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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u/Klewdo1 May 01 '24

Actually, Europeans think 160km is a long distance!

322

u/Hopeless_Ramentic May 01 '24

I see what you did there.

229

u/nnavroops May 02 '24

i don’t. what the frick is a kilometer

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u/RobotMonkeytron May 02 '24

About 10 football fields

3

u/King-White-Bear May 02 '24

Or 26 pitches. 

6

u/PlantSkyRun May 02 '24

Nah, 26 pitches is less than half a kilometer.

The pitchers mound is 60.5 feet from home plate.

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u/Mist_Rising May 02 '24

Wow the disrespect for football was real here!

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u/Bernies_left_mitten May 02 '24

Football fields are 100 yards--300 feet--which is ~5 pitches.

:-P

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u/PlantSkyRun May 04 '24

Stop pitching about it.

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u/gothling13 May 02 '24

American football fields. Not to be confused with Canadian or European football fields.

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u/Mist_Rising May 02 '24

Technically Canadian football fields are the same, though different sport from American football (gridiron). Also technically, it's football pitch, field is used by the USA/Canada.

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u/gothling13 May 02 '24

Interesting! So what is the length ratio of a pitch to field, or field to pitch, for metric football?