Have you ever really fallen in love with a city, but had obligations or contracts that tied you to another? Maybe you’ve gotten bored of the place you’re living in—but don’t want to make the full commitment to moving to a different place yet. Or, maybe you grew up listening to stories of someone’s summer home or weekend retreat and still long to have one of those.
Can’t decide between the villa in Spain, bungalow in Thailand, or a penthouse atop a Manhattan skyscraper? That’s okay, neither can I.
When I was 19, I was working at a museum in London and made friends with a fellow who commuted from London to Spain every other week. The job had a peculiar schedule—about a week of work followed by a week off. Listening to him talk about living in the house of his relatives on his work days and relaxing in his villa by the sea on his days off made me realize two important things:
- The American dream is dead.
There are so many stories about how Generation Y can’t afford homes, or to pay off student loans, or to have children and make ends meet. Regardless of which country you’re in, the list goes on and on and on. It’s tiresome to read about how so many young people—myself included—are living in a worse economy than the one our parents grew up in.
- The job market today has been comically unstable in recent years, and it will probably continue to be.
Where you want to work and where you want to live may no longer be compatible. People today have to be particularly clever in order to both stay employed and have fulfilling lives.
Perhaps you’ve heard about the international commuters that have been making headlines – like Sam Cookney, who made news in the Guardian after posting his calculations for how it would be cheaper for him to live in Barcelona and commute to work in London. Cookney and my friend seem to have an awful lot in common – and they aren’t the only ones with this lifestyle. Since then, I’ve met various other people living between between destinations such as France and London, Mallorca and Barcelona, and the Canary Islands and Germany!
Just over two years ago, I moved to Lisbon. After roughly six months, it turned out that the city and I weren’t entirely compatible. I’m more of a big city girl, and Lisbon is quite petite. However, I’d signed a work contract for FOUR years, and I really liked my job. I couldn’t find one I liked as much in any other city. That’s when things started to get creative for me…
The Hypothesis: it’s possible to live in two countries (aka, commute) on an average European salary.
My job at the University of Lisbon doesn’t give me a very impressive salary, but it does the trick. Let’s say that I earn €1.200 per month after taxes. Now, let’s deduct all life’s essential costs.
The average cost of living in Lisbon’s centre when you’re sharing a flat is between 250-450 euros, utilities included. Let’s take the median of that and say it’s 350, like this example.
The cost of living in Lisbon if you’re living in a hostel, airbnb, or pension (a type of cheap Portuguese hotel) makes your “rent” go down substantially. A shared room in a hostel can be as low as 200 euros per month, while a private room on airbnb or a pension would be around 250-300 euros. Don’t just take my word for it, though. Let’s do a quick cost breakdown.
A random booking.com search for Monday to Friday availability in Lisbon’s centre.
With an average of 22 weekdays per month, my first option tells me that I can live in the average hostel (these were NOT the cheapest) for 176 euros per month.
The booking.com listed price for a month at a hostel.
I suppose I could actually be super lazy and just book an entire month, too, though that brings up the cost a fair bit. However, the smartest choice is to ask the hostel owners directly for an extended stay. I approached two different hostels that I found on booking.com and found that they were happy to negotiate the rate with me— hence my quote of a shared hostel room costing 200 euros per month. However, if you’re going to book for an entire, consecutive month, you might as well get a private room.
Two of Airbnb’s cheapest options for long term accommodation in Lisbon.
My favourite option is the one I’ve saved for last. It gives you privacy and doesn’t require you to move out on weekends, and is even saving you 6 euros a month. Airbnb seems to be taking over the world these days!
I like to pick medians when I’m giving an example, so let’s say you’ve decided to stay in the hostel. We started out with a 350 per month budget, including bills, which brings us to a total monthly savings of 174 euros.
So, what can we do with those savings? For me, the obvious choice was to live somewhere else on weekends. My job is pretty flexible, so I could turn up whenever on Monday and leave whenever on Friday as long as I get all my work done. Since I like big cities, the top choices for me were Barcelona and London. However, Lisbon is a great hub. There are fantastically cheap flights from Lisbon to the Azores, Spain, Italy, Germany, and more.
So, let’s talk flights.
Flights to and from a destination can be pretty affordable if you book a month in advance. Everyone knows that ryanair and easyjet are the clear winners amongst budget airlines, but not all routes are serviced by these companies. Don’t let that hold you back, though! There are also several airlines with points based programmes and discounts for frequent fliers, such as Vueling’s Punto and My25%. The average prices of round trip weekend flights from Lisbon to London and Lisbon to Barcelona are shown below.
Skyscanner’s prices for Lisbon to London round trip flight routes throughout the month of May.
Skyscanner’s prices for Lisbon to Barcelona round trip flight routes throughout the month of May.
Looks pretty cheap – but lets’s think about it.
We can see that the Lisbon to London route is much cheaper than the Lisbon to Barcelona route, but I actually find the final costs to be quite equivalent. Why? Well, even if I save 25 euros on the London route, isn’t it likely that I’ll spend that on the journey home from a London airport? Between a 10 euro bus and hopping on the tube, I’ve already lost 20 euros. Barcelona’s public transport, on the other hand, will only cost you 4 to 7 euros. Anyway, just food for thought when picking your commuting destination.
Besides for rent and transport, your average day to day costs of living are going to be pretty much the same regardless if you commute or only live in one city. You’re still going to be able to cook and do laundry like normal, so none of these basic expenses really change. The main thing that changes is your transport (very high costs in London, for example, but very low if you’re headed to somewhere like Madrid). This is a pretty broad chart, I know… but everyone’s personal needs are different, so I think it’s better this way.
The cost of living in one city vs commuting.
Now for the last question: where do you live on the weekends and holidays? Well, that’s entirely up to you. If you’re picking an expensive destination, like London, I suggest making an arrangement for a weekend rental. Those are actually pretty common, and it means you only have to pay rent for the days you’ll be there. Maybe, like my friend, you have family living in your commuting city of choice whose home you can invade. If you’ve managed to find a super cheap rental that you can make your “home” for months at a time, I might even suggest living in a hostel on weekends.
In a highly touristic city with a lower cost of living you could always rent out a place, make it your home, and then rent it out via airbnb or other similar sites. This could actually help you make money! However, that requires that you manage the property with the help of a friend or company. It also requires that you have savings to fall back on, in case things don’t go to plan.
What do I do? Currently, I have a flat in Barcelona. I share with one other person and pay for the days I stay—which in my case, works out to be a third of the cost of rent and bills. Sometimes, if we’re away at the same time, we also rent out our place to help fund our travels.
In Conclusion: Anyone can have an international commuter lifestyle.
The Pros?
You get to live in two awesome places—which can be as culturally and geographically different or as similar as you’d like. Want to live on an island on weekends and in the mountains on the weekdays? Totally feasible.
The Cons?
You have to give up some stability and routine to make it work. Your living destinations may be restricted due to the proximity of airports and the airlines that service them. There might not be a point in buying that beautiful painting or vase because you don’t have a place to put it.
I think commuting is going to be all the rage pretty soon. If you’ve been commuting, or are considering it, I’d love to hear from you.
dream. plan. adventure. repeat. 