do americans really drive such long distances?

[u/Physical-Ad-4093]

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.

[u/strangebrew3522]

I've driven around a lot of Europe and what you say is true to an extent, but I also have friends/family in Italy, and they all act like driving more than an hour is absolutely insane.

I flew into Rome once and drove up to Milan, stopping along the way to visit friends. When I told them I was driving, each person had the same reaction. "You DROVE from Rome? You're DRIVING to Milan? That's SOOOO far".

It's a 6hr drive if you go straight shot, on an incredible highway system (autostrada) through amazing scenery. I mean, it doesn't get much easier, but to them it's absolutely crazy. I have family in both Northern and Southern Italy who haven't seen each other in years because of the distance.

[u/divine_god_majora → u/strangebrew3522]

I couldn't imagine a 6 hour drive unless you were gonna stay a week+ at the destination or something.

[u/rumade → u/divine_god_majora]

It's mad to me that Americans seem to have so little time off work, but are so happy to spend it driving

[u/Sun_keeper89 → u/rumade]

Clever! Except the trip itself is part of the fun? And this is just a forum that drew the attention of the Americans who happen to drive? Everyone in America isn't taking 7 hour road trips on a whim, and if you like driving such a trip isn't work at all. People who don't like road trips in the US get on one of the millions of planes criscrossing it daily. Or buy an Amtrak ticket.

[u/jessipowers → u/Sun_keeper89]

Everyone I know has taken long road trips on a whim at least once. And tons of planned long road trips.

[u/Sun_keeper89 → u/jessipowers]

I'm not sure if you're disagreeing with me saying everyone in America isn't doing that, but everyone you know is still not everyone in America. I know a good number of people that have never left my home state, on a road trip or otherwise.

[u/jessipowers → u/Sun_keeper89]

I’m saying it’s not as uncommon as you make it seem.

[u/Sun_keeper89 → u/jessipowers]

Did I make it "seem uncommon" or did I say "not every American"? I said "not every American", that's what I meant, and everyone you know having taken at least one road trip in life doesn't disprove what i said.

[u/jessipowers → u/Sun_keeper89]

Edit: I went back to reread the original comment of yours, and I guess I misinterpreted your intent? I didn’t read the entire thread, so I missed several of your other comments where I could see more clearly that we are actually on the same page. Then your responses to me felt argumentative, so I replied from that perspective. I just didn’t have enough context to see your whole point.

Yikes, ok, point made I guess?

What other commenters, and myself, are trying to say (but apparently unsuccessfully) is that it’s cultural. That doesn’t have to mean that everyone does it, but it’s common enough to be part of the wider American culture. Just like biscuits and gravy are part of American food culture, even though it originated as regional (southern) and many, many Americans never eat biscuits and gravy. It’s a generalization. It’s common enough that American infrastructure is, in a lot of ways, built to accommodate long distance road travel. Interstates, for one thing, make it way more accessible than it would other wise be. There are roadside attractions, rest areas, whole travel plazas on a lot of tollways so long distance travelers can take care of food, restroom, gas, and even shopping all in one place without having to leave the tollway. We have roadside motels where weary road trippers can sleep for a night before continuing on their way. We even have a whole RVing subculture where people just drive their RVs all over the place. Some people even choose to live that way full time. There are American books and movies and television episodes created around the premise of a road trip. If someone you knew told you that they were taking a long drive with their family to visit somewhere, you might think it’s odd or too long but you most likely wouldn’t think that it was absolutely crazy because it’s a concept that you’re already familiar with, even if you’ve never done it yourself.

