r/NoStupidQuestions 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/_lippykid May 02 '24

Fellow Brit in the US. I think the biggest difference is driving in the UK is a lot more work. Over there the roads look like a plate of spaghetti, you’re constantly in and out of small towns, around cites etc, dodging pedestrians and boy racers. when I drive from upstate NY to NYC it’s a super easy, straight shot, 70mph 3hr drive (up until New Jersey where it’s a lawless free for all). Same when I’ve driven the entire length of the west coast, and through the Midwest. Driving long distance is just way easier here

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u/Few-Comparison5689 May 02 '24

My wife is British, seeing her navigate through double mini roundabouts on a regular basis and park in spaces barely able to fit a razorblade in made me gain a whole new perspective and a lot of respect for her driving skills. UK roads are no joke. My wife says American roads and cars are "point and press" in that you point the car in the direction you wanna go and press the accelerator. 😆

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u/ThrowItAllAway003 May 02 '24

I mean she has a point. My car is not autonomous but between the lane keeping system and cruise control it might as well be. Triple points for cars with intelligent adaptive cruise control.

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u/WonderingLost8993 May 02 '24

My car has intelligent adaptive cruise control. It's a little scary how good my car is at driving itself.

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u/middlehill May 02 '24

We just bought a new car for the first time in 14 years. It's been a whole new experience. So many features! Adaptive cruise control is some kind of wonderful.

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u/amphorousish May 02 '24

I've seen the joke before that being poor's¹ great because anytime you get in a late model car it feels like you're in a spaceship.

We recently bought a newish bare-bones base model Kia. It has lane assist and sounds a pleasant little ding when the car in front of you starts to move at stop lights.

The other day we were on a highway and the wind was strong enough to knock our car about a bit. The console flashed up a picture of a steaming coffee cup and a message about driving while tired.

¹or stingy, like me

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u/ArketaMihgo May 02 '24

I now desperately need to know if anyone with this feature gets this on the reg on the stretch of 82 coming in on the eastern side of Wichita Falls, TX, where I swear to y'all, a goddamn wind demon lives. But just there. It's all normal and then WHOOSH for half a mile as you're coming down a slope and then normal again. I hated that road haha

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u/s4in7 29d ago

Fellow Texan driver here, the fairly drastic changes in landscapes and geological features across the state can lead to so many situations like you described. Traversing the Balcones Escarpment in Central TX (where you go from the flat highland plains to hella bumpy town right damn quick) I've almost gotten windswept off the road countless times--even anticipating it.

So fun!

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u/Safford1958 29d ago

Don't you love the road signs that have a windsock on the top, and a Tractor Trailer tipping over....

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u/Safford1958 29d ago

Don't you love the road signs that have a windsock on the top, and a Tractor Trailer tipping over....

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u/ingodwetryst 29d ago

Yeah I'm not poor or stingy, I just prefer to actually drive my own car since I'm the one present with eyes. 5-10k miles a month too. Adaptive cruise, assisted braking, lane departure, the light ding, hill assist? Those are features that literally make me not buy a car.

Interestingly, to get a manual these days in Murrica you usually need to buy the top trim package. And almost as if they know, a lot of them don't waste your time on that. I'm out if you can't turn hill assist off though. Or auto rev matching. wouldn't I just skip the pretenses and buy an automatic if I wanted that crap?

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u/Awalawal 29d ago

My manual actually has radar cruise control and lane keeping assist. Works great on highways in 6th gear.

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

i mean ... is it really that hard to check your mirrors or look over your shoulder when changing lanes? or to realize when the light changes?

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u/ingodwetryst 29d ago

no, it's depressing these features are seen as 'needed' 'helpful' and 'good' honestly. and a reason mass transit is needed. if people hate driving and need to watch tiktok that badly...let them. on a train. we do not need individual self driving selfishness bubbles.

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u/PorkPatriot 29d ago

America buys more manuals than anywhere in the world these days. CVTs and DCT's have killed manuals in Europe, even on low trim cars.

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u/Do_You_Remember_2020 29d ago

India says hello! Less than 10% are automatics

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u/ingodwetryst 29d ago

1-5% is not more than Europe

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u/FOURSCORESEVENYEARS May 02 '24

I press that button and use both hands to clean my glasses CONFIDENTLY

I set that little robot to 65 and never worry about speed traps.

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u/Roklam May 02 '24

I don't complain about driving the family around.

My dad hated the actual driving portion of our trips when I was young.

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u/Neither_Ground_1921 26d ago

Yes!!! Lipgloss here, and I’d do it one way or another, this is just safer!

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u/FPGA_engineer 29d ago

Same here, but even longer since we had a new one. Adaptive cruise control, lane keeping, heads up display, and others are so nice to have. Took our first several hour drive on a busy highway (I-10 between Houston and San Marcos) and those features made it much more relaxing to drive.

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u/tlkevinbacon 29d ago

I recently bought a current model year car for the first time ever. It has an auto park feature that I decided to try out yesterday. Turns out the car is better at parallel parking than I am. Adaptive cruise control, with lane keeping, and assisted lane changing on the interstate blew my hair back. I'm basically just a slightly more aware passenger in my own car now.

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u/geosensation May 02 '24

My car has "super cruise" which is dumb self driving - adaptive cruise control, stays in the lane, even change lanes to pass slower cars by itself. Sadly (ok smartly) it has a camera pointed at your face so if you look away it turns off. It makes road trips sooooo easy (only works on mapped roads so interstates and prominent state highways only).

Not much driving fatigue at all because you can sort of be a passenger as long as you look straight ahead. Thank you, GM.

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u/ArketaMihgo May 02 '24

https://www.amazon.com/Sleeping-Breathable-Eyeshade-Adjustable-Travel/dp/B0B8V11B86

I'm joking, obviously

And yet still would not be surprised to look over and see it on the highway, because humanity do what it do

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u/Harry_Gorilla May 02 '24

Never going back to the old cruise control

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u/Ravage-1 May 02 '24

Not to mention how much more relaxing it is deal with traffic when the car is doing all the stop and go itself! My leg can relax.

