Simple formula.
When (Time + Expense > Interest), it’s “too far”.
Back in '92, I drove 5,000 miles through 13 states in 13 days, and visited friends in 3 of those states. That wasn’t too far, it was fun.
But I didn’t drive 10 miles to get a cake today, because it WAS too far.
My answer is “it depends”. My general rule of thumb is a day trip - can I drive there and back home or am I going to need to spend the night at a hotel? Overnight trips take it to a new level.
As for extended trips it depends on what my vacation plans are. If I’m going to a specific destination then I want to get there. Generally, I’d prefer to fly there and spend as much time at my destination as possible.
But other times, the trip itself is the purpose. If I were traveling to New Orleans, for example, I might intentionally spend extra time driving through the South to enjoy the sights along the way.
Wow, I just had an epiphany: I am within about 2000 miles of the entire lower 48. The wife and I can drive anywhere in the country for less than $260 per person, round trip. A ticket to Denver costs more than that! Now, I just need to become a millionaire, so I can quit my job and drive everywhere…
About 8-10 hours for a vacation. That’s the line at which an entire day is essentially wasted. I don’t get that much vacation time, and what time I do have, I’d rather spend, you know. Vacationing.
However, were I driving out west, it’d be different. . .but the point of the trip would be the driving, you know?
I am considering driving from Prague to Dubai and back (I live between the two cities), but more for the journey than anything. My route would be south through Austria and Italy, by ferry to Greece then through Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Saudi and to UAE. On the way back if we can get visas, it’d be ferry to Iran, then across Turkey and north through Bulgaria and the Balkans to Hungary and on into Prague. It is roughly 4000 miles each way and we’d spend 4-6 weeks.
We would buy a car specifically for this trip and sell it upon our return.
Anything more than a three hour drive. I won’t drive from DC to NY since I would rather take the Chinatown bus.
Then again, other than some friends in Richmond, there isn’t anyone within driving distance that I care to visit.
I’ve driven the 12 hours/700 miles between Dallas and North Alabama 2-4 times a year for 15 years now, and I don’t even think about it. More than that starts to seem “long” because I’ve totally taught myself that that is a full day’s drive. Past 15 hours I assume I will be stopping for the night. If it were cost and time effective, I don’t think any drive would be “too long” in and of itself.
I have found that loading a moving truck on one end or another significantly affects the amount of time I can drive without resting.
I have always treated long solo drives as therapy. It’s a great way to force yourself to think about whatever you are avoiding dealing with. Few distractions!
That said, I have a huge pet peeve for the type of people (like my FIL) who seem to see driving marathons as tests of macho endurance. He loves to talk about how he drove X miles straight through in 24 hours. Personally, I think that’s akin to bragging about how you can drive after drinking X beers, and it drives me crazy: I mean, I am tough enough to do that, but I know that my judgment and reflexes would be off and that would make me dangerous to others.
Almost every year, I drive from Reno to Denver–about 1000 miles-- to visit my cousins in Denver. That’s as far as I’d want to drive.
It appears to be twelve hours, for us. We’ve driven to Legoland, which is just under twelve hours away, but when I suggested driving to Las Vegas thirteen hours away, my wife acted like I was crazy.
Well, last year I went from NW Ohio to St. Louis by way of New Orleans. Left home Friday night, got into St. Louis Wednesday. In 2000, I drove from NW Ohio to Chicago, about a 4 hour drive, by way of Mt. Rushmore. Left Saturday morning and got to Chicago on Wednesday.
With luck, I will be driving to Denver and back in August. If my plans pan out, I will drive straight there, spend 6 days in Denver, then drive back by way of Montana and North Dakota.
I like driving. I have made plans for driving trips to the west coast a couple of times, but things have came up that caused me to cancel them. But one of these days, I will make it.
Yearly I drive to Key West from Detroit. Then stop at Disney on the way back. The plane flight for 3 and a rent a car are considerably more than the gas. I do not know if it will change because plane fares and gas go up together. I typically drive 12 hr days.
In one day anything more than 4 hours each way is too much time driving. Northern NH, up by the Canadian border and back is definitely too far in one day, and I’ve done it twice. I’m not eager to ever do it again.