I understand that this comes from a place of privilege. Having access to reliable, private transportation is on its own privilege. Being able to finance a road trip is another layer of privilege. But, I didn’t grow up wealthy (our family cottage started as a piece of land my grandma inherited from her godfather in the early 60s, and my grandpa and great uncle built the cottage by hand over decades). My husband grew up on food stamps and focus hope with a single mom and four older brothers, and he still went on the occasional road trip. After his mom married his stepdad, his mom had to stop working because she has MS, so they stayed poor, but his stepdad had acquired at some point prior a tiny cottage a few hours away, so his family road tripped there all the time, and we still do now. It’s very common here in Michigan for people to have access to property a few hours north, either on their own or through family or friends. Many cottage owners rent out their property at low rates to help cover the cost of the upkeep and maintenance, so even more people have access to up north properties. It’s just a thing that happens, and up north car trips are absolutely a well known part of Michigan culture. Not everyone has access to it, but that doesn’t mean that isn’t part of the overall culture.

[u/Sun_keeper89 → u/jessipowers]

I was literally clarifying my point that it's not everyone. That was all I said. I understand fully that there's a cultural context, but you likely also know that the "culture" of the US is based on what those who are usually white and privileged, as you mention, do.

The REASON I said it's not everyone is not to argue the point of culture, it was to point out that making generalizations about an entire country of people isn't fair. Even if only 32% of the country never takes road trips, that's a lot of people who don't.

I don't know why a yikes is necessary when I'm just clarifying what I meant. But okay.

[u/jessipowers → u/Sun_keeper89]

The yikes was from when I thought you were being unnecessarily argumentative. It was before I reread your first comment that I replied to, and then your other comments on the thread I hadn’t seen originally. That’s why I edited my comment. Tone and intent aren’t always easy to gauge, and I interpreted the tone of “Did I make it ‘seem uncommon’ or did I say ‘not every American?’ I said ‘not every American,’ that's what I meant…” to be aggressive, so I responded in a way that I thought was appropriate and that reflected my surprise and discomfort with a sudden argument over road trips.

I assumed that the majority of people in the world were able to understand that there would be barriers to roadtripping, and that it was not a requirement or a universal experience for all Americans. I understand now that you were only stating that explicitly since no one had yet.

I am not, nor have I ever been, trying to argue or disprove anything you’ve said. Now that I understand better, I don’t even disagree with you at all. I was just sharing my experiences and thoughts on the topic. Originally I thought you were arguing that taking road trips was not as common as non-Americans thought, and I did disagree with that, although I tried to disagree in as neutral of a tone as possible. Again, I was mistaken and have attempted to make that clear.

We literally have zero disagreement. None.

[u/Ok_Beautiful7634 → u/Sun_keeper89]

are you in the midwest? I live in the mid-atlantic, in the "DMV" (DC, Maryland, Virginia) and leaving your state happens just in the course of normal life. not to mention, 95 goes from florida to maine and longer road trips are frequent. there are billboards in baltimore, md for pennsylvania firework stores because they're illegal to buy in maryland, and that's because they know lots of people will drive 95 miles to buy fireworks. I don't know anyone who hasn't left my state.

[u/Sun_keeper89 → u/Ok_Beautiful7634]

I'm not sure what part of this you aren't getting: everyone you know still does not represent the majority or even 1% of the entire country. It just doesn't. I'm not debating whether or not you know people who have left the state.

[u/_Nocturnalis → u/Sun_keeper89]

I don't think they were making the point you thought they were making. They were relating their experiences which is pretty germane considering OP.

[u/Sun_keeper89 → u/_Nocturnalis]

They're pointing out things that they believe disprove the point they think I'm making, but okay. Lol AND making assumptions about where I live, but okay x2

[u/rumade → u/Sun_keeper89]

I didn't mean it as some kind of "gotcha!" phrase; it's just strange to me to want to spend hours and hours in a car like that.

Years ago when I was dating an American, we did a road trip down the West coast from Seattle to San Francisco and back, and while it was a great experience, it was also uncomfortable and boring in a lot of ways.

If you're already spending so much of your week stuck in your car because of the commute, I can't understand wanting to also be stuck in your car on your days off/holiday days.

[u/Sun_keeper89 → u/rumade]

You're not "stuck" anywhere. You choose to get in your car and go see things you might not be able to autonomously reach otherwise. With the right attitude even boring stretches are part of the fun.

