Aengus O'Hanlon is the editor of Dublin Live. Here, he tells us about his regular journey from his home in Portmarnock to our office at Park West.
Tell me about your regular journey to work
It depends on the shift I'm on. If I'm coming in for half 6, that's a beauty because I hop in the car at around five to six and in half an hour I've come from Portmarnock to Park West.
Whereas if I'm coming in for 10 or 11 and I'm not driving, it's a completely different kettle of fish. I might have to get a train to town and another one out to Park West.
Is there anything that affects how long it takes?
Sometimes you slow between Clontarf and Connolly because of a backlog of other trains, and if I'm on the 10:15am, I need that to connect with the 10:45am to Hazelhatch, which stops at Park West-Cherry Orchard.
Then I'll see the train I need to catch at platform 7 while I'm coming in to platform 4, and I have this mad dash under the tunnel and past the newsagent at Connolly – sometimes you're lucky and sometimes you're running up the ramp as it pulls off. There's not another one for an hour, so if that happens you have to walk across town and catch a bus.
Sometimes I cycle too – if I'm coming in for half 10 or 11 I'll get the train into town and cycle out to Park West, which takes about 20 minutes. Then I'll do the full trek home, and that takes about 50 minutes.
Do you listen to anything on your commute?
Generally I'll listen to Newstalk or Radio 1 in the mornings because I want to stay informed.
Do you listen to podcasts?
I do going home - not on the way to work. It's generally sport ones - I'm a Liverpool fan so I listen to The Anfield Wrap and the Liverpool Echo's Blood Red podcast pretty religiously, and the Sunday Supplement from Sky Sports. I like Joe Rogan as well because he's entertaining. Sometimes I listen to TED talks as well.
I listen to them to relax, or because they are interesting - rather than because they would be useful to me over the course of the day like morning radio. I always listen to podcasts when I'm cycling as well.
Do you work while travelling to the office?
If I'm on the train I'll be checking our website, looking at other newspapers and seeing what's breaking. Through an industry app called Clipshare I can read all the newspapers online, but usually I'm looking for stories.
I'm checking how last night went, and I'll be ringing my team to see if they have this or that, or if there's anything I've heard about in the morning before I come in, so they can start chasing it.
I'm in work mode the second I get up. Whoever's in at half six, I'm generally up around six most mornings so once they're settled in at around seven I'll give them a quick ring and have a quick chat. Then I'll stay in touch with them throughout the morning until I'm in myself.
It drives them mad but they're used to it.
What’s the best commute you’ve ever had?
I worked for a newspaper in Perth called The West Australian, and their offices were in a place called Osborne Park, and that was super easy. We lived just off the highway, so it was 10 minutes to work.
Then when I lived in France I used to teach English in a school, and I could walk it in 10 minutes or cycle it in two.
And the worst?
That was when I was in college at UCD. I was still living in my mum and dad's house in Portmarnock and the DART at that point didn't go that far. You had to get a bus to Sutton, then a DART to Sydney Parade, and then wait for a 52 bus or just walk to UCD, which takes about 15 or 20 minutes.
It was a couple of hours door-to-door, so more often than not you'd end up having a few drinks in the students' bar and then find a mate in the halls of residence and stay the night on their couch - or floor.
My mum and dad used to say, 'You just use this house as a hotel!'. How right they were.
