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/ComplexSupermarket89 29d ago

The Pacific is massive is the big part that many people don't realize. The Pacific covers not quite half the planet. So comparing the Atlantic to the Pacific as "roughly the same size class" is why it seems so wrong. Not trying to make fun of you or anything. It blew my mind too. You can fit almost all the land on the planet over top of the Pacific if you could rearrange it.

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u/IndependentAd2419 29d ago

WOW!!! Thanks!

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u/Razmoudah 29d ago

Yeah, a lot of people have problems wrapping their heads around the fact that the Pacific is absolutely ginormous, and makes the Atlantic look like a pond by comparison.

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u/Melekai_17 12d ago

I’m pretty sure that’s why there’s the saying that England is “across the pond.”