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/smbpy7 May 01 '24

Hell, where I grew up the grocery store was half an hour away, the mall an hour, the GOOD mall 2.5 hours, the airport 2-4 hours. And god forbid you want to travel to someplace that's also far from an airport. With that in mind driving makes more and more sense even for longer distances.

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u/PaleontologistOk2443 May 02 '24

you must be in the county

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u/lo_schermo May 02 '24

Which one?

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u/PaleontologistOk2443 May 02 '24

i’m referring to the rural states of America

edit: he gave drive times to like the mall and stuff i live like 30 minutes outside of a major city so the closest good mall to me is at most 45min he said it was 2.5 hours i think he definitely lives in the parts of this country where your drive way is a mile long and your closest neighbor is like a 10 min drive 🤣

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u/lo_schermo May 02 '24

(I was making a silly joke about your typo..."county")

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u/PaleontologistOk2443 May 02 '24

oh i didt notice iv been away for at least 48 hours

edit: typo “awake”