Do you drive 2+ hours to work? Input needed.
 

Just looking for some input from people with a long drive as their commute. Right now I live in a western domicile, but we a looking at relocating to the East Coast with a about a 2.5-3 hour drive to BWI.

I know, I know….but besides the obvious answer of staying where I am at, does anyone here do a 2 hour or more drive? Even better if you are BWI based. Honestly, how bad does it suck? Are you able to pick up open time? How often do you end up getting a hotel? AMs or PMs? Etc.


In my mind it seems doable, but i’d appreciate some insight. TIA

The obvious answer is... yes.

I mean, it makes you not want to pick up a turn unless it pays 15 plus, but it won't stop you from picking up HOT or POT if you want it. I drive about 2-2.5 when I pick up at my closest base. (Commute long way away for now) Sometimes you will just have to get a hotel if you end late start early from trip to trip. Not a big deal.

Depends where you live in the NE- some drives are much easier than others. I know guys that live down in RIC and drive to BWI, and some guys that live in Central PA and drive to BWI... One of them has loads less traffic...

Yeah I would be coming from the Northeast on the I95 corridor; don’t actually know about that traffic. Thanks for the input.

might wanna consider tolls.

I95 to BWI depending on where (I.e. NJ)
starts to get expensive if you’re doing it on the regular.

Oh good point. It will be from NJ, the toll calculator shows it as 17.50 one way with EZ-Pass. Ouch. So add 150-200 bucks a month into the budget.

My first year and a half I drove from the Lehigh Valley to BWI. For me I gave up on I-95 after a few weeks and took the back way through Reading, Lancaster, and York. About 15-20ish miles longer, no tolls, and 30 miles of two lane road but much less traffic and stress of getting stuck. I flew mostly PMs and would not mess with hotels, only the trips that finished after midnight were rough for me as it would put me home around 3am. When I did fly an AM trip I would drive down the night before and get a hotel, I hate getting up early and would have been toast trying to pull that drive off and then go to work.

As for picking up, I did a little bit of it but not nearly as much as I did when I moved to a domicile. Back then I was also on reserve so I was enjoying my free time and not really trying to pick up anyway.

Give me a break. You’ll be earning big bucks, tolls really aren’t that much if it means you live where you want. Commuters probably pay more on airport ham sandwiches and coffee than you’ll be dropping on turnpike tolls.

Also a good point. One of the reasons I don’t commute.

But for me, we will be moving from an area of relatively low cost of living to a much higher cost, and everything adds up, and I tend to dive to deep into the details of such things. In the big scheme of things however, you are probably right.

Brilliant!