The long Trek to Work
The Everyday Lives of Working Nomads
It is just after 6 a.m., and Heiko Leder sits with his wife at the kitchen table. They speak in low tones to avoid waking their five children. They have just half an hour for one another, precious time. Now he pauses to give each sleeping child a kiss before leaving to catch his train. “If the train is late, especially at night, then I won't see the kids in the evening either. That really drives me crazy.† Heiko Leder works at Frankfurt Airport, and commutes five hours each day. For Leder and his family, everything revolves around the coming weekend. “I realize how much I’m missed at home. As a father, and as a husband.† With this way of life, everyone misses out, but moving is out of the question for the Leders. They are too well-settled in southern Germany. A way of life that has long been typical in other countries is now becoming familiar to increasing numbers of Germans as well. The economic situation is forcing more and more people to adapt themselves to a nomadic lifestyle. For each of our three protagonists, work is more than a mere necessity, it is also a passion. But at the same time, is it also a daily ordeal. But while each of them feels an ever-growing sense of longing for a stable domestic life, none still entertains a desire to relocate.
