approximately this. It's a 2.5 hour flight, which my employer pays for, as well as covering housing while I'm there. I don't consider this a "commute" - I work fully remote with an occasional work trip. Given that I get a free trip to a desirable city where many of my friends live, I don't consider this a trade-off at all. I get to live wherever I want with no consideration of the fact that my work is 1000 miles away.

I find it interesting that your numbers suggest this setup is the least desirable of your hypotheticals. Admittedly, a longer flight, or especially non-direct flights, wouldn't go over as well. But a weekly hourlong car commute would be a huge damper on my current, highly flexible, nearly-car-free schedule; that would have to be HEAVILY offset not to be considered a dealbreaker.

[lhamo]

This will probably make things even more complicated, but what about the option of spending a night or two in office city around the required in-office days?  Especially if you have friends or family you would like to see anyway.  Then you could make the drive during non-rush-hour periods (potentially shortening the time on the road) and have the evenings before/after your required in-office day be social time with people you would drive to see anyway.

The biggest risk with something like this is that the company changes policy and you suddenly are required to be butt in office chair for 2/3/4/5 days instead of the original one.  But if you are already close to or at your FIRE number, you can just quit.

[Villanelle]

The questions about culture and vibe, both of the living community and the employer, are kind of what spurred this.  How much is that worth in terms of money, or commute time and pain? Assuming there is a job that is remote (or mostly remote, which is what leads to the 1x week, 6x year, etc. part of the equation) and we can then 100% choose where we live, what are the tradeoffs we'd be willing to make? 

Four-six times a year, have to take a 4 hour flight, save $25k?

I currently do approximately this. It's a 2.5 hour flight, which my employer pays for, as well as covering housing while I'm there. I don't consider this a "commute" - I work fully remote with an occasional work trip. Given that I get a free trip to a desirable city where many of my friends live, I don't consider this a trade-off at all. I get to live wherever I want with no consideration of the fact that my work is 1000 miles away.

I find it interesting that your numbers suggest this setup is the least desirable of your hypotheticals. Admittedly, a longer flight, or especially non-direct flights, wouldn't go over as well. But a weekly hourlong car commute would be a huge damper on my current, highly flexible, nearly-car-free schedule; that would have to be HEAVILY offset not to be considered a dealbreaker.

Those were totally made up numbers, and you could trade or change them entirely.  I wasn't attaching a specific dollar amount to any option, just that these are the kind of potential scenarios that might come up.

I'm just wondering if we decided that--for example only--Omaha was a city well-suited for us from a "vibe" perspective, and also relatively modest COL, but there as a job in... Maine and it required a monthly flight (again, all entirely made up).  Would that be worth it?  Twice a month?  3-4x per year? 

I'm also not sure I agree with the notion that one 90 minute commute is the same as five 18-minute commutes. 

[SmashYourSmartPhone]

How would you evaluate whether/when it becomes worth it to live in L(er)COL area with a mostly-remote job, if you had to make a long commute for the days you weren't remote?  There are so many moving parts, that I'm having trouble coming up with any kind of decision metric. 

It really depends on the person and how much you care about that sort of thing.

I've worked remote for... oh, a good fraction of my life, really.  I currently live in LCOL area, working remote, and have been doing so for some time.

I can't stand living in cities (been there, tried that, hated it), and my wife prefers it rural too, so it's not a hard decision for us.

I've set the expectation that I will travel quarterly, usually via plane (no local train service, much as I'd prefer it), and that's about it.  Anything beyond that, I reserve the right to say no to, though the past few years, I've not traveled much at all.

Will the long commute be compatible with the existing vehicles, or require a new(er) vehicle purchase to handle it?  I'm not at all set up to do a 100+ mile commute, so were I to look at something that required that once a week, I'd have to buy a vehicle to handle it, and would factor that into the expenses.

There's also the cost of setting up dedicated work space.  I don't share office with home anymore, and I know a few other people who've built out a corner of their garage or put up a shed for remote work (usually nicely finished out, climate control, etc).  It's not cheap, but it is worth it.

I couldn't make an arbitrary spreadsheet to evaluate this stuff, though.  I just have to look at it based on what I want to be doing with my life - which, at this point, is "work as little as I reasonably can to have the torrents of cash to do more fun things with the rest of my time, much of which is building things myself."

[Tasse]

I'm just wondering if we decided that--for example only--Omaha was a city well-suited for us from a "vibe" perspective, and also relatively modest COL, but there as a job in... Maine and it required a monthly flight (again, all entirely made up).  Would that be worth it?  Twice a month?  3-4x per year? 

