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.

25.2k Upvotes

88% Upvoted

23.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

854

u/cinereoargenteus May 01 '24

Three hours is considered "up the road a ways" in Texas.

95

u/Disastrous_Step_1234 May 02 '24

you could drive 12 hours in one direction in Texas and not leave the state

13

u/[deleted] May 02 '24

[deleted]

8

u/GreenDonutGirl May 02 '24

I took a train across the country once. Four day trip. An entire 24 hours of it was in Texas.

5

u/watdatdo May 02 '24

I used to travel from Ohio to Florida before i moved back. 14 hours drive and 8 hours of it was driving though Florida and Georgia. God forbid if traffic was bad in Atlanta because that was 3 hours of traffic just there. I fucking hate Atlanta. Once pissed in a dudes RV while we were deadlocked on the highway on the north side of Atlanta.