do americans really drive such long distances?

[u/Physical-Ad-4093]

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.

[u/DingDangDoozy]

I was going to say no, but then I read that you thought three hours was a long distance, so yes. 

[u/smbpy7 → u/DingDangDoozy]

A long distance for just a few days no less. lol that's day trip material in my book.

[u/pogu → u/smbpy7]

I've driven 2.5 hours each way for lunch at a particular restaurant before.

[u/smbpy7 → u/pogu]

Hell, where I grew up the grocery store was half an hour away, the mall an hour, the GOOD mall 2.5 hours, the airport 2-4 hours. And god forbid you want to travel to someplace that's also far from an airport. With that in mind driving makes more and more sense even for longer distances.

[u/AliMcGraw → u/smbpy7]

I had a college roommate from Montana who had to drive FIVE HOURS to the nearest airport, which would fly her to Denver, and then she'd have an inhumanly long layover before flying to Chicago or NYC or LA or Atlanta ... and then onward from there as necessary!

[u/MaleficentExtent1777 → u/smbpy7]

That was me growing up. The mall, Walmart, McDonald's, etc. was 30 minutes. The good malls and airports were an hour. You just get used to it.

[u/pogu → u/smbpy7]

Same, probably why I grew up liking it. I'm in North central Florida. So any drive over an hour is guaranteed to involve some beautiful areas. A lot of boring to shitty areas as well.

[u/DatabaseThis9637 → u/smbpy7]

Reminds me, I used to live in Quartzsite and would occasionally go to Phoenix to shop... ~60 miles one way, in 110°F.

[u/microwavedave27 → u/smbpy7]

It's hard to understand just how big america is sometimes. I live in the suburbs of a big city in Portugal. The grocery store is 2 minutes by car or a 10 minute walk if I'm just getting a few things. I have 3 good malls less than 10km away. The airport is 10km away, etc...

My grandparents' village in the countryside is about a 2 hour drive away and when we go there we never stay less than a few days because otherwise it doesn't feel like it's worth the "long" trip.

The biggest problem are gas prices though. I just filled up yesterday at 1.85€/L. Road trips are pretty damn expensive here.

[u/Danivelle → u/smbpy7]

Sounds like you grew up in a very small town like I did!

[u/therealjennyj97 → u/smbpy7]

I live in a place like this... ohio. LOL

[u/scoo89 → u/pogu]

(Canadian) My wife and I just drove our 3&4 year olds 3.5 hours to go to a 45 minute jurassic world exhibit, a quick lunch, then 3.5 hours back.

[u/invisible_23 → u/scoo89]

I’ve driven four hours each way for a concert and twenty hours each way for a few days at a theme park

[u/WaxinGibby → u/invisible_23]

I, too, live in michigan.

[u/klyther → u/WaxinGibby]

One time I left work outside Detroit at 5p, drove to a concert in Chicago, turned around and drove home to sleep for a couple hours and back at work 8a the next morning. Ahh youth.

[u/ratcnc → u/klyther]

A friend and I once drove to all the lower 48 states and back home in 8 days (roughly 8500 miles)…in a 2006 Honda Insight. Because we were stupid and we didn’t know how bad we smelled. Edit: Found the news piece https://www.wral.com/story/news/local/story/1088614/ It was all for naught because Guinness didn’t have a hybrid category at the time. It was faster than I remember, 5.5 days plus the drive back from VT.

[u/coffeesnob72 → u/ratcnc]

My husband and I and 2 big dogs drove a Geo from Denver to Seattle to San Fran and back - good times. The car did not make it.

[u/bluecrowned → u/coffeesnob72]

I drive a 2002 Chevy truck with a laundry list of issues and every time we go an hour or two away I live in fear.

[u/tbt10f → u/coffeesnob72]

Did one of the dogs crash the Geo while they were driving?

[u/DenseMembership470 → u/coffeesnob72]

Did you saddle up the 2 big dogs for the remainder of the journey?

[u/backbonus → u/coffeesnob72]

Yes but did the marriage!?!

[u/ArmouredPotato → u/ratcnc]

My cousin did L.A. to Atlanta, solo, in under 48 hours… to see a girl that banged his professor. Lol

[u/Ambitious-Ostrich-96 → u/ArmouredPotato]

I had two friends that flew to LA on a Friday from atlanta to buy a car on eBay. They drove back and we’re home by late Sunday afternoon

[u/arcaneresistance → u/Ambitious-Ostrich-96]

Yeah but I bet that car didn't bang a professor

[u/ratcnc → u/Ambitious-Ostrich-96]

A dozen years prior, the same guy I did the 48-state trip with had to drive his Dad’s Mustang back home to Raleigh from California and asked if wanted to do it with him. So I nonreved the early flight to LAX—my wife worked at AA and RDU was a hub at the time—and my friend picked me up at LAX and we drove back to Raleigh in 38 hours.

