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Original poster

How far are you willing to travel for a day out?

156 replies

MsWalterMitty · 05/09/2021 18:00

I love in the countryside with lots of windy roads and very poor public transport links.

I wonder whether my thinking is skewed due to the windy roads. But for a typical day out with the kids, say on a normal weekend I am happy to drive up to 45 mins in the car to a destination... this is approx 15 miles due to the roads. So I’d say less than 20 miles is my norm.

Anything more than that would be a special occasion/very rare. Bit anything more than 30 miles I would want to be stopping over!

OP posts:
DerAlteMann · 05/09/2021 21:22

Two hours each way, generally. Longest I've done for a day was Reading - Stockport for a wedding.

ISpyCobraKai · 05/09/2021 21:26

@BornFreeeI've never stayed in a manky Travelodge, they've all been really clean.

Auntienumber8 · 05/09/2021 21:26

We share the driving so up to 2 hours, prefer an hour though

DinosApple · 05/09/2021 21:30

I'm happy to drive max 2hrs each way for a day out. For us that means we can get from East Anglia to Grantham on the A1 (just under 2 hrs) to meet friends from York for a catch up.

When we stayed on a remote farm in Shropshire, it took us 30-40 minutes to get to the nearest (small) town.

HelloDulling · 05/09/2021 21:33

Two hours is about my limit. Three and I’d def prefer a bed for the night.

Lovemusic33 · 05/09/2021 21:34

I’m pretty rural, taking dd out tomorrow and will be driving a hour and a half each way. 2 hours would be my maximum.

reluctantbrit · 05/09/2021 21:41

Around 1 1/2 - 2 hours for something really special. But DH likes to drive so it is not a huge issue.

I think otherwise we wouldn't have seen so many amazing things.

But that's maybe 2-3x a year, not a regular day out.

HalzTangz · 05/09/2021 21:42

@MsWalterMitty

I love in the countryside with lots of windy roads and very poor public transport links.

I wonder whether my thinking is skewed due to the windy roads. But for a typical day out with the kids, say on a normal weekend I am happy to drive up to 45 mins in the car to a destination... this is approx 15 miles due to the roads. So I’d say less than 20 miles is my norm.

Anything more than that would be a special occasion/very rare. Bit anything more than 30 miles I would want to be stopping over!

I'm in the country too, i'd travel up to 150 miles for a day trip
Original poster
MsWalterMitty · 05/09/2021 21:53

@HalzTangz my point about mentioning living in the countryside was that it takes longer time to travel shorter distance. How long does it take you to travel 150 miles?!

OP posts:
MrsAvocet · 05/09/2021 22:22

My experience is the exact opposite - I find it takes far less time to travel the same distances in the countryside than it did when I lived in a major city. Yes, if you get stuck behind tractor or a caravan it really slows things down, and we've had some very busy days with lots of tourist traffic this summer, but as a general rule, in our area the roads may be poor, but they don't usually have a lot of traffic on them so you move fairly fast.
I remember a friend of mine who lives in a big city being horrified that my children travel over 20 miles to school. It takes about half an hour on the bus, which is roughly the same as it takes her to drive her kids a couple of miles to school in the city. Where I used to live, I used to leave home at 7.15 to be at work 8 miles away by 9am. I travel much further here, but it takes no more time, probably less.

YerAWizardHarry · 05/09/2021 22:27

My in laws live 40 miles away (takes about 1hr 15mins or so) also on weird windy country roads. I don’t tell to drive up unless I’m staying overnight to be honest, the driving makes me anxious. But if i was going south on the dual carriages (north of Scotland so no motorways) I’d happily drive a couple hours as it’s much easier driving conditions

BroccoliFloret · 05/09/2021 22:28

But you are only 20 miles from a motorway

mrsevangelina · 05/09/2021 22:34

I travel more than 30 miles to work!!

ISpyCobraKai · 05/09/2021 22:36

@BroccoliFloret.
There's motorways, and there's motorways.
I drive the M8 through Glasgow often, but its not a quick, easy drive, its madness!

idontlikealdi · 05/09/2021 22:41

Regularly do 2.5 hours to family, half on windy roads. I prefer them to the motorway.

99victoria · 05/09/2021 22:43

I'm driving 46 miles (each way) to meet a friend for lunch tomorrow. I'll be setting out about 11am - it'll take me just over an hour to get there - and then I'll probably head home around 4pm.

I do this quite regularly and don't think anything of it

MrsDThomas · 06/09/2021 07:20

I have travelled 150 miles each way for a day out. It was a very long day!

CeeceeBloomingdale · 06/09/2021 07:43

Thinking about it, I don’t really have a need to travel great distances. The nearest city is 7 miles away, the coast about the same, if not closer. I can walk out of my door and be in the countryside, family and most friends all live within 15 miles radius. There are loads of stately homes and castes within a 30 mile radius. We take several UK holidays a year so go to attractions then. The only things not close by are zoos and theme parks. We have done overnight stays for zoos and theme parks aren’t our bag. We do a maximum drive of 3-4 hours for UK breaks. Maybe I’d feel different if things weren’t on the doorstep but I don’t see the need to travel far for a day out from here.

BogRollBOGOF · 06/09/2021 07:55

50 miles/ an hour, I'd do without blinking. Less often beyond 90 mins, but that's more about not thinking about what's in that range.

Last year we did a day trip to the beach (when we were still unclear about if any holiday was viable) and that was 3 hours there, 3.5 back, spending about 6 hours in the area. It's easily 2+ hours to any beach and I have no love of the nearest coastline so it's more rewarding to go a bit further in the opposite direction.

I grew up with regular 100 mile trips to go and collect a relative, then repeat to return home then repeat a few days later to take them home.

EmmaStone · 06/09/2021 09:04

PIL live 145 miles away, and aren't really in a position to put us up anymore, so we do it in a day - about 3-3.5hrs each way. Do that probably a couple of times a year?

My parents live about 1.25 hours away - both sides are very happy to go there and back in a day.

We also live rurally, kids' school is 12 miles away in nearest city, we work in the same city, takes between 25-60 mins each way depending on traffic (usually 45 mins). It generally seems to take a minimum of 30mins to get anywhere TBH, so we're used to it.

A 'day out' would probably be up to 2.5 hours away, depending on activity.

pippapoo62 · 06/09/2021 10:13

My daughter lives 2hrs 25 minutes away ,we are going down for the day .

cleckheatonwanderer · 06/09/2021 10:27

2 hours drive each way for me is the max

SirenSays · 06/09/2021 11:34

I'd happily travel 3+ hours, this was the norm for practically everyone I knew whilst I was living in Australia. In England, most people I know won't travel more than 90 mins and that's really pushing it.

BananaPB · 06/09/2021 13:10

How old are your kids?
I've travelled 2.5 hours each way to the beach but wouldn't with a baby.

liveforsummer · 06/09/2021 16:48

We regularly drive 50 miles to a bike track. Takes just over an hour - 1.5 hours depending on traffic on a road with lovely views.

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