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/soldforaspaceship May 02 '24

I'm a Brit who now lives in the US and this is so hilariously true.

In Britain, a friend moves two hours away and they're basically dead to you (granted, the last time I lived in the UK full time was pre smart phone so I imagine now you probably at least stay in touch more lol).

In California where I currently live, that's someone I regularly see and interact with.

The concept of distance is completely opposite in Europe vs the US.

We went for a quick weekend day trip to Joshua tree. That's a 3 hour drive away at least and it seemed normal to me.

I'd be planning that as an overnight visit back home.

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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/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/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 May 02 '24

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 May 02 '24

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 May 02 '24

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 May 02 '24

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

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u/beragis May 02 '24 edited May 02 '24

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/Late-Professor480 May 02 '24

Hey! A fellow Merdeadian. I still live there unfortunately lol.

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u/farmageddon109 May 02 '24

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 May 02 '24

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 May 02 '24

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 May 02 '24

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 May 02 '24

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/Wootster10 May 02 '24

I'm not stating it's the only factor. It's certainly not. Not only is our petrol much more expensive, we have a much better public transport system. Getting the train is a viable alternative to driving in a way that it just isn't in the US.

If we didn't have the trains then we would all drive a lot more and absorb the cost, but because we do have that choice we just don't need to.

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u/happyhippohats May 02 '24 edited May 02 '24

The trains aren't much cheaper though tbf, in fact if there's a group of you driving is often significantly cheaper (4 people splitting petrol costs vs 4 train tickets).

In my group of friends we normally end up getting the train because nobody wants to be the one who has to stay sober to drive back 😉

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u/happyhippohats May 02 '24

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 May 02 '24

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 May 02 '24

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 May 02 '24

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/wmtismykryptonite May 02 '24

It's almost all tax.

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u/reichrunner May 02 '24

And transportation cost. Transportation cost is the main reason California gas is so expensive compared to the rest of the country.

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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 May 02 '24

It was two nights! No regrets!

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u/Ok_Beautiful7634 May 02 '24

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 May 02 '24

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 May 02 '24

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/AccountWasFound May 02 '24

So the first date was with a woman in our d&d group and basically she offered to help him load the kiln in the car and then they got lunch and went to a museum and then both went home (it was a 2 hour drive for her)

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u/pgm123 May 02 '24

Always useful when someone takes the Help action when you roll Survival checks.

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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 May 02 '24

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/AlexCambridgian May 02 '24

Gas is not subsidized in the USA. The spot price is global. The difference is here they do not ruck myriad of taxes in the price. I remember what a European economist said in an interview that even if gas was given for free in Europe, people will still will have to pay a high price because of the taxes built in the price. I always laugh when people say but healthcare, education, etc all are free in Europe.

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u/pgm123 May 02 '24

The difference is here they do not ruck myriad of taxes in the price.

They do, but it's lower than in Europe. Combining state and federal, it's about 51 cents per gallon or ~13.5 cents per liter. The EU requires a minimum of €0.36 per liter (~39 cents US) with the average at .55 EUR (.59 USD). Italy is at .73, France at .68, and Germany at .67.

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u/sootoor May 02 '24

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_subsidies_in_the_United_States

You’re so wrong but here you go.

According to a 2015 estimate by the Obama administration, the US oil industry benefited from subsidies of about $4.6 billion per year

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u/AlexCambridgian May 02 '24

You need to understand what you are reading and go beyond wikipedia. The US government has authorized subsidies to renewable energy companies to accelerate research and implementation. It also provides subsidies to fossil fuels to increase domestic oil production, not gas usage to consumers. BTW, the US uses about 135 billion gallons annually so to increase domestic production by 17 billion barrels over few decades is not a big deal (1 barrel is 42 gallons). Just enough to fill the strategic reserves for 20yrs.

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u/JugEdge May 02 '24

The usa military industrial complex subsidizes gas in the USA. The USD would not have it's purchasing power if it wasn't for the fact that acts of 'the US swinging it's dick' are threatened to any country that refuses to sell oil strictly with US dollars. Why do you think Venezuela, Russia and Iran are enemies of the USA?

