Work in London, live in Barcelona?

BBC article

Apparently there already are people who work in London (UK in general), who live abroad and commute to work from there. Examples in the article and the comments from the readers were Barcelona, Berlin and Toulouse.
Main point was that housing in London is unaffordable these days.
Cost of houses, living in general is cheaper and the quality of life is better elsewhere. Of course the weather can be a bit nicer as well.

Some others were doing it the other way round, living in the UK, working in Bergen, Norway or in Düsseldorf, Germany or Paris, France.

They claim that they don't use any more money or time on their commute than those who live in the outskirts of London for example.
Typically, they don't commute every day, but work a three or a four day week.
What I doubt is they don't take into account the cost of living in two places.

Then there is the environmental impact.
Aviation is one of the main polluters, is it not?

So question is what are your thoughts on this?
Are these people mad or do you think they've got the right idea?
Would you do it?
Also is this type of commute widespread in the US.
Should be easier there without different taxation systems, currencies etc.

Ridiculous.

I would never put myself through such BS.

Mathilda said:

Also is this type of commute widespread in the US.

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Not sure if the US has this kind of extrime commute travel. Mainly it can be found in the Washington D.C.-Boston Corridor however, insted of planes. Trains are mainly used to commute between Boston to Washington D.C. The plus side is that these trains are electric and dont produce polution. As for Boston to LA commute, I believe that would be rare.

In the US the only people I know who do this are either high-level executives who can afford the travel type or firefighters.

Why firefighters? They typcially work shifts like 1 week on, 1 week off, etc...

I know a guy who does something similar but he does something engenering with deep sea oil so doesnt go to his office a whole lot, lives in my mates old mans converted pig-stye in portugal.

Boston to la commute would be more like london-moscow or london-istambul. london-barca is a hop really, the issue isnt the flight but the getting to and from the airports, security etc bull.

Edit -dam this dyslexia

I know a dude who works for a month or so onboard an Oil Rig off the coast of Western Africa, and then gets a month/3 weeks off.

So, I would assume that during his shift, he lives on board that Oil Rig.

Its nothing unusual.

CivGeneral said:

Trains are mainly used to commute between Boston to Washington D.C. The plus side is that these trains are electric and dont produce polution.

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O'rly?

And the electricity that moves those trains is generated by solar panels or windmills? Or is generated in a oil/coal burning plant?

Anyway, I wouldn't do that if I can afford not to. I would look for a job in Barcelona or a house in Milton Keenes, after all, Milton Keenes was designed for that, wasn't it?

In the Chicago area I know people who do just the opposite. They live small in the city during the week and have the big place in the suburbs/country for the weekends(2-4 days).

I don't know what kind of commute that entails, but I know quite a few people who drive over 60 miles to get to work, and a few that drive 90+

Urederra said:

And the electricity that moves those trains is generated by solar panels or windmills? Or is generated in a oil/coal burning plant?

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Depends on what grid the electricity comes from. Some is from fossil fuel fired plants and some from Nuclear Power Plants. In contrast is far cleaner than having cars criss crossing across the country where the polution is draged behind them where as electric locomotives, the power source is just in one location.

oh, yeah, it is far cleaner, but still produce pollution.

I understand why you would want to do that, but I would not do it. I positively HATE taking the plane for a short distance: no leg rooms, lot of waiting and hassle... I'd rather try to find work in a place I like.

Mathilda said:

Also is this type of commute widespread in the US.

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As far as I know, the only people in the U.S. who commute by flight are the ones who fly from Las Vegas everyday to go to their jobs at Area 51. I heard it on a discovery channel documentry.

I love the idea, but the reality doesn't match the dream;

None of these people do a daily commute; they live in London during the working week.
The commute is too long; two hours or less has to be the target

If their home next door to an airport that flew into London City Airport, or got the Eurosta in every day I'd call that commuting.

Otherwise they simply have a weekend home in Spain.

For a summer, I worked in Washington DC and lived in Wilmington, DE. I think it was like 2 hours by train.

My uncle worked in Seattle and lived in Juneau, Alaska for a long while. That's a rather long flight.

If you don't mind indulging in the most environmentally damaging form of transport - the idea and lifestyle totally rocks. And people have been rocking in the fashion of the OP for quite a while now. The last 5 years at least.

Look at it this way:

The train fare from Manchester to London is between £60 - £160, depending on when you book, how honest the selling agent is with the info and what kind of ticket you go for. The airfare from say Barcelona to London Luton or Stansted can be about £20-100 (incl. airport taxes) depending on when you book, only. Journey times are equivalent, if you know how to use low cost airlines and airports efficiently. The weather, property prices, cost of living (PPP), pace of living etc in London, when compared to Barcelona's, well - it sucks, to be blunt.

Why not do it?

I regularly fly from just north of London to Amsterdam for clients. It's not quite commuting, but I can see how the commute would work. It's really no more time consuming, expensive or stressful than taking a train into London or any other big English city for me. I would wake in the morning, drive to the airport 20 mins away, get on a flight and be in the Dam for 9am. Two morning meetings, then lunch, more meetings and work after lunch, and I'm on a plane back home in time for dinner in England. No fuss. Cheap.

The most damning thing about this lifestyle is the environmental cost though. It's not sustainable.