Confirmed my decision to RE last night.

[rodi]

A former coworker sent out an email blast to get folks together at a local beer tasting room, Rough Draft. I decided to join them. It's near my old employer. As I was driving there, I observed the traffic I used to sit in on the way home (on the other side of the freeway.). I thanked goodness that it would be late enough to be traffic free by the time I left. This was about 5pm.

I left for home at 7:15pm... and... still major traffic. Stop and go... average speed about 10mph. No accident... just volume.

The traffic going the other way, in the morning, also seems to be stop & go parking lot earlier and earlier in the morning. I observe this as I drive my kids to school (in the opposite direction) and then on to my Italian class 2 days a week. At 6:45-7am the traffic going in the direction of my old work is completely congested/stopped. Fortunately, that traffic has cleared completely by the time I'm out of class and heading back that way.

I am *SO* glad that I'm not dealing with this traffic anymore. This completely reaffirms my decision to quit/retire/not go there anymore.

 

[W2R]

I can sure relate to what you are saying. I love it when I occasionally get caught accidently in traffic from my former workplace. Now that I am retired, traffic doesn't bother me at all because I have all the time in the world and I don't really have to be anywhere by a certain time. I turn up the radio, put on my sunglasses, and smile.

Also fun is driving by my former workplace (a highrise) at 1/2 hour before people leave. I know full well that there are small gatherings around various windows on those upper floors, as people stare outside and wish they could go home. They can't see me but I wave.

 

[RetiredAndFree]

I just met a still-working friend for a midweek dinner, and along the way got caught in an unanticipated traffic jam (I know the rhythms of our freeways well enough to avoid normal traffic). The immediate stress that was generated! Oh boy, nope, don't miss that one iota.

Another 'aha' is when I go to my monthly book club dinner meeting, which occurs on a midweek night as well, and recognize the stress streaming off of everyone that has come straight from work. It makes me shudder when I remember being just like that.

 

[LoneAspen]

Even though I leave later in the morning, and work later hours, I still get caught in Silicon Valley traffic sometimes. It's amazing to me how 4 or 5 lanes of highway can get choked up for miles at 11am in the morning, with no apparent accidents anywhere.

I can't wait to leave this place. I'm so glad I never bought a house here, because as soon as feasible after I FIRE from where I'm at, I'm outta here and never coming back.

 

[Sea Kayaker]

Every day that I wake up and can do ANYTHING I want (no parenting duties even ) is all the confirmation I need that my decision to RE was a no brainer.

 

[Taxman59]

I made the announcement this week to RE, and had the normal third and fourth thoughts. Last night, a long time friend told me his 49 y/o brother (he was the little kid hanging around us when I was elementary school) is dying of cancer and won't likely make it to the end of next week. With so many people I want to spend time with and places I want to see, I am more sure of my decision than ever.

 

[kimcdougc]

I now do my business Monday through Friday 10 am to 2 pm so I miss all the traffic. Put the top down on the car and don't have a care in the world. Use to take 1 1/2 hour one way to get to work. Don't miss those days. DH retires in Jan. 2015 then no traffic for him unless by choice! Yipee!

 

[scrabbler1]

I didn't use my car to go to work (I rode the trains) so I fairly often see people walking home from my nearby LIRR station after getting off one of the trains I frequently rode. One of those trains arrives at about 6:30 PM which is when I am on my way out to my Tuesday evening square dance club, something I could not go to when I worked on Tuesdays, even part-time.

I have ridden on the LIRR only twice since I ERed nearly 6 years ago, and I don't miss that one bit! My old office in Jersey City, New Jersey, I have seen very rarely. The closest I got to it, not counting from across the river in lower Manhattan, was back in late June when I was on an Amtrak train going to Indianapolis. We came out of the tunnel and our seats were facing south so I briefly spotted the tall building a few miles away.

As for driving, I try very hard not to get caught in any rush-hour traffic for any long distance. The few times I am on the parkway during rush hour, it is almost always in the opposite direction so the traffic is not nearly as harsh. But here on Long Island, the PM rush hour often extends well into the 7-8 PM hour so I have gotten caught in that on nights out. I do have alternate routes on the local streets so I can bail out from a big tie-up on the parkway.

 

[Options]

Even though I leave later in the morning, and work later hours, I still get caught in Silicon Valley traffic sometimes. It's amazing to me how 4 or 5 lanes of highway can get choked up for miles at 11am in the morning, with no apparent accidents anywhere.

I can't wait to leave this place. I'm so glad I never bought a house here, because as soon as feasible after I FIRE from where I'm at, I'm outta here and never coming back.

Feel the same way about Lost Angeles and SoCal. When I leave (soon), will never come back, just like I've done with SF (lived there) and Vegas (never lived there, but detest the place). Realized quite recently I don't leave cities, I divorce them.

I have just 18 weeks until the whole w*rk/commute thing is all over...