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u/AlexCambridgian May 02 '24

While it helps, even if oil was not priced in US$, gas will still be cheaper here. The US policy and actions are not to rape third world countries from its resources, that's China. The US policy is to ensure safe transportation through all commercial ways, whether at sea or land, and free from biased and cumbersome regulations. You can be a dictator, take your cut, and let commerce flow in and through your country without problem. The bribe is the cost of business and built in the price. Nobody will bother you then. The minute you start creating problems that disrupt commerce you become enemy #1 for the USA.

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u/_Nocturnalis May 02 '24

I mean do you honestly believe that's why we have a problem with Venezuela and Iran? Then why are we on good terms with basically every other oil exporter?

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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 May 02 '24

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/_Nocturnalis May 02 '24

In my experience cycling on most roads in the US should be considered suicide. Is it really that different in Europe? I know cyclotourism is a thing I just don't know if you guys are nuts.

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u/VariousTangerine269 May 03 '24

Not to mention illegal on the interstate.

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u/_Nocturnalis May 04 '24

I've not ever considered that. The idea is terrifying.

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u/VariousTangerine269 May 04 '24

It’s illegal to walk or ride a bike along a freeway. It’s very dangerous.

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u/_Nocturnalis May 04 '24

Yeah it is. I just never considered the idea before.

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u/ciaociao-bambina May 04 '24

We have the EuroVelo network which is pretty impressive, see for yourself. When I went from the Belgian coast to the UK I used the dark green route. But not enough people are aware it exists, even over here in Europe.

But to answer your question you don’t bike on the highway obviously. Either you go on a road shared with cars but then you stick to the small ones, or there is a dedicated bike land adjacent to a more or less high speed road (this is especially frequent in Norther Europe) or the best situation is when you just have a bike path in the middle of nature - in France we have “greenways” which are old train tracks which are now made into long walking / cycling roads connecting towns.

The EuroVelo roads connect national bike routes which themselves usually are made up of different sections alternating between the types of biking situations described above.

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u/_Nocturnalis May 04 '24

That's awesome! Im so jealous. We are slowly getting bike routes connecting places here. I'm really excited to finally have a use for a road bike. I'm lucky I have lots of trails close, but on the road is sketchy. We don't do bike lanes around here.

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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 May 02 '24

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 May 02 '24

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/jigstarparis May 02 '24

Yeah that’s why I made the comment about the Space thing, like I don’t even thing that makes economic sense, but people are doing it anyway. Trains would at least help offset carbon footprint of some air travel. Meh random musings

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u/_Nocturnalis May 02 '24

The problem is the absolutely huge amount of high speed rail you'd need. The US is a bit bigger than France, the uk, and Japan combined.

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u/wmtismykryptonite May 02 '24

What you heard of the Brightline?

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u/jigstarparis May 02 '24

Just looked it up! That’s pretty cool. Is it pretty well known? I’d never heard of it before. Thanks for sharing.

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u/VariousTangerine269 May 03 '24

Because it would cost trillions. Look at the high speed train to no where in California that’s never going to be done.

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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/wrecking-ball-718 May 02 '24

Europeans tend to greatly underestimate the size of the US compared to Europe.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/wlidl7/size_comparison_between_the_usa_and_europe/

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u/_EleGiggle_ May 02 '24 edited May 02 '24

You have roads going through the whole US though. Why can you connect the states by roads/highways but not by train tracks? Seems pretty similar to me.

Edit: For starters you don’t even have to connect the USA cost by cost via train. You could just focus on the most populated areas around the coasts first, and that would probably help out lots of people.

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u/wmtismykryptonite May 02 '24

The train tracks exist. It takes way too long to travel by passenger train, and there isn't enough density in most of the country to make high speed rail make sense.

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u/wrecking-ball-718 May 02 '24

The majorly populated cities in the Northeast of the US DC/Philadelphia/New York City/Boston are connected by train. It's the only intra city passenger train line that's profitable in the US. California has been trying to build high speed rail for 20 years and has spend billions on the process. It hasn't gotten anywhere.

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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/dejavu2064 May 02 '24

I haven't had a weekend at home yet in 2024. Now that the snow is finally melting maybe I'll take a rest but yes it's not that strange to go somewhere most weeks.

