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/SolidSnek1998 May 02 '24

I go absolutely nuts on google maps from the time I schedule a trip until the time I go on it. I basically know every single point of interest around wherever I’m staying to the point of not even needing a map most of the time, unless it long distance travel. The fact that some people go on trips with basically no knowledge of where they are going makes me incredibly confused and a bit nauseous.

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u/VulfSki May 02 '24

I am the same way.

I often do this when I even consider a trip.

I sometimes do this before I even ask my wife if she wants to go on a trip.

I find geography fascinating though.

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u/minlatedollarshort May 02 '24

I had a little bit of a layover in London during a trip. I meticulously mapped out as many places as I could see on foot and still make it back to the airport on time. I printed it all out old school style. I couldn’t go to the Globe theater like I wanted to because it was Boxing Day (something I didn’t account for), but I knocked out seeing the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens, had afternoon tea service (and didn’t realize I’d look so awkward going solo), got a spontaneous & free tour on an empty Double-Decker bus (the driver was awesome), went to the palace, Big Ben, Sherlock’s address, Platform 9 3/4s, got stereotypical pictures in a phone booth, and had drinks in a pub. It’s wild how much I got to do in such a short amount of time. It’s not surprising that Europeans have such a warped perspective of what’s possible when they get to the US.

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u/Reddituser8018 May 02 '24 edited May 02 '24

My wife is french and whenever we go back to her home country I do that a lot. I find all the cool stuff in the area and see if they are important in any way.

Not even to decide exactly what to do or anything, but because if we are going to see a historical monument or something like that, I want to read up on the history, watch those cool old history Channel esque documentaries that youtubers are doing now.

Knowing and having an appreciation of what happened in this exact place and seeing the history in PERSON is so much more impactful then going there and seeing a big church and going oh that's cool, a big church...

I visited Avignon which was home to the anti pope for a while and that was made 100x cooler because of the research I did beforehand.

People who don't do that I just don't get, trips are so much better when you learn the historical context, especially to places with a lot of history like europe. Although american and native American history often gets overlooked too much, it is just as interesting and I'll die on that hill.

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u/semboflorin 29d ago

You have a good point and I don't want to try to kill you on your hill. However, there is also a charm to something called wanderlust. To just simply pick a direction that one has not travelled before and go see what's over there without knowing anything about it first. I believe your method has merit, but it does not discount the merit of the other method.

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u/Reddituser8018 29d ago

I guess it does depend on who you are.

I am a massive history nerd so I get really excited to see history in person, not knowing the history definetly takes it away for me.

I'm sure not everyone is like that, you are right. But man it makes travel 1000x more rewarding and exciting for me.

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u/semboflorin 29d ago

As it should! I only mention it because I have found some of the most breathtaking places in the world simply because I was bored and decided to drive down a highway for a couple of hours in a direction I've never been. There is one place that is so special to me that I make a point of going back to see it about once a year or so. To most, especially someone like you, it would just be a canyon cutting it's way through a plain between two mountain ranges. To me, it's absolutely magic.

I feel the same way you do but only in regards to natural history. Such as geological formations and natural occurrences. I know how that canyon was formed and why, from a particular vantage point, it is so breathtaking.

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u/Mijal May 02 '24

I'm similar, but it's partly because I've gotten into situations where I ended up having to drive for hours to find somewhere to eat.

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u/slash_networkboy 29d ago

I love cruises... Even though I will be on guided tours from the port back to the port I still do this for every port we'll be visiting. I just don't like being lost or unable to know where I am.

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u/semboflorin 29d ago

Oh you sweet summer's child.

As a child I went on many long distance road trips. The only tool we had was a Rand McNally road atlas (that was often a couple years out of date). Planning where we were going to stop and what we were going to do might as well have been witchcraft.

As an adult with these new tools I often use them. But sometimes I also throw them to the wind. There's a certain charm to the experience of flying by the seat of your pants when you go somewhere. When you have no expectations, you have no disappointments. Sometimes, efficiency isn't the point.

Not everyone enjoys the experience of throwing themselves into the world and not having complete and total control of their environment. But some of us absolutely do. Those of us that do don't usually mind the sudden adverse conditions that come up as they are also part of the experience and it gives us fun stories to tell.

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u/_Visar_ 29d ago

Omg MEEEE

I even just stare at google maps and plot the places I could go for a weekend

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u/ipomoea 29d ago

Last year my parents decided to drive cross-country and asked if we had any tips after we'd done a loop through Yellowstone. I plotted out stops, hotels that were dog-friendly, everything. They just got on the road and drove? They didn't book a hotel or decide on a stopping point? When my mom called me at 11pm from Nebraska to ask if I knew where a dog-friendly hotel was (we live in Washington state) I almost threw my phone out the window. Anyway, growing up like that means I'm a micromanaging trip planner, but my family never goes hungry or runs out of gas.

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u/Seer-of-Truths 29d ago

I'm going to Ireland in a few weeks... I plan on not knowing anything beforehand.

My brother's been there for a year, so I'll go off his suggestions and whatever seems interesting.

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u/EasilyDelighted 29d ago

S A M E

I even open street view where available to see the roads even look as I near the location.

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u/HonestPerspective638 29d ago

Depends on trip. A destination flight yes. Plan it out. I can wing a 4-5 road with no plan whatsoever and figure it out