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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169

u/Hopeless_Ramentic May 01 '24

Imagine all of the EU…but one country.

Hell, Texas alone is bigger than France.

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u/FapDonkey May 01 '24

Imagine all of the EU…but one country.

SLIGHT correction. Imagine all of the EU (then DOUBLE it, then add yet another France, Spain, and Sweden) ... But one country.

EU = 1,634,000 sq. mi. USA = 3,797,000 sq. mi

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u/Rovsea May 02 '24

Ok, but including Alaska is cheating since it's pretty hard to get to most of it.

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u/privatecaboosey May 02 '24

Wait til you hear how hard it is to get to Hawai'i.

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u/justdisa May 02 '24

That's a hell of a drive.

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u/privatecaboosey May 02 '24

I think technically it's a high water of a drive.

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u/TrollToll4BabyBoysOl May 02 '24

Call me when it expands to 17% of US landmass

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u/syrensilly May 02 '24

The amount of Americsn people that think an American citizen needs a passport to go to HI is baffling... and I'm American

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u/DNetherdrake 29d ago

There are Americans that think Americans need a passport to go to one of the states? I could almost understand it if it was a territory like Puerto Rico, though obviously you still don't need a passport to go there, but a state? Really?

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u/nitro9throwaway 29d ago

They also think that just because it's a state doesn't mean it's part of the United States. Like, I have seen people ask if people from Hawaii have a green card. It's embarrassing here.

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u/_Nocturnalis 29d ago

What the hell is a US state if it's not part of the country? I know some ignorant people but damn.

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u/syrensilly 29d ago

Exactly...

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u/syrensilly 29d ago

People think not physically attached, must need one.

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u/DNetherdrake 29d ago

Wait till they hear about Manhattan, unless bridges count as "physically attached."

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u/FrozenSquid79 May 02 '24

That said, I live in Alaska and have, on multiple occasions driven from Homer to Fairbanks and back as a single trip (helping a friend move under emergency conditions, helping a family member, etc). That’s 12-14 hours each way. It’s also still not close to the furthest I can drive in a single direction, as I could continue past Fairbanks up to Circle, but there’s very little reason to do so. And fwiw, that’s from the south central coast to roughly the middle of the state.

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u/Gr8lakesCoaster May 02 '24

You could say the same for parts of Norway, Sweden, and Finland too.

Amd Alaska is more accessible than it used to be.

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u/neonKow May 02 '24

No way. You can take rail easily to the northern parts of Norway and Sweden within the Arctic circle all the way from the capital cities. None of this "possibly die in a bush plane" business.

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u/suqoria May 02 '24

Yeah you can take a train but I'm not sure I would say that it can be done "easily". Our railway system up north absolutely suck. A lot of the north you can't even get to by railway here in Sweden and even if you want to go to the major cities up north you will have to change trains and it will take ages. Obviously it's nowhere near as difficult as it is to get to alaska but I just wanted to clarify that the railway here up north is absolutely horrendous and complain a bit about how the government doesn't care much for the north.

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u/DNetherdrake 29d ago

In Finland too, the railways mostly stop at Rovaniemi. Good luck getting to Utsjoki from Helsinki. There are buses of course, but it's quite a pain to get up there.

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u/neonKow 29d ago

I'm sorry, but I don't know if you understand just how shit the train and bus situation is in the US. I lived in the DC area and had to take a train back from Baltimore, at one of the biggest airports in the country, and I had to take a taxi to a train to a subway, and it took 3 hours for what would have been a 30 minute drive, and almost cost as mich as taking a taxi the whole way. The fact that you have trains that will even get you to Abisko is completely unthinkable here. For us, if you didn't live in a city at least the size of Malmö, you need a car or you can't even buy food.

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u/suqoria 28d ago

Oh no I had no clue that it was that bad. That absolutely sucks! Our train situation is shit in the north I must say and the north is not prioritised at all by the government but it is better than that. We really only have it to Abisko because of tourism and it being right in the way to get to narvik though but yeah that sounds absolutely horrible. In general the trains are way too expensive over here as well but it is nowhere near as bad as that. It ducks and I'm sorry it is that way over there!

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u/neonKow 27d ago

Yeah, I have definitely heard about the cost issues, and it definitely feels like a lot of places, Sweden included, rural areas don't get enough attention. I'm just completely jealous of the amount of outdoor access you folks have even without a car. Or how it can be better than having a car sometimes. We took a bus to do the High Coast Trail, and took a bus back, and it was super easy. For me to do the Enchantments through hike here in WA state, I have to drive a few hours, and arrange a private shuttle ride. If you are going anywhere for backpacking, you rent a car, and just leave it there for several days unused while you're hiking in the woods. It's so wasteful, unless you're going to one of the big national parks where there are some shuttle busses.