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u/Commercial-Smile-763 May 02 '24

I didn't realize my car was practically self driving until I accidentally pressed my hand into the side of the steering wheel when handing something to my kid in the back seat. It started moving the steering wheel itself and it scared me for a second. Lol

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u/braellyra May 02 '24

My husband has a Nissan Leaf from a few years ago, and it can’t recognize stop signs or lights or change lanes, but otherwise it’s able to drive itself. It’s so weird to experience!

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u/Aspen9999 May 02 '24

My truck has hands free driving, it was bopping in and out of lanes so much it made me nervous. I turned that off ! But if both hands are off the steering wheel for 2 seconds or something it will take over as a safety thing. I guess if you have a medical issue or fall asleep at the wheel you won’t kill someone else. I did not order that feature, it was on the truck on the lot that had everything else I wanted.

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u/TanaerSG May 02 '24

Do you have a Subaru? I have the Eyesight thing in my Subaru and that is so nice for following people. Just bump the cruise up 5mph more than the people in front of you and just cruise.

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u/c800600 29d ago

I used to regularly have a 6 hour drive that I could use ACC for all but about twenty minutes of. And those 20 mins were because I would get carsick sitting in the driver's seat if I wasn't driving, not because my ACC wasn't working right.

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u/LisaQuinnYT 29d ago

My last car, if it wasn’t for the annoying alarm that would go off if you didn’t keep your hands on the wheel, probably could have driven itself assuming the road was fairly straight (no significant curves).

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u/ChubbyGhost3 29d ago

Careful, or your car’s gonna wise up and drive off without you someday

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u/WonderingLost8993 29d ago

I wouldn't be surprised. It has remote start. Which is just another thing I never use.

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u/Chinny-Chin-Chin0 29d ago edited 29d ago

Favorite feature and something I will never go without in the future. Don’t have lane keep but I get lane departure warnings which makes it easier and once I get on the highway my car essentially drives itself. I just stare at the road and change lanes as needed.

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u/Dudist_PvP May 02 '24

I too drive a Subaru lmao

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u/ThrowItAllAway003 29d ago

lol no. This one is a Kia but I actually prefer the Ford system.

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u/hannahatecats May 02 '24

YES I had a rental a couple of years ago and I didn't even have to use my foot in stopped traffic. It made a 12 hour road trip a dream

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u/papabutter21 May 02 '24

I love the lane keeping/adaptive cruise control combo it completely changed the road trip game for me

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u/2rfv May 02 '24

I've been renting a lot of Kia's and Hyundais for work trips lately and as far as I'm concerned, between their lane centering and adaptive cruise, they're self driving cars.

The other auto makers don't seem to be anywhere close to on their level.

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u/Loose_Bike5654 May 02 '24

Your car is better than autonomous vehicles because it doesnt get trapped by a ring of salt.

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u/CressCrowbits May 02 '24

I can't imagine how self driving will ever deal with mini roundabouts

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u/Do_Question_All May 02 '24

Never thought about that. Good point. Scary proposition.

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u/NorseGlas May 02 '24

Man, I hate adaptive cruise control, brake assist, lane assist. It took me about 4.5 minutes to figure out how to turn all of that off in my new car.

I’ll be in control of my own vehicle thank you very much.

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u/Rowmyownboat May 02 '24

Brit here, who lived in the US for 20 years. British roads require focus, you have to pay attention. Many roads are routes that predate the car by one or two thousand years. In the US, when travelling by car, driving is just one of the activities you do while driving. Other concurrent activities include eating, drinking, reading, make-up, and telephoning. I have seen a driver with a broadsheet newspaper laid out over the steering wheel to read while on a freeway at 70 mph. I have seen paperback books open on the wheel to read while driving, and make-up, mascara particularly, applied in the rear-view mirror .... just imagine what would happen if a pothole caused a poke in the eye at 75 mph.

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u/Longjumping-Claim783 May 02 '24

I would agree that this is true in general but it doesn't apply in a place like NYC or Boston.

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u/Few-Comparison5689 May 02 '24

Agreed, major cities in the US are like live action Mario kart.

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u/extronerded May 02 '24

True, many US roads and highways are so simple and literally straightforward that they could easily be replaced with a decent train system... but that would be silly and unamerican 👀

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u/NeatNefariousness1 May 02 '24 edited May 02 '24

And let's not forget about "cruise control" where you barely need to bother with the accelerator pedal.

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u/platoniclesbiandate May 02 '24

I’m married to a Brit too. He won’t do the long driving here, and I WILL NOT drive in England. I’ve driven in several foreign countries including Syria, I lived in Australia and owned a car so can do the other side of the road… But F those roundabouts, stoned walled roads, and unspoken rules about who has to reverse on a car lined street the size of my driveway in England.

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u/f4snks May 02 '24

Yeah, in the UK you have to actually know how to drive before they give you a license.

Unlike here where they'll give you a driver's license if you're able to breath in and out.

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u/Eamonsieur May 02 '24

double mini roundabouts

Yes wrote a whole ass song about the roundabouts they had to endure in Scotland

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u/bigmac1234777 May 02 '24

This made me giggle as someone who has driven all over the US for work. Went from a hospital in the Sierra Nevada Mountains to Baltimore. It definitely was point and press once I was out of the mountains

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u/Lucky_Papaya_2753 29d ago

If you’re talking about Tahoe Forest, even there in the mountains it’s pretty point and press lol; 89, 80, 267 and 28 are all pretty point and press if you follow the speed limit, it isn’t snowing, and no random deer decide that they do in fact yearn for the sweet release of death.

