Makes me sad because I don't have much control over living in the same city as them.
I have a theory that much of the high rates of depression and unhappiness in the US can be attributed to the large size of the country combined with our mobility within it. Childhood friends always move far away, families separate, your schoolmates drift away. You need 2-5 hour flights to see anyone. Take for example a Brit or a German. The people you grow up with and your families might move to another city, but they are always just a reasonable train ride or drive away. It's quite isolating when you realize everyone you're close with is spread across a continent.
> Take for example a Brit or a German. The people you grow up with and your families might move to another city, but they are always just a reasonable train ride or drive away.
UK - I don't know anyone with friends in a different city who frequently sees the people they grew up with, (or their parents for that matter.)
"Take for example a Brit or a German. The people you grow up with and your families might move to another city, but they are always just a reasonable train ride or drive away."
Not that reasonable.
I'm a Brit, living in Scotland. Many, many of my friends live either 5-and-a-bit hours' train ride away (London) or 7-8 hours by train or car away (Bristol).
Contrast that with the distance between Southern California and Maine... a day-trip by land for you would be a multi-day monstrosity for an American. :(
I was contrasting with the parent comment, which was lamenting 2-5 hour flights - almost exactly the same travel time that I'll need to see my more distant friends.
I do agree that I wouldn't want to do a US-style road trip to visit people!
I have a theory that much of the high rates of depression and unhappiness in the US can be attributed to the large size of the country combined with our mobility within it. Childhood friends always move far away, families separate, your schoolmates drift away. You need 2-5 hour flights to see anyone. Take for example a Brit or a German. The people you grow up with and your families might move to another city, but they are always just a reasonable train ride or drive away. It's quite isolating when you realize everyone you're close with is spread across a continent.