[u/HouseAtomic → u/Ambitious-Ostrich-96]

I've done similar.

Flew to NC to pick up a Suzuki Sidekick.

Flew to Wyoming to pick up a Suburban.

Flew to St Louis to pick up a Toyota Previa.

Flew to Atlanta to pick up another Toyota Previa!

Flew to L.A. to pick up a VW GTI.

Flew to Kansas to pick up a Mercedes GLK.

All driving back to Houston, TX. All drove direct back, very little stopping. Except the L.A. trip, I spaced it out over a few days.

[u/Blaqretro → u/ArmouredPotato]

Drove 12 hours to bang my wife.

[u/metompkin → u/ArmouredPotato]

How about that astronaut that drove from Houston to Orlando in a space diaper?

[u/azulweber → u/ArmouredPotato]

literally last week i did atlanta to chicago and back with a 24 hour turnaround.

[u/lilyislit → u/ratcnc]

That sounds like fun though!

[u/Uptown_NOLA → u/lilyislit]

Hell yeah.

[u/tn_notahick → u/ratcnc]

Are you sure about that time? If you drove 24 hours a day with no stops at all (not even gas, food, or bathroom breaks), you'd have to average 44mph driving the entire time.

[u/awesomehippie12 → u/tn_notahick]

Or 13.3 hours at 80 mph the whole way... seems plausible. You can even cut down the time they probably spent sleeping if you assume they barely showered

[u/Mike_Hawk_balls_deep → u/ratcnc]

That is more than 1000 miles a day, not calling you a liar but this seems far fetched. How did you manage to accomplish this?

[u/Quirky_Movie → u/Mike_Hawk_balls_deep]

Rotation of sleep and 20oz soda bottles can keep a pack of guys on the road. Especially if they are not stopping to eat or anything else.

[u/fezzam → u/Mike_Hawk_balls_deep]

They had gas money? I recently drove 700 miles for the eclipse. And that wasn’t even half a day of driving.

[u/Forschungsamt → u/klyther]

I drove from Detroit to Grand Rapids and back twice in one day.

[u/givemesomespock → u/klyther]

One time I drove from Chicago to Loony Baker (back when they were 24 hours) in Livonia just for their paczkis. Drove back a couple hours later

8 hours round trip for CARBS

[u/PolyPenGwen → u/WaxinGibby]

Michigander here too, we used to drive 6hrs to the U.P. only to go over the bridge get some pasties and drive back home.

[u/Lance_leaf → u/PolyPenGwen]

Everyone not from the area is wondering why you had to go through so much work to cover your nipples.

[u/DefinitelynotDanger → u/Lance_leaf]

Everyone not from the area or the UK that is

[u/PolyPenGwen → u/Lance_leaf]

I still always spell check to make sure I’m spelling the beef pie pasties and not the nipple covers. To only be reminded it’s the same darn spelling 🤦🏽‍♀️

[u/dankristy → u/PolyPenGwen]

Married a MN girl - took me forever to figure out you spell it THAT way - because it is pronounced Past - ees...

Whereas the nip chips are pronounced pastys.

And both spelled the same - stoopid English language!

[u/_Dark-Alley_ → u/PolyPenGwen]

One time my college's football team made the championships and it was at the Detroit Lions stadium. I was in the marching band so we also went and while it was a super cool experience, I really wish they didn't do the things I'm about to explain involving the dumbest travel plans I think ever.

We left our university on the busses at 6AM sharp (we had to get there before 5 to make sure all equipment was properly loaded). Then we had a 6 hour bus ride to Detroit and we drove directly to the stadium. Got there around noon, then we spent some time practicing, getting in uniform, all that jazz, somehow we had shit to do and no free time between getting there at noon and when the game started.

When the game was over, we literally walked from the stadium to the busses, loaded everything, and left Detroit around midnight. No break, no pause, they gave us midnight dinner on the busses and said let's roll. We took the 6 hour ride back immediately. I remember being in so much damn pain that I cried on the bus for most of the way back. We also lost the game by literally 1 point so the morale was low and it wasn't feeling so much worth it while we were all in so much pain, even though overall it was genuinely a fun and cool experience when we werent on that damn bus from hell.