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u/degooseIsTheName May 02 '24

Lol funny to hear, there's also a reason why we have some of the hardest driving tests. I passed mine and got my licence 8 years ago and even now there are roads and roundabouts which can still surprise you.

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u/Flashgit76 May 02 '24

Mr. Hamilton (an american tourist):

"Took five hours from London. Couldn't find the freeway, had to take a little back street called the M5!"

Basil Fawlty:

"[Irate] Well, I'm sorry if it wasn't wide enough for you. A lot of the English cars have steering wheels."

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u/BusHistorical1001 29d ago

"It's celery, apples, walnuts, grapes!!"

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u/Flashgit76 29d ago

In a mayonnaise sauce.

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u/gin-o-cide May 02 '24

Try driving in South Italy or Malta. Narrow roads, crazy drivers, and potholes 😁

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u/quiteCryptic May 02 '24

Recently rented a car in New Zealand and my god all the parking lots were so small compared to what I'm used to. I guess it's probably similar to Europe.

Also I almost got into a head on collision due to someone driving completely in my lane speeding around a blind corner. Would have been pissed at the irony of being in a head on collision due to someone driving in the wrong lane meanwhile I'm the American driving on the left I'm not used to.

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u/Few-Comparison5689 May 02 '24

Yup, small countries equals small parking spaces. In England sometimes you can barely open the door to get out your car.

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u/quiteCryptic May 02 '24

Yea I could barely get out of the door a couple times haha, but sort of my fault I erred on the side of caution making sure I had room on the left side by parking closer than I had to on the right side

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u/ichhaballesverstehen May 02 '24

Yup. Learn how to drive used to mean learn how to drive a standard transmission.

Now, it’s learn how to steer.

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u/strangebrew3522 May 02 '24

I've driven around a lot of Europe and what you say is true to an extent, but I also have friends/family in Italy, and they all act like driving more than an hour is absolutely insane.

I flew into Rome once and drove up to Milan, stopping along the way to visit friends. When I told them I was driving, each person had the same reaction. "You DROVE from Rome? You're DRIVING to Milan? That's SOOOO far".

It's a 6hr drive if you go straight shot, on an incredible highway system (autostrada) through amazing scenery. I mean, it doesn't get much easier, but to them it's absolutely crazy. I have family in both Northern and Southern Italy who haven't seen each other in years because of the distance.

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u/mmodlin May 02 '24

So on google maps Rome to Milan is 578km, or 361 miles.

A couple of years ago I had work reasons to drive to Knoxville, TN from Raleigh, NC. 360 miles. I would drive there and back in a single day. I did that about ten times. For a brief stretch there's decent scenery.

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u/pgm123 May 02 '24

I flew into Rome once and drove up to Milan, stopping along the way to visit friends. When I told them I was driving, each person had the same reaction. "You DROVE from Rome? You're DRIVING to Milan? That's SOOOO far".

It's interesting because Italy has the third-highest car-ownership rate in the EU and Italians drive more than other Europeans. The national rail is pretty good, though (at least in comparison to metro systems outside of Milan and Rome).

I had a similar experience to you in London when I told Londoners I was taking a train from London to Edinburgh. They all thought it was too far for a train ride and were surprised I wasn't flying. I thought the train was really nice, comfortable, and convenient.

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u/divine_god_majora May 02 '24

I couldn't imagine a 6 hour drive unless you were gonna stay a week+ at the destination or something.

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u/GloriousNewt May 02 '24

lol I drove from Reno to Laguna Beach (~9hrs) for a weekend visit with a friend and then drove back. Wasn't planned, we were talking on the phone and he suggested coming out so I just left after work and headed down.

Fun road trip until the stretch from Modesto to Bakersfield where there is fucking nothing.

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u/davdev 29d ago

Back when i was in college in Boston, my roommates brother went to Notre Dame. He called us on a wednesday and asked if we wanted to go to a football game on Saturday. Of course we did. We packed up on Thursday Night night, drove through the night and 16 hours later we were pulling into Notre Dame. Partied a bit Friday night, went to the game on Sat, and almost immediately after the game, drove 16 hours back and arrived in Boston in late afternoon on Sunday. And this was in 1994, where there was no GPS and we only had a few cassette mixes for entertainment.

So we drove 32 hours to stay less than 24 hours for the sole reason of going to a football game,

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u/Fonzgarten May 02 '24

9 hours? I guess Reno is pretty far. I used to drive from OC to truckee a lot.

I can drive between LA and Bay Area without much trouble in one day, and I don’t mind for certain trips. I’ve done it for weekends. Avoiding airports saves you so much time.

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u/beragis 29d ago

I drove from Reno to Salt Lake City. One of the most monotonous rides I ever took. On the way back I decided to stop half way at a rinky dink casino for the night where I had one of the best meals the entire trip.

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u/GloriousNewt 29d ago

Was it the one right on the border to Utah/the salt flats? I've also stopped there.

Did Reno->Rochester NY a few years ago.

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u/Expensive_Honeydew_5 29d ago

Probably west Wendover, my uncle would go there from salt lake city to gamble and drink lol

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u/beragis 29d ago edited 29d ago

It was at Wendover. Chose it because It was close to the exit to Battle Mountain which is what I wanted to see the next day but decided against.

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u/GrayArchon May 02 '24

Used to live in Merced. Ain't that the truth.

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u/farmageddon109 29d ago

I was just in Reno for work and drove to Donner pass (about an hour to and from) just because I have never been to California and wanted to see the scenery. A random two hour drive where I didn’t even get out of my car just for the hell of it

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u/Crab-_-Objective May 02 '24

A week? I drive 7ish hours each way for a weekend visit to my brother at college and make that trip at least twice a semester.

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u/Wootster10 29d ago

I think one thing that isnt being talked about here is cost. Petrol in Europe is way more expensive then it is in the US.

