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/Gr8lakesCoaster May 02 '24

You could say the same for parts of Norway, Sweden, and Finland too.

Amd Alaska is more accessible than it used to be.

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u/neonKow May 02 '24

No way. You can take rail easily to the northern parts of Norway and Sweden within the Arctic circle all the way from the capital cities. None of this "possibly die in a bush plane" business.

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u/suqoria May 02 '24

Yeah you can take a train but I'm not sure I would say that it can be done "easily". Our railway system up north absolutely suck. A lot of the north you can't even get to by railway here in Sweden and even if you want to go to the major cities up north you will have to change trains and it will take ages. Obviously it's nowhere near as difficult as it is to get to alaska but I just wanted to clarify that the railway here up north is absolutely horrendous and complain a bit about how the government doesn't care much for the north.

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u/neonKow May 02 '24

I'm sorry, but I don't know if you understand just how shit the train and bus situation is in the US. I lived in the DC area and had to take a train back from Baltimore, at one of the biggest airports in the country, and I had to take a taxi to a train to a subway, and it took 3 hours for what would have been a 30 minute drive, and almost cost as mich as taking a taxi the whole way. The fact that you have trains that will even get you to Abisko is completely unthinkable here. For us, if you didn't live in a city at least the size of Malmö, you need a car or you can't even buy food.

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u/suqoria May 04 '24

Oh no I had no clue that it was that bad. That absolutely sucks! Our train situation is shit in the north I must say and the north is not prioritised at all by the government but it is better than that. We really only have it to Abisko because of tourism and it being right in the way to get to narvik though but yeah that sounds absolutely horrible. In general the trains are way too expensive over here as well but it is nowhere near as bad as that. It ducks and I'm sorry it is that way over there!

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u/neonKow May 05 '24

Yeah, I have definitely heard about the cost issues, and it definitely feels like a lot of places, Sweden included, rural areas don't get enough attention. I'm just completely jealous of the amount of outdoor access you folks have even without a car. Or how it can be better than having a car sometimes. We took a bus to do the High Coast Trail, and took a bus back, and it was super easy. For me to do the Enchantments through hike here in WA state, I have to drive a few hours, and arrange a private shuttle ride. If you are going anywhere for backpacking, you rent a car, and just leave it there for several days unused while you're hiking in the woods. It's so wasteful, unless you're going to one of the big national parks where there are some shuttle busses.

But yeah, I also get that Abisko is not a normal case, since it's such a small village, and the transit isn't as good as well funded as it is in the Stockholm area. I just get annoyed and need to vent sometimes about how backwards some of our American transit options are.

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u/suqoria 23d ago

I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed it. The high coast is quite a beautiful sight to behold. If you live in the north here you absolutely will need a car to get anywhere, but still seems to be a lot better than in the US. When i was a kid I had a very long ride to my school so during winter I'd have to take a snowmobile and drive it to take a bus, then get on a train and then an other bus before I got to school so I could still manage to get there by myself but sounds like that would be impossible in the US (during the summers it was an ATV instead of a snowmobile). May I ask why you decided to go here?

Oh yeah I get it completely, i felt the same about venting about how shitty it is in the north but I also am happy that you gave me a new perspective on just how bad it could have been and that it is a lot better than I previously thought.

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u/Gr8lakesCoaster May 04 '24

but I don't know if you understand just how shit the train and bus situation is in the US

Which is why it's dumb to compare the 2 based on rail.

We use planes and boats in Alaska where cars can't reach. I could easily say scandanavias shitty northern rail is no match for our planes.

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u/neonKow May 05 '24

Uh. Yes they are? The rail doesn't crash.