Is it ridiculous to consider driving from Sligo to Letterkenny and back daily?

another question

I'm thinking of studying a course in Letterkenny I.T. but I live in Sligo. I am considering driving up and down daily rather that renting. The course is primarily Mon-Thurs and there are certain 'blocks' of work experience throught the academic year varying for 3 - 8 weeks.

What is anyone thoughts on this, I'm not even sure of the journey time and it's not a road I'm familiar with.

another question

I'll add that the work experience can be done in Sligo so I'm looking at it that there are certain 'blocks' where I don't need to be in Letterkenny.

SpaceTime

Yes, and it will probably cost you more in petrol than renting!
Letterkenny's not particularly expensive to rent in.

The road's not wonderful - it's single carriageway N-road much like the links from Sligo to Galway or a bit worse.

another question

SpaceTime wrote: »

Yes, and it will probably cost you more in petrol than renting!
Letterkenny's not particularly expensive to rent in.

The road's not wonderful - it's single carriageway N-road much like the links from Sligo to Galway or a bit worse.

Thanks for that. Any idea on the drive time, I'm in Sligo town and I'm not a speeder!

rraido

Its approx 112km's each way and will take around an hour and a half at least. It could be hard going in the winter if there' s a lot of frost around.

another question

From a Sligo perspective, would Athlone be a better option no?

SpaceTime

It wouldn't be much better, the N61 isn't the nicest road to drive in a rush!

another question

Rent and bills and leases is just such a daunting commitment as opposed to buying petrol. I was thinking if the cost was much of a muchness that I'd prefer to make the effort and drive but I was hoping for Letterkenny to be around the 1 hour 20 minute mark. 1.5 hours at a minimum would be hard.

SpaceTime

Maybe you could find 'digs' or a house share or something?

another question

SpaceTime wrote: »

Maybe you could find 'digs' or a house share or something?

Any ideas of wheres 'nice' to rent, someone had recommend Port House or something like that but it was quite expensive for Letterkenny I thought albeit the apartments look fab.

SpaceTime

Not 100% sure - would leave that to other posters on here might be able to advise about accommodation better than I could.

Just remember though that the weather inland in North East Donegal's significantly more severe than Sligo which is moderated by the Atlantic.
It's not the nicest drive in the depths of winter.

0lordy

There may be other people doing the route on a daily basis. I know a couple of people doing the reverse journey.

So it could be possible to reduce the cost and the tedium of doing the trip solo.

colonel-yum-yum

In terms of renting, try looking in the Gortlee or Windyhall area. I moved here and lived in digs for 4 years (started as 6 months work placement and never left!) in Gortlee and moved up to Windyhall about a year and a half ago. Neither are expensive if you get the right owner.

nazzy

another question wrote: »

I'm thinking of studying a course in Letterkenny I.T. but I live in Sligo. I am considering driving up and down daily rather that renting. The course is primarily Mon-Thurs and there are certain 'blocks' of work experience throught the academic year varying for 3 - 8 weeks.

What is anyone thoughts on this, I'm not even sure of the journey time and it's not a road I'm familiar with.

What is the length of the course? The drive probably is the 1hr 20 mark but, as others say, should it run through the winter months, going through the gap can be treacherous and it can close or come to a standstill quite easily. That being said, we could have a mild winter.

If you have your own car, you can find cheap accommodation further out of the town instead of in the student areas like gortlee. you could pay less than 60 a week for rent plus utilities but I would imagine petrol costs would be higher.

But if your course was only 1 year, then with holidays and work experience, the commuting wouldn't be the worst.

But if it is an intensive course, your driving time could eat away at your valuable study time, leaving you completely drained!

Best of luck with your studies!!

donegal__road

you would end up driving 3 and a half hours a day, and spending €100+ on petrol per week OP. I know the journey well, and I wouldn't do it

Kevwoody

donegal__road wrote: »

you would end up driving 3 and a half hours a day, and spending €100+ on petrol per week OP. I know the journey well, and I wouldn't do it

+ 1 on this, it's 3 hours driving a day, 4 days a week. It wouldn't be long before you would be fed up with the journey, and your coursework would suffer as a result.