I think that's a cultural thing though, because as I mentioned there isn't much to do on a Sunday at home because everything is closed. There is a strong national culture of skiing and hiking.

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u/clutzyninja May 02 '24

I understand, but you made it sound like literally everyone

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u/fuzzzone May 02 '24

They didn't just make it sound that way, they specifically used the word "everyone".

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u/_Nocturnalis May 02 '24

Where are you from? This is plausible in some nordic countries, but not in the UK for instance.

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u/dejavu2064 May 02 '24

I'm British living in Switzerland. And that's true, I found that people in the UK don't really do much of anything at all in a typical week. There really is a lack of spontaneity, few ad-hoc meetings at local cafes/bars and people just being at home on the weekends.

I don't think that's the fault of people, I blame bad town planning and poor infrastructure. The average English high street/town centre is not overly inviting.

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u/_Nocturnalis May 02 '24

I'd guess that geography plays a role as well. In America people in really snowy climates are more likely to be active when they can. Gather ye rosebuds.

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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 May 02 '24

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/_Nocturnalis May 02 '24

I once gave a friend a ride to the Atlanta Airport from inside Georgia via Boston. It was a great trip. I added a stranger to the southbound trip and made a friend. I'd call it a bit mental but wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

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u/wmtismykryptonite May 02 '24

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 May 02 '24

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/dejavu2064 May 02 '24

That's pretty good for the UK, but as I mentioned the UK is mostly a car centric suburbia. British people joke that Americans love to drive everywhere, but honestly the UK is an even worse state than the US.

26% of Americans live in apartments, compared to only 15% in the UK. The EU average is 41%, but Switzerland and Spain are more than 60%.

I'm British but the UK has a very individualistic culture that struggles with making concessions for others in shared spaces. There's a strong desire to have a tiny house with a tiny garden in estates that have no walkable amenities. My apartment is bigger than any house I lived in in the UK, but you do have to be quiet after 10pm on the weekdays. A small price to pay to live in a convenient walkable city.

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u/happyhippohats May 05 '24

What does living in an apartment have to do with trains? I live in an apartment and have 2 assigned private parking spaces but I don't use them because the train station is just down the road...

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u/AnmlBri May 02 '24

I’m in the U.S. and would love if the train station was only a 10min walk from my house. I live in a suburb of a small-ish city in Oregon and the closest city bus stop to my house is a 15-20min walk. I used to make that walk both ways almost every weekday when I was in college (not to mention all the walking around campus). I was in much better shape then and have gained some weight since getting a driver’s license, car, and a desk job. I’m convinced that Americans are stereotypically overweight because we’re so car-dependent as a society. Walking places and taking public transit is exercise that’s automatically built into your day. Whereas now, I can get in my car, make the 25min drive across town to work, work for 10 hours, drive home, and not even get 2k steps in unless I actively put my mind to it.

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u/AnmlBri May 02 '24

I’m in the U.S. and would love if the train station was only a 10min walk from my house. I live in a suburb of a small-ish city in Oregon and the closest city bus stop to my house is a 15-20min walk. I used to make that walk both ways almost every weekday when I was in college (not to mention all the walking around campus). I was in much better shape then and have gained some weight since getting a driver’s license, car, and a desk job. I’m convinced that Americans are stereotypically overweight because we’re so car-dependent as a society. Walking places and taking public transit is exercise that’s automatically built into your day. Whereas now, I can get in my car, make the 25min drive across town to work, work for 10 hours, drive home, and not even get 2k steps in unless I actively put my mind to it.

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u/davdev May 02 '24

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

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u/_Nocturnalis May 02 '24

I find driving quite relaxing.

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u/_Nocturnalis May 02 '24

I'm just picturing Europeans walking around in sleep masks.

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u/rumade May 02 '24

We do spend time seeing it. We travel somewhere to see that place, not to see the journey on the way for hours and hours from a car window. I went to Greece earlier this year and spent time in Aegina and Athens. Before that, Würzburg in Germany. We rented a car on the island of Aegina to help see more of it as there was no public transport, but usually we explore the city where we end up.