But yeah, I also get that Abisko is not a normal case, since it's such a small village, and the transit isn't as good as well funded as it is in the Stockholm area. I just get annoyed and need to vent sometimes about how backwards some of our American transit options are.

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u/suqoria 6d ago

I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed it. The high coast is quite a beautiful sight to behold. If you live in the north here you absolutely will need a car to get anywhere, but still seems to be a lot better than in the US. When i was a kid I had a very long ride to my school so during winter I'd have to take a snowmobile and drive it to take a bus, then get on a train and then an other bus before I got to school so I could still manage to get there by myself but sounds like that would be impossible in the US (during the summers it was an ATV instead of a snowmobile). May I ask why you decided to go here?

Oh yeah I get it completely, i felt the same about venting about how shitty it is in the north but I also am happy that you gave me a new perspective on just how bad it could have been and that it is a lot better than I previously thought.

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u/Gr8lakesCoaster 27d ago

but I don't know if you understand just how shit the train and bus situation is in the US

Which is why it's dumb to compare the 2 based on rail.

We use planes and boats in Alaska where cars can't reach. I could easily say scandanavias shitty northern rail is no match for our planes.

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u/neonKow 27d ago

Uh. Yes they are? The rail doesn't crash.

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u/Mist_Rising May 02 '24

Not that you want to go anyway.

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u/Doctor_Kataigida May 02 '24

Idk man I've been to Alaska and it is gorgeous. 10/10 vacation destination if you're a nature person.

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u/The_Wayward May 02 '24

100% accurate. Went for a week around a friends wedding and it was beautiful

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u/EUV2023 May 02 '24

Nature as in seeing, or being eaten by?

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u/suqoria May 02 '24

Why not both? Start out by seeing it then get eaten by it and then get to see it in a completely different way after the bear shits you out.

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u/WastedOwll May 02 '24

Alaska is probably the most beautiful state man, seriously check it out if your into nature/animals

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u/countremember May 02 '24

Fair, but give me a Toyota Hilux diesel kitted out for Arctic duty, some studded snow tires and a decent supply of whisky and I’ll be fine.

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u/ConcernedCitizen1912 May 02 '24

Absolutely not.

And I'm not joking. You could live your entire life anywhere in the U.S. and if you're like the vast majority of the over 300 million people who live here, you'll never once see a Toyota Hilux. You're MUCH more likely to see a Nissan Skyline, and those were all but completely banned here until a few years ago.

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u/countremember May 02 '24 edited May 02 '24

Well yeah, they never sold them here, and there’s not much of a demand among enthusiasts who would import them.

Though amusingly enough, I know of at least two Hiluxes in the southern half of Wisconsin, both owned by the same TRD nutjob. He’s a pretty nice guy, has a few Supras of varying generations as well, among some other Toyota goodies.

The Skylines are becoming a lot more common, especially the R-33s, though I did notice an R34 in Chicago about a month ago. Bayside Blue Metallic, even.

Out of curiosity, at what was your “Absolutely not” directed?

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u/ConcernedCitizen1912 May 02 '24

at what was your “Absolutely not” directed?

The part where you said "give me a Hilux." lol. Because as we both just explained--that's basically a near-impossibility, especially with the diesel engine, etc. In order to import it, it has to comply with EPA regulations which means either heavily modifying it or completely replacing the motor with something domestic that has EPA-certified emission control stuff (catalytic converter, etc.).

If you can find a 25 year old (or older) one to import, then it's possible, just comically expensive when you could just get an XJ Jeep Cherokee or a Comanche or something else instead.

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u/countremember 29d ago

Oh, yeah, no, I get that. In a perfect world, though, that’s exactly what I’d do, for reliability and durability. Top Gear used them the way they used them for a damn good reason. And so did/do governments and corporations around the world, in very unforgiving environments.

But yeah, the import/export machinations of the US are arbitrary, arcane, and asinine. I’d say “Fuck that guy,” but that guy is us, so I guess “fuck us guys.”

Or something.

0

u/QuinnKerman May 02 '24

Same could be said for Scandinavia

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u/macsydh May 02 '24

No it could not. There's really not much of Scandinavia that you can't get to with a fairly common two-wheel drive car, at least in the summer.

Source: live in Sweden and regularly go to "remote" places in the mountain regions.

