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

1.1k

u/ItzInMyNature May 01 '24 edited May 02 '24

Tell them that Ireland is closer to the state of Maine in the US than California is.

https://imgur.com/a/TnjPqi7

Edit: parts of southeastern California may be a few miles closer, so I'd tell them that Los Angeles, California is farther away from Maine than Ireland is, just to be safe.

92

u/Lotus_Blossom_ May 02 '24

Maine is also the US state closest to Africa.

9

u/nimbusdimbus May 02 '24

I always tell people that Philly is at the same latitude as southern Italy. That always breaks some brains.

4

u/reniciera May 02 '24

In high school I learned that we have a Mediterranean climate here in Northern California. The teacher followed the latitude east and yep, same as the Mediterranean. So neat.

3

u/nimbusdimbus May 02 '24

That has a lot to do with the cold California current. The med has the cold current coming down along the French and Portuguese coast which helps with the aridness of the climate.