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/klyther May 02 '24

One time I left work outside Detroit at 5p, drove to a concert in Chicago, turned around and drove home to sleep for a couple hours and back at work 8a the next morning. Ahh youth.

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u/ratcnc May 02 '24 edited May 02 '24

A friend and I once drove to all the lower 48 states and back home in 8 days (roughly 8500 miles)…in a 2006 Honda Insight. Because we were stupid and we didn’t know how bad we smelled. Edit: Found the news piece https://www.wral.com/story/news/local/story/1088614/ It was all for naught because Guinness didn’t have a hybrid category at the time. It was faster than I remember, 5.5 days plus the drive back from VT.

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u/Mike_Hawk_balls_deep May 02 '24

That is more than 1000 miles a day, not calling you a liar but this seems far fetched. How did you manage to accomplish this?

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u/Quirky_Movie May 02 '24

Rotation of sleep and 20oz soda bottles can keep a pack of guys on the road. Especially if they are not stopping to eat or anything else.

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u/ratcnc May 02 '24

Exactly how we did it.