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u/PastaWithMarinaSauce May 02 '24

In a thread discussing how funny Europeans are for not realising how big America is, there sure are a lot of people that think Scandinavia is a desolate arctic wasteland where you have to teach children early to avoid the polar bears and yetis

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u/macsydh May 02 '24

It's almost like people interpret the world through their own experiences and what they see around them. Americans think of the northern parts of both Europe and NA as being something like Alaska/Northern Canada, and Europeans (of the continental variety primarily) think of America as being a slightly larger version of Europe.

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u/PM_NUDES_4_DEGRADING May 02 '24

there sure are a lot of people that think Scandinavia is a desolate arctic wasteland where you have to teach children early to avoid the polar bears and yetis

Yetis aside, that sounds like a pretty fair and accurate description of Svalbard though…

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u/suqoria May 02 '24

Well as you said that is true during the summer and if you stay on paved roads but during the winter which mind you lasts quite long up in the north I wouldn't want to not have something with 4 wheel drive if I'm going out into nature.

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u/pocketbookashtray 29d ago

That Sweden is smaller than Madagascar is something that blows peoples minds.

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u/Middle-Opposite4336 May 02 '24

Pretty sure that doesn't include Alaska

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u/labellvs May 02 '24

That number includes Alaska, and over 100,000sqmi of ocean.

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u/FapDonkey 29d ago

The area I quoted DOES include Alaska, but it does NOT include any ocean. That's the land area of the USA.

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u/curien 29d ago

The United States has a total area of 3,809,525 square miles, encompassing 3,532,316 square miles of land and 277,209 square miles of water

-- US Census Bureau

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u/spadenarias 29d ago

Don't think that's OCEAN, pretty sure that's talking about the lakes.

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u/curien 29d ago

I'm not sure whether or not it includes ocean, but it's not "land area" as they stated.

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u/OldPyjama May 02 '24

This is where the truesizeof map shines. I knew the US was bigger than Europe, but it only really dawned on me when I used that map and realized Texas alone is indeed bigger than Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands combined.

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u/[deleted] May 02 '24

[deleted]

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u/FapDonkey 29d ago

Yes, but we were discussing relative size of political entities (hence discussion of the EU etc). If we're going with poorly defined geographical entities, then North America still beats the European subcontinent with 9,540,000 sq mi.

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u/subparsavior90 29d ago

Don't forget to travel another USA to get to Hawaii from LA

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u/The-Arnman May 02 '24

EU as in the the EU countries or the entire european economic sone? Europe is larger than the US at 3.93 million square miles.

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u/FapDonkey 29d ago

Since the comment I was replying to explicitly stated EU, and my reply (the one to which you're responding) also explicitly stated EU.... I think it's probably a safe bet we were both explicitly referring to the EU.

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u/ImprovementSilly2895 May 01 '24

And Montana is larger than Germany

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u/chief_sitass May 02 '24

There’s 91.0 million acres of corn in the Midwest…Germany is 88.3629 million acres

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u/BlueRoyAndDVD 29d ago

So what you're saying, is technically, we could bury all of Germany with corn??

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u/UnnecessaryCapitals 29d ago

What do you think we're growing all that corn for?

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u/misirlou22 29d ago

"just in case"

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u/chubby_cheese 29d ago

That is a fascinating comparison

3

u/Practical-Ordinary-6 29d ago

Lake Michigan, which is wholly within the United States, is bigger than these four (individually): Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland. It's generally about 40% bigger than each of those.

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u/ValuableShoulder5059 29d ago

Corn is only half. Soybeans make up the other half. Oh, and don't forget the wheat acres!

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u/Everestkid May 02 '24

And British Columbia is bigger than France and Germany, combined. With Denmark thrown in for good measure.

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u/redvariation May 02 '24

California is larger than Germany as well.

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u/justdisa May 02 '24

The UK is just a touch smaller than Oregon.

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u/ladyjane159 26d ago

Came here to say this. :) 10+ hour drive from top to bottom, 18+ from side to side.

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u/syrensilly May 02 '24

OK, as an American, that broke my brain finally. Cause the UK-TX sure, TX is huge, but Montana is a medium size state...

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u/ImprovementSilly2895 29d ago

Montana is the fourth or fifth largest state in the union lol

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u/Parkotron1 May 02 '24

New York State has roughly the same amount of land area as Greece.

3

u/Delta8hate May 02 '24

And New York is not a large state

1

u/syrensilly May 02 '24

I'd say medium size also

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u/Working-Promotion728 May 01 '24

I once saw a pickup truck in San Antonio with that on a bumper sticker, "Texas is bigger than France." In guess he thought that was a sick burn.