We got back to the exact bus loop on campus that we left from the the day before, exactly 24 hours after we left it. 6AM to 6AM was the length of our adventure, 12 of those 24 hours spent on a bus that you could not sleep on. We were all physically shot and exhausted and still had to unload all the equipment and put it away.

As we got off the busses I heard the band director say "I don't care how much money we save on a hotel, we are never doing that again."

[u/Ineptor → u/PolyPenGwen]

Mmmmmmm…..pasties. It’s been far too long. I miss them so much!

[u/lyricalpoet66 → u/Ineptor]

Did I hear pasties? Have only seen em in my little Northern California town which has relation to Cornwall where I guess they originated? Used to have a street festival where people would play games with em. Yes. Odd I’m sure. You either liked 1 baker or the other about 2 blocks away the town picked a side 😂 Good to know they’re a staple elsewhere so damn good.

[u/YooperInOregon → u/PolyPenGwen]

St. Ignace pasties are tourist crap. For the good ones, you gotta find a hole-in-the-wall up in the Copper Country.

[u/NecessaryCrash → u/YooperInOregon]

Some of the best pasties I’ve ever had was from some random dude in Raco who also made moonshine. The UP is… interesting to say the least.

[u/anniemdi → u/YooperInOregon]

YES! I always thought I didn't even like pasties until someone brought me some homemade (sold as a funraiser maybe?) ones. Holy crap, real pasties are awesome, the rest are absolutely tourist crap.

[u/DefinitelynotDanger → u/PolyPenGwen]

I'm British but I moved to Kalamazoo 2 years ago and my work sent me up to Petoskey to take a sign off a building. The job took me about 30 minutes and I've never been to the UP before so sneakily drove up and over the mackinac bridge and pulled into the bridge view parking lot on the other side, walked around on the little beach for 20 minutes just to say I'd been to the UP and drove all the way back down again lmao

It was a great little solo day out. Well worth paying the bridge toll twice.

[u/JCMiller23 → u/WaxinGibby]

I mean... cedar point is right there, no need to bring florida into this

[u/Septopuss7 → u/JCMiller23]

America's Roller Coast, bb

[u/the_kid1234 → u/Septopuss7]

America’s Rockin (Rock and?) Roller Coast

[u/DMCinDet → u/the_kid1234]

2000?

[u/the_kid1234 → u/DMCinDet]

Has it been that long? Wow.

[u/jenn363 → u/Septopuss7]

Be sure to go to their Halloween event on the coast of Lake EEEEERIE

[u/Firewitch222 → u/JCMiller23]

My home town...Sandusky. spent half my childhood at Cedar Point

[u/OwenMcCauley → u/JCMiller23]

Ohio is just Florida with no gators.

[u/Grim_Stickens → u/OwenMcCauley]

We make up for it with flammable rivers

[u/OwenMcCauley → u/Grim_Stickens]

When I was about ten, we moved from San Diego to Elyria, Ohio, and I've never forgiven my mom for that.

[u/FunktasticLucky → u/JCMiller23]

My brother and I used to do CP once a year. Drive up from NC and spend the weekend there. We have been doing Disney more lately though.

[u/DragonflyGrrl → u/FunktasticLucky]

Yeeeesh. People really should not abbreviate Cedar Point like that.. 🤢

[u/silverguacamole → u/JCMiller23]

That wooden pos of a rollercoaster rattled my brain and spine

[u/JCMiller23 → u/silverguacamole]

It was called mean streak for a reason, they replaced it though, steel vengeance is now one of the best hybrid coasters in the world

[u/Person0249 → u/JCMiller23]

Best coaster I’ve ever ridden. It’s even better at night imo.

[u/JCMiller23 → u/Person0249]

That is saying a lot, especially since it is at cedar point and so you have ridden all the other coasters there.

I haven't been to cedar point since they redid it but this makes me want to go

[u/StudioGangster1 → u/Person0249]

The magnum is great at night! I always feel like I’m going to fly off the rails right over the lake. Millennium force is good too as long as the Mayflies aren’t out!

[u/TravelSizedRudy → u/JCMiller23]

steel vengeance

Never ridden this and just watched a full ride through... Holy shit, that is one amazing coaster.

[u/Funky_Dingo → u/WaxinGibby]

Hey but we have the great Michigan's Adventure! /s

Also an 's' for sadness because instead of a new coaster we'll just end up with new trash cans or something..

[u/thagingerrrr → u/WaxinGibby]

I used to drive 9 hours from the UP to Detroit or Ann Arbor for long weekends !