 

[H2ODude]

DS is 37, works overseas and is currently in Chicago with his DW awaiting birth of first child. Texted me about how wonderful it was to go to Lowe's on a weekday, no one there! I just laughed; if I do need anything on weekend I gotta need it bad to go to anything like a Lowe's. One of the many benefits of retirement! And never a Dr or dentist appointment that puts me in traffic even though it's really pretty mild here.

 

[robnplunder]

Even though I leave later in the morning, and work later hours, I still get caught in Silicon Valley traffic sometimes. It's amazing to me how 4 or 5 lanes of highway can get choked up for miles at 11am in the morning, with no apparent accidents anywhere.

I can't wait to leave this place. I'm so glad I never bought a house here, because as soon as feasible after I FIRE from where I'm at, I'm outta here and never coming back.

Traffics in BA have gotten worse. Sillycon Belly's economy must have been getting better. In the last 6 months, it feels like 5 more minutes were added to my usual commute time.

 

[robnplunder]

Feel the same way about Lost Angeles and SoCal. When I leave (soon), will never come back, just like I've done with SF (lived there) and Vegas (never lived there, but detest the place). Realized quite recently I don't leave cities, I divorce them.

I have just 18 weeks until the whole w*rk/commute thing is all over...

I divorced Lost Angeles in 1980 when I went to college. Never looked back. Consider Last Vegas for ER but scrapped that rather quickly. Staying put in BA for now.

 

[meekie]

Yeah, the traffic in Sorrento Valley was especially bad last night, 1 hour 25 min for me to get 14 miles home. It's definitely one of the things that frustrates me a lot and is making me yearn for RE.


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[ExFlyBoy5]

I now do my business Monday through Friday 10 am to 2 pm so I miss all the traffic. Put the top down on the car and don't have a care in the world. Use to take 1 1/2 hour one way to get to work. Don't miss those days. DH retires in Jan. 2015 then no traffic for him unless by choice! Yipee!

This is best time to do anything. I call this "retiree drive time". I have 30 w*ork days left and really, I am only going to w*rk around these hours anyway. I just couldn't stand the traffic (and school buses!!!) anymore.

I have told myself that if I *ever* think about going back to w*rk, I am going to hit the road around 6:30 AM head over to the Marta train (mass transit system here in ATL) and take a ride downtown and then back. I can only assume that after seeing the absolute misery on everyone's face in the train, my "going back" thoughts will be quite quelled.

 

[travelover]

This is best time to do anything. I call this "retiree drive time". ........

I've gotten so spoiled that I resent the extra lunch hour traffic from about 11:30 to 1 PM.

 

[rodi]

Yeah, the traffic in Sorrento Valley was especially bad last night, 1 hour 25 min for me to get 14 miles home. It's definitely one of the things that frustrates me a lot and is making me yearn for RE.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

Yep - this was Sorrento Valley/805. I live fairly close (UC area) and have nightmares about it taking me over an hour to go 6 miles home.

At least I didn't have to deal with Mira Mesa Blvd... (I was south of there.)

 

[nuke_diver]

Even though I leave later in the morning, and work later hours, I still get caught in Silicon Valley traffic sometimes. It's amazing to me how 4 or 5 lanes of highway can get choked up for miles at 11am in the morning, with no apparent accidents anywhere.

I can't wait to leave this place. I'm so glad I never bought a house here, because as soon as feasible after I FIRE from where I'm at, I'm outta here and never coming back.

I'm not looking forward to our office move which puts me going down 880 past the airport which is going to be bad especially coming home. Also makes riding to work longer and far more risky with few bike lanes and a lot of rushed commuters. So I am hopeful that the FIRE is pretty soon.

OTOH I am glad I bought a house here...it's paid off and worth 3X or more what I paid for it. That's a nice thing to be sitting when wondering about a very long retirement

 

[Walt34]

I've gotten so spoiled that I resent the extra lunch hour traffic from about 11:30 to 1 PM.

Same here!

A few times a year we have to go back to the DC area for family gatherings and every time both of us look at each other and say "I am soooo glad we left!"

And when I hear people from around here in WV complain about traffic I tell them they have no clue and describe DC. Friday afternoon traffic here is about the same as 9:00AM Sunday there.

 

[NW-Bound]

Same here!

A few times a year we have to go back to the DC area for family gatherings and every time both of us look at each other and say "I am soooo glad we left!"

And when I hear people from around here in WV complain about traffic I tell them they have no clue and describe DC. Friday afternoon traffic here is about the same as 9:00AM Sunday there.

We have been wandering around Nova Scotia, and this province is about the same size as WV, but with 1/2 the population (900K vs. 1.8M). I have not been to WV, but compared to US states like AZ, NM, and even TX, where there's heavy concentration in metropolitan areas and the rest of the states is sparsely populated, Nova Scotians are more spread out across the province. Even in "large" cities like Halifax, there's no traffic jam.

