How far is too far, how long is too long?

[Bassic_desires]

I live in a regional area of Australia i.e. in the bush. We regularly do gigs that are one hour away. It’s really good fun dodging kangaroos at night on the way home. /s

 

[Gopherbassist]

One thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of my American friends seem to find travel to gigs more normal than my English friends.

I’m English - I live about 2hours away from London, I think anything more than 45mins drive is significant, at 1.5hours I’m looking for something very well paid. 3hours has to be amazing.

I know some American friends who routinely travel 1 - 2 hours for ‘dive bar’ gigs and jam nights.

Is this a cultural thing, an economic thing or is driving in the U.K. so grim that 1hr feels like a chore whereas driving in the states is far more fun. Or am I totally wrong?

I read an anecdote from a Brit that they rarely saw their parents because they lived "so far away." The distance was about a 45 minute drive.

I've driven 45 minutes across town to go to an electronics store.

 

[Bill Whitehurst]

Been a while since I played anywhere, but I can say most gigs were within a half hour drive.
That said, I would sometimes drive an hour or more just to play a different place.
I live in the DFW metromess, which is larger and more populous area than some counties.
Depending on the direction and time of day, an hours drive could easily leave me way inside of the metro area.