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Going the distance to workBy Julie Clothier for CNN  Owen Kelly says his work-home situation is a "whacky existence" but it is one he would recommend. QUICKVOTEYOUR E-MAIL ALERTS(CNN) -- The daily commute becomes the bane of many workers' lives when they are forced to spend an hour or two in a car or on a train just to get to the office. Spare a thought then for Owen Kelly, whose travel time between work and home is nine hours -- by plane. But far from finding the commute, between his office in Dubai and home in Sydney, a drag, the Australian businessman has incorporated his nomadic existence into a way of life, making it work to his advantage. A recent forum held by the United Kingdom's biggest tour operator Thomson Holidays found that Kelly's lifestyle could become more common in the next decade. Though, unlike Kelly, the "overseas commuter" will base themselves in one country and commute back to their native land only when necessary for work. The emergence of the trend will be firmly established by 2016, according to the forum. Kelly described his situation as a "whacky existence." A member of the Royal Australian Navy for 20 years, he has spent much of his life on the move often on deployment for three- to six- month periods. When he left the navy 13 years ago to start a career as a consultant, his first assignment was in Sri Lanka and then Pakistan. "I built a good relationship with many of the multi-national CEOs and when many of them moved onwards and upwards to Dubai they asked me to come and do assignments for them, that led to more referrals in Dubai and the region," Kelly told CNN. "I find the work in Dubai and the region simulating and more challenging than home and it is great to mix with such a diverse cultural canvas." Kelly works as director of global change management consultancy Quest Worldwide, which is based in Dubai. He is normally on the road for two to three weeks at a time before returning to Australia, usually for two weeks. He said he would have moved to Dubai permanently but his wife was diagnosed with leukemia and stayed in Sydney for specialist health care. She is now in the clear but the lifestyle that started then has stuck and she now joins him a few times a year on trips to Dubai and on to Europe. Kelly travels so often that in January last year, he was the first Emirates passenger to clock up a million air miles. He said that while he enjoyed his lifestyle, it did have its downsides, including often feeling jet lagged. "I give myself at least a day either end of a trip to acclimatize. I also try to take flights that don't have early morning departures or arrivals. I drink plenty of water on the plane and also try to use the time on the plane as relaxation time. I rarely get out my laptop or do work on the plane," Kelly said. "People think traveling all the time is exotic and fantastic, but very quickly it becomes a real repetitive drudge, especially once you seen all the movies and read all the magazines a number of times." Having built up a good network of friends in Dubai and family in Sydney means he feels at home in both places. "I always really enjoy getting home to Sydney -- there is no where else like it and so when I am home, I try to maximize my time with my wife and kids and spend as little time at the office as possible." Although Kelly described his existence as enabling him to have "the best of both worlds" and would recommend it as a lifestyle, he did not think it would ever become commonplace. He said the key to making it work was setting aside time for yourself. "Companies expect you to travel in your own time and at ridiculous times sometimes -- you need to remain fresh," he said. Those taking part in the Thomson Holidays forum were British. The results showed Marrakech, Barcelona and Dubrovnik would become popular with culture-loving commuters whereas professionals were more likely to opt for business districts such as Hanover, Stuttgart and Verona. 
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