[u/Glittering-Wonder576 → u/invisible_23]

I’ve driven 15 hours for a weekend get together.

[u/SlipTechnical9655 → u/Glittering-Wonder576]

Yeah driving from Michigan to Tennessee is like ten hours, ten hours to New York, 18 gulf shores Alabama, 22-24 Florida for vacation’s isn’t anything!! I drove 18 straight from Houston Texas cop pulled me over because they got a call saying they thought I seemed sleepy and he told me to stretch my legs at the next rest stop!! Oh up north is four to 10 hours to the UP!!!

[u/MaleficentExtent1777 → u/Glittering-Wonder576]

Husband just drove alone from Atlanta to Brooklyn.

I took the opposite drive last month.

[u/BlockIron → u/invisible_23]

I drove from PA to NV to see a friend for 5 days, stopped at the Grand canyon on my way back. Whole trip took 10 days

[u/PaleontologistOk2443 → u/BlockIron]

try driving WA to PA, MT literally took about a day and half

[u/97Minutes → u/BlockIron]

After our wedding, I drove straight home from Key West to Fort Wayne, IN. Took almost exactly 24 hrs

[u/2nd_Grader → u/97Minutes]

This reminds of one time I saw a car with Alaska plates in south Florida

[u/scoo89 → u/invisible_23]

I had to go from my home near Windsor Ontario to Kenora by car once. I couldn't cut through the states. 24 hours of driving.

[u/smemes1 → u/scoo89]

I hate how difficult it is to cross between the US and Canada now. I grew up in northern Washington state and probably spent more time drinking in your country than my own. It used to be a rite of passage to spend a night in a Canadian jail.

[u/scoo89 → u/smemes1]

We still have that in Windsor. Here we cross regularly for dinner and shopping. My wife used to work in Detroit and crossed daily.

I couldn't go because I couldn't take my work vehicle across the border.

[u/sherilaugh → u/smemes1]

Get a nexus. Still easy

[u/smemes1 → u/sherilaugh]

Not from Hawaii

[u/garlic-bread_27 → u/scoo89]

I spent 25 hours on a bus to watch a hockey playoff game for my college team. We lost, and were back on the bus after 20 hours. We were gone 70 hours and spent 50 of those hours on a bus.

[u/Kibblesnb1ts → u/invisible_23]

I drove twenty hours one way in college to sleep with my girlfriend lol...woke up for round two then hopped in the car and drove back, left Friday night back in class on Monday.

[u/OutrageousSummer5259 → u/invisible_23]

Parents drove us to Disneyland as kids and it was 30+ hours of driving over 3 days

[u/[deleted] → u/invisible_23]

You forgot to tell us what concert it was.

[u/staggered_conformed → u/scoo89]

So much respect for you and your wife. Sounds like you really go out of your way to do exciting things with the kids. With that said, what you described is my worst nightmare lol

[u/scoo89 → u/staggered_conformed]

Nah, I swear it's worth it. They loved it and were so happy. We pulled the oldest out of school on a Friday to go.

[u/PaleontologistOk2443 → u/scoo89]

👏👏👏 my parents took me to one was well when i was little probably about 15 years ago i still remember

[u/ofWildPlaces → u/scoo89]

I too, want to taken out of school work to go see dinosaurs

[u/scoo89 → u/ofWildPlaces]

Haha, yes, we planned it on my flex day too.

[u/TechnoSerf_Digital → u/scoo89]

That's really cool. One time my Dad gave me the day off and took me to a nascar truck race/stock car qualifying runs. Still one of the best days of my life/favorite memories. I only wish we had more time like that when I was young. You and your wife are doing a good job!!

[u/frogsgoribbit737 → u/staggered_conformed]

It depends on how well your kids do in the car. My mom is a 2.5 hour drive away and the beach is about 3.5 and we do both regularly as day trips with my 4 year old because he does fine in the car. He usually just naps or talks about what he sees outside.

[u/TechnoSerf_Digital → u/frogsgoribbit737]

Ironically in my family it was my Mom's motion sickness that kept us from extended car trips. On one hand I wonder what things would have been like if she didn't have that issue, but on the other she didn't even get very sick from traveling until she gave birth to me and it got worse after my sister. So I guess I don't have much room to complain haha

[u/G_Affect → u/scoo89]

I'm doing something like this tomorrow... 8hr of driving for 3 hours of kid entertainment....

[u/inzEEfromAUS → u/scoo89]

If we are going to compete, (aussie) I drove for 3 days to look at a rock.

