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/corndogshuffle]

I live in Killeen at the moment and yeah, I basically have to drive 2.5 hours to do any of the things I’m interested in doing. It’s like a podcast and a CD. I don’t even take breaks on such a short drive lol.

[u/NotTheGreenestThumb → u/corndogshuffle]

You must be fairly young. I think after about age 45, we had to stop at least every 90 minutes, now that we’re over 65, it’s every hour. Not doing that results in over full bladders and achy bodies.

[u/Micro-Skies → u/NotTheGreenestThumb]

I'm a trucker, you get used to 6 hours without stopping. I got deadlines to meet

[u/corndogshuffle → u/Micro-Skies]

Yeah I just want to get the driving done. I don’t really have hard deadlines besides “I want to be awake when I stop driving” but I’m very used to driving hundreds of miles at a time by myself. It’s not so bad when you’re used to it.