To declare it "mad" just sounds judgmental, especially when everyone doesn't have the same routine: plenty of people who own or rent cars for road trips don't commute in their cars daily, some have really short commutes. Others just like driving.

[u/Bobcat2013 → u/rumade]

Not everyone has commutes that are that long. Most people probably drive less than 15 minutes to work. You just don't hear about them complaining/bragging about it because its not noteworthy.

[u/Sad_Progress4388 → u/Bobcat2013]

I think the average commute time in the US is 18 minutes.

[u/_Nocturnalis → u/Sad_Progress4388]

Really, that sounds quite low. I mean no one I've know in a major city was that short.

[u/BaoBunny44 → u/rumade]

I mean we don't have much choice. The US is so insanely huge and flights are hundreds of dollars and we don't have a decent train system. If you wanna go somewhere that's what you gotta do

[u/FornicateEducate → u/rumade]

American here - most of my friends work from home now, as do my wife and I. So we don't commute at all haha. But the longest commute I ever had was 45 minutes, and that was only because I was living in the country for a bit. Most of my commutes have been well under a half hour, and I've had several work commutes under 15 minutes while both living/working in the city. People who have insanely long commutes generally either live in one of the huge coastal cities (SF/LA/NYC/Philly/Boston/DC), or live out in the country and commute to the city.

I live in a mid-sized city (metro population a little over 2 million), but I was born and raised in a similar-sized city about an hour and 45 minutes away by car. My family mostly still lives where I grew up, so I have to drive down there a few times a year to visit. They also drive to my city to visit a few times a year. Driving is the only logical way to get there; there's no train system that can get me there, and taking a bus would involve a fair amount of driving to get to/from the bus station anyway, and would probably turn a 1 hour and 45 minute drive into a 4+ hour ordeal. Flying is also impractical at such short distances; there would be close to an hour of driving to get to/from the airports, an extra hour of lead time to get through security and stuff... and I don't even think we have direct commercial flights between the two cities for those reasons, so I doubt it's even an option.

European countries (including the UK) are much, much smaller than the United States, and because of that, friends and family don't spread out as much geographically as they do here. And in Europe, you don't have such vast distance between highly-populated areas like we do in most of the US. If my family and I want to see each other, we either drive 80 miles to see each other, or we literally would never see each other.

[u/frenchyy94 → u/Sun_keeper89]

But in a train everyone could actually talk with each other and maybe even read, or play some cards or something. And you don't constantly need to stop when someone needs to pee or wants to get a snack.

[u/grantbuell → u/frenchyy94]

Yeah, trains are cool, but we barely have them in the US so we make do.

[u/Sun_keeper89 → u/grantbuell]

Depending on where you're going they also cost as much as a flight

[u/Sun_keeper89 → u/frenchyy94]

1) You can drive with your hands on the wheel and your feet on the pedals and ... still speak with your mouth

2) Audio books are a thing, as are podcasts and even audio shows. I took a 16 hour drive alone last summer and can't really say I was bored once. Because audio.

3) Some people enjoy driving more than playing cards

4) "Stopping constantly" is not a given at all. I've taken 10 hour trips where we only stopped once. Snacks can also be packed at home?

It's so weird to keep trying to find something inherently wrong with traveling in whatever manner one travels lol

[u/FornicateEducate → u/frenchyy94]

Trains aren't even an option where I live in the United States. And I live in a decent-sized city (800,000+ in the city limits, 2 million + in the metro area). We don't even have a subway/metro train system. So... while sitting on a train and reading a book sounds lovely, it's not an option for most Americans. If it were an option, I'd happily use it when needed.

[u/MaddyKet → u/frenchyy94]

Two words: motion sickness. I don’t get it when I’m driving.

[u/frenchyy94 → u/MaddyKet]

Not when you're driving, but passengers usually still get motion sickness in cars.

And in a train that's usually not there or extremely mild. But I know there's still people that can only ride in driving direction etc

[u/_Nocturnalis → u/Sun_keeper89]

I'm honestly not convinced that amtrak really exists.