Bill spent 1,277 hours, equivalent to 53 days, commuting to the university. He flew a total of 92,089 miles, waking up early and coming home late, but never missed a class.
When Bill, who prefers to be called by his first name, was admitted to his master’s degree in engineering at UC Berkeley, he began looking for a place with a single room and a private bathroom in California’s Bay Area, but everything was ” excruciatingly expensive.”
Los Angeles and San Francisco are the second and third most expensive cities to live in the United States, after New York, according to a survey on the cost of living in Mercer.
He monthly rent The average in Berkeley is $2,933, about $833 more than the national average.
The student knew he wanted to return to Los Angeles after his master’s degree, and began looking for a way to continue living in the southern California city while attending classes in the Bay Area.
After doing some math, planning extensively, and creating a mega spreadsheet, Bill decided he was going to fly to college.
At first, he explained, his friends were in shock.
“They think I’m crazy,” he said. But after a month of early departures and late return flights, that disbelief turned to respect, she said.
Bill takes public transportation to get to campus for his 10:00 am class. Photo by Heyang Qiu.
THAT’S HOW THE TRAVELS WERE
In the fall, Bill woke up at 3:40 am every Monday and Wednesday, and at 3:30 am on Friday. He would brush his teeth, get dressed, and drive 35 minutes to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
He would take the free bus to the main terminal, go through security, and wait for his flight to board. Bill said that he became an expert at timing this whole process (it took 238 flights in total as part of his college trip), so he used to arrive at his departure gate 10 minutes before boarding.
I spent the hour and twenty minutes that the flight lasts and arrived at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) at approximately 7:30 am. To catch up on the sleep he lost from getting up early, Bill said that most of the time he took a nap while he was in the air.
He ate breakfast in the Alaska Airlines lounge while he caught up on homework and left the airport at about 8:30 am.
She would then take public transportation to campus, which is an hour away, arriving at 9:40 a.m., early for her 10:00 a.m. class.
At the end of the day, I would catch a 6:00 or 7:00 pm flight home. I would leave Oakland, San Francisco, or San Jose, depending on which was the cheapest flight.
Bill was coming home at 9:30 pm He claims the trip took four to five hours each way.
Bill begins his four to five hour drive back to Los Angeles after a long day of school. Photo by Heyang Qiu.
Although the cost of living in Berkeley is part of the reason Bill embarked on his challenge of “epic journey“, he has always liked transportation.
“During high school, I always tried to take different bus routes,” he explained.
Bill finished his BS in Civil Engineering with a concentration in Transportation Engineering at UC Irvine, and worked as a transportation engineer for two and a half years before starting at UC Berkeley.
Bill said that when traveling to a new place, “my journey really starts from the moment I land at the airport and take public transportation to get to the city.”
“The best way to get familiar with a city is simply through regular public transport,” he said.
THE LAST FLIGHT
On Bill’s last flight with Southwest, he gave the crew “thank you cards and candy as a way of saying thank you for taking me on this trip and always getting me to class on time.”
He said the crew appreciated his gesture, and when it was time for the passengers to leave the plane, they asked him to stay behind to surprise them.
They let him into the cabin and take a picture in the captain’s seat. He said it was his favorite moment after a year of traveling by plane.
From Bill’s May 2023 Flyertalk
2023-07-07 05:20:54
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