Supercommuting: The Money, Miles, and Stamina
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here's your Money Briefing for Tuesday, January 9th. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. How's your commute to work? If it doesn't involve planes, trains and hotels, then you've got nothing on our reporter Chip Cutter.
I've got this down to a science now where I know I can wake up around 4.15 a.m. and I'm getting on a 6 a.m. flight. I then try to time it so I board almost last and then I'm getting into our midtown Manhattan office. That is a weekly thing for me.
We'll talk to Chip Cutter about his super commute after the break.
There's a long commute, and then there's a super commute.
What is a supercommute and how far does Chip Cutter travel weekly?
Wall Street Journal workplace reporter Chip Cutter regularly commutes between the Midwest and New York City, and he joins me now from Columbus, Ohio. So, Chip, you ever wake up and your first thought is, what city am I in? Constant.
I'm always either thinking I'm going to be oversleeping, missing a flight, or I'm confused about what hotel room I'm in. That actually has become a pretty regular thing.
Now, before we get into it, can you define super commuting for me? How long does that commute have to be?
So I'm not sure there's any formal definition of what a super commute is. In my case, it's more than 500 miles. And so I would consider that a super commute. And I'm also traveling every single week between Columbus and New York. I'm waking up at 4.15 a.m. and I'm getting on a 6 a.m. flight, and then I'm getting into our midtown Manhattan office. So that is a weekly thing for me, and I think we can classify that as a super commute, but there's not necessarily a formal definition out there for it.
Yeah, that's a lot.
How does Chip structure his typical door-to-desk trip from Columbus to Midtown Manhattan?
Take us through a typical round trip between Ohio and New York and all the travel twists and turns.
I've got this down to a science now where I know I can wake up around 4.15 a.m., take a super quick shower. I grab a coffee, head out the door. I'll either drive myself to the airport or sometimes my sister will pick me up. The airport in Columbus is 10 minutes away from my apartment. I then try to time it so I board almost last. You sit down. The door closes. It takes off. Hopefully, there's no delays. Then you arrive in LaGuardia. From there, I take a bus. And from there, it's a quick train ride into our office in midtown Manhattan. If everything goes right, I've been able to do that in three hours. Door to door, leaving my apartment in Columbus to arriving at the Journal's newsroom in New York in three hours.
And that's pretty good. Doesn't always happen.
This is a lot of planets lining up for you every time you do this, including the fact we've had fairly mild winters the last two years in the eastern half of the country.
What timing strategies does he use to minimize delays and arrive within three hours?
Do you feel like you've gotten lucky because of that and flights haven't been slowed down?
I've been extremely lucky, absolutely. I haven't had a ton of experiences where you're just – getting your flight canceled and you're having to rebook. It's certainly happened a couple of times. I try to be really careful. If it looks like it's going to be a rainy day, I might go the night before. I might go later that evening. I try to avoid it. So there's certainly been lots of times, particularly this summer, where I sat on the runway in LaGuardia heading home for hours at a time. But getting to New York, taking the first flight of the day, I've had a lot of luck with that. What made you decide to do this? This all was driven by the pandemic. Like a lot of people, I moved back to the Midwest right when COVID hit.
I was trying to be closer to my family. Then when it came time for all of us to return to the office at the journal that was in 2022, I wanted to see if there'd be a way where I could keep my foot in both worlds. I started looking at apartments in New York. There weren't a lot that I liked that were in my price range. And so I said to myself, is there a way that you can do this? Using miles, using sort of all kinds of different travel tricks to commute to New York for a few days, be there to make the in-office requirements, but then still have this much cheaper apartment in Columbus.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:03–0:54
2
What is a supercommute and how far does Chip Cutter travel weekly?
0:54–1:47
3
How does Chip structure his typical door-to-desk trip from Columbus to Midtown Manhattan?
1:47–2:49
4
What timing strategies does he use to minimize delays and arrive within three hours?
2:49–5:33
5
Why did the pandemic prompt Chip to move to Ohio rather than keep a New York apartment?
5:33–8:01
Speakers
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