Commuting is the worst part of most people’s day. That was certainly the case for me when I was travelling 45 minutes, there and back, across London each day. On packed trains I would close my eyes and wish I was somewhere else. But then I swapped that for a four-and-a-half-hour round trip between Stafford and the capital, and I suddenly began to love my commute.

As someone who travels more than 90 miles to work I’m part of a rising phenomenon of super-commuters. The number of workers who commute daily for two hours or more has increased by a third in five years. As workers are priced out of inner cities, London in particular, those looking for the security of owning their home have had to look further afield.

How I learned to love my long commute | Julian Borger Read more

My journey from Stafford to London involves a direct train with no stops, which, when it runs on time, takes about an hour and 20 minutes. Add in a 20-minute stroll to the station, 15 minutes on the tube and the door to door is roughly two and a half hours.

On the underground I used to hate all the useless hours squashed up against a Perspex window, but my new commute has been a great pleasure, and a great help with my job too. A big part of my work is writing, but to be a good writer you need to read. Commuting provides the time to get through books, reviews and articles; I’ve fallen back in love with great authors as a result. I can get through two books a week and draft two articles if I spend an hour in the morning and evening. It’s time that lends itself to thinking.

More than anything else, I cherish the solitude commuting gives me. When my wife and I lost a child a couple of years ago I used the hours between the city and home to think it all out of me (forgive the inelegant phrasing). I’d get lost in my own head, safe in the knowledge that arrival at my destination would snap me out of it. Time became space and I filled it with the thing I didn’t have room for anywhere else. I see this in other people who catch the train, that long exhale of the day. It is an opportunity to shed the day’s stress before getting home.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘On the underground I used to hate all the useless hours squashed up against a Perspex window.’ Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

We super-commuters rarely talk to each other, much the same as those with short commutes. But because of the extra time and space we can indulge knowing nods and British politeness. I must admit to having an unnatural attachment to a particular seat – I have come to view it as an extension of my own sitting room. This is irrational of course, but after three years of sitting in it I feel my claim must carry weight.

When people learn that going from Stafford to London doesn’t take much longer than going from Romford to Victoria they are usually surprised. But the price – £1,100 a month – always draws a groan or a wince. On renewing my season ticket I always take a moment longer than necessary to stare at the cash register displaying the cost. Yet I can’t complain, I’m lucky to be able to commute. Moving out of London after 10 years allowed me to get on to the housing ladder. The money I would have spent on a shoebox flat now buys me time to reflect.

There are some drawbacks. When you’re delayed, for instance, you’re often very late. With no alternative routes you have to just sit through it (luckily you can usually get a seat on longer commutes. In three years there’s been only one journey where I’ve had to stand). Going out after work for drinks has become a rare occurrence as I’ve got a toddler at home, but when I do go out, I have to leave early, which puts a dampener on things. If I miss the 10pm train, I’m sofa surfing. But for my needs, super-commuting works: the time it gives me makes it worthwhile, and the family are happier living in a house than a flat.

The Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw said he made an international reputation thinking once or twice a week compared with most people who think once or twice a year. I can’t imagine he commuted much but if he were alive today I’m sure he’d do some of that pondering to and from the office. A longer commute hasn’t robbed me of time, it has given some back to me. I’m no Bernard Shaw but I’m savvy enough to know that’s a good thing.