I spend over $1K a month to super commute 4 hours from DC to NYC for work: I love the thrill and adrenaline
Grace Chang goes the distance — about 500 miles per week, to be exact.
It’s the nearly four-hour trek from her home in Arlington, Virginia, to her job in Hell’s Kitchen that the married millennial takes twice weekly at a cost of approximately $1,000 each month.
But despite her nightmarish hike, Chang tells The Post she’s living the dream.
“I’ve always dreamed of working in New York — I love the thrill, the adrenaline of the city,” said the 28-year-old. “But there are definitely some weeks when I’m, like, ‘Why am I doing this?’”
Well, it’s not because she’s a bird, nor a plane.
Chang, a financial analyst for Magnolia Bakery since May, is a “super commuter.”
And her hustle really takes the cake.
The brunette is among the number of interstate 9-to-5ers who travel far and wide for work on a regular basis.
Upper West Side hairdresser Kaitlyn Jay, 30, of North Carolina, cruises the clouds in an aircraft to complete her crazy 700-mile commute. Alex Heatzig, a project manager from San Francisco, California, pumps and pedals for three hours while biweekly biking 50 miles into the office.
Kyle Rice, a healthcare tech guru from Wilmington, Delaware, on the other hand, routinely hops four separate trains into NYC’s financial district to get behind his desk. For seats on the locomotives, the married father of two pays a combined $1,510 on unlimited Amtrak and PATH monthly passes.
Chang spends a similarly sizable chunk of change to make the trip.
“My 10-ride Amtrak pass costs around $790 a month,” she said. “I spend another $200 on trains once I’m in the city.”
And pulling up to Penn Station each Monday morning is no small feat.
“On Sunday nights, I meal prep and pack my clothes for the three days I’ll be in New York,” explained Chang, adding that she saves money by touting food from home rather than dining out at Big Apple eateries. “On Monday, I wake up at 4 a.m., do my makeup, get myself ready, grab my things and go.”
The go-getter’s husband, Andrew, then takes her on the 15-minute drive from their two-bedroom apartment in Virginia to a train station in Washington, D.C., where she catches the 5 a.m. wagon into Midtown.
Chang’s rides are usually uneventful — granting her time to read, catch up on work, pay bills or watch Netflix.
Unless, of course, the lingering heatwave brings her jaunt to a screeching halt.
“There have been some severe train delays due to extreme heat,” said the super staffer. “Once, we were stuck on the tracks for three hours, just sitting in Newark, New Jersey.”
The unpredictability of the weather and mass transit aside, Chang says being in the Gotham makes the struggle worthwhile.
“I’m fortunate enough to have friends and family in the area who let me live with them on the days that I’m in the city,” she gushed.
While working in the metropolis, Chang either stays with her in-laws in northern New Jersey or a pal in Bayside, Queens, free of charge.
She commutes back to Virginia on Wednesday nights and works remotely for rest of the week.
“I try to optimize my time in New York,” Chang added. “I go running in Central Park, I enter the lottery for Broadway tickets.”
“I really focus on the positives of being a super commuter,” she said. “If I thought about all the time I’m losing on busses and trains, I’d probably quit.”
