Extreme Commuter: From Montreal to Queens

[Trainspotter]

Extreme Commuter: From Montreal to Queens

By Justin Rocket Silverman

amNewYork Staff Writer

January 28, 2008

 

[float=right][/float]This Extreme Commuter rides a plane the way most of us ride the subway.

 

Professor Adnan Turkey lives in Montreal but teaches computer science at DeVry Institute of Technology in Long Island City. He's been making that commute once a week for nine years, 45 weeks a year.

 

Although the flight itself is only about 75 minutes long, getting to and from the airport makes it impractical to make the ride daily. Price is a factor, too. Flying directly from Montreal is too expensive even once a week, so for half the ticket price he drives across the border to fly out of Burlington, Vt.

 

So every Monday at noon he leaves his house in Canada and makes that 2-hour trip to Vermont. He puts the car in long-term parking ($6 a day) and flies to New York, where he will sleep in a small rented apartment and teach until Thursday afternoon. Then he takes the flight and drives back home.

 

Door-to-door it's about seven hours each way.

 

"After working many years in Canada, I thought, 'why not come to New York City?'" he asks. "It's just next door and it's the capital of the world."

 

Adnan knows of no other commuters on the Montreal/New York City run, and says many of the border guards laugh in amazement when he states his business in the U.S.

 

Although the weekly $150-round trip JetBlue ticket, and the monthly rent in New York takes a bit out of his income (he won't say how much), Adnan says he has no plans to ask his wife, also a university teacher, and two college-age daughters to move to New York. Besides, money has never been his primary interest.

 

"Education is a noble mission, so salary is not the No. 1 concern, at least for me," he says. "When I see the next generation of students learning and becoming skilled, that's my job satisfaction."

[Phil D.]

Well I'm done wiping my jaw off the floor. Thats a hell of a commute. He must love to travel.

[Pablo M 201]

Damn, thats just insane.

 

At least its once a week but like he said it, it builds up on the costs.

 

Man he must be paid good for that to be worth going to NY every week to teach a class.

[East New York]

WOW!!! He must have the most understanding wife in the world!

[sebbieprops]

Man he must be paid good for that to be worth going to NY every week to teach a class.

 

Most likely he is, and it's worth it. You'd be shocked if you heard how much college professors are paid per hour. It's not unusual for them to work a 15-hour week and receive a salary in excess of $125,000 a year.

 

I know one professor from Fordham who teaches only on Mondays and Thursdays, and she makes the 3-hour drive from Pennsylvania twice a week to teach two undergraduate classes and one graduate class.