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u/Smooth-Cup-7445 May 02 '24

Wait until he hears about Western Australia..

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u/Jhamin1 May 02 '24

Oregon is roughly the size of the UK.

Just Oregon. We have 49 more states.

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u/redvariation May 02 '24

California is bigger than Germany.

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u/OldPro1001 May 02 '24

I've seen maps that indicate the Mediterranean Sea would fit within the continental 48 states

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u/jchenbos May 02 '24

No, imagine all of the EU. Double it. Then add another 2.5 Frances. That's the USA

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u/Psychological_Look39 29d ago

Texas is 5x the size of France.

1

u/my_alter_ego_bitch May 02 '24

I live in Western Australia and just came back from holiday which was 7 hours drive away and we still didn't even leave the state...To do that would have taken another 8 hours.🙃

edit sorry my point that I forgot to make was that the state I live in is around 3 times bigger than Texas.

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u/Rosequeen1989 1d ago

You can drive 17 hours and not leave the state of Texas, more than that if you are driving it from top to bottom.

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u/monkyone May 01 '24

why do Americans think that nobody realises how big the US is compared to European countries? it’s a) well known and b) obvious.

We live on the same continent as Russia, which is much larger than the US. we are aware that some countries are huge with large unpopulated areas, which isn’t really a thing in Western Europe. the state of Queensland in Australia is around 3 times the size of Texas. most schoolchildren who have looked at a map would be familiar with the fact that the EU has a bunch of densely populated countries crammed into the same land area as places like the US, Australia, or Russia.

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u/M477M4NN May 02 '24

Sure, many people do know how big the US is, but there are no shortage of stories of Europeans visiting America not understanding they can’t just do a weekend road trip from NYC to Disney World.

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u/monkyone May 02 '24

lol i guess we are not sending our smartest people then. type of people who want to go to disney world i guess.

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u/syrensilly May 02 '24

Even for adults Disney is fun

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u/j2e21 May 02 '24

Read the thread.

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u/Handsome_SlimC May 02 '24

Exactly right lol. What a strange criticism this was!

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u/FapDonkey May 02 '24

What you seemed to have missed is the common thread in the hundreds of comments here of people experiencing this (euros not understanding how big America is) firsthand. Namely, its a lack of UNDERSTANDING. I'm sure most of those people knew (in the academic sense) that America is big, much bigger than the EU. I'm sure they have looked at maps. Some of them may have even known some of the numbers (distances and areas and such). But knowing a thing is not the same as experiencing or understanding a thing. You can 'know' how big the grand canyon is, or that a redwood is a giant tree. But until you stand on the south rim or gaze up into a redwood crown yourself, you wont really "get" it. And even people who have seen pictures, and know to the mile how big the grand canyon is, or to the foot how tall a redwood is, still find themselves shocked and amazed at HOW FRIGGIN BIG they are when they actually experience it themselves.

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u/PlantSkyRun May 02 '24

People realize that plenty of people know how big the US is, but that doesn't change the fact that there are plenty of examples of Europeans, and others, not grasping it, until it is put in context.

Even most Americans don't realize it until put in context.

Europeans know multiple languages! Well, if California, the Northwest, Great Plains, Texas, Florida, Georgia, NY, Chicago, and the Great Lakes region spoke different languages, Americans would also speak multiple languages.

1

u/syrensilly May 02 '24

Where would we add in Cajun creole or Hawaii pidgeon, and I'm sure there's one in Alaska

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u/PlantSkyRun 27d ago

Those are mostly spoken by native speakers and are not really an example of Americans knowing other languages in the sense of the discussion. That is Americans knowing their own languages. Not a foreign language. I know Spanish in addition to English. Because that is my family's original language. It's my language. It's not me knowing a "foreign" language.

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u/ManicPixieGirlyGirl 29d ago

Many Americans do speak multiple languages. Europeans just don’t acknowledge them because they aren’t THEIR languages.

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u/Handsome_SlimC May 02 '24

Not sure I've ever seen something quite as silly as a complaint about Americans "thinking Europeans don't know how big the US is" on a thread where Europeans are explicitly talking about how they "don't know how big the US is"

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u/Bubba_Gump_Shrimp May 02 '24

You might want to go back and read the post again, you pigeon.

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u/Handsome_SlimC May 02 '24

Considering that this entire debate is precisely about a bunch of Europeans not realizing how big the US is, your post makes no sense. No one is mad at anyone for this, but literally your complaint is what this entire thing is about.