Yup... Commuting Sucks!

That being said I have just passed 1 year at AW and have commuted St Louis to MKE pretty much the entire time (my first month after IOE I was sitting reserve at ORD). For me, moving to MKE was not an option, so I stay in hotels when I need to. My worst month was last December when I spent about $800 on hotels. Since then I have been a lineholder at MKE and I don't think I have had to pay for more than 2 hotels in a month. This was because a decent portion of my assigned trips started or ended with a deadhead to/from ORD (which I would ask to be released from) and for those that don't a decent number of them would have another FO deadheading to/from ORD so I would reach out and ask if there was interest in a trade...

So yeah, commuting sucks, but there are ways of improving the suck.