# Geography Trivia: What's the closest (in miles) that you have ever been to New York City? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 4, 2012, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-trivia-whats-the-closest-in-miles-that-you-have-ever-been-to-new-york-city/624024 "2012-06-04T13:23:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-trivia-whats-the-closest-in-miles-that-you-have-ever-been-to-new-york-city/624024/41 "2012-06-05T13:34:44Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > So do it! I’ll play. [Been There poll](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=654181) ---
**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-trivia-whats-the-closest-in-miles-that-you-have-ever-been-to-new-york-city/624024/42 "2012-06-06T00:14:54Z")
Been right there, if you count driving to and from JFK through the city without stopping as “there”. We did drive through 4 of the 5 boroughs (missing Manhatten) though. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-trivia-whats-the-closest-in-miles-that-you-have-ever-been-to-new-york-city/624024/43 "2012-06-06T03:55:51Z")
This is funny, because one of my sisters lives in NYC and another one in NoLa. But I have not been to NYC nearly as often, only 3 times and the first two times I was a very young child. I don’t particularly care for big cities. I went to a family gathering there to make my sister happy. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DrumBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@DrumBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrumBum)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-trivia-whats-the-closest-in-miles-that-you-have-ever-been-to-new-york-city/624024/44 "2012-06-06T11:50:11Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > I just hope you were planning that before this thread! I’d hate to have that experience blamed on me. 😃 Rest assured that we had planned to go to NYC prior to this poll and you have not shamed me into going. 😃 We only get two home leaves a year and we have to parcel them out between family, doctor visits, etc. so sometimes “rest and relaxation” has to get deferred. By the way, I \*have \* been to New Orleans and voted in your other poll. Were it not for all the Hurricanes I consumed at Pat O’Brien’s, I would remember more of the visit :p. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-trivia-whats-the-closest-in-miles-that-you-have-ever-been-to-new-york-city/624024/45 "2012-06-06T13:04:44Z")
Several times I visited my high school friend Dan while he was attending Columbia U., and then I went to his wedding in Brooklyn more than a decade ago. Don’t think I’ve been within NYC city limits since. ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-trivia-whats-the-closest-in-miles-that-you-have-ever-been-to-new-york-city/624024/46 "2012-06-06T13:32:47Z")
I fail to see the reasoning behind these polls. Is the OP looking for the most popular US vacation spots. Or is he after the largest Metropolitan areas? Anyone who lives within 100 miles from a major US city has likely been there at least once. There seems to be no rationale behind the mileage ranges. Chances are, if you have been to NYC and don’t live there, you’ve gone there on vacation. If you’ve gone to see relatives in the metro area, you’ve probably also gone to NYC. In fact, given the highway structure, most destinations in the Northeast require that you pass through NYC unless you’re coming from Canada, Northern NY or Pennsylvania. Similarly, very few people are just wandering through lower Louisiana unless they plan to visit New Orleans or live there. There just aren’t that many reasons to be there otherwise. These are largely binary questions. Have you been to NYC/New Orleans or not? It matters little if you were 200 miles away because you drove US20 from Dallas to Montgomery. Or you had a layover at Atlanta airport. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-trivia-whats-the-closest-in-miles-that-you-have-ever-been-to-new-york-city/624024/47 "2012-06-06T16:08:10Z")
Participation is mandatory! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-trivia-whats-the-closest-in-miles-that-you-have-ever-been-to-new-york-city/624024/48 "2012-06-06T16:35:08Z")
Fun is optional! ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-trivia-whats-the-closest-in-miles-that-you-have-ever-been-to-new-york-city/624024/49 "2012-06-06T21:02:26Z")
> [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](#): > > I fail to see the reasoning behind these polls. Is the OP looking for the most popular US vacation spots. Or is he after the largest Metropolitan areas? Anyone who lives within 100 miles from a major US city has likely been there at least once. There seems to be no rationale behind the mileage ranges. > > Chances are, if you have been to NYC and don’t live there, you’ve gone there on vacation. If you’ve gone to see relatives in the metro area, you’ve probably also gone to NYC. In fact, given the highway structure, most destinations in the Northeast require that you pass through NYC unless you’re coming from Canada, Northern NY or Pennsylvania. > > Similarly, very few people are just wandering through lower Louisiana unless they plan to visit New Orleans or live there. There just aren’t that many reasons to be there otherwise. > > These are largely binary questions. Have you been to NYC/New Orleans or not? It matters little if you were 200 miles away because you drove US20 from Dallas to Montgomery. Or you had a layover at Atlanta airport. Is it safe to assume that you didn’t bother to read the OP? ---