You would get a good house share for €50 per week within a 5min drive from LYIT, makes a lot more sense than driving 3 hours per day, mainly in the dark, in sometimes very heavy traffic.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Definitely not worth it. I'm from letterkwnny and worked in Sligo, years ago, but stayed up there, it's too much travel to do each day

You would be hitting rush hour traffic most of the way and so it would be a slow journey and you'd be lucky to manage it within 1.5 hours as the journey from donegal town to letterkenny will be slow at that time of the morning.

Petrol/diesel will also cost you considerably more than accommodation would. Buy The Dealer (nearly sure it's sold in Sligo) and look for someone looking to rent out a room or others looking to share a house. You should be able to get so etching decent for €50-60 a week.

another question

Thanks for your honesty everyone. The course is 3 years! Deep down I knew it was a bit of a crazy idea but I was hoping I might find a bit of comfort in someone that was doing and would say 'it's actually not that bad' but I knew that wasn't going to happen!

I am a mature student so student areas definitely won't be my thing and I'd prefer to live on my own, with another 1 person max. Thanks again.

Joshua J

Well if you decide to stay OP my advice would be to avoid the Riverside/Westside apartments, Fortwell and Celtic apartments. Burnside would be a maybe and only if the place was cheap enough and in good condition. Since your driving a place outside of town could be got cheap enough. This place looks good as was thinking bout moving myself only I dont drive so wouldn't suit. It's been up awhile so I'm sure you could get 10-20 euro off if you know how to bargain. Best of luck OP.

Mint Sauce

another question wrote: »

Thanks for your honesty everyone. The course is 3 years! Deep down I knew it was a bit of a crazy idea but I was hoping I might find a bit of comfort in someone that was doing and would say 'it's actually not that bad' but I knew that wasn't going to happen!

I am a mature student so student areas definitely won't be my thing and I'd prefer to live on my own, with another 1 person max. Thanks again.

Its not that bad the odd time, but doing it every day would be wearing. I car shared for a couple of months during one winter, just doing Donegal Town - Letterkenny, and even that got tough after a while.

Rent is cheap in Letterkenny, less than Sligo, and plenty off it.

another question

I had a look at Port House, anyone know it? the 2 bed is €140 p/w which is €70 without utilities if I found someone else...anyone know anyone living there or have a general opinion on it. It looks good anyway.

nazzy

another question wrote: »

I had a look at Port House, anyone know it? the 2 bed is €140 p/w which is €70 without utilities if I found someone else...anyone know anyone living there or have a general opinion on it. It looks good anyway.

Is that the big fancy looking building above the motor bike shop?

It's new enough, does look nice. Not sure if it's manic at weekends as a lot of people would be running about there late on getting buses home from night clubs!

You would get a house for cheaper - for example:

http://www.daft.ie/searchrental.daft?id=1392434

that's not far from college at all. A walk or a drive.

muffler

As you have a car no need to restrict yourself to Letterkenny for accommodation. You could/should be looking for somewhere to rent on the outskirts of the town or in the neighbouring towns and villages.

danniemcq

muffler wrote: »

As you have a car no need to restrict yourself to Letterkenny for accommodation. You could/should be looking for somewhere to rent on the outskirts of the town or in the neighbouring towns and villages.

What about Sligo?

Sorry couldn't resist!

Ramelton is 15 mins down the road, some nice places around there, but honestly i'd stay fairly close to Letterkenny, the prices are very good in relation to the rest of the county for the size of the town.

Anything you need nearby or would like? Gym, shops, broadband speeds? I recommend having a look through this thread for more info on various places around

another question

Cheers posters! and yes I'll have at that thread listed above, looks good. Any general opinions of LYIT itself? (not too worried about the social side or clubs/socities, more so quality of teaching, facilities etc) anyone been to Sligo IT that could give comparing the two a shot for me?

nazzy

another question wrote: »

Cheers posters! and yes I'll have at that thread listed above, looks good. Any general opinions of LYIT itself? (not too worried about the social side or clubs/socities, more so quality of teaching, facilities etc) anyone been to Sligo IT that could give comparing the two a shot for me?

