Staines-OATS, commutable?
I'm considering the August Integrated course at Oxford and currently have a house near Staines and a wife who works at Heathrow.
We're evaluating options on where to live and are considering moving nearer Oxford thereby giving me a shorter commute and her a longer one. She doesn't like driving as much as I do and I feel I am already asking a lot of her to support me changing career at 33 and going flying.
It's occured to me that we might be able to carry on living where we are and I could commute to Oxford - what do those of you on the course think? It occured to me that with lectures between 08.45 and 4.15pm I could leave home at 6.30 and hopefully have a clear run to Kidlington at that time in the morning arriving say 7.30-7.45, then spend an hour studying/having a coffee etc. Finish at 4.15 and get home by 6pm and then hit the books for another hour or so. One final advantage is I presume I will be going against the flow of traffic ie I'm leaving London area in the morning and heading in at night.
We like our house, we can borrow against it and domestically it is spacious with plenty of room to study etc. In addition it's an ideal location to commute to LHR/LGW and even Stanstead is do-able for when I land that jet job! - what do you think?
Our other options are:
1 - Rent our house out and rent nearer Oxford (Could be risky because the agents tell us that 4 bed detached houses are slow to let)
2 - Sell up and buy somewhere nearer Oxford but commutable for my wife. This may be problematic if I am made redundant before we find another house because we won't get a big enough mortgage on just my wife's salary to buy anything even remotedly as good as what we have. Having expressed interest in redundancy the it may happen sooner than I think!
3 - Sell up and rent. Don't like this idea with house prices rising like they are in SE England
4 - My wife stays put and I rent a bedsit near Oxford - this may not be financially viable and in any case I think bedsit life would depress me more than any commute!
I suppose I also feel that although I am not good at getting out of bed early in the morning to go into the office now I'd better get to like it if I want a career as a pilot. I know a lot of pilots commute from Oxfordshire to LHR before and after a 4 sector day so this might be good practice!
Really appreciate views - especially from those on the course.
Desk-pilot