Most of the points I was going to make have already been mentioned, so I’ll try to make this brief.

Anyone considering this lifestyle should read Yaatri's post a few times. This is the reality you will face. I think he is lucky to have such an understanding wife, as I bet most spouses would not endure it that long. And the kids will say things like that and it will tear you up. There is nothing that can be done about that except not to go. My 8 year old stepdaughter said to me a few weeks ago “can’t you just tell your boss you aren’t going?” She has also made the comments about making money so that I wouldn’t have to leave.

I commuted weekly (Denver to DC) for about 4 months last year and it was not a fun lifestyle. You do get exhausted – and the redeye on a weekly basis will make it that much worse. I would not expect you to be able to endure that for more than a couple of months before you crack and either start flying out earlier on Sunday (which isn’t good as it cuts into family/home time) or flying on Monday (which, if you can swing it with work, is WAY better).

But the brutal reality of it for me was this: Even when not taking a redeye, you’re constantly exhausted; you’re a lot less productive because you’re exhausted (the uninterrupted time on the plane, if you can use it to work, helps make up for this, but if you’re taking a redeye, that’s probably out); you’ll be in a constant state of low level jetlag from changing 2 time zones every 4 to 5 days. I really think it took me several weeks to get back to normal after I stopped the every-week commute. After one month of doing it, I was ready to just move – but, ironically, since I was spending so much time traveling and at lower productivity levels, it was hard to find the time and energy to look for a job that didn’t require me to commute anymore! Plus, since no matter where I was (work or home) I was going to be leaving in 3-4 days, there were a lot more things both places that just didn’t get done since I was constantly in mental hurry-up mode (and in a fog).

Currently I’m commuting about every other week, having worked out something where I can work from home most alternate weeks. It is still far from ideal but it is WAY more manageable than doing it every week. Just having more than 3-4 consecutive days in one place makes a huge difference for your sanity and your relationships.

One other side effect for me – going from a somewhat-frequent flyer (20-30 round trips per year, which I had done comfortably for the past decade before this) to a very-frequent flyer (50+ per year) sure does change the way you look at flying! I wouldn’t necessarily say I enjoy it less, but I feel differently about it now that it takes up much more of my life.

Logistically: speaking specifically about your situation as someone who’s familiar with the Denver to East Coast run, even taking a 6PM from Denver that gets you in really late at night is, to me, far preferable than the redeye. (If you’re leaving 6 PM Monday night instead of Sunday, so much the better). Plus, the Denver-to-east-coast redeye schedules vary with demand and the seasons; CO occasionally has one to Newark but it isn’t year round. The only consistent redeyes that seem to run year round with few breaks are Jetblue to NYC and Delta to Atlanta. The CO one comes and goes, US had one to Philly that’s been gone for a while and a new one to Charlotte that has been around for the past few months, and UA to Dulles has shown up during busier travel seasons.

Send me a PM if you want to chat more offline about Denver-specific stuff/tips.