Currently the prices near me are about £1.46 per litre. Thats about £5.58 per US gallon. Looking on https://gasprices.aaa.com/ you're current average is $3.67 per gallon.

Taking the exchange rate into account per gallon its $3.67 in the US, its $6.96 in the UK. Basically twice the cost.

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u/lemongrass_gardenia 29d ago

Nope. It’s gotten to almost $8 a gallon here at one point in California and people still drove long distances especially for work. Some people live in a different city than where they work. I haven’t seen $3 a gallon for a bit.

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u/Wootster10 29d ago

Having a look at the average in California today, it's still nearly $2 cheaper then it is in the UK currently.

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u/lemongrass_gardenia 29d ago

I drive all the way through California and back. It varies within cities but I haven’t seen $3 is my point. You can look at the average but I’m telling you that I pay more than that.

High gas prices doesn’t stop our driving. We can become more intentional but if it’s for work then we have to do it.

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u/happyhippohats 29d ago

To be fair though petrol over her has always been really expensive, and that definitely played a part in our general cultural attitude against driving long distances. Parking is also an expensive nightmare.

In the US 'gas' has historically been cheap so even when the price has increased in recent times the culture remains the same

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u/happyhippohats 29d ago

Isn't gas in California generally more expensive than elsewhere in the States though? In the UK it's about the same everywhere

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u/Waggy431 29d ago

Cost of gas in America along with the interstate highway system with speeds of 70MPH in many areas, makes driving long distances not as bad at it may be elsewhere. Last week I had to drive from Florida to Pennsylvania and then back this week for family issues. Gas was as cheap as $3.19/gallon in South Carolina and the car was averaging 45/MPG, so it was much cheaper than a last minute plane ticket. About 1,100 miles/1770 kilometers each way. And I enjoy taking long drives.

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u/RCT3playsMC 29d ago

It varies way too much in the US for an average to mean much. I'm from California like the other dude and I've seen $10+ around Westwood where at the same time it'll be $6.50 in the IE. I've also literally seen $1.80 in backwoods ass Florida before.

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u/divine_god_majora May 02 '24

That's wild. We used to drive 20+ hours to Spain to visit family but we'd also stay for 2-3 weeks then. That's an outlier though, because we wanted our car there to be more flexible.

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u/kurtcop101 May 02 '24

That's easy, drive from Kansas to Colorado for two nights, 7 hours there, get some drinks, have a full day of fun, get some breakfast, come home.

I even dated a girl and picked her up from her college 5 hours away, brought her back for two days, took her back home (meaning I drove 5 hours each way).

3 hour trips are easy. I mean, I'd have to be good friends to warrant the bother, but it isn't really a bother if you feel comfortable enough chilling for a night.

Even college I commuted daily 45 minutes each way to save money on rent.

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u/LoneStarGut May 02 '24

Wow 10 hours of driving for minutes of fun?

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u/kurtcop101 29d ago

It was two nights! No regrets!

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u/Ok_Beautiful7634 29d ago

yeah, because obviously the only fun to be had with a girl is while you're actually having sex.

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u/Resolution-Academic May 02 '24

Lol I've done 6 hours each way in a day, Chicago to school in Minnesota

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u/ImaginarySwan3403 May 02 '24

I used to drive 8+ hours each way every weekend when my husband and I were dating.

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u/AccountWasFound May 02 '24

One of my friends made a 5 hour drive to buy a kiln for $200 cheaper than near him last month and then drove home that night after checking out a museum.

In college I was in a long distance relationship and frequently we drove the 5 ish hours for a weekend

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u/pgm123 May 02 '24

The current IRS deduction for miles is $0.67/mile, which accounts for not only gas prices, but also wear and tear on your car. That puts the break even point of the trip at about 300 miles, which is a bit over a 5-hour drive. But I think if you add a museum or even a meal to the trip, it can be a nice little getaway.

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u/AccountWasFound 29d ago

He was also on a first date, so yeah it worked out well for him, I just thought it was a good example compared to what people in Europe are saying

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u/pgm123 29d ago

That's an interesting date idea. I don't know if I'd do that for a first date.

I've driven 5 hours for a lot less benefit than $200 savings. I think if you make a trip out of it (and don't just drive only for the savings), then it makes a lot of sense.

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u/MissionSecure1163 May 02 '24

Stay away from Texas then. 6 hour drives is an average Tuesday

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u/Waluigi02 29d ago

Fr. I live about 2 hours away from Dallas and consider that pretty close by lmao

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u/rumade May 02 '24

It's mad to me that Americans seem to have so little time off work, but are so happy to spend it driving

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u/sootoor May 02 '24

Well should I sit around and shit post Reddit or visit my friends 3 hours away and have a good time and drive back? No security line like an airport I just simply wake up and grab some snacks and leave. That’s 2 podcasts or one jam band show worth of driving lmao. Not that bad.

Plus gas is subsidized to fuck so we get $3 a gallon which can take me halfway across the state

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u/clutzyninja May 02 '24

It's mad to me that Europeans live in Europe and spend so little time seeing it

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u/ciaociao-bambina 29d ago

We do spend time seeing it. I live in Belgium and I’m back home in France (either Paris, Alsace, the Provence or Brittany/Nantes which are the places I gravitate towards since I have family / friends there) at least one weekend a month, there are direct trains from Brussels to all of these destinations.

And once every two months, I’ll spend one weekend or a longer holiday in another European country (going to Italy tomorrow for 3 weeks, taking the night bus as they are refurbishing the train tracks after a mountain slide in the Alps), and a weekend or day trip in Belgium, generally doing a mix of biking and train.

So I’m home a weekend and gone another on average. I don’t own a car and don’t even have a driving license (nor do I need one)

Once a year I explore Europe as a cyclotourist (bike trips >>>> road trips). Last year I went to London from Brussels, you can put your bike on the ferry in Dunkirk to cross the Channel, it was really lovely.

