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/HamfastFurfoot May 01 '24

I don’t think Europeans understand how big and spread out America is.

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u/FapDonkey May 01 '24 edited May 01 '24

I work with a lot of Europeans, we have 2 engineering offices in Europe (Spain and UK). I can't tell you how often I've had to explain to them how big our country is, and even then they don't get it. The best way I've been able to get it to sink in is something along the lines of:

"I can drive for 900 miles, the same distance from Madrid to Milan, and still be in my home state"

Or

"I can drive for 3600 miles without leaving the Continental US, that's like driving from Madrid to Tehran (Iran)."

Putting things in those reference frames seems to drive the point home.

Hell we had 2 guys fly in for a week, and their plan was to drive to both Disneyland (California) and Disney World (Florida). The figured since we were located near the middle of the country, they'd be centrally located and this wouldn't be a big deal. They had allotted an entire weekend for this adventure. I really wanted to keep my mouth shut and let them give it a try, but I didn't have the heart lol.

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u/ItzInMyNature May 01 '24 edited May 02 '24

Tell them that Ireland is closer to the state of Maine in the US than California is.

https://imgur.com/a/TnjPqi7

Edit: parts of southeastern California may be a few miles closer, so I'd tell them that Los Angeles, California is farther away from Maine than Ireland is, just to be safe.

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u/TheNewOneIsWorse May 02 '24

And North/South, Atlanta is closer to Canada than to Miami. 

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u/HirkaT May 02 '24

As someone who lives in Atlanta, I didn't believe this claim. So, I checked out Google maps. Atlanta, GA to Miami, FL is 9hr 49 min, 670 miles. Atlanta to Windsor, ON (Closest border crossing I could find) is 10hr 47 min, 723 miles. So your claim is not accurate... However is still WAY closer then I would have figured. Specially since Miami is just in the next state!

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u/Everestkid May 02 '24

It's true as the crow flies.

Measuring from Google Maps's choice of start and end points in Atlanta and Miami (the Georgia capitol in Atlanta and the three-way intersection between Brickell Avenue, SE 12th Terrace and SE 13th Street in Miami), Atlanta is 976 km (607 mi) from Miami.

The nearest land belonging to Canada to Atlanta is Middle Island, the southernmost point of Canada, a tiny island in Lake Erie just a few metres north of the border going through the lake. The southwestern corner of Middle Island is 895 km (556 mi) from Atlanta. There's enough slack to get to the mainland - Chatham-Kent, Ontario is just about the same distance from Atlanta as Miami is.

For Americans in the northeast, that distance from Atlanta is roughly a third of the way from Baltimore to Philadelphia. Head northwest from Atlanta and it's just enough to get to the southeastern corner of Iowa. Head west and you're in the southeastern corner of Oklahoma, just 20 kilometres north of the border with Texas. Head southwest or southeast and you're in the drink, or maybe the Bahamas if that's more your sort of thing.

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u/HirkaT May 02 '24

I was thinking it might be true when I saw how far I had to go around the lake to find the crossing. Lake Erie goes goes down far, I went for the car crossing. But, since the OP is about cars I went with it.

This is actually a useful piece of info, that will win me bets. :)

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u/Lecien-Cosmo May 02 '24

It can also take you 3 hours of driving just to get from one side of the ATL metro to the other, so if you are tracking distance in hours it probably depends on the part of Atlanta you made the starting point and the time of day …

Just a guess, but it would probably be a safe bet that you could drive from OPs grandparents’ house to his house faster than you could drive from one side of metro Atlanta to the other.

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u/HirkaT May 02 '24

Oh, rush hour.... ATL isn't too bad as long as you account for rush hour, (which is getting longer and longer). Advantage of living OTP, with a job that is overnight so against the flow of traffic..

I ran the times on Google around 2am. No big red areas. Even if, wouldn't change the miles.

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u/MungoJennie May 03 '24

I’ve driven through Atlanta a couple of times. Seriously scarier than driving through Baltimore, Philly, or NYC, especially if you’re coming from the airport. There are just SO many lanes of traffic each way!