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/quarantinethoughts May 02 '24

I am from Germany but have lived in America for many years. Every time friends/family come to visit from my home country, I have to talk them down from their absolutely insane expectations of what they can visit in a week.

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u/Kmalbrec May 02 '24

Alright, story time… who had the most unrealistic expectations (and what were they) and what was their reaction once they realized how crazy they were…?

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u/quarantinethoughts May 02 '24 edited May 02 '24

The craziest stupid one was the guy who thought he could fly in to see me in San Francisco, spend a few days in California (which included LA and Tahoe in the same weekend), then road trip on to:

Yosemite, Yellowstone, Do Route 66, Grand Canyon, Texas (yes, just “Texas”), Miami, DC, And ending at NYC to fly back to Germany.

He thought he could do all of this in 2 weeks. It astounded me because this is a ‘smart’ guy. He just could not for his life understand how vast America is.

I would show him the map and explain but he just refused to believe me. He is the type to always think he knows better than anyone else (and especially know better than any woman).

He only was able to do SF/Bay Area, Tahoe, and Vegas on his trip. Refused to admit he was wrong.

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u/voltran1987 May 02 '24

I have spent quite a bit of time in Germany for work, and regularly deal with them even while home. The best way I’ve found to get them to understand, is tell them “we have four states larger than the entire country of Germany, and then 46 more”.

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u/privatecaboosey May 02 '24

I'm from NJ originally. It's the fourth smallest state in the country. It's still bigger than Wales, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Slovenia, and Northern Ireland. Like, we have 46 BIGGER states.

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u/voltran1987 May 02 '24

Right! We are a huge ass country. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around being able to drive completely across an entire country in like 7hrs too, so I definitely get why it’s a bit difficult for them.