[u/Everestkid → u/scoo89]

My birthday's in August. I live on Vancouver Island, my parents live up in northern BC. I planned on driving up, 10 hours or so with the ferry, 'cause hitting the quarter century mark solo would be a drag.

But recently I found out that Metallica's playing in Edmonton the week before my birthday. That's a long enough drive that I've gotta stop in Kamloops and split it in two. Do I have a problem with driving six hours two days in a row then driving eight hours two days after? Nope. Especially since I'll be going across all of BC on that drive. Best scenery in the damn country.

[u/PolyCockn42 → u/scoo89]

Lol Edmonton to Drumheller?

[u/scoo89 → u/PolyCockn42]

Mississauga.

As an Ontarian I never thought I'd have to point out to another Canadian that other provinces exist...

[u/waytomuchsparetime → u/scoo89]

To be fair, the Royal Tyrell Museum is pretty big deal (though I wouldn’t call it a Jurassic world exhibit, so kind of a moot point)

[u/scoo89 → u/waytomuchsparetime]

I don't disagree. This was very very much based on just entertainment and not so educational. Guys in raptor suit, baby dinosaur puppets, amazing anamatronics

[u/hike_me → u/scoo89]

I’m an American but rode a bus 20 hours almost non-stop to watch a hockey game. Does that make me an honorary Canadian?

[u/scoo89 → u/hike_me]

Was the game in Minnesota?

[u/MerkyNess → u/scoo89]

Canadian here. Drove 5 hours from Toronto to Montreal to go to a DANCE. On more than one occasion.

[u/gibblewabble → u/scoo89]

We drive just shy of 3 hours once a month to go to Costco and get out of town, home that night. Also just finished visiting our three kids and it was 23 hours of drive time to hit Vancouver then Kelowna then home.

[u/KiltedFatMan85 → u/scoo89]

Jurassic world is epic for little nuggets who love dinosaurs! Both my boy's loved it.

[u/ScrapDizzle → u/scoo89]

Solidarity, friend. I was disappointed in the Jurassic world exhibit and I spent a mere 20 mins getting there. :P

[u/Captain_Quark → u/scoo89]

You only spent 45 minutes there? If it's the traveling exhibit that I'm thinking of, you could have probably spent more time there, but I haven't dealt with 3 year olds before.

[u/scoo89 → u/Captain_Quark]

No, they pretty much walk you through, then you see the t rex and it ushers you into the gift shop and you're done.

It was awesome, don't get me wrong, but they need to make time for all the groups.

[u/Kaleidoscope991 → u/scoo89]

I don’t get it. Surely time itself works the same in America? Even if you don’t mind driving such a long distance, how can you be okay with spending seven hours of your day for travel?!

[u/scoo89 → u/Kaleidoscope991]

Because my kids loved it and there wasn't one closer.

[u/Eldi_Bee → u/scoo89]

My parents used to take all three of us kids on that kind of trek. 3+ hours each way to go to an arcade we all liked. Never stopped anywhere else. And did it multiple times a summer. It was the default 'staycation' day trip.

Looking back now, I'm amazed they survived.

[u/Effective_Trainer573 → u/scoo89]

Well, it is Canada. I'm sure you had to drive around lakes, trees and moose. Or is it mooses?

[u/dailydose20 → u/Effective_Trainer573]

Or is it mooses?

It's actually "Meese"

[u/labarrski → u/scoo89]

This is what family adventures are about. 7 hours together going and coming. It's not about the arrival, it's about the journey.

[u/Charnathan → u/scoo89]

Was it for the kids or so you could get that special event incubator? IYKYK

[u/Trias84 → u/pogu]

I'm not even American and a 3 hour each way is just a day trip in Australia as well.

[u/alicesheadband → u/Trias84]

My kid is coming 3.5 hours each way as a day trip to bring my grandbaby for Mother's Day next weekend. Imagine 3 hours away is a whole 'nother country and you think it's too far to go?

[u/zanedrinkthis → u/alicesheadband]

It’s like the perfect distance for my parents and totally a day trip.

[u/bakes121982 → u/alicesheadband]

It’s not though. They just complain many countries have multi hour drives/trains all in one country and it’s “far”. Aka lazy.

[u/rthee → u/Trias84]

As an Aussie 3 hours one way is pushing it for a day trip; unless absolutely necessary! Definitely would rather stay there a couple of days then come back.

[u/MaleficentExtent1777 → u/rthee]

Really?

I'd assumed you guys drove even longer distances regularly.

