november-2010

PHOTOS © SEAN MALYON, DAN KENYON, TIM WHITE
JONATHAN CHETRIT, 27
THE COMMUTER
Jonathan Chetrit was happy living at home
in Bordeaux with his young family, but
when he completed his doctorate at the end
of last year he realised the search for a job in
biomedical science would take him further
than the usual commute.
“I fi nished my studies in France last year,”
he explains, “but it’s almost impossible to
fi nd a position just after fi nishing school. I
decided I’d travel abroad to fi nd work, so I
started fi nding out which places I could fl y
direct from Bordeaux and realised it’s easy
to take a fl ight across to the UK.”
His wife has a job in France and his
eldest son has started school there, so when
Chetrit was offered a position working in
the labs at Sheffi eld University, his life as an
international commuter began. He generally
works in Sheffi eld for two weeks at a time,
returning home at least twice a month for
a few days, and sometimes for a week when
he can fi t it around work. It’s a journey that
dwarfs most commutes, but Chetrit says the
fl ying is the easy part.
“I used to fl y with the fl ag carriers, but
I found the service they provided was the
same as easyJet, so now I can have a great
fl ight for not too much money. I only wish
the trains were as good. I take two – one
from Luton to Leicester, and one from
Leicester to Sheffi eld. The fl ight is only an
hour and a half, but the whole journey from
my house in Bordeaux to my apartment in
Sheffi eld takes six or seven hours. I take an
early train, which costs around £130 return,
so I end up spending twice as much on the
train as I do on my fl ights!”
He says it’s working well, to keep his
family at home in Bordeaux and to have “a
brilliant job in a really friendly city”. Next
time he’s going to be the one staying put,
when his wife and sons come to see his place
in Sheffi eld for the fi rst time. Could he see a
future for them there? “I think we could stay
here for a little while.”
TRAVELLER TALES | easyJet GENERATION
MAGGIE LUNA, 19, moved to
Madrid to study fi ne arts at Alcála de
Henares. She returns to Manchester
most months to see her friends and
family, but now she has even more of
a reason to fl y home. “My big sister
Helen just had her fi rst baby, Jake,
and she made me his godmother,”
Luna says. “I don’t have much money
to burn, but I always fi nd something I
can afford on easyJet.”
It’s tough when your best mate moves
abroad, as CHRISTINE ABRAMSOHN,
27, from Berlin found out. Her closest
friend Aoife moved to Germany in
1995. Abramsohn took her under her
wing at their school on day one and
the two were inseparable. “In 2003 her
parents moved back to England, and
we knew it wouldn’t be long before
she went back too,” she says. The
pair regularly emailed, but it wasn’t
the same, and Abramsohn knew
she wanted to visit Aoife in her new
home, Luton. “If it wasn’t for easyJet, I
couldn’t afford to visit her so often.”
“I was 21 when I fi rst visited Méribel
to work in a chalet," recalls PAUL
LITTLETON, 36. “When the season
ended I didn't want to get a job back in
Glasgow.” Littleton moved to Annecy
– 40 minutes from Geneva – where
he now works as an English teacher.
He married Laurelle and they have two
children. “When we had our fi rst son
my parents were upset we were so far
apart,” says Littleton. “But frequent
fl ights between Glasgow and Geneva
mean we see them every month.”
Our jet set contacted us via
Facebook to tell us about their
lives. Find an easyJet community in
your language at facebook.com
15 TH BIRTHDAY ISSUE | TRAVELLER | 45