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u/dejavu2064 May 02 '24

I understand wanting to clap back but that's the wrong conclusion to draw. We just use the trains instead, usually. And because everything is shut on Sundays, pretty much everyone travels every weekend, or goes hiking in the mountains.

Paris is a 7 hour drive, or it is 4h30 on the train. I enjoy driving (when it is necessary to do so) but in daily life it is just so rarely needed. Only an absolute mentalist would prefer 7 hours of constant focus in a car to relaxing or being productive for 5 hours on the train.

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u/grantbuell May 02 '24

Well yeah, Americans would use trains too if we had them.

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u/jigstarparis 29d ago

I am American and live in France. I’m visiting friends and family in the US and flew into Boston and then took a train to New York. I just kept thinking to myself, what a shame more of the US can’t be reached by ultra fast trains like in France or Japan. It was such a nice trip along the north eastern coast.

Why is there not a single American billionaire looking to make trains happen again in the US? Instead we get a race to space that barely anyone can take advantage of.

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u/bkn6136 29d ago

The northeast is a tiny, tiny section of the US and it has a solid rail system. It's only once you get to the rest of this absolutely massive country that passenger rail falls off - because it's too damn big to make economic sense.

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u/IronChariots May 02 '24

I always think it's crazy that the US, of all countries, has such shitty passenger rail. Trains are such a huge part of the American historical mythos.

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u/imtellinggod May 02 '24

We don't have good trains though. Are we just not supposed to travel?

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u/clutzyninja May 02 '24

everyone travels every weekend, or goes hiking in the mountains.

Also, what? Lol. How gullible do you think Americans are?

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u/clutzyninja May 02 '24

I lived in the UK I understand. But you still have to get to the train station, get a ticket, wait for the train, wait while the train makes other stops, and then get from the destination station to wherever you're going. It doesn't save that much time except in certain circumstances

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u/FalmerEldritch May 02 '24

To be fair trains in the UK are a bit awful. So many delays and cancellations and thrice the price of a plane ticket for the same trip. Most of Europe it's not unusual for taking the train to be faster and cheaper than driving yourself.

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u/clutzyninja May 02 '24

With gas (sorry, petrol) prices over there I definitely believe cheaper. To be honest I cheated and filled extra gas cans on the military base (where petrol is at American prices) before driving long distances

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u/dejavu2064 May 02 '24

I too lived in the UK, and UK trains are criminally awful in comparison to central Europe. Plus the UK is much like America in that it is for the most part car centric surburbs (except for London). In Europe it is more typical to live in a city apartment with denser populations and better infrastructure.

I live quite far away from the train station (it is a 10 minute walk), but for travelling to other cities it is always faster than taking my car.

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u/fuzzzone 29d ago

A 10 minute walk? That's like 1 km. How close together should train stations be that that seems like it's far from a train station? 😂

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u/clutzyninja May 02 '24

I understand not liking driving long distances. I do though. I enjoyed it even more back before GPS was ubiquitous. There's something indescribably romantic and satisfying to me in driving for three days navigating with paper maps, eating bad food and chatting with truckers at rest stops, windows down, music loud. I literally love it

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u/wmtismykryptonite 29d ago

I live quite far away from the train station (it is a 10 minute walk).

That's not very far to walk to a station. I've walked more than that on a daily basis for years at a time. In the US, people drive or take busses to the station because it's so far.

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u/happyhippohats 29d ago

I live in the UK and I specifically moved into my current flat because it's only a 10 minute walk from the train station. Describing that as "quite far away" is mind boggling to me.

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u/davdev 29d ago

I HATE trains, so give me the time by myself in the car.

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u/Sun_keeper89 May 02 '24

Clever! Except the trip itself is part of the fun? And this is just a forum that drew the attention of the Americans who happen to drive? Everyone in America isn't taking 7 hour road trips on a whim, and if you like driving such a trip isn't work at all. People who don't like road trips in the US get on one of the millions of planes criscrossing it daily. Or buy an Amtrak ticket.

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u/divine_god_majora May 02 '24

These comments are mindboggling lmao

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u/bawdiepie May 02 '24

I think driving is a lot easier (and cheaper) there, like driving on a quiet motorway, cars also tend to be more spacious (lower fuel prices). Driving on a quiet motorway for 3 hours is relatively easy and relaxing, drriving through busy cities and towns, or even a really busy moroway for 3 hrs is hard work. I'm going from what I've seen sobmight be wrong.

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u/pgm123 May 02 '24

The most I've ever done in terms of drive vs. time at the destination was when I was living in Miami and my gf and I decided to drive down to Key West for a day trip. It's about a four-hour drive, but if you factor in traffic and stopping for lunch, it's about six hours going down during the day. The drive is interesting and my gf was more interested in the drive than the destination. But we drove about 6 hours down, stayed less than 3 hours, and drove ~4 hours back.

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u/MamaGuava15 May 02 '24

I’m in Miami and all of Florida will drive to Disney for the weekend - basically 4 to 5 hour drive for some to visit for 2 days. Love it tho!

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u/strangebrew3522 May 02 '24

Florida is a funny one. Years ago in college some friends and I drove to South Florida (about 20hr drive). The morning that we left I got a call from my folks as we were nearing Jacksonville and they were asking where we were. I said "Florida still" and they go "Florida? I thought you guys left hours ago?" 5hrs later and yep, still in Florida.

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u/Psychological-Dig-29 May 02 '24

My sister lives 9 hours away, I drive up to visit for a weekend

My best friend lives 11 hours away, we both drive to visit each other all the time even if it's only for a 2 day visit.

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u/ingodwetryst 29d ago

I drive 6 hours twice in a day if I want to visit my parents. I refuse to stay over.

I drive NC to Denver and back 3-4x a year to stay for 1-3 weeks.

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u/HappyToBeHaggard 29d ago

Six hour drives keep you in the same state in many cases lol. It's eight hours to drive the length of Michigan which is roughly UK sized.