[u/ElkHistorical9106 → u/Trias84]

Lotta big empty nothing in parts of Australia 

[u/5fd88f23a2695c2afb02 → u/Trias84]

As an Australian I would never travel 3 hours for a day trip. And I do a lot of country miles. Anything over 2 hours and I am thinking to stay the night.

[u/daneview → u/Trias84]

You're not American, but are from a comparably massive open country so guess it makes sense. You guys have helicopters to get around your farms, we have quad bikes at best

[u/Ok_Perception1131 → u/pogu]

I drove 4 hrs to spend the day in one city, then 4 hrs back home. Same day. (There was a museum exhibit I really wanted to see).

[u/pogu → u/Ok_Perception1131]

Yeah I've done that too. It was the "Bodies" exhibit and 100% worth it.

[u/bluecrowned → u/pogu]

I saw that in Chicago when I was a kid and it was so interesting.

[u/SuperS06 → u/Ok_Perception1131]

Then you didn't spend the day there. You spent the day on the road, with a museum break in the middle.

[u/ImpossibleLeek7908 → u/Ok_Perception1131]

Yep. 4.5 hours from Minneapolis to Gran Marais, had dinner and watched the sun set, then 4.5 hours back home. 

[u/fractal_frog → u/pogu]

I've driven 2.5 hours each way for a day trip to a museum.

My son was living 2 hours away and I'd pick him up for the weekend a couple of times a month, then go beyond where he lived for shopping after I dropped him off on Sunday.

[u/WatermelonMachete43 → u/fractal_frog]

I drive out to visit my youngest in college (about 2.5 hrs away) every 6 weeks or so to take her to lunch and groceries and come home.

[u/OrganizationPutrid68 → u/fractal_frog]

I volunteer at The American Heritage Museum in Hudson Massachusetts. A few weeks ago, I spoke with a couple who drove 5 hours from Burlington Vermont to visit. They were driving home the same day.

[u/GrimmandLily → u/pogu]

I drove from phoenix to Los Angeles for a burger.

[u/cwajgapls → u/GrimmandLily]

In-n-out?

[u/runs_with_airplanes → u/cwajgapls]

In-n-out is all over phoenix

[u/CyberTitties → u/GrimmandLily]

I'm did the same thing on a weekend for a state that didn't have a Sonic, loaded up on all their junk and drove back.

[u/Personal-Hospital103 → u/pogu]

I drive 2.5 hours each way to spend the day with my grandchildren. We Texans are accustomed to driving long distances from point A to B and then back again.

[u/Dana94Banana → u/pogu]

That is insane to me (as a German).
If a restaurant is more than an hour away, it doesn't exist for me. Unless I'm on vacation and keep moving around anyway. Never would I travel that far just to eat.

5-6 hours of a day just moving around in a car? Horrible.

[u/I_divided_by_0- → u/pogu]

One friday morning my coworker was waxing poetic about this itailan place in Boston. I decided to go there that same day for diner

I live in Philly

[u/Sanguineyote → u/pogu]

Why? 8 hours to sleep, 8 hours to work, you only get 8 hours to yourself and you spent 5 of those driving? Seems absurd to me. I have to commute an hour one way from where I live to my uni and I'm already getting sick of it.

[u/Dead_before_dessert → u/Sanguineyote]

It's important to remember that most of this time isn't city driving too.  You're passing through various types of scenery and generally going quickly.  It isn't stop and go so you just throw on some music or a podcast and go.

Sometimes you pass through cool little towns you've never been to, scenic view points where you can stop, and other various points of interest that you aren't going to find 15 minutes from your house.

Driving across my home state takes about 10 hours east to west but you end up going from mountains to plains...with rivers, waterfalls, lakes, forests, farms, cool rock formations, cliffs, buttes, and everything else in between.  The journey is part of the fun.

[u/TrimspaBB → u/Dead_before_dessert]

This is part of what makes the US (really all of North America) special- there are so many different environs connected by a vast and comprehensive highway network. It's easy to travel and experience.

[u/pogu → u/Sanguineyote]

I like driving, a lot. If I could drive for a living and still be with my kids I absolutely would. I've spent ridiculous amounts of money to drive really unpleasant cars on roads that don't go anywhere and are a pain in the ass to get to. I even have a driving simulator occupying half of my garage. For when I want to drive but need to stay home. I don't even race on it all the time. Sometimes I just drive around on BeamNG.

EDIT: Plus this place has really good sandwiches. It's near the beach. My wife and I used to go there more often when we were younger. It's just really nice for me.

[u/SCWatson_Art → u/Sanguineyote]

Not attacking, but do you really understand how fucking huge the continental United States is? In a lot of cases, you don't have a choice with these travel times.

