Hilarious Reddit thread on walking in the US vs UK

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on whether you’re in a city/suburb/rural area. In some burbs in the US, it’s not possible to walk 30 min in one direction without hitting a 4-lane busy road that has no sidewalks or crosswalks.

I know and find that pretty sad. I would feel trapped. Never understood the appeal of suburbs.

Pre-war suburbs are built different. I’ve spent hours upon hours discovering new areas around my home on foot. There are so many trails nearby and beautiful older neighborhoods with sidewalks.

I did used to live in a farther out burb on a cul de sac and couldn’t go more than half a mile without hitting a major commuter road. And I lived in a neighborhood full of cul de sacs. It was terrible. If I were ever to move father out again I’d go somewhere that I could at least walk out my door into nature. For now I prefer coffee shops.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on whether you’re in a city/suburb/rural area. In some burbs in the US, it’s not possible to walk 30 min in one direction without hitting a 4-lane busy road that has no sidewalks or crosswalks.

I know and find that pretty sad. I would feel trapped. Never understood the appeal of suburbs.

You must be very well-off. Cities are for the rich, the young & the poor.

It’s very difficult to afford a good QOL as a middle class family in a city.

DP. For me good QOL includes being able to walk to shopping, dining and the library. So, I live in a city (Brooklyn) the way people in Europe live in the cities.

Most people can’t afford to both live in Brooklyn & give their kids a good education. And, live in a residence that’s more than 2 bedrooms.

PP. I have 2.5 bedrooms - the 0.5 is the dining room that we closed off. Read my comment again - very few families in European cities have more than 2 bedrooms, and they manage fine. We just don't buy and store tons of crap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First of all, taking long walks (1+ hours) on pavement is awful on your knees & feet, even if you don’t feel the impact immediately.

Second, if not owning a car correlated with being fitter, those who do not own cars & whom are completely reliant on public transportation (including public buses) for their every need would be the fittest among us. Obviously, that is not the case.

Walking for an hour plus is awful on your knees and feet? The “impact” of WALKING? Is this some kind of troll post? How horrendously out of shape are you? Let me guess, if somebody does any amount of running their knees will explode by the time they are 60.

Unreal. Absent some health condition not of your own making, if you can’t walk 10 miles and you are under the age 65, you are doing life wrong. Most Americans can’t walk FIVE miles to save their life.

It’s not exclusively an American thing. I know plenty of sedentary Brits and continental Europeans. And even those that do walk a lot that just eat and drink poorly.

It’s like idiocracy sometimes. Where is the brawndo?

You missed the “on pavement” part. Versus on soft surfaces.

Uh, you know people run on pavement for an hour (or several hours) without issues. Where on earth are you getting the idea that it's bad to *walk* on pavement for ONE hour? One has to be really out of shape (or quite elderly) to feel "impact" from walking for an hour on pavement.

And on your 2nd comment about public transportation... people that take public transportation in cities are generally quite fit and active. People in cities are generally much more fit because of all the walking/stairs they do.

People that are completely dependent on public transportation are generally poor & fat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on whether you’re in a city/suburb/rural area. In some burbs in the US, it’s not possible to walk 30 min in one direction without hitting a 4-lane busy road that has no sidewalks or crosswalks.

I know and find that pretty sad. I would feel trapped. Never understood the appeal of suburbs.

You must be very well-off. Cities are for the rich, the young & the poor.

It’s very difficult to afford a good QOL as a middle class family in a city.

DP. For me good QOL includes being able to walk to shopping, dining and the library. So, I live in a city (Brooklyn) the way people in Europe live in the cities.

That describes my lifestyle in a suburb of Philly.

PP. I have a couple of cousins in Bala Cynwyd - if you are somewhere like that, yes, it could work. Someone already pointed out that the older suburbs, small towns really, built around the train stations are different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on whether you’re in a city/suburb/rural area. In some burbs in the US, it’s not possible to walk 30 min in one direction without hitting a 4-lane busy road that has no sidewalks or crosswalks.

I know and find that pretty sad. I would feel trapped. Never understood the appeal of suburbs.

I live in Ashburn and walk about 12k steps a day at least. I just got back from my walk tog er coffee, 45min round trip. I could walk from my house all the way into DC or west and hit the foothills of the blue ridge if I wanted to and never leave a trail or sidewalk. Many of the paths go under major roads so no need to cross them. There are an insane amount of blacktop trails which are much better on the body than concrete sidewalks. I actually love living out here because I’m a biker and love being connected to the WOD and C&O. 2xs a week I have to be in my Reston office and commute on my bike. There are so many bike commuters it’s really great to see.

I’m not in Ashburn, but am in Reston and maybe put 8k miles on my car a year and that’s all kids travel sports. I walk and bike everywhere. Walked up to RTC this morning for breakfast. I done even need to shower or changed when I bike to work because it’s so close. I only bike because I’m always running late and rarely have time to walk.