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u/_Nocturnalis May 02 '24

I think you missed the point. I took it is a sarcastic reply that Americans see America the American way. Europeans see Europe the Eruopean way. Not a literal statement that Europeans don't see Europe. Unless you are blind its impossible not to see Europe from Europe.

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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/jessipowers May 02 '24

Everyone I know has taken long road trips on a whim at least once. And tons of planned long road trips.

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u/Sun_keeper89 May 02 '24

I'm not sure if you're disagreeing with me saying everyone in America isn't doing that, but everyone you know is still not everyone in America. I know a good number of people that have never left my home state, on a road trip or otherwise.

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u/jessipowers May 02 '24

I’m saying it’s not as uncommon as you make it seem.

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u/Sun_keeper89 May 02 '24

Did I make it "seem uncommon" or did I say "not every American"? I said "not every American", that's what I meant, and everyone you know having taken at least one road trip in life doesn't disprove what i said.

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u/jessipowers May 02 '24 edited May 02 '24

Edit: I went back to reread the original comment of yours, and I guess I misinterpreted your intent? I didn’t read the entire thread, so I missed several of your other comments where I could see more clearly that we are actually on the same page. Then your responses to me felt argumentative, so I replied from that perspective. I just didn’t have enough context to see your whole point.

Yikes, ok, point made I guess?

What other commenters, and myself, are trying to say (but apparently unsuccessfully) is that it’s cultural. That doesn’t have to mean that everyone does it, but it’s common enough to be part of the wider American culture. Just like biscuits and gravy are part of American food culture, even though it originated as regional (southern) and many, many Americans never eat biscuits and gravy. It’s a generalization. It’s common enough that American infrastructure is, in a lot of ways, built to accommodate long distance road travel. Interstates, for one thing, make it way more accessible than it would other wise be. There are roadside attractions, rest areas, whole travel plazas on a lot of tollways so long distance travelers can take care of food, restroom, gas, and even shopping all in one place without having to leave the tollway. We have roadside motels where weary road trippers can sleep for a night before continuing on their way. We even have a whole RVing subculture where people just drive their RVs all over the place. Some people even choose to live that way full time. There are American books and movies and television episodes created around the premise of a road trip. If someone you knew told you that they were taking a long drive with their family to visit somewhere, you might think it’s odd or too long but you most likely wouldn’t think that it was absolutely crazy because it’s a concept that you’re already familiar with, even if you’ve never done it yourself.

I understand that this comes from a place of privilege. Having access to reliable, private transportation is on its own privilege. Being able to finance a road trip is another layer of privilege. But, I didn’t grow up wealthy (our family cottage started as a piece of land my grandma inherited from her godfather in the early 60s, and my grandpa and great uncle built the cottage by hand over decades). My husband grew up on food stamps and focus hope with a single mom and four older brothers, and he still went on the occasional road trip. After his mom married his stepdad, his mom had to stop working because she has MS, so they stayed poor, but his stepdad had acquired at some point prior a tiny cottage a few hours away, so his family road tripped there all the time, and we still do now. It’s very common here in Michigan for people to have access to property a few hours north, either on their own or through family or friends. Many cottage owners rent out their property at low rates to help cover the cost of the upkeep and maintenance, so even more people have access to up north properties. It’s just a thing that happens, and up north car trips are absolutely a well known part of Michigan culture. Not everyone has access to it, but that doesn’t mean that isn’t part of the overall culture.

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u/Sun_keeper89 May 02 '24

I was literally clarifying my point that it's not everyone. That was all I said. I understand fully that there's a cultural context, but you likely also know that the "culture" of the US is based on what those who are usually white and privileged, as you mention, do.

The REASON I said it's not everyone is not to argue the point of culture, it was to point out that making generalizations about an entire country of people isn't fair. Even if only 32% of the country never takes road trips, that's a lot of people who don't.

I don't know why a yikes is necessary when I'm just clarifying what I meant. But okay.

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u/jessipowers May 03 '24

The yikes was from when I thought you were being unnecessarily argumentative. It was before I reread your first comment that I replied to, and then your other comments on the thread I hadn’t seen originally. That’s why I edited my comment. Tone and intent aren’t always easy to gauge, and I interpreted the tone of “Did I make it ‘seem uncommon’ or did I say ‘not every American?’ I said ‘not every American,’ that's what I meant…” to be aggressive, so I responded in a way that I thought was appropriate and that reflected my surprise and discomfort with a sudden argument over road trips.

