Off topic, but after I moved halfway across the US, I wondered what that same distance would be driving across Europe.

I moved from the NW corner of Washington state to about the middle of Iowa, roughly 2000 miles or 3200 Km (roughly, I said)

Its looks to be the same as going from Lisbon to roughly halfway in between Berlin and Warsaw, using google maps to follow roadways.

I can’t imagine all of the different cultures you would see traveling most of the way through Europe, and most of what I saw on my trip through the States was empty dead grass fields, farmland, a couple dead deer, and a ton of truckers.

Rural southern Georgia: 300m to the only gas station/convenience store in town. 10km to the nearest real supermarket, medical center, pharmacy, tiny library, dentist, and a couple of restaurants. 30km to the nearest big box store (Walmart). 100km to the nearest small regional airport. 120km to train station.

I live in Atlanta, in an intown neighborhood that was once considered a “streetcar suburb” although the streetcars have been gone for decades. For a neighborhood with single-family houses, this is about as good as it gets in terms of urbanism and walkability. (Basically, to do much better you’d have to live in a high-rise in Downtown or Midtown because we don’t really have medium-density neighborhoods.)

Point is, my area is not representative of Metro Atlanta as a whole. Probably 90%+ of the metro area population would report distances at least double, if not an order of magnitude larger.

Walking distances:

• To the nearest gas station (“convenience store”): 0.7 miles (1.1 km)
• To the nearest chain supermarket: 1.2 miles (1.9 km)
• To the bus stop: 0.2 miles (320 m)
• To the nearest park: 0.9 miles (1.4 km)
• To the nearest big supermarket: 1.5 miles (2.4 km)
• To the nearest library: 0.7 miles (1.1 km)
• To the nearest MARTA station (“train station”): 1.9 miles (3 km) [Amtrak would be considerably further]

Straight-line distance to Capitol Building: about 3 miles (5 km).

I live in rural Oklahoma…

Here are my walking distances: * To the nearest convenience store: 4.667km * To the nearest chain supermarket: 24.140km * To the bus stop: 27.358km * To the nearest park: 321.869m * To the nearest *big* supermarket: 33.7962km * To the nearest library: 32.1869km * To the nearest train station: 70.8111km

To give some comparison, here are my distances. Important to note that I intentionally moved somewhere in my town with walkability in mind.

To the nearest convenience store: 280m
To the nearest chain supermarket: 1.7km
To the bus stop: 260m
To the nearest park: 240m
To the nearest big supermarket: 2.4km
To the nearest library: 1.2km
To the nearest train station: 85km

Access to a bus stop doesn’t really matter either as it usually is faster to walk than to wait for the bus to arrive, unless it is long distance in which I would just drive.

I live in a VERY rural area. If I want to visit my neighbors, it’s at the very least a 10 minute walk. To buy groceries it’s about a 20 mi drive. If I want to go to a movie theater, it’s a 40 mile drive. It’s about a 70 mile drive to the closest city (sky scrapers and stuff)

There’s no public transportation or even sidewalks. The closest town that is 5 miles away has one stoplight and a population of 700 ish. We do have a few restaurants in town though, a school and a post office.

Here are my walking distances:

• To the nearest convenience store: 1700m
• To the nearest chain supermarket: 1700m
• To the bus stop: 640m
• To the nearest park: 800m
• To the nearest big supermarket: 1.7km
• To the nearest library: 3.1km
• To the nearest train station: 35.4km

Straight-line distance to Big Ben: 7514km

Kept all the units identical to yours for ease of comparison

Distances seem about the same in my small US town.
No train.
Little further to Big Ben, i think.

I live in New York (city):

• Convince store: several within 1-2 blocks
• Grocery store: 1 block away
• Train station: 3 blocks away
• Park: less than a block
• Library: Very short train ride (4 stops) and a bit of walking (15 minutes) (there is a closer one but that requires a bus and considering New York traffic busses aren’t the best).
• Statue of Liberty: Roughly 2 hours by train

Library: 5 or so miles

Convenience store: 1mi

Supermarket: .75mi

Bus stop: .25mi*

Train station: 20-30mi

Park: 2mi

*This stop may be commuter times only … the stop exists but I never see the buses. Next closest is at supermarket.

I’ve been more in-city and the only thing nearby by a gas station. Everything else was 1mi+… Nearest supermarket being 6-7mi.

An interesting data point in this discussion is to look at the list of countries in order of population density and see just how far down the list the US is.

We have a lot of people, some big cities, some major institutions, and a huge economy, but we also have a LOT of space.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_population_density

It isn’t just that things are too far to walk, it’s that American car companies have made it part of our culture to own and drive, and it’s unpatriotic to do otherwise. That causes a severe lack of public transportation and sidewalks and bike lanes. So because of all this, I have to drive a mile through my neighborhood to get to a 7-Eleven that would be a quarter mile if I walked.

Depends where you live.

In a city? 75% of everything I need is right across the street.

In a rural town? Before I moved to the city, I had to drive 30-45 miles away to do literally anything. There were busses, but they only came around once in the morning and once more in the evening. And they didn’t always go where you wanted directly, so you’d have to spend like an entire day just to get to a place.

Nearest big landmark everyone might recognize is the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. And thats 78 miles away in a straight line.

Edit: To put things in terms non-Americans may understand better - We tend to measure distances not in the unit of distance, but in the time it takes to get somewhere. Assuming there is no traffic, the Golden Gate Bridge would only be an hour away taking the freeway. But that’s never gonna happen; the traffic through the Altamonte Pass alone is gonna add 1-2 hours depending on the time of day.

I love in a suburb of a Midwestern state capital.

Here are my walking distances: (I’ll do my best to convert distances)

• To the nearest convenience store: 3.2km
• To the nearest chain supermarket: 4km
• To the bus stop: 2.75km
• To the nearest park: 1.5km (it’s a pretty decent park with a swimming/fishing pond)
• To the nearest big supermarket: 12km
• To the nearest library: 2.4km
• To the nearest train station: 10km (this isn’t a commuter line, but a long distance city to city line). This is also where intracity buses are boarded.
• To State Capitol: 13 km

Of all of these, only the walk to the Capitol is shorter than the drive (by about 1.5km) due to walking paths. I’ve never walked it all in one go, but I have walked both halves of the trail.

Bank: 24 miles / 38.6km Grocery store: 4 miles / 6.4 km Work: 50 miles / 70km Parents house: 703 miles / 1131 km

I need to move closer for work, but couldn’t afford it do to dumb choices for a bit there.