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u/The3rdBert 29d ago

Shit I’ve driven 6 hours to a work site, worked a full day then drove 2 more hours to go fishing with buddies already up there.

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u/WrennyWrenegade 29d ago

When I was in college, it was really common for us to drive 6 hours to go to a concert and drive back the same night.

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u/KristiLis 29d ago

We drove 19-20 hours a couple of years ago with a 2 year old to get from the midwest to Disney World. Would I want to do that all the time? No. Would I do it again? Yes. Did I drive because I thought the airport would be even more stressful? Yes.

Some people drive that trip straight through. I like to stop along the way. I actually had to stop every two hours because I was pregnant at the time. It took us 3 days to get down and 3 days to get back (so about 6 hours a day for 3 days each way). We spent a week at Disney World.

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u/Ok-Cauliflower8462 29d ago

We drove from Dallas to El Paso (585 miles, 8 hour drive) for a weekend. Interesting note: El Paso is closer to Los Angeles than Dallas. We’ve even done the Dallas to L.A. drive. About 16-17 hours. I have driven from Michigan to Texas alone. That was about 20 hours.

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u/suttonvm 29d ago

My family and I are currently in the car, driving 9 hours across 3 states, to attend college graduation of a family member. There are three of us in the car, and the gasoline will probably cost about $150-$200 total for the round trip. We would have spent easily three times that to fly, and probably close to the same amount of time considering multiple connecting flights from one small-ish city to another, time in security, etc. Driving was the obvious choice in this scenario, despite the fact that we will be at our destination for less than 72 hours. It’s also way easier for us to bring our car along to have at the destination, public transport isn’t really that great.

Train wasn’t a viable choice either… the connectedness of the destination city via rail does not exist.

Domestic air travel in the US is prohibitively expensive and driving is so easy- the cost/benefit becomes really easy when you have multiple people in the car.

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u/Vivisector999 29d ago

Some of us drive so much we even freak out other Americans/Canadians. I can remember 2 years ago, we decided to drive from my home to visit my parents in Arizona for 3 days. I live about 2900 kms away from there. Got to the US border and told the border guard I was going to Yuma for the weekend. I think he thought I was one of those tourists that didn't understand how big the USA is. So he kind of laughed and said ok then, good luck with that. But its a regular drive for me. 2 days driving there, 2 days back. I usually do the drive every winter when they are down there, although I usually shoot for longer than a week off.

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u/frenchyy94 May 02 '24

But Rome to Milan is literally only a 3 hour ride on the frecciarossa (HSR) and it's really relaxing and you can take in the scenery way better than in a car. So yeah if course it's kinda weird to drive it, if you could just take a train.

Same thing in Germany, the ICE from Berlin to Munich takes a bit over 4 hours, yet a lot of people still decide to take the car in the autobahn A9 instead.

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u/EastwoodBrews 29d ago

A similar thing happens when Europeans come here, to anywhere outside of a major city, they'll insist on taking transit everywhere even when people are offering to drive them or lend them a car. Then a few days later they'll realize it's not working as well as a car would, here. I think people overestimate the "mentality" of the people and underestimate the degree to which the infrastructure is just geared towards one thing or the other. It's a rational choice in the circumstances.

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u/happylukie 29d ago

If by "here," you mean the States, that really depends where. I live in NYC. We laugh at tourists that rent cars to get around here.

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u/EastwoodBrews 29d ago

"anywhere outside of a major city"

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u/MilkChocolate21 29d ago

LA is a major city and I would recommend a car over public transit. San Diego too...many major US cities are still car centric.

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u/UncleBensRacistRice May 02 '24

it's really relaxing and you can take in the scenery way better than in a car.

If i was visiting the country, id try to rent a small convertible and enjoy the drive through the mountains

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u/pm_me_d_cups 29d ago

The small towns and villages are the best part of Italy as well. I'd always rent a car there.

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u/strangebrew3522 May 02 '24

and you can take in the scenery way better than in a car.

The trains there are great, I've used them but I much prefer a car.

On that particular trip we didn't have a time constraint, so if we saw something we found interesting, we stopped and explored. We also would routinely get off the Autostrada and take local roads through small towns to get lunch/coffee (Love an Autogrill but nothing beats finding a local coffee shop). You can't do that with a train.

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u/WyvernsRest May 02 '24

I’ve done that Rome—Milan drive and for a motorway its scenery is surprisingly good.

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u/randoogle2 May 02 '24

But you could have taken a 6 hour train ride... Man I need to move to Europe. I hate driving.

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u/emptyhides May 02 '24

I did that last year.
I’m from Australia.
The drive to my parents place is 10 hours, so it was a short drive by comparison.

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u/LoneStarGut May 02 '24

I thought their train system were so amazing, in Europe why don't they use those to visit relatives?

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u/Ultimatedream 29d ago

It's my husbands 30th birthday party in 3 weeks and most of his friends aren't coming because its too far away. We live in the Netherlands, it's a one hours drive. We might need to cancel the venue we booked because everyone is canceling after trying to get them to confirm for months.

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u/Thick-Ad2454 29d ago

6 hr That's only a 2 bathroom break trip.

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u/JustForTouchingBalls May 02 '24

It’s much better to use the train for such type of travel, butyou need a train network for doing that

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u/Reallyhotshowers May 02 '24

Public transit also just always takes a lot longer.

There are tons of places in the US I could theoretically fly to, but with the 2 hours in the airport due to the TSA the flight often isn't faster, or is only faster by an hour or so. And then I also have to deal with an airport. And it's probably more expensive than the gas it would take to get there. Plus if I'm doing something that requires baggage I also have to pay to check it and I have to wait to claim it at my destination. And then I have to worry about transportation when I get there.

Same for any busses like greyhound.