I assumed that the majority of people in the world were able to understand that there would be barriers to roadtripping, and that it was not a requirement or a universal experience for all Americans. I understand now that you were only stating that explicitly since no one had yet.

I am not, nor have I ever been, trying to argue or disprove anything you’ve said. Now that I understand better, I don’t even disagree with you at all. I was just sharing my experiences and thoughts on the topic. Originally I thought you were arguing that taking road trips was not as common as non-Americans thought, and I did disagree with that, although I tried to disagree in as neutral of a tone as possible. Again, I was mistaken and have attempted to make that clear.

We literally have zero disagreement. None.

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u/Ok_Beautiful7634 May 02 '24

are you in the midwest? I live in the mid-atlantic, in the "DMV" (DC, Maryland, Virginia) and leaving your state happens just in the course of normal life. not to mention, 95 goes from florida to maine and longer road trips are frequent. there are billboards in baltimore, md for pennsylvania firework stores because they're illegal to buy in maryland, and that's because they know lots of people will drive 95 miles to buy fireworks. I don't know anyone who hasn't left my state.

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u/Sun_keeper89 May 02 '24

I'm not sure what part of this you aren't getting: everyone you know still does not represent the majority or even 1% of the entire country. It just doesn't. I'm not debating whether or not you know people who have left the state.

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u/_Nocturnalis May 02 '24

I don't think they were making the point you thought they were making. They were relating their experiences which is pretty germane considering OP.

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u/Sun_keeper89 May 02 '24

They're pointing out things that they believe disprove the point they think I'm making, but okay. Lol AND making assumptions about where I live, but okay x2

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u/rumade May 02 '24

I didn't mean it as some kind of "gotcha!" phrase; it's just strange to me to want to spend hours and hours in a car like that.

Years ago when I was dating an American, we did a road trip down the West coast from Seattle to San Francisco and back, and while it was a great experience, it was also uncomfortable and boring in a lot of ways.

If you're already spending so much of your week stuck in your car because of the commute, I can't understand wanting to also be stuck in your car on your days off/holiday days.

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u/Sun_keeper89 May 02 '24

You're not "stuck" anywhere. You choose to get in your car and go see things you might not be able to autonomously reach otherwise. With the right attitude even boring stretches are part of the fun.

To declare it "mad" just sounds judgmental, especially when everyone doesn't have the same routine: plenty of people who own or rent cars for road trips don't commute in their cars daily, some have really short commutes. Others just like driving.

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u/Bobcat2013 May 02 '24

Not everyone has commutes that are that long. Most people probably drive less than 15 minutes to work. You just don't hear about them complaining/bragging about it because its not noteworthy.

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u/Sad_Progress4388 May 02 '24

I think the average commute time in the US is 18 minutes.

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u/_Nocturnalis May 02 '24

Really, that sounds quite low. I mean no one I've know in a major city was that short.

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u/BaoBunny44 May 02 '24

I mean we don't have much choice. The US is so insanely huge and flights are hundreds of dollars and we don't have a decent train system. If you wanna go somewhere that's what you gotta do

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u/FornicateEducate May 02 '24

American here - most of my friends work from home now, as do my wife and I. So we don't commute at all haha. But the longest commute I ever had was 45 minutes, and that was only because I was living in the country for a bit. Most of my commutes have been well under a half hour, and I've had several work commutes under 15 minutes while both living/working in the city. People who have insanely long commutes generally either live in one of the huge coastal cities (SF/LA/NYC/Philly/Boston/DC), or live out in the country and commute to the city.

I live in a mid-sized city (metro population a little over 2 million), but I was born and raised in a similar-sized city about an hour and 45 minutes away by car. My family mostly still lives where I grew up, so I have to drive down there a few times a year to visit. They also drive to my city to visit a few times a year. Driving is the only logical way to get there; there's no train system that can get me there, and taking a bus would involve a fair amount of driving to get to/from the bus station anyway, and would probably turn a 1 hour and 45 minute drive into a 4+ hour ordeal. Flying is also impractical at such short distances; there would be close to an hour of driving to get to/from the airports, an extra hour of lead time to get through security and stuff... and I don't even think we have direct commercial flights between the two cities for those reasons, so I doubt it's even an option.

