Is it common for Americans to feel "trapped" due to the size and distance of their country from other countries/continents? Is this feeling an exaggeration or a reality?
07.06.2025 02:52
Simply driving across Texas without stopping requires over 11 hours at 70 miles per hour. If you have to stop for gas or food, or get stuck in traffic or road construction, it can easily take 2 to 3 days.
To express it in a way a Eurocentric view can relate, Krakow Poland is closer to London England (1008 miles) than Washington DC is to my home in Northwest Arkansas (1152 miles).
On Quora you could be forgiven for thinking the USA is a homogenous culture of English speakers. The truth is that we have over 350 first languages spoken, and at least as many different cultures. Roughly 40% of the people where I live speak Spanish as their first language, many of their families settled here 8 generations or more back, before there was a USA. there is a strip of French enclaves anchored by Quebec (Canada) in the north and Louisiana in the south. If I travel 20 minutes west, school is taught 50% in Cherokee and 50% in English. If I go 1 hour to the southwest it’s 50/50 Muskogee and English. you can get along almost anywhere in English alone, but we are not an anglophone nation.
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If I feel the need to visit another country I can drive North to Canada where I visit friends and family, or South to Mexico. Either way, it’s 2 to 3 days of straight driving to get there, assuming highway speeds the entire distance.
Why would I feel trapped? My state is larger than most European countries, with more variety in geology and climate. I can travel freely 2800 miles from eat to west, and 1660 miles from North to South without a passport.
There is a reason that visiting all 50 US states is an accomplishment, and a reason Americans feel no particular desire to travel outside the country. We can’t even see everything in our own country in a lifetime, so why spend the money to travel overseas?