sodapop: Wow, buying a second house. That IS commitment. Impressive.
Well, I can't claim that it was an original idea. When I was an F/O, I flew a month with a senior captain who had a long commute to work. He had bought a small commuter house near the airport and didn't rent out rooms to anybody.
We were discussing commuting one day and he told me that over the years he had noticed how many other commuters he had known died relatively soon after retiring. I began watching the obits myself.
Maybe it was just a coincidence or the power of suggestion, but it did seem that some of the guys I knew, who commuted late in their careers in order to chase the bigger equipment and the higher-paying international all-nighters, didn't get very long to enjoy their retirement.
I owned my commuter house for 15 years, was fortunate to retire well before the big real estate swoon in 2008, sold to new captain who felt the same way about not destroying his health, and made a nice profit on the house.
Of course, I'm sure there's no statistically significant correlation between commuting and early death. Who knows?.... maybe for those other guys it was just having to stay home with the old lady 24/7 for the first time in decades