Once a month is pushing how often I'm willing to fly period, and that's including personal flights. Every six weeks or so is more comfortable, and again, I want some of that to be personal. Work trips every 2-4 months - to a place I am happy to visit anyway - is a good balance so far, though I have been in this job less than a year. Perhaps it will get old over time.

I LOOOOOOVE working from home, but a huge part of why is that I can travel (mostly to see my family) without having to take vacation, since I can work from anywhere. Having to go into an office at any frequency (>1-2x per month) would disrupt that and remove most of the benefit for me. I think I'd rather live close by and go to work daily than commute a long way once a week.

I don't have a "metric," I'm just musing about hypotheticals. I think it comes down to considering what specific things you value about being remote - lack of commute is just one. Cons include less social exposure at work, more dependence on email/messaging and video calls, no built-in separation between work and home. Pros include flexibility to live wherever, travel, or do chores/errands on slow days.

Evaluating some examples using this incomplete list:

• Flying in 3-6x per year has limited impact on both the pros and cons list. Nearly equivalent to 100% remote, just evaluate the hassle of flying.
• Driving in once a month impacts flexibility to live wherever, but leaves other pros intact; limited impact on cons.
• Driving in once a week impacts flexibility to travel as well as to live anywhere, with a modest impact on the cons.
• Working in person with the flexibility to do an occasional remote week removes the live-wherever and chore pros, but also eliminates all the cons of remote work, while preserving the travel flexibility.

Because of what I specifically value, a once-a-week commute sounds like the worst of all those options. I suppose once I have my preferences laid out, I could assign dollar values to each of them, but a dollar value on the thing I least want to do would probably just come down to how fast I could save so I wouldn't have to do it anymore.

[Villanelle]

I'm just wondering if we decided that--for example only--Omaha was a city well-suited for us from a "vibe" perspective, and also relatively modest COL, but there as a job in... Maine and it required a monthly flight (again, all entirely made up).  Would that be worth it?  Twice a month?  3-4x per year? 

Once a month is pushing how often I'm willing to fly period, and that's including personal flights. Every six weeks or so is more comfortable, and again, I want some of that to be personal. Work trips every 2-4 months - to a place I am happy to visit anyway - is a good balance so far, though I have been in this job less than a year. Perhaps it will get old over time.

I LOOOOOOVE working from home, but a huge part of why is that I can travel (mostly to see my family) without having to take vacation, since I can work from anywhere. Having to go into an office at any frequency (>1-2x per month) would disrupt that and remove most of the benefit for me. I think I'd rather live close by and go to work daily than commute a long way once a week.

I don't have a "metric," I'm just musing about hypotheticals. I think it comes down to considering what specific things you value about being remote - lack of commute is just one. Cons include less social exposure at work, more dependence on email/messaging and video calls, no built-in separation between work and home. Pros include flexibility to live wherever, travel, or do chores/errands on slow days.

Evaluating some examples using this incomplete list:

• Flying in 3-6x per year has limited impact on both the pros and cons list. Nearly equivalent to 100% remote, just evaluate the hassle of flying.
• Driving in once a month impacts flexibility to live wherever, but leaves other pros intact; limited impact on cons.
• Driving in once a week impacts flexibility to travel as well as to live anywhere, with a modest impact on the cons.
• Working in person with the flexibility to do an occasional remote week removes the live-wherever and chore pros, but also eliminates all the cons of remote work, while preserving the travel flexibility.

Because of what I specifically value, a once-a-week commute sounds like the worst of all those options. I suppose once I have my preferences laid out, I could assign dollar values to each of them, but a dollar value on the thing I least want to do would probably just come down to how fast I could save so I wouldn't have to do it anymore.

This was extremely helpful.  I think DH/our list is similar to yours so that really helped me.  Exactly what I was looking for as a way to approach this.  The only thing I'd change would be adding the day-to-day flexibility (if that's the right word) to the pros list, which would beef that up even in the 1/week situation.  When he was Covid-remote, for example, we'd sit together and have tea most afternoons.  It was only about 15 minutes away from work but we really enjoyed that time together.  Assuming the hours allowed this, it would also be nice to do things like run to Home Depot or even go to lunch on a random Tuesday when those things are less busy than the weekend, even if it meant staying online "at work" an extra hour at the end of the day.  Or even being able to work some days while we were traveling so that he'd have to take vacation time.  If he could work on the day we travel somewhere are are mostly sitting in airports or on airplanes (which might not work, depending on the rules and nature of the work), that's one less day of vacation time eaten up for a trip of the same length as is the travel day is wasted. 

