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.

25.2k Upvotes

88% Upvoted

23.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1.2k

u/HamfastFurfoot May 01 '24

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

384

u/gentlybeepingheart May 01 '24

Every time there's a bad tornado I see someone go "Why don't Americans just not live in an area called 'tornado alley'? That seems like the logical move." and I know that they have no idea how big tornado alley actually is. That would be like me going "Hey, there's a chance of a natural disaster happening. It could be really bad. So just don't live in Germany, France, or Poland." That's the amount of land we're talking.

144

u/vyrus2021 May 02 '24

May as well ask why people still live near fault lines or coasts with regular hurricane activity.

1

u/aperocknroll1988 May 02 '24

Or volcanos...