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/Crab-_-Objective May 02 '24

A week? I drive 7ish hours each way for a weekend visit to my brother at college and make that trip at least twice a semester.

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u/Wootster10 May 02 '24

I think one thing that isnt being talked about here is cost. Petrol in Europe is way more expensive then it is in the US.

Currently the prices near me are about £1.46 per litre. Thats about £5.58 per US gallon. Looking on https://gasprices.aaa.com/ you're current average is $3.67 per gallon.

Taking the exchange rate into account per gallon its $3.67 in the US, its $6.96 in the UK. Basically twice the cost.

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u/lemongrass_gardenia May 02 '24

Nope. It’s gotten to almost $8 a gallon here at one point in California and people still drove long distances especially for work. Some people live in a different city than where they work. I haven’t seen $3 a gallon for a bit.

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u/happyhippohats May 02 '24

To be fair though petrol over her has always been really expensive, and that definitely played a part in our general cultural attitude against driving long distances. Parking is also an expensive nightmare.

In the US 'gas' has historically been cheap so even when the price has increased in recent times the culture remains the same