Bfd. I can drive 13 hours in Germany from the Dutch border and still be stuck in a fucking traffic jam around Frankfurt on highway 3 and never get to my skiing destination in Austria.
Meanwhile in Canada it takes nearly a full day to drive from one side of Ontario to the other. I have more faith in the European mind comprehending this than the USA'ean mind.
Let's not talk driving hours, let us talk mileage. 13 hours on a Texas highway is going to cover much more land than trying to drive some 12th century side street in an Italian village at 5km/h.
It was crazy to realize on a recent road trip through the middle of the US, that half of my day's planned drive was the width of Germany.
I know lots of euro bros are showing how long their country is, but I think the point is that Texas is a state, not country. When you compare those things it's quite impressive, however still not even the largest state in the world. Here are some others. A nice drive from Anchorage to Prudhoe Bay will cost you 17 hours, or in Amazonas, Brazil, Manaus to Cruzeiro do Sul is 33 hours.
To the guy who annexed Arizona into California in order to beat Texas, shame.
Euros: Why didn't Americans go to other countries?
Americans: there's only three countries on our entire damned continent, and ours is in the middle. Without needing to fly we have literally two choices. It we could drive for a thousand miles and still be in America.
All of continental Europe is smaller than our country and we mostly all speak the same language, more or less. It's debatable if Louisianans speak English.
Can confirm. When we moved back to Colorado from Austin, we drove all day at 55mph (truck was speed limited) which was about 13 hours, and we were still in Texas. It was very disheartening.
I once drove 6 hours to get out of Texas only to be stuck miles from the border for another 6 hours because three semi-trucks collided and caught fire...
I took the family on vacation to Texas a couple weeks ago. Flew into Houston, stayed there a few nights, then Austin for a few, then Dallas, for a couple then back to Houston for a few more and flew back.
Just mapping out the loop between the three cities is 9.5 hours and 623 miles. Add in slowdowns for poor visibility due to weather, stops to charge and use the restroom (with small kids), it was easily 12 hours, at least, of total road time.
The American mind can't just comprehend that there's world besides the USA. Australia, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Finland as many pointed out all have longer routes. Don't let me get started on Russia or we might end up with a new race between the US and Russia trying to come with the longest road.
Another thing the American mind can't just comprehend (about Europe) is how someone can drive across multiple countries without ever stopping on checkpoints/border controls/customs and most of time without even exiting/changing highways.
The American mind can’t just comprehend what it is to send money to a friend in another EU country with just a single number. No 3rd party services, no routing and account numbers, no fees, no banking shenanigans. Simply login into your European bank, type the value and the IBAN and the transfer is done. :)
Well, I comprehend. I've never been to the US but I have read enough to know that several American states are so huge that they could be their own country. And it's not just the geographic size, each states are have their own cultures and laws so indeed they might as well be their own country.
If Federal Europe does happen (I will give it 50 years if either or both World War 3 and global warming did not destroy the entire humanity), we'd get similar memes in Europe like this.
On the other hand, when you start from Texline (which I suppose is the starting point of that 13 hour journey) in the northeast of the state, you could easily escape Texas within minutes.
On the other hand, in Europe you can get through a number of countries in thirteen hours just because we have a working road system.
IMO the USA doesn't have that much "space" it just takes awhile to cross. Land utilization is fairly high and much of unused lands needs constant conservation efforts to maintain wildlife.