Anyway, super helpful in terms of a way to evaluate this as we discuss it as a hypothetical or should it come up, or even just in evaluating potential work opportunities.    We are both very willing for him to take less pay for a better situation and/or the ability to live somewhere less expensive, but it was overwhelming looking at things and figuring out if it was worth it.  It's still overwhelming, but less-so, thanks to your post!

[Tasse]

I can't work while flying, but my work-while-travelling works because I stay with my parents, work at their kitchen table during their workdays, and then spend the evenings with them. Maybe once they retire it will be less attractive to work from their house.

Another big pro for me is not needing to perform work when there isn't much to do - I can just stop for the day, whereas if I worked in person I would feel obligated to stay until 5. But this is job-specific, as I know many remote workers have to perform availability.

[lhamo]

Will you guys potentially be wanting to travel on military planes via whatever that program is called (Space A?  Is that it?)  Nords recently made a trip to Japan using that option.  If that is something that appeals while your SO is still working, then access to a military base where such flights often originate might be another thing to be looking for.

[Villanelle]

Will you guys potentially be wanting to travel on military planes via whatever that program is called (Space A?  Is that it?)  Nords recently made a trip to Japan using that option.  If that is something that appeals while your SO is still working, then access to a military base where such flights often originate might be another thing to be looking for.

Probably not while he's still working.  Space A is super unpredictable so it's not ideal if you have to take time off work to travel.  Basically, you show up, and the plane you are expecting (and most only publish schedules 72 hours out) may or may not leave, and if it does, you may or may not get a seat, so it's best for people who aren't taking time off.  It is a consideration for our forever retirement location though.

[FLBiker]

I'm 100% wfh w/ the potential for 4-6 trips per year.  I took this job specifically because it would allow us to move to a small town in rural Nova Scotia.  At the same time, I wanted to be within ~1.5 hours of the big city (and airport).  COVID hit shortly after I took the job (and we moved in July 2020) so I've taken MANY fewer work trips than anticipated.  I think I took one in 2022, and I'm taking another next week.  It may pick up a bit more, but I'd be surprised if it was ever more than 4 trips a year.

That being said, these are almost never direct flights, and they're always international (Canada to US, mostly, Canada to UK, potentially).  Thus, it's typically a day of travel.  I don't mind travel, but I also don't enjoy it as much as I used to.  Everything is paid for (flights, hotels, food), including the taxi to the airport which costs ~$150 (because we only have 1 car).  And it's nice to have some face-to-face time with my coworkers.  So, for me, these trips are fine -- not something I love, but also something I kind of enjoy in small doses.

And I'm often able to tack on something pleasant -- next week, when I go to St. Louis, I'll be staying a couple of extra days to visit family.  We also have an office in Brighton, England, and when I went there I tacked on some extra days of sightseeing (and would do again).

Fundamentally, though, I really, really like where we live, and this job makes that possible.  If I had to live in one of the cities we were primarily based out of (which would have been either Tampa or San Diego pre-COVID -- now our US operations are totally decentralized) I would not be interested in this job.

We've talked about what I might do next, and I'd have a hard time picking up a job that would require an additional car, and I have zero interest in a long commute (although once a month or so into the city would be OK for me, provided it didn't require buying an additional car).  I'd start by looking for things I could walk or bike to.  Hopefully, since I'm basically looking to CoastFI at this point, I could find something that work work.

[Nords]

Will you guys potentially be wanting to travel on military planes via whatever that program is called (Space A?  Is that it?)  Nords recently made a trip to Japan using that option.  If that is something that appeals while your SO is still working, then access to a military base where such flights often originate might be another thing to be looking for.

Probably not while he's still working.  Space A is super unpredictable so it's not ideal if you have to take time off work to travel.  Basically, you show up, and the plane you are expecting (and most only publish schedules 72 hours out) may or may not leave, and if it does, you may or may not get a seat, so it's best for people who aren't taking time off.  It is a consideration for our forever retirement location though.

Over the last 40 years we’ve traveled Space A on active duty (CAT III) and retired (CAT VI) status, and CAT VI is waaaaay better.

