To notice it's always a 5 hour journey?

[MarthasGinYard]

Ever noticed this??

If ever there's a 'function' thread about a party, wedding or gathering that is up for debate it's ALWAYS '5 long hours away'.

"Been invited to a child free wedding, it's 5 hours each way"

"Mil is complaining she wants us to visit more often, it's 5 hours away"

I'm going to be BOLD and say I think Posters exaggerate this for max effect

And yes I'm bored tonight

Oh they 'Pep it up to the Max' I'd say

Last wedding I attended was 5 hours travel... sat nav said 4 but the M5 is a bugger on a Friday (Oxfordshire to arse end of Cornwall)

Had to go though... it was DD1's

Anywhere down the M5 and A30 takes wayyyy longer than it should!

But in general... yeah you are right!

Yeah I thought that this summer:

• London to Devon: 5 hours
• London to Lake District: 5 hour
• London to Manchester: 4ish hours - so we round up

Back in my old job we always say that 20 minutes was the magic time; as in, if a customer complained that they'd been waiting any length of time it was ALWAYS "20 minutes". My friend who worked on a bar at the time said that it was 10 minutes for them.

I also say it’s about 1 hour to go from one part of London to the other (beyond zones 1/2) whether by car, tube or train. Clearly it’s not that accurate but I still say it

I'm going to be BOLD and say I think Posters exaggerate this for max effect

I reckon most posts are exaggerated tbf.

Yes I believe many posts are

And these '5 hour journeys' to weddings are certainly almost always accompanied by 300 per night accommodation.

We live in Devon. In laws live in West Wales. The journey does indeed take 5 hours. And yes, I complain about driving 5 hours to an area very similar to where we live because in-laws won’t drive to us.

I'm confused about why you think 5 he's is unlikely?

I live in North Yorkshire, if I visit friends in the London area, it's 5hrs. 5hrs is how long it takes to travel from the north of England to the South, or from the Scottish central belt to northern England.

Do you only know people who live on your doorstep?

My journeys are just a paltry 4 hours away as that’s how far my hometown is. I do have a friend with the most ridiculous commute of between 2 to 2.5 hours each way. To be honest I think it’s shortening her lifespan but she does it because her selfish twat of a DH won’t relocate. She is the one with the very well paying job, he has a job where far more vacancies are available to apply for.

I don't think it's 'unlikely'

It's ALWAYS 5 hours

And it's always problematic

@StCharlotte how did you make Devon to Gloucester take 5 hours

M5 on a bank holiday, or a Friday, or during a school holiday, or there's been an accident, or there's just a load of traffic going slow for some non specific reason........

We don't go anywhere that would take 5 hours. Our holidays have to be taken within a 3 hour driving time limit. Because dh doesn't travel well and 3 hours is as much as he can cope with. So I personally would LIKE a 5 hour drive to a function, because that would mean I'm going somewhere new!!

MsAwesome

Refreshing to read.

You would make the perfect 'rent a guest' to all these weddings and functions I read about.

To the person who asked how it could take 5 hours to go from Gloucester to Cornwall (?), try doing it on Good Friday. This year we travelled from S Manchester to E Devon a journey I have driven many times as it's my parental home to where I live now. DD drove as far as Strensham Services in an hour and 45ish (young careful driver). We swapped seats. 2 miles after setting off we hit the Bank Holiday M5 car park. It took another 4 hours to get home. We left the M5 at junction 30, so didn't need the drag down to Plymouth/Torbay/Cornwall.

I'm driving it tomorrow in reverse. Hoping for around 4 hours. My best ever was 3 hours 20, the worst 7 hours. When DD2 decided to make an early appearance, Dad drove it in 3 hours but it was the middle of the night and average speed sensors hadn't been invented.

To the OP, I know exactly what you mean. I normally tell people my trip is 4 hours by car but I imagine people type their worst times on here for dramatic effect.

I don't think it's an exaggeration. For us it is 5 hours to my family in Yorkshire (I'm in Kent), either by car or trains. Even to get to London where we commute to takes 1.5hrs door to door. To see my family other side of London (still south) is 2 hours.

oh man the other day i really nearly posted the exact same thing about how every mumsnet relocation is 300 miles

@HingeandbracketSun 20-Oct-19 23:28:18
Yep . YANBU it’s one of those special MN things like never being prepared to say what the hobby is.

The 'hobby' thing drives me MAD. I always imagine some really niche and exciting hobby that the DH is 'spending every weekend doing' - and in reality he is probably putting on far too much lycra and cycling round the park.

Oh dear and I've been moaning to DD because she has booked herself into an event which according to Google will only take us 4 hours to drive (although probably 5 with loo stops) - south of M25 to Yorkshire.

Do I need to apologise?

It's because there's a limit to how far you want to drive in a day, or two consecutive days. So it gets that you can't go for the day or even the weekend. Then you have to take time off, go in the holidays, spend more time with people than you are comfortable with and prioritise that over other things you need or want to do. If people are round the corner you can just pop in, even an hour or two is not too much, but long stopovers can be a real pain.

My ex is actually 3 hrs away salisbury to suffolk.

I live in a remote corner and just about everywhere is 5 hours away! No, exaggeration. 5 hours from London by train. 3.5 hours to DS. 4.5 hours to DD1. 5 hour plane trip + hours in a car at each end to reach DD2. I guess we raised them too independent, or perhaps our cooking drove them away! They keep coming back to visit, though that might be down to the beach. 😊

I used to live 5 hours away from my family when I was in the West Country with family in the East Midlands. That was on the motorway with one stop halfway. Tiring and tedious. At least 5 hours, and a bad journey would take longer.

Apparently if someone makes up a statistic from the top of their head it’s always 90% .

It's always five hours because IT'S A LIMIT NOT A TARGET!
Why drive at 75 on a clear road when you could wring your hands and do 40 instead.

Conversely:
If OP is late, it is always exactly 5 minutes. Never 10 or 17 or anything more realistic that a mere 5.
If OP is posting about someone else, it's minimum 30.