Coming back to the US soon, I am going to circumvent all the major cities as I cannot stand all that traffic anymore.

 

[eytonxav]

I've gotten so spoiled that I resent the extra lunch hour traffic from about 11:30 to 1 PM.

Yep, me too and also the traffic from the schools in the mornings and afternoons.

It was that commuting to and from work that pushed me over the edge and into retirement last year.

 

[Donzo]

I would get stuck in traffic on the way to the airport. Then stand in line to get my ticket. Then stand in line to get on the plane and off the plane. The whole time i would feel like the walking dead - so trapped in an ongoing long term situation - freedom cannot be matched!

 

[LoneAspen]

Traffics in BA have gotten worse. Sillycon Belly's economy must have been getting better. In the last 6 months, it feels like 5 more minutes were added to my usual commute time.

Yep - I was here in the early 2000's during the dot com boom, and bust, and I remember after all the startups started failing and going under, the traffic cleared up a lot because so many people were out of work and moved away.

I was one of those people a couple years later, when I got sick of the whole IT thing and moved away, only to have to move back again when my real estate gig didn't work out, and I had to get back into IT.

It does seem to get worse every year. Highway 101 used to back up maybe once a week at the time I leave in the mornings, now it's more like 2 or 3 times a week. And I never see any accidents, it's just gummed up traffic. I'm sick of it.

The only thing I'll miss about Silicon Valley are some of the good restaurants I like. Other than that, I've grown to loathe this place.

 

[scrabbler1]

Yep, me too and also the traffic from the schools in the mornings and afternoons.

It was that commuting to and from work that pushed me over the edge and into retirement last year.

Amen.....as I have posted here many times over the years, it was the commute which was the top reason for my ERing nearly 6 years ago. I couldn't stand it on the trains any more, the whole morning routine and on the trains were making me ill.

 

[jim584672]

I have ridden on the LIRR only twice since I ERed nearly 6 years ago, and I don't miss that one bit! My old office in Jersey City, New Jersey, I have seen very rarely.

Don't you miss the PATH train? Last week a "smoke condition" closed the 33rd St. line for two days, forcing people to subway to WTC PATH, or take NJ Transit to Secaucus, then back to Penn.

I can't wait to escape, only 9 weeks left. Will not miss the LIRR in the winter, or PATH debacle system at all. Oh yeah, PATH fares going up again Oct. 1st..

 

[scrabbler1]

Don't you miss the PATH train? Last week a "smoke condition" closed the 33rd St. line for two days, forcing people to subway to WTC PATH, or take NJ Transit to Secaucus, then back to Penn.

I can't wait to escape, only 9 weeks left. Will not miss the LIRR in the winter, or PATH debacle system at all. Oh yeah, PATH fares going up again Oct. 1st..

The PATH train was the lesser or my two evils, or trains, I used for the last 7 years of working. It was the shorter of my two train rides and it was a reverse commute, going from 33rd Street to Pavonia/Newport in the AM and back to 33rd Street in the PM.

I did hear about PATH's problems last week and was glad I did not have to deal with them. There were several times in those 7 years I was detoured onto the WTC PATH line, sometimes from PATH and other times from no LIRR service into Penn Station, forcing met go to Brooklyn then take a subway to the WTC. A few times, I could not take a PATH train to Pavonia/Newport so I either had to go to Hoboken or Exchange Place and take the Light Rail to P/N. In that latter case I once took FIVE different trains to get to work - 2 LIRR trains ("change at Jamaica") to get to Brooklyn, then the NYC Subway, then PATH, then Light Rail! I was in a foul mood when I got to work that morning LOL!

After the 9/11 attacks, PATH was crippled with no service into lower Manhattan until November, 2003. My ride wsn't impacted directly but the trains were more crowded. At least I was mostly telecommuting so it was 12 days a week going to Jersey. I once had a PATH card machine steal my $20 bill and shut down without giving me a card (this was before only merchants sold those cards). I was made whole.

I remember one day in 2007 I went to Penn Station and the 33rd Street PATH station only to learn there was no PATH service to NJ due to flooding from heavy rains. I wasn't going to find a ferry or swim across the Hudson or take a costly taxi to the office so I just got back on the LIRR and went home. Cost me $15 and a vacation day and running around outside in the rain for nothing. I was in a foul mood.

Hurricane Sandy in November 2012 crippled the PATH trains for a while. Sandy also shut down the LIRR's Long Beach branch (one of 2 branches I could use for my LIRR trip) for a while, so a trip from LI to NJ would have included two nightmares.

PATH fares were always lower than the NYC Subway. The gap is shrinking, huh? I see it is going to cost $42 for a 20-trip card. The last time I used PATH in 2008 it was $26 for a 20-trip card, just raised from $24. My total commuting cost per day on both trains was about $20 per day when I ERed. Now it would be just over $26. I don't miss that, either.