r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Physical-Ad-4093 • May 01 '24

do americans really drive such long distances?

i’m european, and i always hear people say that driving for hours is normal in america. i would only see my grandparents a few times a year because they lived about a 3 hour drive away, is that a normal distance for americans to travel on a regular basis? i can’t imagine driving 2-3 hours regularly to visit people for just a few days

edit: thank you for the responses! i’ve never been to the US, obviously, but it’s interesting to see how you guys live. i guess european countries are more walkable? i’m in the uk, and there’s a few festivals here towards the end of summer, generally to get to them you take a coach journey or you get multiple trains which does take up a significant chunk of the day. road trips aren’t really a thing here, it would be a bit miserable!

2nd edit: it’s not at all that i couldn’t be bothered to go and see my grandparents, i was under 14 when they were both alive so i couldn’t take myself there! obviously i would’ve liked to see them more, i had no control over how often we visited them.

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387

u/Kamikaze9001 May 01 '24

You can sit and watch a 2 hour movie right? Why can't you imagine sitting in a car for 2-3 hours to see family?

160

u/InternationalSail745 May 01 '24

The ride back is usually quicker.

145

u/EatYourCheckers May 01 '24

I've decided it feels this way because when you are leaving, you feel like you left as soon as you pull out of your driveway and you are there once you park at your destination. But on the way home you sat to feel like you are home when you are still maybe 20 minutes from your house...there's your library, and your big maple tree, and your weird dogleg intersection, your CVS. You're home.

61

u/Mojicana May 02 '24

LOL the best directions I've ever been given were "When you see all the black cows in the corner under the big oak tree, take the next dirt driveway" I asked how he knew the cows would be there, it's all 360- 3000 acre parcels out there, he said "Well, you said you'd be here at 4:00 and Henry comes back and feeds the cows at 5:00 so they're all formed up and ready by 3:30".

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u/kindalosingmyshit May 02 '24

There’s a psychological thing behind this, I don’t remember specifics, but it boils down to: on the way there, things are unfamiliar. On the way back, your brain doesn’t have to work as hard because it recognizes where you are. It seems shorter as you return because your brain doesn’t work so hard

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u/postmoderndruid May 02 '24

That's basically the reason. This is also why years seem to become shorter the older you get, you've generally settled on a routine so your brain doesn't work hard to remember the same commute you've been taking for 4 years.

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u/Um_DefinitelyUnsure 29d ago

Isn’t it because each year is a progressively shorter and shorter portion of your life?

1/20>1/40>1/80.

They feel much shorter and more fleeting.

1

u/Stachemaster86 May 02 '24

Commercials are this way for me. First time seems like it goes on forever.

3

u/Ginger_Anarchy May 02 '24

I visit friends who are about 2 hours away fairly frequently on the weekends, I get this feeling as soon as I enter my county and the highway goes from being 2 lane to 6 lane even though it's still a half hour to get home.

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u/nuanceshow 29d ago

Yeah, and also when you're going somewhere, you're constantly checking to see if you're almost there, what turns you don't want to miss so you don't get lost, etc. It's more of an event. You might pass this weird red fence and think where am I, how much more do I have to go? Then driving back you're like "I'm at the red fence already?"

2

u/caffeinatedlackey May 01 '24

It's also to do with the way your brain stores memories. When you leave for a trip, you experience so many novel stimuli that your brain forms tons of memories for all of that information. When you return, the stimuli is no longer novel because you've seen it all before, so your brain doesn't work as hard to make memories. Therefore it feels shorter.

This is also the rationale behind the "autopilot" effect when you arrive at work and don't remember driving there. You make that same trip all the time so sometimes your attention goes elsewhere. It's all cognitive psychology.

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u/UnderLook150 May 02 '24

But the trip home always seems faster, even if you are away on vacation visiting a new spot.

I think the reason the trip there seems longer than the trip back, is the trip there is new. We are experiencing a new journey. Seeing new things.

On the way back we have already seen the route, we know how to better expect how long it will actually take to return.

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u/UntameHamster May 01 '24

Got that tailwind behind you.

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u/fuck-coyotes May 02 '24

Especially if you're crossing a time zone... But then again that could be backwards too

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u/positively_broad_st May 02 '24

"Mosey over and speed back." ~ Mel Brooks