Where I live in Australia, it's a 2 hour round trip (just the drive) to get groceries.

In the Netherlands if I drive that far, I will have likely entered another country!

Driving through Texas can take a day and you're still in Texas when your done (depending on your starting point of course)

So my FIL was visiting from France. We were living west of Boise, Idaho. We were discussing day trips and he suggested Yellowstone. Us: thats on the other side of the state Him: so ? Us : thats 450 miles ( 720 km ) . Same distance as Paris to Montpeillier. Him: oh. The thought that it takes as long to drive across one state as it does from almost top to bottom of a country is hard to grasp.

Part and parcel of why the US uses so much petrol. My commute is 120 round trip

In the US... my dude wants to live in the country again... where it took 1-2 hours just to get to a Walmart or Dollar General. I have said no. I like being close to police or fire dept if anything happens.

Yes, in the UK from Derby - Skegness which is 101.2 miles it takes under 2 hours to drive. Crazy, I know, and you also have speeding idoits who will get to 100 miles in 1 hour

I'm Italian but I live in Switzerland, that is really small, of course. With 4 hours drive you go from border to border. But also in Italy that's bigger, a 2/4 hour trip is something considered quite long. And absolutely not something you are going to do to get groceries

Ag pleez deddy won't you take us to the drive in, it's only six hours in the Chevrolet 🎶

My university is 2 hours drive away from my parents house and I lived in a rental flat with two roommates so I could just bike to and from my campus. My brother lives an hour away and I never visit him unless I have a whole week off work because it's definitely decided that I will spend one night or two in his house. My sister lives 4 hours away and we visit each other only every three months or so, and I usually spend a whole week in her house.

Lol yes. For me, a 4 hour drive is to get to my home town. I maybe do this 3-4 times a year and then it's a chore.

I know exactly what you mean! I lived in Bath. It was a 2 hour drive to London. People thought we were crazy driving all that way for a day trip!

I lived in Denver (US) for a while and wanted to buy trousers (pants). My colleague said you have to go to XX mall, it's 'just down the road' from where you live. I drove for over two hours but eventually reached it. Just down the road would be max ten minutes in Britain.

Yes. I know people near Calgary who COMMUTE TWO HOURS for work. I had relatives visit from England years ago and couldn't grasp the concept that driving from Calgary to Toronto was a multi day trip.

In the Netherlands you can cross the whole country in a 2 to 4 hours drive

I'm sure there are parts of Canada where this is true, but here in Toronto at least, it's a ten-minute walk to the grocery store with public transit that will whisk me downtown in about 30 minutes right by my door. We don't all live in the prairie provinces out here, just sayin'.

I live in Michigan, USA and, years ago, drove up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It was a 13-hour drive to get there (and it was worth it!).

We belong to an astronomy club that's a one-hour drive from home here in Spain. Sat next to two older British men who couldn't understand why we weren't staying the night! I told him I was from Texas and my commute to work had been longer than that. They were shocked.

It's the same in the US West. We'll take a 6-10 hour road trip without batting an eye. Hell, in LA 5 miles can take 45 minutes.

I'm Spanish and a two hour drive is a really long trip for us.. most of us would definitely consider it too much of a distance to be driving and take the train

Being from Texas, I have the same attitude as Canadians. Driving long distances is commonplace - i figure it’s a great time to sort things out in my head, plan my day/week/month.

I do a 5 minute walk for groceries. Yes, Germany

The thing is that everyone (or most people) knows that the country is big. The question is just why things are arranged to inefficiently that it’s necessary to drive 2-4 hours to do something on a regular basis. I get it if you choose to live somewhere extremely rural. But otherwise it’s just weird. It’s like ‘oh, I’ll quickly drive from Hamburg to Amsterdam to buy new tires’ - why? There’s a million shops on the way that sell the same stuff. There is absolutely no way that they have better deals, especially if you start accounting for gas and time.

But why are there no grocery stores closer?

Driving that far is hella expensive in germany. Lets talk 200km one way, so 400km there and back. 7l per 100km makes 28l times 2€. 56€ just for petrol

I live in Texas and it takes at least 3.5 hours to drive to the next city.

Seattle area USA resident - a drive over 2 hours is at least a day trip to me. Gas is expensive, there is often traffic, and the drive better be worth it. If I lived far out in the country and had to drive that far once or twice a month for essentials, that I could understand.

I am on the fence on whether a two hour or even one hour trip for groceries is bad. There is sooooo much food waste in the states, with farmlands and ranches stressed sue to drought, cost of feed, and inhumane animal stockyards that it would be better if it took effort to find vegetables and meat. Especially the meat part. Is it necessary for every one of us to be able to buy a brisket on any day of the week in any season, for instance?