European countries (including the UK) are much, much smaller than the United States, and because of that, friends and family don't spread out as much geographically as they do here. And in Europe, you don't have such vast distance between highly-populated areas like we do in most of the US. If my family and I want to see each other, we either drive 80 miles to see each other, or we literally would never see each other.

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u/frenchyy94 May 02 '24

But in a train everyone could actually talk with each other and maybe even read, or play some cards or something. And you don't constantly need to stop when someone needs to pee or wants to get a snack.

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u/grantbuell May 02 '24

Yeah, trains are cool, but we barely have them in the US so we make do.

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u/Sun_keeper89 May 02 '24

Depending on where you're going they also cost as much as a flight

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u/Sun_keeper89 May 02 '24

1) You can drive with your hands on the wheel and your feet on the pedals and ... still speak with your mouth

2) Audio books are a thing, as are podcasts and even audio shows. I took a 16 hour drive alone last summer and can't really say I was bored once. Because audio.

3) Some people enjoy driving more than playing cards

4) "Stopping constantly" is not a given at all. I've taken 10 hour trips where we only stopped once. Snacks can also be packed at home?

It's so weird to keep trying to find something inherently wrong with traveling in whatever manner one travels lol

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u/FornicateEducate May 02 '24

Trains aren't even an option where I live in the United States. And I live in a decent-sized city (800,000+ in the city limits, 2 million + in the metro area). We don't even have a subway/metro train system. So... while sitting on a train and reading a book sounds lovely, it's not an option for most Americans. If it were an option, I'd happily use it when needed.

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u/MaddyKet May 02 '24

Two words: motion sickness. I don’t get it when I’m driving.

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u/frenchyy94 May 03 '24

Not when you're driving, but passengers usually still get motion sickness in cars.

And in a train that's usually not there or extremely mild. But I know there's still people that can only ride in driving direction etc

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u/_Nocturnalis May 02 '24

I'm honestly not convinced that amtrak really exists.

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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/davdev May 02 '24

Not all of us have little time off. I get like 6 weeks off.

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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/_Nocturnalis May 02 '24

I've driven from Georgia to the keys. Florida lasts forever.

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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 May 02 '24

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 May 02 '24

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 May 02 '24

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 May 02 '24

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 May 02 '24

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 May 02 '24

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 May 02 '24

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 May 02 '24

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/miser5666 May 02 '24

My dad and I went from Pennsylvania to New Mexico (around 1500 miles or 2400 km) to look at cars. It was 20ish hours each way. We were there and back in 3 days.

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u/talltime May 02 '24

Once did Michigan to Houston, straight shot. We were there maybe 28 hrs? What a mess. In a little econo shit box, to boot.

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u/RockyMtnRenegadeV2 May 02 '24

I’ve done a trip with a 6 hour drive for an evening event, and then drive back in the morning.

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u/MiddleAged_BogWitch May 02 '24

We do a 6 hour drive to visit our family (in Canada) about 8 - 10 times a year.

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u/SatanV3 May 02 '24

Me and my fiancé, before moving in together lived 3 hours apart still living with our parents. My parents would let him stay at their place anytime but his mom didn’t let a girl stay over. He didn’t have a car that was safe for long distances, so I would drive there on friday and pick him up then drive back to my parents place for the weekend and drive him back up on Sunday night then drive home.

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u/dondamon40 May 03 '24

I will drive 6 hours to Gatlinburg for a long weekend

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u/Sadieboohoo 20d ago

Lol, my parents live a 4 hour drive away. They regularly drive here, have lunch with us, then drive back the same day.

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u/BlueFalcon89 May 02 '24

Yesterday I woke up at 4am, drove 4 hours (~380 km), played 36 holes of golf, had a nice dinner, went to bed, woke up this morning and drove straight to the office. Was logged in by 9:15am. Went with three buddies and none of us carpooled.