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So my wife and I decided to do the digital nomad thing earlier this year. Our first thought was that we would drive her Hyundai Tuscan and across the country a

So my wife and I decided to do the digital nomad thing earlier this year. Our first thought was that we would drive her Hyundai Tuscan and across the country and sell my old car. Then we realized we don’t like road trips when we drove from Atlanta (our home) to Nashville. She gets carsick when she is not driving. Which is ironic because it doesn’t happen when she is driving and she has had a commercial driving license for decades and she was a city bus driver before we got married and a school bus driver afterwards - mostly for the benefits until two years ago. We sold both of our cars saving $800 a month in car notes and insurance not counting maintenance - I was already working remotely - and we decided to fly everywhere and have a $900/month “Uber budget”. Even before then, I hated everything about car ownership and for year we had one car when I gave my car to my older son who doesn’t live with us. I loved when I went on business trips and didn’t have to drive. We don’t have to worry about car maintenance and repairs and statistically flying long distances is much safer than driving. Another anecdote is that before my son could drive he had a job. We paid about $400 a month for him to take Uber everywhere which was much cheaper than a car note and car insurance for an under 21 year old male ($550). No we couldn’t buy a big six foot three dude an old little beater and I hate dealing with car repairs.

vorpalhex 4y ago
Are you buying a new car every 3 years? That car note shouldn't be $400/mo for the life of the car.
- scarface74 4y ago
  My wife and I have been married since 2012. She had an old beater and we bought a 2011 used Ford Fusion for her($15K) from CarMax. I had a 2008 Honda Civic. In 2015, I gave my car to my older (step)son and bought a 2012 Sonic Fusion ($14k). In 2020 when I started working remotely, my older son who didn’t live with us needed a car so I gave him my Sonic and we lived with one car for a year - I had a permanently remote job at $BigTech by then. We shared the 2011 Fusion. A year later in the summer of 2021 we bought the Hyundai ($36k) and I drove the 2011 Fusion. When we decided to do the digital nomad thing starting in October, we sold the Hyundai back to the dealer for what we owed and saved $750 between the car note and insurance. Right before we left, we sold the Fusion saving another $80 a month in car insurance. Again this doesn’t count car maintenance.
  - caseysoftware 4y ago
    $400/month for life is totally believable. I drive a 2013 that I bought in 2017 and paid off early in 2020. For the lifetime of the car to date, I've spent $12.33/day (~$370/month) counting the original loan, maintenance, gas, taxes, and registration but not insurance. Over time, the loan will be more amortized but the other costs will never go down and likely go up.
    - scarface74 4y ago
      Why not include insurance?
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
skydhash 4y ago
I also got car sick when I’m not the one driving. I think it’s related to the anticipation of motion. If you’re driving, you can expect the responses your body is going to send to you. The same thing happens to me with new games and drastic changes of screen size. My brain has to get familiar with the camera movement and rotation patterns for me to not be nauseous. It does not happens when I ride as a passenger on a bike, maybe because I have much greater control of my body.
com2kid 4y ago
Even short 15 minute Uber rides in my city (Seattle) can cost $40-$50. Going to the airport is an easy $70+ now days. Between the two of us, going into the office just twice a month each would be $400. Dentist appointments would be an adding $60. Same for doctors appointments. Mass transit would be around 90 minutes, and that is with good light rail service to the destination. (Have to get to the light rail station first...) My 2 year old Kia cost me $15500 when I bought it in 2017. Tires are my largest unexpected expense item, I lose one or two a year to potholes...
- solardev 4y ago
  Have you ever tried the carpool option? I'd frequently take it to work in Chicago, and it'd cut the cost from like $40 to $12-$15 when shared with 2-3 other people. Sometimes you meet interesting people too.
- scarface74 4y ago
  I just checked my Uber history from the one time I was in Seattle earlier this year for work. It was $57 including a bunch of fees and a 7.49 tip and the receipt claims that “driver compensation” was $39.22 including the tip. That was about a 16 mile drive to the airport. My Uber charge home from the Atlanta airport which was about 50 miles was $115. And I guess Uber is not forced to itemize outside of Washington Just some anécdata
kshacker 4y ago
> She gets carsick when she is not driving. I used to think this was such a rare (and random) thing - my brother and a colleague have the same issue.
kennend3 4y ago
> She gets carsick when she is not driving. Which is ironic because it doesn’t happen when she is driving and she has had a commercial driving license for decades and she was a city bus driver before we got married and a school bus driver afterwards - mostly for the benefits until two years ago. This is the nature of "motion sickness" when it relates to cars. You only get it as a passenger because as a driver you anticipate the changes in movement as you are in control. https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/why-doesnt-the-driver-get-carsick https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/why-doesnt-the... Obviously "sea sickness" is another can of worms.
- Izkata 4y ago
  Huh, now I'm curious - would the passenger sitting in the back also reduce motion sickness since they don't have as clear a view of what's going on, so there's less to anticipate?
  - wccrawford 4y ago
    IME, no. It's worse in the back. It's also worse when reading or looking at a phone, rather than the road. I guess that means that less information makes it even worse, not better.
  - kennend3 4y ago
    My daughter is the same as this OP's partner. She can drive for hours just fine, but if she's a passenger ~20 mins is her comfort zone. Sitting "shotgun" or in the back doesn't make much of a difference. It is the "movements" which seems to trigger her. Think about how your body reacts to you driving. As you enter a turn you anticipate it and muscles tighten. This is more dramatic if you stop/start because this leads to the body being pushed forward. As a driver you know the car will be slowing down as you pushed on the brakes, passengers dont "know" this and their muscles dont react the same. When we go on road trips she refuses to drive yet this would actually help her motion sickness. She also fights for the "shotgun" seat claiming it "helps with my motion sickness"... Long road trips on the highway are easier for her vs short commutes because there is less "forward and back" movement. This is just my personal observations. Thank goodness for "Gravol" ;)
codegeek 4y ago
"No we couldn’t buy a big six foot three dude an old little beater" I understand that you prefer Uber and your arguments are valid but this specific statement is an excuse. You can always find a car that is not a beater but reliable and inexpensive (well unless this was during the last 12 months or when car sales were crazy). So make the argument that you don't want a car but don't make it by saying you cannot buy a reliable used car for a tall person. That is not true.
- scarface74 4y ago
  I absolutely hate being nickel and dimed and having to worry about car repairs. But at the end of the day, $17K for a car that will hopefully last 6-7 years is not expensive by any modern standard.
  - Scoundreller 4y ago
    Are Kias that unreliable? I'm still operating a 17 year old Corolla in the rust belt that has some years left.
    - scarface74 4y ago
      You may have been driving your reliable car that you know the complete history of. I wouldn’t buy someone else’s 17 year old car. Again, we aren’t talking about a lot of money - $370/month for 4 years
    - onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago
      I've got a 2017 Kia Optima - drives like an absolute charm, never had one issue with it. I'm also 6'3" and I have plenty of room.

