Great news about your move, jnn. I know Reston is a busy place, but is there anyway you can bicycle or walk? Your blood pressure will drop even more. Two years ago I moved, and work is now 0.6 mi to work, so I often walk. If I need to visit a customer during the day, I just walk back home to get the car. I feel great!

My commute use to be about 45 minutes to an hour in good traffic when I first moved to Atlanta. Then it becamse less than five minutes. Now I am at about 15-20 minutes depending on traffic. If there is a wreck on the way home it can take about 45 minutes to an hour. I am fortunate enough to work 7-4 which allows me to almost avoid rush hour time. If I leave even 5 minutes later, the traffic doubles for me though. I heard on the radio the other day that the average commute in Atlanta is about an hour each way so I guess I am pretty fortunate.

I am approx 50 miles from my office, a 45 minute drive because of my hours... 730a-230p (in the office) and a hour or so spent at home later in the day.
Works perfect for me!
I'd like ot live closer but my husband would then be far from his office!
And, there is no place half way that I would care to live...

Mikemo,
I'm basically a "stay-at-home" Mom/homemaker, and I've got 45,000 on my 2004 Toyota minivan (it's a year old)!

My husband has always lived by the opinion that you should live where you want, regardless of where work is. However, after several years of a one-hour commute each way, I think he feels a bit differently.
Personally, I think anything longer than a half hour commute is for the birds.

Jnn,
Could you cut your commute by using public transportation? An hour to travel 20 miles seems crazy! Could you work from home a couple days a week?

there is currently no decent public transport from the city to Reston. a bus would take at least as long, and be much less pleasant than being in your car. the nearest train stops about 8-10 miles or so from Reston. now, 4-5 years from now, that will be a different story, we hope anyway.

are you really going to get a hotel for going out in DC? you must either stay out REALLY late, or get hammered!

9 min. It's not long enough in the morning to wake up and WAY to long in the afternoon to get home! Can't imagine a long commute, so much time out of your life wasted.

Right now it is 35 minutes each way, but it is really a "reverse commute" and so the drive is not bad, except in winter. There is no public transportation at all where I drive, and it is beautiful country roads. The foliage right now is breathtaking.

I actually pass a granite monument at the cornor of the farm where John Lane invented/ used the first steel plow.

I'm with those who use audiobooks, and absolutely love them. I can get any I choose and there are over 1000 available at my town's public library. I never buy them. I average between 4 and 8 books a month this way. I have commuted on trains, in heavy traffic, and with much longer or shorter commutes. Anything over 45 minutes gets intolerable for most people- especially if it is heavy freeway or bumper to bumper. I had that for 4 years recently and it really takes a lot out of you.

I envy you who can work at home. Can't ever do that in my line of work. What I miss on this job/commute is that I am 8 to 5 and not home until almost 6pm. I loved getting to health club from 4 to 5pm.

I had my own business at one time and might end up doing that again. We have been thinking of ice cream like bennnie. In my town things have boomed so much that open up costs will be hard. I absolutely love my house and where I live. Fourth house that I built, and I finally got it right. Regardless of age, I will never do the hot climate thing.

Flygirl - I too once thought the bus to be "unpleasent" -- the thought of waiting, and getting a seat. However after giving it a serious try, I found a number of friendly "regulars", and most of us pretty much took the same seat each day, and I could read or sleep while the bus was moving, something I have trouble doing when I'm the driver <g>. I'd rather let the bus driver do the swearing & get his blood pressure rising while I relax. I found my workday much less stressful when I didn't start my day with a drive.

But I enjoy my walk to work better yet.

Let me agree with all those who pass the long commutes with audiobooks. In the past decade or so, I've read scores of books I would never had read because of audiobooks. Biographies. History. Classics from Orwell to Bronte to Dickens to Solzhenitsyn. Sports. Religon. The Aubrey-Maturin series. I like to put the car on cruise in the right lane and "read".

flygirl - yes I do have a few cocktails when I go out, and I tend to stay out late once in awhile. I try to be careful about driving even after a couple of drinks, especially now that Virginia has instituted mandatory jail time for even first time offenders! I'd rather spend $99 on a hotel than thousands on a dui.

But don't worry, I will always find a way to party!

And for those of you who do travel a long way (as I mentioned my commute is almost 1/2 hour)....audiobooks are great, but so are the satellite radios. I have the XM radio in my car, and I like being able to listen to live broadcasts of Fox and Friends in the morning. Every and any kind of music you want to listen to, plus several comedy channels, among lots of others, including weather, traffic. And, since this is a travel forum, when we go on our driving trips (such as Yellowstone, GNP), my husbands XM unit is portable, which means we pack his unit and antenna and he has it hooked up in our rental car in about 5 minutes. Some of the stations are live broadcasts of what is on TV (Fox, MSNBC, CNBC).

15 minute walk 3 minute drive. Winnipeg, Canada

Generally about 1/2 hour each way, 10-15 minutes walking to and from the 'el' (subway for non locals) and a 10 minute ride (the variable being of course how long I have to wait for the train).

I have a 25 min commute without traffic which is a rarity here.
Would love to be closer to home, esp when I'm late picking up my two kids.
My goal is to work in town. I'm a nurse, so I have the ability to go anywhere, luckily.

I didn't read all the replies, but want to mention what I feel is a really common thought about commuting.
I live and work in Manhattan. my office is filled with commuters who spend hours a day coming and going. the reason? the say they wouldn't be able to stand all the traffic and congestion of living in the city. yet while I'm commuting 5 minutes to work easily, they're the ones in all the traffic day in and day out. don't they get it?

earl, have you been listening to me? That's what I always laugh about. I've heard people say they commute from the suburbs because they couldn't stand all that traffic, and yet they have to deal with it twice a day, while those who don't commute may avoid the traffic all together. Doesn't make any sense to me either. (I don't mean commuting doesn't make any sense, just that this particular excuse makes no sense).

I just hate to drive period.

If I ever win the lottery, the first thing I purchase is a car and driver. Well, I'll purchase the car and hire the driver.

Without shame and false modesty I can say I am the world's best passenger.

What about the fact that driving contributes to air pollution? Especially when just one person is in the car. No one seems to be concerned about the polution.
You said public transit is an option, but people on cellphones stress you out. Get a pair of headphones and listen to music or books on tape.

Used to be a 7 minute drive, now it's a 5 minute walk - the company moved the office even closer to my house. Now, that's a perk!

My commute is 40 miles and about 45-50 minutes most day each way.