However I wouldn’t travel Space A in any category if I expected to be somewhere by sometime, or if I had to be home by sometime.  Even when you (and the flight crew) think you know where you’re going, you might get told to add a stop enroute (adding a delay to your arrival) or even have to divert to somewhere you never expected to go.  Each of those things has happened to us, and it’s part of the adventure.

The one niche exception to this “being somewhere by sometime” rule is having a higher Space A priority on terminal leave when going from active duty to retirement.  You have approved leave papers (CAT III on Space A) with that higher priority, and when your leave runs out then you’re officially retired and you’re CAT VI.  While this is a thing which could be done, there are very few military retirees who plan their lives for this even if they’re financially independent.  If they’re also expecting to start a bridge career, or move to a retirement location, or just go through the retirement ceremony + parties routine… Space A on terminal leave isn’t practical.

Today is our Day #13 of our first Space A slow travel in four years.  It’s our last day in Kyoto, and tomorrow we return to Tokyo.  That’ll be four days in the New Sanno (the U.S. military hotel in downtown Tokyo) followed by a week in a Tokyo AirBnB.  Other candidates on the travel list after that include Hiroshima, Miyajima, and Fukuoka. 

We have reservations at the Kanto Lodge on Yokota AB from 23-30 October to possibly catch a Space A flight from Yokota to Hickam in Pearl Harbor.  It’s reasonable (even probable) that we’ll get the Space A flight during that week, but if necessary we could extend at Kanto Lodge or move to a hotel in Fussa (the surrounding town).

Plan C is a train to Narita or Haneda and a one-way commercial flight home (on an expensive last-minute fare).  We’ve had that happen a few times in the last 40 years too, but we’re waaaaay ahead on the free Space A flights.

[GilesMM]

Given what the news is full of lately, I would have to add in the risk that full time RTO office is enforced (by new management?) and I have to either commute daily or look for new work.  Even people who were hired remote and worked remote pre-COVID are being "forced" back in, apparently.  I've always gotten maximum satisfaction from living somewhere fabulous and working as close as possible, ideally less than 20 minutes via foot, scooter, bike or bus.

[Sandi_k]

We made this choice in 2011: moved out of the extremely urban inner Bay Area to a small town about an hour away from work during NON commute hours.

At the time, I had a 9/80 schedule, and worked from home one day every two weeks - so I drove in 4x per week, pre-Covid.

Post-Covid, I drive in 3x per week, but the new boss is pretty chill, and doesn't care if I decide to WFH because I have back-to-back Zoom calls on a particular day.

On Thursday this week, for example, I did a Zoom call first thing, then drove in and was on site at 10 am; did another Zoom call, then email for an hour. Then we had a Staff Appreciation Lunch (the reason I came in at all!), and then spent the afternoon doing email sitting outside until it was time to leave. That doesn't feel like indentured employment, you know?

We made the move because we now have a larger house (which turned out to be great during Covid), and we wanted to be more rural. If I *have* to be in by a specific early morning time, I leave 2.5 hours for a 55 mile, one-way commute. Occasionally, if I have an evening work event (board dinner) followed by an early morning work schedule, I will stay in town rather than spend two hours driving back and forth.

No regrets. When I am home, it's beautiful and restful and SEPARATE. When I lived closer in, I constantly ran into work folks in non-work hours, and my boss would ask me semi-regularly to come in for just one meeting on my WFH day.

And when I retire in two years? We're already where I'd like to be.

In terms of cost? We pay more for housing, and property taxes. We got out to eat less frequently. I bought a hybrid car after 10 years and 260k miles on my former non-hybrid car, so gas costs are about the same. So it feels like a pretty even cost move, but the quality of life is hugely better, even with a commute. YMMV.

[halfling]

For me it would just depend on the commute in question . A monthly 4 hour drive through the mountains would be no trouble at all, sounds enjoyable actually. A weekly 1 hour drive on the 405 would be a different beast and demand a better premium. The destination matters as well - can I at least enjoy some extra stops nearby like a Costco or a free museum? Real life examples from my work travel past lol.

[Tasse]

Given what the news is full of lately, I would have to add in the risk that full time RTO office is enforced (by new management?) and I have to either commute daily or look for new work.  Even people who were hired remote and worked remote pre-COVID are being "forced" back in, apparently.  I've always gotten maximum satisfaction from living somewhere fabulous and working as close as possible, ideally less than 20 minutes via foot, scooter, bike or bus.