vorpalhex 4y ago

Are you buying a new car every 3 years? That car note shouldn't be $400/mo for the life of the car.

scarface74 4y ago
My wife and I have been married since 2012. She had an old beater and we bought a 2011 used Ford Fusion for her($15K) from CarMax. I had a 2008 Honda Civic. In 2015, I gave my car to my older (step)son and bought a 2012 Sonic Fusion ($14k). In 2020 when I started working remotely, my older son who didn’t live with us needed a car so I gave him my Sonic and we lived with one car for a year - I had a permanently remote job at $BigTech by then. We shared the 2011 Fusion. A year later in the summer of 2021 we bought the Hyundai ($36k) and I drove the 2011 Fusion. When we decided to do the digital nomad thing starting in October, we sold the Hyundai back to the dealer for what we owed and saved $750 between the car note and insurance. Right before we left, we sold the Fusion saving another $80 a month in car insurance. Again this doesn’t count car maintenance.
- caseysoftware 4y ago
  $400/month for life is totally believable. I drive a 2013 that I bought in 2017 and paid off early in 2020. For the lifetime of the car to date, I've spent $12.33/day (~$370/month) counting the original loan, maintenance, gas, taxes, and registration but not insurance. Over time, the loan will be more amortized but the other costs will never go down and likely go up.
  - scarface74 4y ago
    Why not include insurance?
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

skydhash 4y ago

I also got car sick when I’m not the one driving. I think it’s related to the anticipation of motion. If you’re driving, you can expect the responses your body is going to send to you. The same thing happens to me with new games and drastic changes of screen size. My brain has to get familiar with the camera movement and rotation patterns for me to not be nauseous. It does not happens when I ride as a passenger on a bike, maybe because I have much greater control of my body.