**Author:** ![Arabella\_Flynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8491ac/32.png) [@Arabella\_Flynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arabella_Flynn)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-trivia-whats-the-closest-in-miles-that-you-have-ever-been-to-new-york-city/624024/50 "2012-06-07T03:04:31Z")
Went upstate to visit friends a couple of times, and once one of them invited us to spend part of the weekend in the city with him. He neglected to mention that he lived on Park until he came to retrieve us at Penn Station. That was… a little eye-popping for me, having grown up in suburban Arizona. Then we went to visit some obscure bookstores somewhere in Manhattan. It took me about ten minutes to start walking like the natives, which apparently means charging around like I owned the place. I’ll go back and do it again someday. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-trivia-whats-the-closest-in-miles-that-you-have-ever-been-to-new-york-city/624024/51 "2012-06-07T03:37:57Z")
The closest I have been is eastern Illinois (a few miles east of St. Louis), which is over 800 miles away. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-trivia-whats-the-closest-in-miles-that-you-have-ever-been-to-new-york-city/624024/52 "2012-06-07T04:05:04Z")
I understand that I lived a few years there with my family as a small child, but don’t have any reliable memories of it. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-trivia-whats-the-closest-in-miles-that-you-have-ever-been-to-new-york-city/624024/53 "2012-06-07T04:15:29Z")
We were in New York City just a few weeks ago. Wonderful place. But I still ain’t votin’ in no public poll. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-trivia-whats-the-closest-in-miles-that-you-have-ever-been-to-new-york-city/624024/54 "2012-06-07T04:53:56Z")
I’ve never been to the northern hemisphere. In fact the entire diameter of all my movements is barely 5000km / 3000 miles. ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-trivia-whats-the-closest-in-miles-that-you-have-ever-been-to-new-york-city/624024/55 "2012-06-07T08:37:45Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Is it safe to assume that you didn’t bother to read the OP? No, it is not safe. That makes it all the more ridiculous, and strengthens my original question. What reason would you have for being 100 miles from Las Vegas unless you were going there or lived there? It’s deset. You don’t casually wander through the desert on a lark. Did you read MY post? Chicago. You have the Chicago metro area and you have the travel destination. Other than living there or going there for business/pleasure, what difference does it make that I’ve been to Indianapolis 185 miles away? There are hundreds of reasons to be 100-500 miles away from a given city and none of them are relevant to the existence of the city. If the question is “What are your favorite destinations?” or “Have you been to X”? then ask that and don’t ramble around collecting informnation that has no relevance to anything. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-trivia-whats-the-closest-in-miles-that-you-have-ever-been-to-new-york-city/624024/56 "2012-06-07T11:14:45Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Fun is optional! This is a water ride; you _will_ get wet. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2012, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-trivia-whats-the-closest-in-miles-that-you-have-ever-been-to-new-york-city/624024/57 "2012-06-09T02:58:13Z")
> [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](#): > > ask that and don’t ramble around collecting informnation that has no relevance to anything. I had to giggle at this. Who are you to tell the OP what he can post? Who cares what he posts anyway? If you don’t like the thread, don’t read it. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2012, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-trivia-whats-the-closest-in-miles-that-you-have-ever-been-to-new-york-city/624024/58 "2012-06-09T04:15:03Z")
I’m rather ashamed to say that Virginia Beach, VA is less than 500 miles from that festering pile of spent semen that is “New York City.” ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2012, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-trivia-whats-the-closest-in-miles-that-you-have-ever-been-to-new-york-city/624024/59 "2012-06-09T05:32:05Z")
Lived there for about four years. The real surprise to me is how relatively close these polls have been. At this writing 86% of respondents have been to NYC, 71% to New Orleans. 15 percentage points is a big gap, but as others have mentioned, New York is a place you’re much, much more likely to incidentally go to than New Orleans - it’s a transportation hub, it has a much bigger population, many more people live near it. If you’re coming from Europe, there’s a good chance that’s the city you’ll fly into. Years before I moved to New York I’d been there any number of times for various reasons, even when I wasn’t living in the mid-Atlantic. The one time I’ve been to New Orleans, by contrast, was specifically to visit it. ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2012, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-trivia-whats-the-closest-in-miles-that-you-have-ever-been-to-new-york-city/624024/60 "2012-06-09T08:43:07Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > I had to giggle at this. Who are you to tell the OP what he can post? Who cares what he posts anyway? If you don’t like the thread, don’t read it. I had to giggle at this. Who are you to tell me what I can post? What do you care what I post anyway? If it doesn’t make sense to you , ignore it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-trivia-whats-the-closest-in-miles-that-you-have-ever-been-to-new-york-city/624024.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geography-trivia-whats-the-closest-in-miles-that-you-have-ever-been-to-new-york-city/624024.md?page=4)