Tag: motoring

Sue and I have discussed this over and over. When driving long distances in the U.S. you basically plan for around a mile a minute.  I want to drive to Chicago that around 180 miles it should take around 3 hours.  England is a little different… OK a lot different.  It seemed that if we wanted to go 30 miles we should plan for it to take at least an hour if not longer.  Now I will admit that part of it is an unfamiliarity with the rules of the road in England, but I think part of it has to do with roundabouts.  It seemed that every roundabout (and there are a lot of them) while they kept traffic flowing- created some kind of time warp… the time inside the car is constant, but outside the car time travels faster… I need Hawking or Einstein or the good doctor to explain it.  When I first planned out the trip, I was thinking in a U.S. mindset about a day trip (I have been known to drive to Chicago or Columbus Ohio  for lunch),  once I started to understand England, I had to reassess my plan and stick with things that were a little closer to my home base.  Fortunately England is filled with interesting places to visit so while I missed some things, I saw others that I might have missed had I spent the day and night motoring.  I know understand why many Brits will plan an overnight trip for anything greater than 40 miles.