On Commutes

When it rains, it pours. I've mentioned in previous posts about how 3 of our friends from church are all pregnant and due simultaneously. Three couples (including 2 of the expecting ones) are also in various stages of home-buying-- all in Buellton, a small town about 35 miles away. It made me think of my work colleagues, many of whom live in Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo (one even as far away as Moorpark). Long commutes either way. The trade-off is cheaper housing. Santa Barbara is *expensive*, even with recently falling home prices.

I'm also reminded of my own commuting challenges throughout my life.

When I was an undergrad, I lived with my parents in the north San Fernando Valley while commuting to and from UCLA. The campus was only about 20 miles from my parents' house, but it meant commuting on the 405, and fighting traffic every day, turning it into a nearly hour-long commute one way. But since I grew up in sprawling metropolitan LA, I was used to heavy traffic and long commutes, and it didn't really faze me-- it was part of life, the only life I knew.

Then I graduated and spent 4 years in Germany, where I lived on base and had a short 4-minute drive to and from work every day. Thus began my becoming accustomed to short commutes to work and short drives to places I needed to be.

When I returned from my stint in the Army, I moved to Santa Barbara and began grad school at UCSB. Although I have moved a total of 7 times since I arrived here in September 2001, it has always been within town (and mostly in Goleta-- the furthest south I ever lived was off Turnpike Rd) and never more than a 10-minute drive to school. Downtown Santa Barbara, a mere 10-12 miles away, suddenly seemed "far away". Interesting how your perspective changes! 10 miles is nothing in LA.

Then there was the 2 years after I graduated from UCSB, when I got a job at Amgen in Thousand Oaks and wound up living with my parents again (who were taking care of the little man) and commuting from their home to Thousand Oaks every day. In the meantime, Allan remained in Santa Barbara, as he was still in school. We'd see each other on weekends. Either way, it was a hellish commute for me, and I was fortunate enough that I was allowed to work a 10am-7pm schedule, allowing me to avoid most of the rush hour gridlock, and making the commute only 45 minutes instead of 1+ hour each way. At the time, thinking that I would remain there long term, we began thinking about where we wanted to live, and considered getting an apartment in Oxnard or Ventura, which would mean that Allan would bear the brunt of the heavy commute to and from SB every day.

As luck would have it, I got laid off and soon found a job here. We are once more living about a 7-minute WALK to work, and a 7-minute drive to Todd's school.

And I see my friends and co-workers making such long treks to and from work every day, and I can't fathom returning to that sort of drudgery myself. Someday we will buy a house, and when we do, we intend to stay in Santa Barbara (preferably Goleta, where it's cheaper and more spacious). The lower cost of housing in places like Ventura or Buellton simply isn't worth all the headache of long commutes. That's almost 2 hours of your life wasted EVERY day, driving. Not to mention the wear and tear on your car, and gas costs. I think those long daily commutes are ultimately what destroyed my beloved Neon. I've decided that I rather like being "spoiled" by living close to everything I need-- school, work, shopping. And although I still wish Santa Barbara had a Food4Less, a Target, a Wal-Mart, a true dollar store and a JCPenney, we get by, as those are stores we only hit once a month anyway, and we can always drive up to Lompoc or down to Ventura once a month or less to stock up on bargains.

Housing costs vs. long commutes. After enough experience with the latter, we're definitely opting to avoid it in future!