It takes 23 hours and 2000 km to drive from the southernmost point in sweden to Abisko. Europe is not small.
Lol. Responds to a post about a state by comparing it to a continent.
A full loop around Jupiter is 70,000 km.
Jupiter is not small.
The post says “The European mind cannot comprehend this”. The US is barely twice as big as Europe. We have states that are bigger than Michigan.
He’s comparing one state to one country (Sweden) and then adds that Europe is not small, which is fair, because the caption says that the “European” mind can’t comprehend this. Europe as a continent is about as big as the US, the European Union is less than half of the size of the US and the individual countries are of course way smaller than the US. Since the EU has open borders, I’d say that comparing the US to the EU is fair and EU member states can be compared to US states. For example: France is about as large as Texas, Germany about as large as Montana and Italy is comparable to New Mexico. There’s a lot of movement between EU countries and some people cross borders every day to go to work or do groceries. The highway/road just continues without interruption.
Europe as a continent is meaningless, though, and then you might as well include Asia, as Europe isn’t an actual continent (Eurasia is the worlds largest continent). You could drive all the way to Eastern China if you’d like, but you’d be crossing multiple borders with border control and visa requirements, so that makes it incomparable to driving within the US.
You could fit 16 Netherlands into Texas. Lol
The Netherlands is tiny indeed! If you had asked me I would’ve guessed higher than that. You can drive from Groningen in the north to Maastricht in the south in 3.5 hours. Add 30 minutes and you can drive from Groningen to Maastricht spending most of your journey in Germany.
Yeah I didn’t mean any insult by it, I just didn’t realize how small it is. Much love to the Dutch!
And we can fitt 16 Rhode Islands in the Netherlands.
What is a rode island?
Edit: oh is that part of Boston?
Sweden is cool! Huge fan. A whole nation that has half as many people as the NYC metro area. That’s crazy! It also fits into Texas almost twice. Bonkers!
Rhode Island, the smallest state in the USA.
Nah, it’s just a suburb of Boston.
Europe as a continent is meaningless, though, and then you might as well include Asia, as Europe isn’t an actual continent
Is that what they teach you in school over there?
I’ve always grown up with the idea that Europe is a continent, but if I’m not mistaken there is no geographical basis for that. See for example Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasia. But yeah, we all call Europe a continent because of historical reasons and I guess that’s still taught in schools and it makes sense in that context. It’s a matter of definition. In the context of driving long distances this made up border has no meaning of course, which is why brought it up.
Most English-speaking countries recognize seven regions as continents. In order from largest to smallest in area, these seven regions are Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.
Now as to how anyone detailed the discussion this far, successfully, is beyond me. Actually everything in your comment after the link is nonsense too.
If you don’t mind, can you then tell me why Europe should be considered its own continent separate from Asia, apart from the fact that we’ve all agreed on that a long time ago? If you check here, they actually agree with it being for historical reasons (check the “Asia and Europe” section): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundaries_between_the_continents. We’ve all agreed that it’s a continent, so it’s a continent, that’s not something I’m refuting. I’m also aware that calling Eurasia a continent is in that sense false. But you seem to be confident that my statement that it’s for historical reasons rather than geographical ones is nonsense. I’m open to learning something new today.
In the context of the original post, it’s completely irrelevant. Comparing Europe or Eurasia as a continent to the US as a country is not a valid comparison and I’ve said so in my first comment. I could’ve left out that part completely without changing my point.
Google says it will take over SIX days to drive from St. Petersburg to Magadan. Easternmost towns cannot be reached by a land vehicle at all.
Sweden is definitely the exception in EU, that country is crazy “long”, and the geography also makes travel more difficult. You can drive north-south all across Germany in under 10 hours
Sure, but so is Michigan. You can drive across Arizona in 5 hours, across 600 km.
The equivalent to what this guy did would be more like driving along the border, which would easily take 30h.
“It takes 23 hours and 2000 km to drive from the southernmost point in sweden to Abisko in the north.”
You can drive north-south all across Germany in under 10 hours
That you?
Yeah, I don’t think there are any roads on the western border of Sweden, north of Oslo. It would take weeks the cover the actual border, I think.
Sure, but the Autobahn is much faster than any road in the US, or most of the world
I think OPs point is that this is only in 1 state as opposed to an entire country.
Eh, the distinction between internal state and sovereign state isn’t really that relevant here. If history had gone differently, the 13 American colonies would have been independent and sovereign states, just like the 27 states in the EU.
If frogs had wings they wouldn’t bump their ass on the sidewalk.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Articles_of_Confederation
Ok but it actually happened for 8 years
1400 miles is roughly the Autobahn in northrhine Westphalia I Guess you could drive aimlessly around those if that’s your thing
and do it at top speed!
Dude, you can drive 30 hours in London and still be in London.
Traffic that bad, huh?
Sometimes it’s faster to walk. And it’s not a joke.
I believe a tourist once managed that on the M25. Apparently the idea of a looping motorway can be a bit beyond some.
While London traffic can be frustrating, it’s not actually that bad. At least compared to a lot of American cities, let alone somewhere like Mexico city.