There is a prime example of different strokes. In 1998, I drove from Augusta, Maine, up through NH to Vermont, where 89 and 91 cross, down through Vermont into Mass until I hit 90, then over to 87 to head south through NY state. And New Jersey. I ended the day in Wilmington, Delaware. Along the way, I spent a couple of hours at the Desert of Maine and another hour driving around the White River Junction area. That was a fun day. 
For a two week vacation, I’d drive almost anywhere in the continental US. I enjoy driving, like having my own car when I reach my destination and hate the hassles of the airport (oddly enough, I really don’t mind flying itself).
The furthest I’ve ever driven on vacation was an extended one of six weeks. A good friend and I knocked around the southwest and some in Mexico. We had nowhere we had to be at any given time and just enjoyed the scenery, culture and visits with friends and family in TX, NM and CO. All total, we drove about 6K miles.
The furthest I’ve ever driven solo was from South Bend, IN to Houston (1150 miles) in two days. The longest single day drive was from Nashville to Houston (825 miles). Wound up with a bad case of truck butt. :smack:
Geez, just to get to the airport is a 90 minute drive from my house.
I hate to drive, and I hate being in the car for very long. But for a variety of reasons, we drive many places, including about 800 miles to visit my husband’s family.
Personally, if it’s farther than I could reasonably drive in a single day (and this 800 mile trek is about at the limit) I would seek alternatives. Of course, it also depends upon the vehicle and the number of drivers. On the other hand, apart from visiting my inlaws, we don’t really go anywhere, so it’s a non-issue.
I still hate driving.
I think I’m the opposite - now.
If you’d asked me ten years ago, my answer would have been like yours. Drive to Melbourne or Brisbane? No worries.
But I think airfares have peaked and troughed differently in Australia to in the US. It was expensive for a working man to fly domestically here until about ten years ago, and petrol was cheap. also, back then I was married, so there were two of us.
Now, with expensive fuel and cheaper airfares, it’s much different. Am I going to spend twelve hours of white line fever on the highway and get to Melbourne exhausted, paying big money in fuel, or am I going to fly there in an hour and a bit for about ninety bucks each way? It’s no contest now - the car stays at home. Also, I’m older and the “road trip” has less appeal.
Trans-oceanic. Not so much a problem of distance, but of not owning a car that can float as well. I love road trips, more for the trip than the destination.
We live in Northern California, and regularly (once or twice a year) drive to Disneyland, which is just shy of 400 miles (about 6-8 hours depending on traffic and number of ‘rest breaks’). A couple years ago we drove to Aspen, CO for a wedding, which was a 2-day drive (1,000 miles). We’re driving back again this fall. We’ve also driven up into Oregon to visit friends more than once (500 miles).
I love driving vacations. One of these years, we’re going to go visit one of Rhiannon8404’s friends who lives in Alaska (Fairbanks, I think). That’ll be about a 3000 mile trip, and I can’t wait to drive it.
I hate driving. I have a 17 mile commute to work, and I can barely tolerate it. Sitting in the driving position for any length of time gives me aches all over my body – in my legs, in my back and in my arms. So now you know where I’m coming from.
My parents live about 350 miles from me. That’s about a 5 or 6 hour drive, depending on stops. When I was a poor graduate student, I used to make this drive several times a year. I hated it.
Now that I’m employed and make a good salary, I always fly, with very rare exceptions: Once I went down for several weeks and needed my car with me.
Longer distances than that I would never dream of driving.
Ed
About 300 miles, more or less. Generally, this is because with a few exceptions, most everything worth going to is within 300 miles, or much farther away.
A few trips we’ve done are fly, rent a car, then drive the remaining 50-100 miles or so. Those trips being to the Texas Hill Country and to Lawrence, KS.
The big issue for me isn’t cost, but time. I can fly to Houston on SW airlines for a little less than double the gas price if we take my truck. It takes 1/4 the time, and is less draining than driving for 4+ hours each way. (my wife and I are seasoned fliers, so we know how to mitigate the airport chaos)