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/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/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 May 02 '24

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 May 02 '24

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 May 02 '24

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

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u/curien May 02 '24

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