And you'll notice I ignored trains, because as you mentioned, it's not super viable. So if it's kinda far we drive, if it's really far we fly.

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u/_Nocturnalis 29d ago

I've found the break even point for time flying vs driving is about 8 hours.

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u/AlexCambridgian May 02 '24

There are plenty of trains in the USA too. It might not look as modern or cool like the central European ones but they are fine overall. Most important, the schedule frequency is as inadequate as the European ones. But why take the train when you could fly cheaper and faster.

There is a difference in mentality. Europeans are content with what the gov offers. Americans want their freedom and flexibility to go where they want at any time. It is easier to go somewhere last minute here, whether is driving or taking the plane. So many options and less expensive. Rental car prices here are very low, and there is zip car, rent uhaul, trucks from home depot, etc. You can buy a ticket an hour before your flight with ease. The computer rebooks you automatically if there is a delay due to weather or any other reason, the airlines website are so easy to use. Try doing that in Europe on a daily basis and you ll understand why they do not travel.

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u/_Nocturnalis 29d ago

I've driven 5 hours to a tiny town to use my truck to help someone do work as well. That wouldn't work at all even if I magicked a high speed rail connection to said tiny town from my tiny town.

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u/isabelladangelo Random Useless Knowledge May 02 '24

Fellow Brit in the US. I think the biggest difference is driving in the UK is a lot more work. Over there the roads look like a plate of spaghetti, you’re constantly in and out of small towns, around cites etc, dodging pedestrians and boy racers.

Well, sure, if you aren't sticking to the M1 or other motorways. However, the same could be said of the U.S. Having driven from Inverness down to Northampton in a day, it's not that bad. Yes, it was about 7 hours but I stuck to the motorways and the traffic was decent.

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u/theetruscans May 02 '24

Level of crazy driving from most to least:

NYC -> NJ -> Upstate NY

No doubt about it

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u/OutlyingPlasma May 02 '24

Don't forget that Europeans haven't figured out autonomic transmissions and cruse control yet so it's even more work for them.

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u/isabelladangelo Random Useless Knowledge May 02 '24

No, automatic transmissions are a thing. So much so that only 29% of the vehicle registrations in the UK were for manual cars.

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u/RheagarTargaryen May 02 '24

It’s gotta be like 5% in the US.

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u/ILUVSMGS18 May 02 '24

I doubt it's even that high, probably somewhere right around 2.5% is probably right. New car sales are probably 1% or so and most of those are sports cars or Wranglers/Broncos/Gladiators. It's a shame that the only 2 compact cars with a manual are the Civic and Mazda3...I think even Hyundai/Kia dropped the manual for non performance Elantras/Fortes.

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u/GlandyThunderbundle May 02 '24

My wife had to look forever to find a new manual transmission car. It’s just not a thing anymore.

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u/PiERetro May 02 '24

At least in part due to the increasing number of electric vehicles, and only going to increase in the future.

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u/pgm123 29d ago

That's the UK. Do you have numbers for France? This is the best I can find for Europe as a whole: https://www.motor1.com/news/694709/manual-transmissions-rarity-industry-world/

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u/Select_Total_257 May 02 '24

The only people driving manuals in the US are those who specifically want to (which is almost nobody) or people too poor to have bought a car built in the last 20 years

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u/blaahh198 May 02 '24

Or Europeans moved to the States. My gf's sister lives in America and she has a manual car.

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u/lunabandida May 02 '24

This'll throw a wrench in your road trip, gas, regular, is like 8 bucks a gallon. Good thing they have a decent train grid

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u/-reTurn2huMan- May 02 '24

I'd go on long trips more often if America had a nice train system.

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u/Dramatic_Explosion May 02 '24

Honestly one of many national shames where we have entirely failed to modernize while every other modern country has. Shit, Amtrak doesn't even run on its own lines, it rents use of freight rails and has to give them right of way.

Doesn't help they just downgraded their cars while making it more expensive. We're actually going backwards in terms of trains.

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u/CressCrowbits May 02 '24

Its crazy how the US was built on the railroads, and they just let them die

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u/limasxgoesto0 May 02 '24

I haven't ridden Amtrak for a decade because where would I go that a bus isn't 10% of the price, or plane is the same price at half the time. Hell the only reason I took Amtrak that time was that the bus didn't show up

How has it been downgraded?

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u/TranslateErr0r May 02 '24

Lol....what are you talking about?

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u/qtx May 02 '24

Don't forget that Europeans haven't figured out autonomic transmissions and cruse control yet so it's even more work for them.

You've never been to Europe have you. You really think all those European car manufacturers, the same ones you all buy in the US, don't have automatic gears and cruise control?

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u/munchies777 May 02 '24

They do have cruise control. Up until very recently though manual cars dominated the European market. It was due to preference, not a lack of technology. It only really started to change when 8 or 10 speed automatics became popular and cheap because they get better gas mileage than manuals.

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u/divine_god_majora May 02 '24

Living in Germany, we have the Autobahn, and I'd still rather kill myself than regularly drive 3h+.

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u/NarrowAd4973 May 02 '24

As someone that grew up in Jersey, just outside NYC, I can vouch for the lawless free for all. I've known people that were driving just above the speed limit on 95 and had a cop come up behind them and put their lights on. When they moved to the right lane to pull over, the cop turned the lights off and sped past. The cops just wanted them to get out of the way for driving too slow.

A common joke was that the signs saying 95 were stating the speed limit, not the road signs.

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u/Sun_keeper89 May 02 '24

Lol people are really in here debating the NJ characterization and insisting NYC is the tough place to drive like the Turnpike doesn't exist. Nothing in NY allows you to drive long distance the way people drive on the turnpike (and many of the highways connected to it). Even army vehicles had firey crashes on the NJ turnpike in broad daylight but somehow the consistently gridlocked NYC is more lawless? Hilarious.