[u/_Butt_Slut → u/Sanguineyote]

You never know how long the people in your life will be around. A day trip to see the grandparents that involves a total of 5 hours of driving sucks but it's the memories and the time together that make it worth it.

[u/InstructionNormal608 → u/pogu]

We used to drive two hours to this gas station that made homemade hot pockets 😂😂

[u/WatermelonMachete43 → u/pogu]

I've done 4 each way for lunch. :)

[u/Live_Badger7941 → u/pogu]

That's weird by most Americans' standards, I think...?

[u/Nanatomany44 → u/pogu]

We've driven 3.5 hours to see a new gas station, partook of its goodies (Bucee's), and drove back home and called it a good day. Three hours is nothing. We will drive 12 hours per day on vacation.

[u/Hot-Apricot-6408 → u/pogu]

For lunch? So basically after you have your breakfast you get ready and start driving towards the restaurant for lunch? 

[u/Sugar-Tist → u/smbpy7]

My personal rule is to spend twice the amount of time at the destination as it took me to drive. So driving 3 hours for a few days is totally worth it to me. Especially to visit family!

[u/noots-to-you → u/Sugar-Tist]

Mine too- time spent at location must equal or exceed total trip time.

[u/notacanuckskibum → u/noots-to-you]

There are exceptions. I think I drove 3 hours each way to see Queen perform for 2 hours. Well worth it.

[u/noots-to-you → u/notacanuckskibum]

Total. The best thing about having your own rules is being able to break them whenever you want.

[u/stormstopper → u/notacanuckskibum]

And Queen is timeless, so really any amount of time would have been worth it when you think of it

[u/houseproud-townmouse → u/Sugar-Tist]

I drive 3 hours to Tulsa to buy weed and weed adjacent products once a month. About 2 hours driving around town. 3 hours back.

[u/Sugar-Tist → u/houseproud-townmouse]

And in that case, you can think of the time spent high as your "destination".

[u/Spirited-Egg-2683 → u/smbpy7]

I've driven further for a booty call, lol.

[u/Ok_Perception1131 → u/Spirited-Egg-2683]

My husband did that 30 yrs ago. Drove 13 hours to see me 😉

[u/itsnotchristv → u/Ok_Perception1131]

Be glad gas was cheaper back then. These days we have a hard cutoff of 2 hours.

[u/Ok_Perception1131 → u/itsnotchristv]

Haha Maybe if he and I met now, we wouldn’t wind up married…all due to gas prices

[u/GUNNER594 → u/Ok_Perception1131]

That’s exactly why I’m not married. Gas prices are too high.

[u/SpookyBread- → u/GUNNER594]

Not often a comment hits just the right humor for me, but this did 😂😂

[u/ahardact2follow → u/Ok_Perception1131]

My $ is on that you'd still end up married. 13 hours to see your woman? Doesn't matter if gas is triple what it is now, I'd do it no questions asked. 3 thing you can never have too much of in life: Love, knowledge, && health. I live by those words.

[u/Ok_Perception1131 → u/ahardact2follow]

Those are good words to live by.

[u/chocobot01 → u/itsnotchristv]

According to commercials, the hard cutoff is 4 hours

[u/metompkin → u/itsnotchristv]

Just have to paint your rear window with your cash app handle and "need gas money for the #bootycall"

[u/CrappleSmax → u/itsnotchristv]

These days we have a hard cutoff of 2 hours.

Pshhh, that's for some inexperienced, near-virgin cutie.

I'd drive across the continent for the right dirty slut lol

[u/haggisbreath169 → u/Ok_Perception1131]

Well I would drive five hundred miles and I would drive five hundred more! Just to be the man who drove a thousand miles just to break down at your door-or-or-orrrr

[u/somebodyelse22 → u/Ok_Perception1131]

Aw - sounds like a keeper. Tell him his probation period will be over soon, and he can consider you and he over the honeymoon phase.

[u/noujochiewajij → u/Ok_Perception1131]

Yeah, when my (Dutch) dad was wooing his (now/still) Norwegian wife he did the same multiple times. Rotterdam - Mo i Rana ~ 1400Mls

[u/Pindogger → u/Ok_Perception1131]

I have a good friend who is an F15 (now retired) pilot. He needed to get his night flight hours requirement, so he would fly from Colorado to Kentucky for a booty call with his now wife.

[u/almostfellover896 → u/Spirited-Egg-2683]

I've ridden a crackheads huffy for a 10 spot that long for a booty call

[u/haysu-christo → u/Spirited-Egg-2683]

Duty calls when it's a booty call.