com2kid 4y ago

Even short 15 minute Uber rides in my city (Seattle) can cost $40-$50. Going to the airport is an easy $70+ now days. Between the two of us, going into the office just twice a month each would be $400. Dentist appointments would be an adding $60. Same for doctors appointments. Mass transit would be around 90 minutes, and that is with good light rail service to the destination. (Have to get to the light rail station first...) My 2 year old Kia cost me $15500 when I bought it in 2017. Tires are my largest unexpected expense item, I lose one or two a year to potholes...

solardev 4y ago
Have you ever tried the carpool option? I'd frequently take it to work in Chicago, and it'd cut the cost from like $40 to $12-$15 when shared with 2-3 other people. Sometimes you meet interesting people too.
scarface74 4y ago
I just checked my Uber history from the one time I was in Seattle earlier this year for work. It was $57 including a bunch of fees and a 7.49 tip and the receipt claims that “driver compensation” was $39.22 including the tip. That was about a 16 mile drive to the airport. My Uber charge home from the Atlanta airport which was about 50 miles was $115. And I guess Uber is not forced to itemize outside of Washington Just some anécdata

kshacker 4y ago

> She gets carsick when she is not driving. I used to think this was such a rare (and random) thing - my brother and a colleague have the same issue.

kennend3 4y ago

> She gets carsick when she is not driving. Which is ironic because it doesn’t happen when she is driving and she has had a commercial driving license for decades and she was a city bus driver before we got married and a school bus driver afterwards - mostly for the benefits until two years ago. This is the nature of "motion sickness" when it relates to cars. You only get it as a passenger because as a driver you anticipate the changes in movement as you are in control. https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/why-doesnt-the-driver-get-carsick https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/why-doesnt-the... Obviously "sea sickness" is another can of worms.

Izkata 4y ago
Huh, now I'm curious - would the passenger sitting in the back also reduce motion sickness since they don't have as clear a view of what's going on, so there's less to anticipate?
- wccrawford 4y ago
  IME, no. It's worse in the back. It's also worse when reading or looking at a phone, rather than the road. I guess that means that less information makes it even worse, not better.
- kennend3 4y ago
  My daughter is the same as this OP's partner. She can drive for hours just fine, but if she's a passenger ~20 mins is her comfort zone. Sitting "shotgun" or in the back doesn't make much of a difference. It is the "movements" which seems to trigger her. Think about how your body reacts to you driving. As you enter a turn you anticipate it and muscles tighten. This is more dramatic if you stop/start because this leads to the body being pushed forward. As a driver you know the car will be slowing down as you pushed on the brakes, passengers dont "know" this and their muscles dont react the same. When we go on road trips she refuses to drive yet this would actually help her motion sickness. She also fights for the "shotgun" seat claiming it "helps with my motion sickness"... Long road trips on the highway are easier for her vs short commutes because there is less "forward and back" movement. This is just my personal observations. Thank goodness for "Gravol" ;)

codegeek 4y ago

"No we couldn’t buy a big six foot three dude an old little beater" I understand that you prefer Uber and your arguments are valid but this specific statement is an excuse. You can always find a car that is not a beater but reliable and inexpensive (well unless this was during the last 12 months or when car sales were crazy). So make the argument that you don't want a car but don't make it by saying you cannot buy a reliable used car for a tall person. That is not true.

scarface74 4y ago
I absolutely hate being nickel and dimed and having to worry about car repairs. But at the end of the day, $17K for a car that will hopefully last 6-7 years is not expensive by any modern standard.
- Scoundreller 4y ago
  Are Kias that unreliable? I'm still operating a 17 year old Corolla in the rust belt that has some years left.
  - scarface74 4y ago
    You may have been driving your reliable car that you know the complete history of. I wouldn’t buy someone else’s 17 year old car. Again, we aren’t talking about a lot of money - $370/month for 4 years
  - onlyrealcuzzo 4y ago
    I've got a 2017 Kia Optima - drives like an absolute charm, never had one issue with it. I'm also 6'3" and I have plenty of room.