What do you use your commute for?

[Sterillium]

I've got a 100-mile round trip (driven) commute a few days a week, which gives me quite a few "empty" hours each week that I usually spend listening to the radio and thinking about food.

I'm wondering if I could make better use of this time, audiobooks or "Linguaphone" style language courses spring to mind!

What do you "do" with yours?

[Shuff4]

I’m extremely fortunate that my commute is 4 minutes.

I did previously do an hour each way, often radio / music and catching up with others on calls.

[parabolica]

Driving or passenger? I used to have an hour drive each way and I had a healthy bank of podcasts to listen away to; a bank which is now overflowing as my commute is 15 minutes.

When I got the train I used duolingo and headphones go learn some languages.

[Bill]

I don't have much of a commute but had a couple of long journeys recently and found podcasts great. Currently working my way through Al Murray and James Holland's "We have ways of making you talk" about WW2 history.

[Sterillium]

If I could, I'd get the train and work on the journey, but I'm stuck driving due to the locations.

[Ebo100]

I do audiobooks, I have a 15mile / 20min journey each way, sit in the inside lane with cruise on at 60-65 and find it very relxing.
Currently doing all the James Bond books in sequence which are really good and so different to the films.

[dmahu]

I commute by train and waste it reading junk on my phone.
Need to stop and use my free hours more effectively.

[V1nce Fox]

15 minute commute by motorbike. It’s headspace at both ends of the day and really helps keep me sane.

[s2kjock]

6, sometimes 7 days a week, a 1.5 mile each way walk. .

On the way in gave me some exercise and fresh air, and time to clear my head, listen to the birds on the leafy part, muse at people walking their dogs in their pyjamas.

On the way back was to decompress and calm down and have cleared out the anger and bitterness by the time I had got home


It is now mostly a 10 second commute though so not much of the above happens anymore.

[blingybongy]

From walking out of my house door to walking into my place of work (not on my property, not self employed, an actual place of work), takes me 40 seconds, hows that for convenient. Sometimes a bit too convenient but you gotta take the rough with the smooth.

[Alorotom]

I used to have a 4hr commute and went through a lot of podcasts and audiobooks in the car

Now I’m almost exclusively WFH/WFA and actually miss the podcasts

[Zarco]

I listen to podcasts on long commutes.

[GetCarter]

Most of the time I walk upstairs.

When I do have to travel it's a +/-1450 mile round trip, so several movies on the iPad, or an audio book sort me out.

[Steve Campbell]

Sterillium said:

If I could, I'd get the train and work on the journey, but I'm stuck driving due to the locations.

Pre-covid I had similar commute once a week. I used the drive "to" work as work time...just because you don't have a laptop or phone in front of you doesn't mean you can't work......time to think, review options in my head, consider problems, mentally consider options / team dynamics etc ...for about an hour of the 2 hour journey.

On the way home I used it to decompress and not walk into the house with any work stresses so just listened to the radio or music.

[a311]

Steve Campbell said:

Sterillium said:

If I could, I'd get the train and work on the journey, but I'm stuck driving due to the locations.

On the way home I used it to decompress and not walk into the house with any work stresses so just listened to the radio or music.

This is the only part of the commute I miss. Took for granted the commute which allowed me to switch off from work and get into home/parent mode.

As it is my commute is now 30 seconds from the bedroom to the home office. I've tried to go for a walk even for 10 mins at the start and end of the day to allow for this but never seem to-I end up working more. But the positives of WFH far outweigh the draw back for me.

Anyhow def music/podcast/audio book for me. I'm the worlds worst for sticking my head in my phone to fill voids of time I have, there's a school of thought that many people because of smart phones are missing those times we used to have to fill with our own thoughts, waiting for a bus, train appointment and so on and it's effectively our mental health. I tend to agree with this school of thought.

[wiggy001]

Sterillium said:

I've got a 100-mile round trip (driven) commute a few days a week, which gives me quite a few "empty" hours each week that I usually spend listening to the radio and thinking about food.

I'm wondering if I could make better use of this time, audiobooks or "Linguaphone" style language courses spring to mind!

What do you "do" with yours?

I asked something similar a few years back when I was driving to client sites for work. The general consensus seemed to be that I was a wreckless fool for considering anything more taxing than a podcast as I should be concentrating on the driving.

I got through a lot of podcasts in that time.

[captain_cynic]

Back when I had a commute, most of it was paying attention to the road.

If I had anything on in the background it'd be ignored often so there was no point. Tried putting the "teach yourself Spanish" recordings once, ended up missing bits of it and having to go back so often I just binned the whole idea.

[Spare tyre]

ROADRAGE

[jimwilli]

Bill said:

I don't have much of a commute but had a couple of long journeys recently and found podcasts great. Currently working my way through Al Murray and James Holland's "We have ways of making you talk" about WW2 history.

I used to enjoy this when doing monotonous tasks at work. Haven't had any of them for a few months unfortunately.

[carreauchompeur]

Good call. Sometimes I’m into music but at the moment it’s just bugging me! Need to load up some podcasts.

The benefit of a 50 min commute however is that I’m completely out of the work zone by the time I get home!