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The thing to keep in mind is the scope of nation-building. Most of the infrastructure we have for automobile transportation here in the US has been designed and built after the advent of the automobile.
Throughout Europe, many major cities, especially the downtown areas, were established even thousands of years ago. I laugh when an American says they want to rent a Hummer or a Chevy Suburban for when they travel in Europe. Those cars can't fit on some of the narrower streets, and good luck finding somewhere to park your tank.
If you've ever watched the 80s flick "Oxford Blues" with Rob Lowe, a very distinctive scene comes to mind where he is driving his American sports car that he had shipped over there - ouch (it gets wedged in between two walls).
That whole "when in Rome" saying applies here. Everything in Europe is scaled smaller than for the US - apartments, appliances, meal portions, etc.
LOL!
I am remembering a time when I went to a music festival and an internet friend from Wales was visiting the US for the first time. All of us who were fans of this band had taken over a Clarion in Richmond, and it was a real crap-hole of a hotel. If you sat on your crumbling concrete balcony and looked down at the landscaping at night, you could watch the rats run around.
But my friend from Wales was like, "Wow, look at the size of these rooms! Pretty nice place yeah?"
I was like, "What? No. No...it's not. We just stay here because they won't call the cops on us when things get crazy. And they will." He had to explain to me that hotel rooms in general just were never that big in his home country, which I did not know.
The thing to keep in mind is the scope of nation-building. Most of the infrastructure we have for automobile transportation here in the US has been designed and built after the advent of the automobile.
Throughout Europe, many major cities, especially the downtown areas, were established even thousands of years ago. I laugh when an American says they want to rent a Hummer or a Chevy Suburban for when they travel in Europe. Those cars can't fit on some of the narrower streets, and good luck finding somewhere to park your tank.
If you've ever watched the 80s flick "Oxford Blues" with Rob Lowe, a very distinctive scene comes to mind where he is driving his American sports car that he had shipped over there - ouch (it gets wedged in between two walls).
That whole "when in Rome" saying applies here. Everything in Europe is scaled smaller than for the US - apartments, appliances, meal portions, etc.
I haven't been to EU so I could be totally wrong, but don't they have a lot of trains and such between countries?
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I haven't been to EU so I could be totally wrong, but don't they have a lot of trains and such between countries?
Public transportation is far superior in Europe than in the US - an added geographic advantage of more dense population in a far smaller footprint helps a lot. In the amount of time it would take me to drive from LA to San Francisco, I could drive through multiple countries in Europe.
I had no problem riding all forms of mass transit in several countries - Netherlands, Germany, Hungary, Austria, Croatia, etc. I wouldn't ride my local (LA) mass transit if it was free.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DontH8Me
I wouldn't ride my local (LA) mass transit if it was free.
Really? That bad in LA? I ride it across the U.S., used it in Madison/Milwaukee/Chicago last month and it was great (obviously not Europe great, what is here), but solid. Wait, does LA not have a subway, is that right? It's a big area so busses would be slow. I've only been to LA to fly out of. Never really explored it as nothing has lured me there.
Where I live flying out can become an ordeal. I had a conference in Kansas City a few years ago. I ended up driving in. It was the same amount of time and cheaper than flying. And less hassle. I am at least 400 miles from any sort of passenger rail service.
During the conference everything was walking distance.
The thing to keep in mind is the scope of nation-building. Most of the infrastructure we have for automobile transportation here in the US has been designed and built after the advent of the automobile.
Throughout Europe, many major cities, especially the downtown areas, were established even thousands of years ago. I laugh when an American says they want to rent a Hummer or a Chevy Suburban for when they travel in Europe. Those cars can't fit on some of the narrower streets, and good luck finding somewhere to park your tank.
If you've ever watched the 80s flick "Oxford Blues" with Rob Lowe, a very distinctive scene comes to mind where he is driving his American sports car that he had shipped over there - ouch (it gets wedged in between two walls).
That whole "when in Rome" saying applies here. Everything in Europe is scaled smaller than for the US - apartments, appliances, meal portions, etc.
Yeah, I've heard various version of this before about the sizes of roads and things being scaled down smaller in general. Something about some of the roads and pathways were created way back by the Romans as they spread around Europe and they had reasons for the sizes of things, I forget some of that now. Jarring back old cob web memories.
I'm kind of a history and geography nerd, I'd like to at some point go see some things in Europe. Got a few places on the bucket list we have to hit at some point in our lives.
Where I live flying out can become an ordeal. I had a conference in Kansas City a few years ago. I ended up driving in. It was the same amount of time and cheaper than flying. And less hassle. I am at least 400 miles from any sort of passenger rail service.
During the conference everything was walking distance.
Some years ago, back before 2001 when air travel was much easier, I'd prefer to fly over driving. I did have some company training in Phoenix a few times and I did end up driving to that. It worked out well because I used my company vehicle and paid for gas and I also had a car to use while I was there, didn't have to bother getting a rental.
The way things are with flying now I'd most certainly just drive to phoenix versus dealing with flying. The last time I flew I think it was 2018, I forget, but it was before the pandemic and I went to Phoenix and then Portland back to back. As in Thursday and Friday was in Phoenix, came back home on Friday, Saturday I left to go to Portland. Had a layover in Salt Lake City.
It seemed like for 4 days all I did was sit in airplanes or wait in airports for airplanes. I'm getting cranky in my old age. I wouldn't do that again, it sucked. I'm not a traveling salesmen, and I don't want to act as such. If it ever comes up again at work, I'll take the pass on that. People have limits.
Public transportation is far superior in Europe than in the US - an added geographic advantage of more dense population in a far smaller footprint helps a lot. In the amount of time it would take me to drive from LA to San Francisco, I could drive through multiple countries in Europe.
I had no problem riding all forms of mass transit in several countries - Netherlands, Germany, Hungary, Austria, Croatia, etc. I wouldn't ride my local (LA) mass transit if it was free.
M GF and I used to take light rail in the St. Louis area to go to concerts or sporting events downtown, but stopped about 5 years ago. The little time I spent in Europe we got around nicely without a car in Germany and France, using buses, subways, light rail and taxis locally and trains between cities. Easy access and while I may have been naive, it seemed pretty secure.
Really? That bad in LA? I ride it across the U.S., used it in Madison/Milwaukee/Chicago last month and it was great (obviously not Europe great, what is here), but solid. Wait, does LA not have a subway, is that right? It's a big area so busses would be slow. I've only been to LA to fly out of. Never really explored it as nothing has lured me there.
Well, even if I was a burly 6' 5" guy with a mean face (so the homeless and high people would leave me alone), and had a gas mask that filtered out the stench, there's the fact that a commute that takes about 40 minutes in the privacy of your own car could potentially take 4 hours (one way) and involve changing metro and bus lines about 6 times.
Someone I know wanted to go to a festival that was happening last Sunday and when they calculated the trip they realized they'd be commuting for 8 hours round trip, they backed off. In about that amount of time I can fly from LAX to Amsterdam.
I've just realized, having now moved to an apartment that has a gas stove (haven't had one in many years) that I can make s'mores very easily and conveniently, any time I want.
This is it, you guys. When my child self could not wait to be a grown up, so that she could do whatever she wanted, this was it, right here. I have arrived.
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