[ladykudos]

I've had it now. I spend 1.5 hours each way getting from Croydon to Hammersmith where I work. If one part of the journey is messed up it easily extends to 2 hours.

I have 2 options:
1) Move out of London to find somewhere cheaper to live and commute back in
2) Move out of London and find a job outside London as well.

Ideally I don't want my journey to be longer than 1 hour door to door if possible. I don't really want to give up my job but anywhere within reasonable commuting distance of Hammersmith is just unaffordable and I'm not prepared to pay through the nose to live in a shoebox.

Can anyone suggest any areas that I could consider? I'm currently looking at the M1 corridor up to about Watford/Luton or westwardly into Berkshire but I may just up sticks and go further afield if work and property calculations add up. The area must have good transport links to London and have a good ethnic mix.

Thanks,

[Bluey]

Well you can travel from Watford to West Brompton in 28 minutes, plus a few more minute to hop on a bus or tube to Hammersmith. Potentially you can halve your journey time and perhaps secure cheaper accommodation that outweighs the extra travel costs. You can get to Euston in 20 minutes from Watford.

But Watford isn't particularly ethnically diverse and reminds me of a mini version of Croydon, complete with all its good and bad points.

Good

- Shopping
- Park
- Transport

Bad

- Boozy high-street with fights in kebab shops, girls falling out of their tops and swaggering guys.
- No decent arts amenities (not even a central cinema)
- No decent restaurants (Ask Pizza is about the best there is)

I understand that Rickmansworth, Amersham and St. Albans are held in much higher regards but these are expensive areas and I imagine most of the people commute into London to work.

Perhaps you need to secure some temporary accommodation in the M1 corridor to take your time to find the best area with the best links and get a feel for employment opportunities?