[Anonymous]

I live in Chicago and walk a ton, but am skeptical of the brits posting they walk 4+miles each way to work. Who has time for an hour + walking commute when it could 8min instead? Assuming they have families they need to get home to, dinner to make etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I lived in suburban Florida I drove to the shopping center next door to my development. A friend came to visit from Boston and one day told me he’d walked there while I was at work and I thought he was nuts. Now I routinely walk anywhere less than a mile and a half from home, unless it’s raining or I’m carrying heavy stuff.

That’s because in Florida you would be a ball of sweat 9 months of the year walking across the street.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in Chicago and walk a ton, but am skeptical of the brits posting they walk 4+miles each way to work. Who has time for an hour + walking commute when it could 8min instead? Assuming they have families they need to get home to, dinner to make etc.

As a Brit I’m skeptical too. Plus it is not making us any skinnier all these supposed miles. The UK is getting fatter by the day. Maybe they mean 4k, but nobody there is walking 4 miles. If they don’t have a car (which is uncommon outside of London) then they are taking public transport.

[Anonymous]

“ People in cities are generally much more fit because of all the walking/stairs they do. ”

People in cities are not morally superior due to walking more. It’s just the option that makes the most sense in that environment- parking is terrible in cities since it’s hard to find or very expensive. It’s not the same in the burbs which is a big part of why people there drive more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in Chicago and walk a ton, but am skeptical of the brits posting they walk 4+miles each way to work. Who has time for an hour + walking commute when it could 8min instead? Assuming they have families they need to get home to, dinner to make etc.

As a Brit I’m skeptical too. Plus it is not making us any skinnier all these supposed miles. The UK is getting fatter by the day. Maybe they mean 4k, but nobody there is walking 4 miles. If they don’t have a car (which is uncommon outside of London) then they are taking public transport.

Disagree. I am sure the average person walks significantly more in the UK. Car ownership is 25 percent lower. Public transport is much better. Walking to the bus or train station can be a significant amount compared to waddling down to the garage. There is nowhere in the UK that is as unfriendly to pedestrians as most of the US. And partly as a consequence, the US obesity rate is 42 percent vs 28 percent in the UK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Brits like to take the mickey out of how we hate to walk everywhere until they move to America and realize how spread out things are. They often forget that their entire country is the size of Florida. People in NYC walk exactly the same amount as people in London. People in the burbs walk exactly the same amount as people in East Bumble UK. I have lived in all four places. I am also married to a Brit who used to love making fun of me for this. Ten years of suburban living later, you best believe he’s driving that car from one end of the shopping center to the other.

+1 haha well stated. Same situation here.

Also, several of my spouse's friends and family live in the 'burbs, and so we have to drive into town. Most of spouse's friends moved to the burbs after having kids. Same for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I lived in suburban Florida I drove to the shopping center next door to my development. A friend came to visit from Boston and one day told me he’d walked there while I was at work and I thought he was nuts. Now I routinely walk anywhere less than a mile and a half from home, unless it’s raining or I’m carrying heavy stuff.

That’s because in Florida you would be a ball of sweat 9 months of the year walking across the street.

+1. I was going to say this. I love walking, but when I was in Florida for the summer, I absolutely could not walk for more than 10 minutes in daytime because of the heat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in Chicago and walk a ton, but am skeptical of the brits posting they walk 4+miles each way to work. Who has time for an hour + walking commute when it could 8min instead? Assuming they have families they need to get home to, dinner to make etc.

Exactly, and then you would be sweaty by the time you get to work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on whether you’re in a city/suburb/rural area. In some burbs in the US, it’s not possible to walk 30 min in one direction without hitting a 4-lane busy road that has no sidewalks or crosswalks.

I know and find that pretty sad. I would feel trapped. Never understood the appeal of suburbs.

You must be very well-off. Cities are for the rich, the young & the poor.

It’s very difficult to afford a good QOL as a middle class family in a city.

DP. For me good QOL includes being able to walk to shopping, dining and the library. So, I live in a city (Brooklyn) the way people in Europe live in the cities.

Most people can’t afford to both live in Brooklyn & give their kids a good education. And, live in a residence that’s more than 2 bedrooms.

PP. I have 2.5 bedrooms - the 0.5 is the dining room that we closed off. Read my comment again - very few families in European cities have more than 2 bedrooms, and they manage fine. We just don't buy and store tons of crap.

That's a pretty idealized view of Europe. I hate to break it to you, but suburbs are growing pretty fast in Europe

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in Chicago and walk a ton, but am skeptical of the brits posting they walk 4+miles each way to work. Who has time for an hour + walking commute when it could 8min instead? Assuming they have families they need to get home to, dinner to make etc.

I used to walk a similar commute home when the weather was beautiful, I was single, and didn't have any plans. It was really relaxing. Now, I would never waste that much time with kids waiting for me to get home