# Shortest distance between places you've lived? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 23, 2015, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395 "2015-04-23T22:10:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/41 "2015-04-24T15:03:04Z")
Actually, I’ve just checked on MapQuest, and the two unrelated apartments I lived in were just over 2 miles apart. So twice as far as I said above. But my shortest move was only a few feet (depending upon where in each apartment you measured it) within one complex. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/42 "2015-04-24T15:22:55Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I purchased a house .4 miles from my childhood home, moving directly from one to another. > > I just put in the addresses to Google Maps to get the distance and it literally will not give me driving directions - only walking! 🙂 How un-American! ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/43 "2015-04-24T15:33:03Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > If dorms count, about 300 feet between freshman and sophomore year. That’s probably boring. > > Non-dorm, .87 miles. Took three moves and two years; the first move was about 1200 miles. Moved from college (St. Louis), back to New Hampshire, lived two places there, then returned to St. Louis for grad school and ended up on the same street as my senior year apartment. If dorm rooms count I’d be at 6" or so. I moved to the room next door which had a mirror image configuration and my bed was on the opposite side of the wall from it’s previous location. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/44 "2015-04-24T16:26:12Z")
About five feet. When we lived in NJ we moved from one side of a house to the other, with adjoining walls. My books were stored on the third floor, and we moved them by handing them out the window to the other side. The two locations were closer together than the dorm rooms I moved between. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/45 "2015-04-24T17:22:02Z")
Five blocks from 6th Avenue to 11th Avenue on the same cross street in Anchorage. ---
**Author:** ![Silophant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Silophant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silophant)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/46 "2015-04-26T02:07:45Z")
Another 0.2 miles, from one college apartment to another. I lived on the other side of campus for two years in between, though. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/47 "2015-04-26T02:27:57Z")
First semester in college dorm in Room 1-A. Second semester in Room 1-D. (Same floor, rooms off the same corridor up the same stairwell.) ---
**Author:** ![Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/48 "2015-04-26T03:11:48Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Fascinating! I mean I’m sure it’s not an unknown occurrence, but it seems like a lot more trouble than it’s worth. Cursory Googling yielded [this story](http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2010/06/man_moves_entire_apartment_usi.html) of a guy moving his apartment via subway. > > I must know more! I assume you didn’t have much or any furniture, or did you? How many trips was that? I did that. The subway, the Staten island ferry, then a bus, and a bit of a walk. It definitely seemed like more trouble than it was worth but I didn’t exactly have other options. Nothing in my life has ever made me feel so poor. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/49 "2015-04-26T03:16:50Z")
I currently live 4 miles from the house I grew up in. But if we’re playing games with school/military, I went from a berthing on the O3 level towards the rear of the carrier to a berthing on the 2nd deck nearly all the way aft. Maybe a 100 foot difference. ---
**Author:** ![Marion\_Wormer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/50 "2015-04-26T15:35:12Z")
I’m going to exclude moves in college where I once moved to a room 3 doors down the hall. That’s a move on the same property. Other than that, I’ve never had a ‘short move’. The smallest is probably 8 miles. The longest was the other side of the world. I settle in and that’s the end of it unless someone doubled my rent or the drive gets too hard. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2015, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/51 "2015-04-26T16:47:04Z")
I lived in a block of flats next door to another block of flats that I’d lived in a couple of years earlier. So, next door, but with a couple of other locations in between. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/52 "2015-04-27T09:04:36Z")
When I was in college, I stayed in a few dorms and an off-campus apartment all within a mile or so of each other, but I didn’t move straight from one to another without staying at my parent’s home during the summer. For moving directly from one place to another, my shortest move was slightly over a mile, from one apartment to another, to live in a place nearer to a large park and downtown. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2015, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/53 "2015-04-27T10:38:42Z")
Moved to an apartment in the same building, just a few units over. ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/54 "2015-04-28T01:00:00Z")
Per Google Maps, I’m a bit under 2 miles from the house I grew up in as the crow flies, exactly 2 miles on foot. My parents still live there, and I wish I’d learned it’s such a short walk closer to moving in to this apartment than moving out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Why\_Child](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b782af/32.png) [@Why\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_Child)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/55 "2015-04-28T01:31:19Z")
Sounds like mine was the closest! 😛 I moved from a one bedroom apartment to the two bedroom apartment next door. I could stand in the hallway and put one hand on either front door! When I asked friends to help me move, they all complained, “Why Child, you live on the third floor!!” Once I explained, “Ok, I just would like help moving everything to the other side of the wall,” I had more than enough help!! 😃 I packed smaller items, (knick-knacks, coffee cups, etc.) but dinner plates and bath towels just got carried from one cabinet to the other. Two of my “big guy” friends carried the two smaller bookcases fully loaded! 🆒. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/56 "2015-04-28T03:45:22Z")
I lived in a really nicely situated, well maintained mobile home park for about nine years. It was located between two ponds. I could literally throw a rock from my front yard into either pond. Ducks quacking on my patio were my summer alarm clock. Anyway, I lived in a 10’ x 30’ unit for six months until a 10’ x 60’ opened up. The move was 112 feet, kitchen to kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![Politzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2015, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/57 "2015-04-28T18:17:07Z")
Moved across a back alley … twice! All 3 houses were slated for demolition (school expansion - my Dad was a teacher & we rented them from the school corp) and as one house was ready to be torn down, we moved. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2015, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/58 "2015-04-29T00:51:08Z")
Two blocks – call it about 100 yards. For the larger things, rather than a truck we just had some friends help us carry them. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2015, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/59 "2015-04-29T03:36:22Z")
Exactly 1 house next door. I owned 2 houses, both next to each other on the same street. The one we lived in was much larger than the other one I owned and was renting out. When we got notice from our tenants that they were moving my wife and I decided, seeing our kids were all out of the nest, to move into that smaller house and sell the larger house. This was during the “housing bubble” and we made a killing on that house. Does this count, as I already owned the house, though hadn’t lived in it prior? If not, then it’s hard to calculate. 1 house or 1 block. We sold a house once and bought the house that was behind us, but on the same block. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2015, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395/60 "2015-04-29T05:59:59Z")
> [@Why\_Child](#): > > Sounds like mine was the closest! 😛 > > I moved from a one bedroom apartment to the two bedroom apartment next door. I could stand in the hallway and put one hand on either front door! > > When I asked friends to help me move, they all complained, “Why Child, you live on the third floor!!” Once I explained, “Ok, I just would like help moving everything to the other side of the wall,” I had more than enough help!! 😃 > > I packed smaller items, (knick-knacks, coffee cups, etc.) but dinner plates and bath towels just got carried from one cabinet to the other. Two of my “big guy” friends carried the two smaller bookcases fully loaded! 🆒. You just jogged my memory. I moved from a one bedroom apartment to a two bedroom apartment about 30 feet or so away at the suggestion of a new roommate, so that would be my closest move. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-distance-between-places-youve-lived/718395.md?page=4)