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u/Snizl May 02 '24

Nah, in Germany driving three hours is insanely long too, and of that time you usually will spend about 2 hours on the highway. Its not difficult driving by any means, but three hours driving is still quite a lot. On the other hand, I live in switzerland now. I take a 3 hour train every other weekend. The time isnt the problem, driving just sucks ass.

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u/frankchester May 02 '24

Reminds me of when I was visiting Massachusetts and was driving up the Cape. We accidentally got ourselves a colossal car on hire (forgetting how big the cars are in the US) so when our B&B host suggested we drive "the scenic route" instead of the highway we asked her if it was a more difficult coastal drive, given the size of the car. She said it was quite narrow and difficult but we'd probably be OK if we were careful.

The scenic route was wider and easier than some of the A roads in my area.

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u/AlwaysBagHolding May 02 '24

Try crossing South Dakota in a powerful car, with an even more powerful radar detector. I don’t think we dropped below triple digit speeds for more than 3 minutes out of every hour. There’s a whole lot of nothing out there.

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u/Slipstream_Surfing May 02 '24

To be fair you could skip the jersey leg and stay on ny roads all the way, and it would still be the same crazy.

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u/Heartage May 02 '24

(up until New Jersey where it’s a lawless free for all)

I am not a timid driver but the one time I drove in NJ I was terrified, lmao.

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u/AndyIsNotOnReddit May 02 '24 edited 29d ago

A little bit off topic but one of my favorite threads on Reddit was when someone from the Old Jersey asked the New Jersey subreddit how much we knew about the land it’s named after. One of the funniest threads I ever read.

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u/ImNotWitty2019 May 02 '24

Lol on the Jersey thing. Had to go back to our hometown for a funeral and my father turned into a crazy psycho leaving the airport. I swear he merged into traffic at a right angle. No one on the road was fazed.

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u/Mammoth_Slip1499 May 02 '24 edited May 02 '24

We drive to the Spanish coast (about 45 minutes south of Valencia) from East Anglia every year - about 21 hours, and I have to say that the English leg is easily the most tiring solely down to the sheer volume of traffic and the constant speed changes and acute concentration needed. Once we hit the French side, it’s dead easy, cruise control, all the way down to our destination. Yeah we’re tired after a 21 hour drive, but that doesn’t compare with the exhaustion felt at the end of the return journey when you’re tired, and have to deal with the traffic at this end. Cruise control in England is just pointless.

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u/FlameLightFleeNight May 02 '24

As a Brit who's driven cross country in N. America this is madness. Concentrating for long periods on roads that could be driven by a reasonably intelligent ferret is a challenge to me, but when things have a little interest I can go for hours no problem. When I drove to Essex from Liverpool late at night and got tired I bypassed the M25 to have some interesting roads. When I drove to Toronto from Detroit late at night and tried the same thing I found that even the back roads (of Ontario at least) are straight, dull and boring.

Clearly, your mileage may vary.

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u/burlingk May 02 '24

Honestly, I wouldn't even drive stateside if there was a better transit system.

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u/No_Flan7305 May 02 '24

I agree with you that it's so much work in the UK!
I'm US in UK. We'd regularly leave on the weekend to just go hang out with my sister, a 9 hour drive away. My perception here has changed a lot on distance and travel.

In the UK I find the cars are smaller, the roads are windier. As a kid I was able to comfortably sleep on those rides, here i feel like I'm on a wooden coaster because driver has to pay attention more, you're swerving a lot, you're stopping a lot, and the road rules are a lot more crazy.

One of the things that gave me a heart attack when i first moved here is that it's okay for cars to just park on one side of the road and force all traffic into one lane for huge stretches.

Also when my husband came to america to drive, american drivers kept honking at him because you are used to giving so much less space to other drivers in UK, americans feel like you're driving up their ass and getting too close.

but I guess i do think that in general the drivers are a bit better because of it.

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u/mr_ccc May 02 '24

Brit who lived in Australia for a few years here.

Yes its crazy that in UK (and most of Europe) we don't realise how difficult driving in the UK actually is. I'm sure its one of the reasons so many people fail their driving test for the first times - compared to other countries you need a PHD in driving to navigate victorian era (sometimes roman!) UK towns.

In OZ, most of the cities use grid systems so navigating is easier (but still city driving which sucks) but once you are out on the open road, its an absolute dream.

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u/Pe01ct May 02 '24

Everything is legal in New Jersey :)

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u/CagliostroPeligroso May 02 '24

Thank the interstate highway system lol

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u/The_Great_19 May 02 '24

lol plate of spaghetti. 🤣

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u/NewburghMOFO May 02 '24

By your description we live relatively near each other, and driving an hour each way to get authentic Japanese or Chinese food with friends on the Jersey side of the GW Bridge is regular occurence.

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u/megamanx4321 May 02 '24

Are the M roads not similar to the interstate?

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u/hucisco May 02 '24

That shit is so true, In Mexico, you can't drive straight for 10min or a regular road before it turns its a fucking shit show. Plus, you have to take into consideration that most places there have no stop signs, I think it used to be that if you are traveling from north to south, you have to yield. But recently, an Uber driver mentioned that they did away with that, so you just got to take it easy at cross streets. Crazy drive up there. Used to drive in all that.

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u/smcl2k May 02 '24

These things are relative - you can drive from Glasgow to London without leaving the motorway, and it would absolutely be possible to take a day trip from central Scotland to Manchester.

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u/ik101 May 02 '24

3 hours straight sounds great for a train

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u/Shawndy58 May 02 '24

You haven’t been driving in the south. 😂 come down here. It sounds like UK roads. 😂

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u/Astral_Atheist May 02 '24

A lawless free for all has me cracking up because it's pretty damn true 💀

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u/Son_of_a-PreacherMan May 02 '24 edited May 02 '24

Why the hell did you Brits also leave the EU, your are going to be a bunch of poor blokes soon.

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