Haven't had any experience with Sligo and I left lyit a scary 10 years ago.

But my impression was always that the business and IT courses were very good - some great lecturers. I know from my own experience that I qualified as an accountant before any of my peers attending university.....I just felt that they do tend to focus on the long-term so my course set me up nicely for the professionals that I did myself. that's just my opinion on them.

But, like anything, there's gonna be mixed reviews on individual lecturers and the like.

There is an LYIT board on here, so maybe have a wee nosey through that!

SpaceTime

Long drives and coursework definitely don't go together. I tried this before by doing a part time postgraduate course in Dublin while living 180miles away.

It tends to sap your energy and enthusiasm very quickly.

another question

nazzy wrote: »

Haven't had any experience with Sligo and I left lyit a scary 10 years ago.

But my impression was always that the business and IT courses were very good - some great lecturers. I know from my own experience that I qualified as an accountant before any of my peers attending university.....I just felt that they do tend to focus on the long-term so my course set me up nicely for the professionals that I did myself. that's just my opinion on them.

But, like anything, there's gonna be mixed reviews on individual lecturers and the like.

There is an LYIT board on here, so maybe have a wee nosey through that!

Can't find the LYIT thread...anyone got a link.

0ph0rce0

another question wrote: »

Rent and bills and leases is just such a daunting commitment as opposed to buying petrol. I was thinking if the cost was much of a muchness that I'd prefer to make the effort and drive but I was hoping for Letterkenny to be around the 1 hour 20 minute mark. 1.5 hours at a minimum would be hard.

You sound like that bloke in the book shop in Little Britain haha

You could do 1hr 20mins but no way are you doing an extra 10 mins to drive 1.5hrs???

danniemcq

another question wrote: »

Can't find the LYIT thread...anyone got a link.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1262

not a thread but a forum!

bohsboy

I used to do a 176 mile round trip for work and it nearly destroyed me.

You end up doing four hours a day sitting in a car just going senile. It's a novelty for a week but then gradually eats away at you. You end up being tired all the time.

If you need to do it, try and car pool (the isolation is a killer) or look if there is a B&B that will just do a bed rate for one night a week to break up the week.

mistermouse

I used to drive to Sligo daily for work a few years ago and didn't mind it, though you can often get stuck behind traffic from ballybofey into the gap

I don't mind driving but the winter months were much more bleaker and tiring. It was dark for most of the journey

As other posters have mentioned it was quite expensive on fuel and you rack up alot of mileage hence wear and tear on your car

Its certainly do-able and the road is quite good on the Donegal side but not great through Grange etc

another question

mistermouse wrote: »

I used to drive to Sligo daily for work a few years ago and didn't mind it, though you can often get stuck behind traffic from ballybofey into the gap

I don't mind driving but the winter months were much more bleaker and tiring. It was dark for most of the journey

As other posters have mentioned it was quite expensive on fuel and you rack up alot of mileage hence wear and tear on your car

Its certainly do-able and the road is quite good on the Donegal side but not great through Grange etc

How long did it take you most days?

nikinova

Hi There,
OP just came across your post and I have a girl living with me who used to commute from Letterkenny to Sligo, she found it incredibly difficult as she was doing a really demanding course too, so she is now renting from me and I think she is much happier...
PM me if you want advice on places to live, rent is so much cheaper here than the likes of Dublin!

NIMAN

I think you'd be mad.

It would be tiring enough in good weather, but you would be shattered if it cold and slippy, you would be so tensed up when you finish your trip.

mistermouse

Took me around an hour and a half most days, it depended on Road works which weren't that often, but it still adds 3 hours to your day

another question

nikinova wrote: »

Hi There,
OP just came across your post and I have a girl living with me who used to commute from Letterkenny to Sligo, she found it incredibly difficult as she was doing a really demanding course too, so she is now renting from me and I think she is much happier...
PM me if you want advice on places to live, rent is so much cheaper here than the likes of Dublin!

Will do, cheers