My boss knows I live 1000 miles away, so he probably knows I would quit before agreeing to come into the office regularly. I am quite confident he would be lost without me and will never try to find out if that's a bluff, even while another department at my workplace was just told they all have to work in-office 4x per week.

There are also other stories on this forum (I'm thinking of the FU Money thread) of people getting to keep their remote arrangements after threatening to leave, but obviously that won't work every time. If I was in that situation, I would look for a local job like you describe.

[Villanelle]

Will you guys potentially be wanting to travel on military planes via whatever that program is called (Space A?  Is that it?)  Nords recently made a trip to Japan using that option.  If that is something that appeals while your SO is still working, then access to a military base where such flights often originate might be another thing to be looking for.

Probably not while he's still working.  Space A is super unpredictable so it's not ideal if you have to take time off work to travel.  Basically, you show up, and the plane you are expecting (and most only publish schedules 72 hours out) may or may not leave, and if it does, you may or may not get a seat, so it's best for people who aren't taking time off.  It is a consideration for our forever retirement location though.

Over the last 40 years we’ve traveled Space A on active duty (CAT III) and retired (CAT VI) status, and CAT VI is waaaaay better.

However I wouldn’t travel Space A in any category if I expected to be somewhere by sometime, or if I had to be home by sometime.  Even when you (and the flight crew) think you know where you’re going, you might get told to add a stop enroute (adding a delay to your arrival) or even have to divert to somewhere you never expected to go.  Each of those things has happened to us, and it’s part of the adventure.

The one niche exception to this “being somewhere by sometime” rule is having a higher Space A priority on terminal leave when going from active duty to retirement.  You have approved leave papers (CAT III on Space A) with that higher priority, and when your leave runs out then you’re officially retired and you’re CAT VI.  While this is a thing which could be done, there are very few military retirees who plan their lives for this even if they’re financially independent.  If they’re also expecting to start a bridge career, or move to a retirement location, or just go through the retirement ceremony + parties routine… Space A on terminal leave isn’t practical.

Today is our Day #13 of our first Space A slow travel in four years.  It’s our last day in Kyoto, and tomorrow we return to Tokyo.  That’ll be four days in the New Sanno (the U.S. military hotel in downtown Tokyo) followed by a week in a Tokyo AirBnB.  Other candidates on the travel list after that include Hiroshima, Miyajima, and Fukuoka. 

We have reservations at the Kanto Lodge on Yokota AB from 23-30 October to possibly catch a Space A flight from Yokota to Hickam in Pearl Harbor.  It’s reasonable (even probable) that we’ll get the Space A flight during that week, but if necessary we could extend at Kanto Lodge or move to a hotel in Fussa (the surrounding town).

Plan C is a train to Narita or Haneda and a one-way commercial flight home (on an expensive last-minute fare).  We’ve had that happen a few times in the last 40 years too, but we’re waaaaay ahead on the free Space A flights.

I have so, so many amazing memories of parties or nights in Tokyo that ended at the New Sanno.  Gah; huge wave of nostalgia upon reading this!  Enjoy the rest of your time in Japan!

[Tasse]

I work 4 days from home, 1 day per week in the office. Train ride takes between 2-2.5 hrs, my employer pays the fare, and I collect a $20k pay bump over a fully remote salary.

My schedule is extremely flexible and my boss is very accommodating. I pass the train time with a combination of napping, reading, or playing on my phone.

It's manageable for the last leg of the journey to FIRE but if any aspect changes (more days per week, have to pay for the commute, boss or schedule becomes less chill) I'll be ready to quit.

Do you do this 2 hour ride + a full 8 hour day? 12-13 hours total? Or do they let it cut into your workday a bit?

[Villanelle]

I work 4 days from home, 1 day per week in the office. Train ride takes between 2-2.5 hrs, my employer pays the fare, and I collect a $20k pay bump over a fully remote salary.

My schedule is extremely flexible and my boss is very accommodating. I pass the train time with a combination of napping, reading, or playing on my phone.

It's manageable for the last leg of the journey to FIRE but if any aspect changes (more days per week, have to pay for the commute, boss or schedule becomes less chill) I'll be ready to quit.

Is that 2 hours round trip, or each way?

[Nords]

I have so, so many amazing memories of parties or nights in Tokyo that ended at the New Sanno.  Gah; huge wave of nostalgia upon reading this!  Enjoy the rest of your time in Japan!

“If you can still remember it, does that still mean you did it right?”

We’re having fun, and we’ll roam the country for another month!