Well that’s wild, we have looping highways in the states too. No cure for stupid, I guess
And most anywhere else in the world that they’re geographically practical.
Even Charlotte merits one. And Pittsburgh. And basically the entire country of Afghanistan, which is kind of interesting in and of itself.
Not all are “highway” standard, but the concept is kind of universal.
Or you know, Rome.
When I went there I discovered that Mario Kart was a documentary. I have never been carsick until I flew South America to rome, then got into a shuttle to my hotel.
I can drive around my block for 30 hours and still be on my block! It’s crazy!
I know someone who has a shitty car like that
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I can also drive 30 h around in my driveway.
This is meaningless if it drives back on the same roads. “You can drive for 30 hours on a roundabout in Blackburn, Lancashire without ever leaving the roundabout in Blackburn, Lancashire”
Yeah I can drive for 30 hours and still be in my hometown, in fact, I can spend my entire life there. Crazy
Well, it’s a weird state carved out of two peninsulas and there’s only the one bridge.
No chance with all those holes though
Thank you
I shudder at the thought of 30 hours in Blackburn.
Fake news
(I would get dizzy and need to stop after maybe an hour)
No you’ll be reyt, it’s the big roundabout near the M65 with the Maccy’s and new KFC. Traffic lights are a nightmare on it so you’ll spend half the time sat still
False. You’d have to stop and get gas thereby necessitating that you leave the roundabout in Blackburn
If airplanes can refuel mid flight, then so the fuck can I mid roundabout.
Driving around Germany is probanly a similar distance, it just doesn’t take as long.
Germany is smaller than several US states. Germany would fit twice into Texas and four times into Alaska, for instance.
Best I got without doing any double takes was Flensburg - Düsseldorf - Freiburg - Friedrichshafen - Deggendorf - Dresden - Rostock - Kiel, for a total of about 28 hrs and approx 2,559 km (~1,500 miles).
https://maps.app.goo.gl/6XqbfMMPjmMHWQpJ8
Might be able to eke out those extra 200 miles by including Saarbrücken.
Chatgpt estimates a trip around the outer most Autobahn at a 3k to 4k Kilometer. Taking 30-40 hours to drive.
Unfortunately LLMs are specifically terrible at this kind of calculation
For France I got a 39h/3,926km Tour de France
I got a 34 hour loop around Italy without trying to follow the slow local coastal roads and not having to veer too close to France. 😘
You can probably do that in a lot of countries tbf
Now do California!
San Diego to Crescent City is about 13 hours or 900 miles, so that’s a good start, but then you’re stuck with no other option than either crossing into Oregon or going back the same way you came.
Also, going back down on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada is remarkably difficult without crossing into Nevada. I was able to get the following route, however, which at 1,885 miles and 32 hours beats out Michigan ever so slightly: https://maps.app.goo.gl/otW9AFKewssi9ZfXA
California wins this one, but by a much smaller margin that expected.
I put some more California in your California: 36h, 2106mi
(I have no idea if any of these new stops would actually make a viable trip, aside from Santa Barbara)
It’s not the most convenient sightseeing tour but you’ll definitely get to see a lot of the variety of the state while only missing out on a few major tourist destinations (like Yosemite or Sequoia Nat’l Parks).
Yosemite can actually be accessed from the east side of the Sierra, at least during the summer months, but it would require either going out the same way you came in or taking a larger detour and crossing at another pass.
You can do this in WA, but without looping back
On these kinds of roads that go across Australia, are they well maintained? I’m guessing it’s not like a highway the whole way. Are there frequent enough towns, petrol stations etc.? How easily can you end up stranded in the middle of nowhere?
Yep I heard some parts will be like 1000km without stations and stuff like that so you need to be well prepared with extra gas etc.
Going through some of those parts, chances are some of them are probably unsealed - though I suspect google maps will always generally try to pick the sealed roads.
As for petrol stations… Yeah keep a few Jerrys with you, just in case, as well as a spare full size tire or two (space savers are a bad idea in the outback) as well as a toolbox, with basic tools, hose clamps, etc. and plenty of drinking water/snacks. Maybe even a few packed lunches.
The nullaboar (Latin for “no tree”) plains along the coast of south/western Australia are well known for having the one long, straight, featureless Eyre highway with a whole lot of space Between petrol stations. The most dangerous thing about those roads is fatigue from looking at the constant unchanging scenery for hours at a time. The second is running out of fuel or breaking down - where you gotta hope you’ve got the shit to fix stuff, because it’s highly unlikely you’ll see a friend on the road for at least an hour or two, if not longer.
It’s so long that there are three designated airstrips on the highway designed for emergency landings and air ambulances (royal flying doctor service FTW - seriously, those guys deserve all the praise, true heros)
I would think there’s no speed cameras in the midst of nothing, which leads to the question… How fast can you safely go on those roads?
Damn they even got a Denmark down under, poor saps
On a bicycle? Easy.
It’s true. As a European I had no idea where Michigan was.
It’s right next to Wisconsin, duh.
