Thanks for the elaborate response. It’s interesting how different considerations are at such remote places. Here in Germany, a place is generally considered “in the middle of nowhere” when the nearest small town is like 10 km away, and a 20 minute drive to the next supermarket is exceptional.
The cultural differences between rural and urban regions here seem enormous already, I can’t even imagine what it’s like in the US.
cultural differences between rural and urban regions
It’s honestly fascinating how culture, transport infrastructure and public mobility effects our perceptions of urban/rural as well as distances in general.
In Australia we’re more likely to use time as a measurement for distance, because 20km in the country takes 10 minutes because you’re the only car for miles and you can blast 110km/h from end to end, but travelling 20km could easily take 40 minutes in city traffic. So “how far is the restaurant?” “15 minutes” is a perfectly normal conversation, but in some cultures giving someone a time when they asked for a distance would be baffling.
And I notice this doesn’t change based on mode of transport, I don’t drive but it’s the same conversation, you just might clarify the method of transport as if it’s also a unit of measurement.
Telling my cousins in the UK “when I visit in August, I’m going to visit Aunt Julie for breakfast, then take the train to see Uncle Bob, the next day I’ll head up to see Dave” and they get shocked with me “are you crazy, that’s 300km! You’re only here for the weekend”.
But growing up, my house was 70km from my highschool, travelling 140km per day was normal - and I never even left greater Melbourne! so 300km over a long weekend to explore a whole country is not “crazy”.
For the last 8 years I’ve lived in one of the more bikeable and walkable areas I’ve ever encountered, and my perception of distance has completely changed. It now feels “a big trip” to have to have to take motor transport anywhere. I had to grab a huge parcel from the post office for work, my boss just shoved me in an uber for the 2km, a 5 minute journey. we needed another pick up about 2km in the other direction. It was going to fit in a backpack so I jumped on my bike. Both trips took roughly the exact same amount of time and covered almost the same distance and the uber took less physical and mental effort, but the trip to the post office felt like a big planned errand, while zipping out on the bike felt like a fun side quest.
But once I’m in the car with my partner and we’ve already been driving for 10 minutes, suddenly distances in cars don’t exist to me and I revert to my pre-bike country perception of distances. it’s like “oh let’s get fish and chips from the store we like that’s 20km away, then drive 15km to the beach esplanade we prefer” instead of just cycling 8km to the local chippy and espie which is what I’d be doing without a partner who drives.
Thanks for the elaborate response. It’s interesting how different considerations are at such remote places. Here in Germany, a place is generally considered “in the middle of nowhere” when the nearest small town is like 10 km away, and a 20 minute drive to the next supermarket is exceptional.
The cultural differences between rural and urban regions here seem enormous already, I can’t even imagine what it’s like in the US.
It’s honestly fascinating how culture, transport infrastructure and public mobility effects our perceptions of urban/rural as well as distances in general.
In Australia we’re more likely to use time as a measurement for distance, because 20km in the country takes 10 minutes because you’re the only car for miles and you can blast 110km/h from end to end, but travelling 20km could easily take 40 minutes in city traffic. So “how far is the restaurant?” “15 minutes” is a perfectly normal conversation, but in some cultures giving someone a time when they asked for a distance would be baffling.
And I notice this doesn’t change based on mode of transport, I don’t drive but it’s the same conversation, you just might clarify the method of transport as if it’s also a unit of measurement.
Telling my cousins in the UK “when I visit in August, I’m going to visit Aunt Julie for breakfast, then take the train to see Uncle Bob, the next day I’ll head up to see Dave” and they get shocked with me “are you crazy, that’s 300km! You’re only here for the weekend”.
But growing up, my house was 70km from my highschool, travelling 140km per day was normal - and I never even left greater Melbourne! so 300km over a long weekend to explore a whole country is not “crazy”.
For the last 8 years I’ve lived in one of the more bikeable and walkable areas I’ve ever encountered, and my perception of distance has completely changed. It now feels “a big trip” to have to have to take motor transport anywhere. I had to grab a huge parcel from the post office for work, my boss just shoved me in an uber for the 2km, a 5 minute journey. we needed another pick up about 2km in the other direction. It was going to fit in a backpack so I jumped on my bike. Both trips took roughly the exact same amount of time and covered almost the same distance and the uber took less physical and mental effort, but the trip to the post office felt like a big planned errand, while zipping out on the bike felt like a fun side quest.
But once I’m in the car with my partner and we’ve already been driving for 10 minutes, suddenly distances in cars don’t exist to me and I revert to my pre-bike country perception of distances. it’s like “oh let’s get fish and chips from the store we like that’s 20km away, then drive 15km to the beach esplanade we prefer” instead of just cycling 8km to the local chippy and espie which is what I’d be doing without a partner who drives.
Because both would take about an hour…