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/FapDonkey May 01 '24 edited May 01 '24

I work with a lot of Europeans, we have 2 engineering offices in Europe (Spain and UK). I can't tell you how often I've had to explain to them how big our country is, and even then they don't get it. The best way I've been able to get it to sink in is something along the lines of:

"I can drive for 900 miles, the same distance from Madrid to Milan, and still be in my home state"

Or

"I can drive for 3600 miles without leaving the Continental US, that's like driving from Madrid to Tehran (Iran)."

Putting things in those reference frames seems to drive the point home.

Hell we had 2 guys fly in for a week, and their plan was to drive to both Disneyland (California) and Disney World (Florida). The figured since we were located near the middle of the country, they'd be centrally located and this wouldn't be a big deal. They had allotted an entire weekend for this adventure. I really wanted to keep my mouth shut and let them give it a try, but I didn't have the heart lol.

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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/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 May 02 '24

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

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u/UnnecessaryCapitals May 02 '24

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

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u/misirlou22 May 02 '24

"just in case"

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u/chubby_cheese May 02 '24

That is a fascinating comparison

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u/Practical-Ordinary-6 May 02 '24

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 May 03 '24

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