No matter where we live, we’ve all dreamed up our own great American trip, with an endless variety of possible routes. The most obvious would be the drive between Los Angeles and New York, a distance of 2,800 miles that takes just over 40 hours. I once took a week or two to drive from Los Angeles to Raleigh, North Carolina. Lately, I’ve been dreaming of a relatively doable 1,900-mile trip from Maine all the way down the East Coast to Key West. But any serious road trip would require a trip to an entirely different continent.
The conclusion that can be drawn from this is of It’s not half funny Video abovemeasures the longest road distance on earth. “North America’s road system stretches from Prudhoe Bay in Canada to Alaska and all the way south to Yaviza in Panama,” says the video’s creator, Sam Denby. “But in this video, it measures just 7,500 miles.”
It may require six days of continuous driving, but it won’t set any records. Routes from South Africa and East Asia may look promising, but it can’t be done without passing through Western Europe, which would require crossing the Mediterranean by ferry, tarnishing the purity of the endeavor for any true road trip enthusiast.
If you’re starting from Europe, you’ll start in Sagres, Portugal, “the end of the continuous road network.” From there, you can drive 8,437 miles east to “the banks of the Aldan River in Russia.” But wait, there’s a longer way to go. Continue to Khasan, “the only Russian town bordering North Korea,” and extend the distance to 8,726 miles, completing “the longest direct driving route in the world.” At full throttle (at least as far as possible while adhering to local speed limits), it will take 6 days and 19 hours, ideally sandwiched between meals of cataplana and oysters from Khasan.
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Based in Seoul, Colin MaOnershall Writing and broadcastingHe has written papers on cities, languages, and cultures, and his projects include the Substack newsletter. Books about cities And books A city without a state: Walking through 21st-century Los Angeles. Follow us on Twitter CollinhamOnershall or Facebook.
Source: Open Culture – www.openculture.com
