On listings, everything is “10 minutes away” — the market, the metro, the school, the office. In reality, 10 minutes often means “if there’s no traffic and you’re running.”
By actually timing the journey — from building gate to bus stop, from home to grocery store, from flat to main road — you get the truth. Do it at a realistic time, not just at 2 p.m. when the roads are empty.
Those extra minutes add up. A “15-minute” commute that’s actually 35 minutes becomes more than an hour lost every day. Multiplying that over months and years tells you how much of your life you’ll spend just getting places.
Realistic timing helps you judge whether a slightly more expensive but closer home might actually be cheaper in time, stress, and travel costs.
