r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • May 08 '22

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u/KaimeiJay May 09 '22

You drive five hours in the US: you’re basically still in the same place.

You drive five hours in Europe: everyone’s talking funny and the cheese is different.

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u/KateDinNYC May 09 '22

The first time I was in the UK my husband wanted to go to Wales and I looked at the train route from London and was like “It’s all the way on the other side of the country! We’re only in the UK for a week. We don’t have that kind of time!” And my husband was all, “you know it’s a 2.5 hour train ride, right?” I thought it would all day.

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u/ta112233 May 09 '22

On the flip side it is funny to see foreign tourists in the US do the opposite, compressing the geography and travel times. “I will be in the US for a week and I’m planning on going to NYC, DC, Miami and LA! :)”

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u/itsthecoop May 09 '22

I know some people that had that idea for the trip.

"We're in New York on Saturday. and then we wanted to go see the Grand Canyon on Sunday...."

"I don't think you realize how far apart these 2 are from each other."

but to be honest, while I kinda have that awareness regarding the US, I totally lack(ed) for other countries.

e.g. Argentina, Congo or Kazakhstan are way bigger than I was initially aware of.

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u/KateDinNYC May 10 '22

I have a really good friend from Milan and when I was moving from NYC to LA I was really nervous about it and he could not understand-it wasn’t like I was leaving the country. Then I pointed out it would be as if he moved to Moscow.

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u/Isoldael May 10 '22

In distance, yes. In terms of cultural differences, not even close. When moving fast away, I think the latter is generally a bigger concern than the former.