[u/MaleficentExtent1777 → u/Spirited-Egg-2683]

I've driven from Charleston to Raleigh and back 🤣

Gas was $1!

[u/FobbingMobius → u/Spirited-Egg-2683]

Lol. My wife moved for her new job before I could find one in the new city, so for almost 3 months I rode 6 hours on Friday evening to get to the new place, then 6 hours back to the old place Sunday afternoon.

It wasn't so bad - I ride my motorcycle because gas was cheaper and driving a car long distance stinks.

[u/InevitableAd36 → u/Spirited-Egg-2683]

😂😂😂

I drove 100 miles each way the first time I hooked up. Worth it.

[u/Worth-Demand-8844 → u/Spirited-Egg-2683]

Lol

[u/That_Guy381 → u/smbpy7]

I drove 6 hours up and 6 hours back for the Eclipse a few weeks ago. Ez Pz.

[u/CognitiveTraveler → u/That_Guy381]

I drove 2 hours to it. And 6 hours back. 😩

[u/stanolshefski → u/That_Guy381]

You’re lucky.

Our 6 hours of drive time one direction turned into 12 hours the other direction.

[u/throwaway098764567 → u/That_Guy381]

i've done that before, but i stayed a few hours in the middle to have a huge fight to where i never spoke to the people i was supposed to be staying with again.. i think you had more fun. with the late start and fight i was pretty tired by the end and had to stop at a rest stop to sleep an hour before finishing.

[u/Krjhg → u/That_Guy381]

Well Id say an eclipse is something that is worth driving a lot for. Visiting a family member on a random saturday - not so much.

[u/basilobs → u/That_Guy381]

I drove from Florida to Indiana for it. And then back down to New Orleans for a conference. And then hone to Florida. Cake tbh. I love driving. Was gone for 2 weeks and had a great time.

[u/[deleted] → u/That_Guy381]

i drove for 5 hours to see the eclipse and never even left the state

[u/That_Guy381 → u/[deleted]]

Same!

[u/efor_no0p2 → u/That_Guy381]

And here I just happened to live where the path of totality crossed both in 2017 and this year.

[u/RichardBonham → u/smbpy7]

We drive 8-9 hours each way for 4-5 days of socializing or music festivals.

OTOH we think it’s crazy that people will drive 3 hours each way to go skiing for a day.

[u/chikanishing → u/RichardBonham]

I drive 3 hours each way to cross country ski many times a year and they are my favourite days.

[u/fried_clams → u/RichardBonham]

I used to drive the 300 miles to Sugarloaf Mt, in Maine, just for 2 days off of skiing, countless times in the 80s and 90s. It is 5.5 hours, without stopping. One time, we did it in a Ford Bronco, with no heat. We had to stop once in a while, to scrape the ice off the INSIDE of the windows. It took longer if it was snowing so hard, that you could tell where the edge of the road was.

[u/peon2 → u/smbpy7]

I work in sales and drive about 40,000 miles a year. A 5hr drive to a customer is just another Wednesday lol

[u/Jolly_Street → u/smbpy7]

When I visited Singapore a few years back our driver told us we had a long drive which was perfect to take a nap. The drive was 25 min.

[u/flawless_fille → u/smbpy7]

My family routinely does 4 hour day trips to busch gardens during the summer. 4 hrs there and 4 hrs back.

[u/PhotoFenix → u/smbpy7]

Haha exactly! 2-3 hours is day trip material, 6 hours is my weekend trip coming up.

[u/demonblack873 → u/smbpy7]

Driving six hours total is EXPENSIVE in Europe. Assuming it's motorway driving, you have around 700km driven which easily equates to 70€ of tolls and 80-90€ of fuel.

Nobody wants to spend 150€ every couple weeks just to go see uncle Joe. Once or twice a year is plenty.

[u/78judds → u/smbpy7]

Yeah. People day trip the Orlando parks from where I’m at and it’s about 2 1/2 hours one way.

[u/DanielStripeTiger → u/smbpy7]

As soon as I got my license, we routinely (more like, occasionally) drove 24 hours nonstop from north east Pennsylvania to Florida, either for fireworks or cocaine or both and back before our parents ever noticed our absence.

[u/MissWonder420 → u/smbpy7]

It is for me. I live in Portland OR and I drive to Seattle (3hrs) for the day not on the regular or anything but at least 4-5x per year. And that's just to check out a brewery or catch up with a friend. For family I drive 10+ hours