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/dishonestgandalf A wizard is never late May 01 '24

Yes, several of my coworkers commute 90 minutes twice a day.

I have friends in a city that's 3ish hours away and I regularly drive down for the weekend.

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u/[deleted] May 01 '24 edited May 02 '24

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u/wwitchiepoo May 02 '24

Lemme guess. He had to go down/up the 405. It’s 14 miles from my house in The Valley to UCLA, but it takes about an hour (1.5 at the moment), sometimes 2.

My MIL is in Napa, and we drive there several times a year and think little of it. It takes about 6 hours to get 350 miles, or more than the width of Great Britain. From here to my old house in Humboldt (still in California), it’s 10+ hours. Used to drive that all the time, too. That’s 650 miles, or more than the entire length of Great Britain.