Pizzas galore!

Hairdressers also require a licence to operate. Add to that the fact that he pays tax both in the UK and across the Atlantic and Preston could be forgiven for throwing in the hairdryer and heading back home for good. But, he says, the advantages far outweigh the drawbacks.

“I started commuting to New York about two years ago, initially because my partner, Rory Donaldson, who is an artist, is out there. But I fell in love with the people and the eclectic mix of lifestyles.”

Preston spends six weeks in America and six weeks at his salon, Klownz, in Edinburgh’s Stockbridge. When in New York, he works from his ground-floor apartment two blocks east of buzzing Union Square.

His clients include artists and impeccably groomed women who pay upwards of $150 (£85) for a haircut and the chance to enjoy that most treasured of New York experiences — sitting in the garden. In a city where most apartments are up 16 flights of stairs and the size of a postage stamp, Preston is lucky enough to have found a garden flat complete with gazebo and fountain.

“This is a big deal in New York. Even though our space is not huge, we are lucky to have the garden. Unless you are a zillionaire, most people in New York live in shoe boxes,” he laughs.

He also loves the contrast between Edinburgh and New York. In the Big Apple he is always busy, cutting hair in his apartment then taking his clients for supper.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were spotted in the Irish pub round the corner recently and Preston opened his door a couple of months ago to find the hit television series Law & Order filming outside. “It’s such an exciting place to be,” he says.

Being Scottish, Preston jokes, he shops around for flights, sometimes paying as little as £200.

Goldsmith can beat that. Her cheapest ticket to Geneva, the nearest airport to Chamonix, cost just £37 one way. “I know I’m maybe commuting too much when people say hello to me on the flight,” she laughs.

Her battered Ford Fiesta sits at the airport ready for the hour-long drive to Chamonix. Although she has a house in Newtonmore, she camps out at her parents’ home in Corstorphine when she is working in Edinburgh. Door to door her journey takes less than five hours.

Another Scot who thinks nothing of catching a flight to the office is Aileen McLeod. Based in Brussels, she is a policy adviser for Alyn Smith, the Scottish National party MEP, and has been commuting between Brussels and Edinburgh about every two weeks for the past year.

In Belgium she rents a one-bedroom apartment 20 minutes’ walk from parliament. Prices are around the same as home, with people spending upwards of £270 a month for accommodation. “I would say that food is cheaper, though, and there’s greater variety of fresh produce,” says McLeod, 34.

She finds working abroad a fantastic experience, especially at the parliament. “Everybody comes here with all their various interests and concerns and they are put in a big cauldron, so there has to be a lot of working together to find a way forward,” she says.

Her hours are flexible, but even if she leaves at 7pm, there are still numerous lights on as MEPs and staff prepare for committee meetings and plenary sessions.

Sundays, however, are deemed relatively sacrosanct. She says: “Belgium is family-oriented, so on Sundays the shops shut and you see everyone out on their bikes and in-line skates together. We had a car-free day on a Sunday recently. It was a big occasion, there were even horse-drawn carriages.”

Preston, meanwhile, is not the kind of man with the patience to be pulled round a park by horse. In fact, such is his love of working in New York that the only part of the commute he dislikes is when the plane lands. “It’s just that short time when it is taxiing to a stop. All I can think of is that I want to get off, get out there and get on with it.”

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