Distance for a hobby

[HettyMeg]

Considering moving to a different area around a 30 min drive away and weighing up all options. Was thinking I'd need to give up my hobby, but then remembered as a teenager I used to travel about that distance for a hobby. It's one night a week. Got me thinking- how far would you travel for a weekly hobby? It would be 25-30 mins there and back on mostly motorway, which is what I think is putting me off!

I think people are really different about this. I wouldn't want to do it myself but I know other people that seem to think nothing of doing even longer journeys for a regular activity.

DD goes to a club 33-40 minutes bus (depends if she makes the connection) away four times a week, one a 15 minute drive and one a 20 minute drive. DS, again by bus, has a connection which doesn't match his training and leaves at 5 for a 610 start, twice a week.
I think 30 minutes once a week, is ok, but it totally depends on how tired you are. I wouldn't want to drive late if I was tired.

It depends how much I really want to do it. Weekly, 30 minutes is my maximum for swimming with a friend. However for one off craft workshops, which are no more than two per month, I would travel for 40-60minutes. I do tend to find myself looking at the route more than the time, if it’s an easy door to door journey I’m much more likely to do it more frequently. Narrow, twisty country roads are less preferable than main highways.

Wow it never occurred to me there are people that wouldn’t drive 39 mins once a week to do something they enjoy!

Me neither.

Why on earth not? Well, provided the activity is for at least 30 mins.

I guess it depends a lot on how much you enjoy the activity, whether there are other options nearer and how much you are used to travelling. 30 minutes doesn't feel like very far to me. I have never had a commute to work that was less than 30 minutes so I wouldn't think twice about driving that far for something fun.
But then we live quite rurally so are used to driving quite a Iong way for more or less everything. I currently drive for 60-70 mins for my hobby. When my DS was on the national talent pathway for his sport as a teen I used to do a roughly 250 mile round trip to take him to training on a Monday evening and frequently further for matches at weekends. I guess if you live somewhere where everything is on your doorstep it might feel like a long trip but a 30 minute drive doesn't even get you to the motorway from our house so it feels like nothing to me.
But it's entirely up to how you perceive things OP, there's not really a right or wrong.

How long does the activity last?

Like a pp my work commutes have all been over 30 minutes and it's normal to have a journey that long for hobbies too. I'd be quite pleased if a hobby was only 30 minutes away unless it was a horrid drive!

I've done much longer journeys for regular hobbies but it depends how long the activity is, how much I want to do it, and how stressful the drive would be.

Er, a 30 minute drive is pretty much on the doorstep! I don't see the problem. I drive much further than that approx 3 times a week to volunteer.

Is it 30 minutes door to door in average conditions? Or is it some kind of ideal time which doubles when you count searching for the parking space and the route is blocked so often, you would have to always start much earlier?

Count the realistic time away from home beginning to end, and decide.

Interesting to read the responses! The activity lasts almost 2 hours (choir practice). It's a lovely welcoming group and there aren't too many other ones around so I'd be sad to give it up

Use to allow an hour to get to son’s hobby. Journey tine - 30-45 minutes depending on traffic.

It'd be about 30 min door to door as parking isn't a problem and I think traffic would be OK at that time

Keep going then. My choir is half an hour. On the way home I sing so that flies by! I used to take my dc all over the place and wait for them to do activities, or worse…watch, so if I would do it for them then why shouldn’t I do it for something I want to do.

For me, I think that's a good length of time to justify the journey. Sounds worth continuing if you can.

Heck I keep my horse a 40 minute round trip journey away and he's my hobby and obviously needs looking after every day. Two days a week I actually go twice a day... no wonder I'm knackered 🤣

For me it is the length of my day. Some days I’m out of the house from 8am to 10pm. I’m honestly too tired or too busy catching up on home stuff the next day, to want to travel too far after work. I’d have to really want to do a hobby to justify the travel time. But it sounds like the op does really enjoy the choir.

I did belly dancing for a couple of years, was still working FT and kids were quite small still it was around a 40 minute drive away.