Is this possible / How far can you drive?

[Stotty]

I think 500-600 miles is easy enough if you have decent experience driving.

Couple of weeks ago I drove to Italy for a weeks holiday. We stayed nr Cortona on the border of Umbria and Tuscany, 1,060 miles from my home according to TomTom.

On the way down, we set off from Weybridge at 5.30am, caught the 7am ferry from Dover to Calais and got to south of Milan by 8pm that evening... 851 miles. The route was Calais-Strasbourg-Basel-Lugano-Milan-Bologna-Perugia, and the weather between Strasbourg and Lugano was appauling. We stopped every 2-3 hours for a 10 minute break.

On the way back I drove from Florence to Weybridge (c.950 miles) in a day. Set off at 8am, got back to Weybridge at 11.15pm, and that included almost an hours wait for the ferry at Calais and some long queues at the Italy/Swiss border.

We went in a 08 Mondeo deisel. Averaged c.150kph in France, a little slower in Switzerland (as the Swiss police are pretty keen) and around 150-160kph in Italy. Used the cruise control most of the time and kept a good eye out for the Gendarmes in France.

Important to mention that I'm a very experienced driver and I'm used to driving long distances - I've been driving for 25 years and I covered 1,000-1,500 miles a week for 10 years when I worked as a sales rep.

 

[Sureboss]

Didn't you also write off your wife's Impreza?

 

[mafia_boy]

A few weeks ago my brother left my mom and dad's house at around 1pm. He called to tell them that he was home at 3pm the next day.

Twenty-six hours - 1500 miles (2400 km) alone.

He's a loony.

I drove from gold coast to mackay in a day... resting about 1hr along the way for lunch.

1200km or 750miles..

I'll top both these results. Using a rental truck (Top Speed of only 105km/h or 66mph) to move from Sydney to Gladstone (almost 1500km each way) and going back to return truck, only stopping for fuel stops.
1500km there - 17hrs
1500km back - 17hrs

THIRTY FOUR HOURS - 2954km verified by rental docket. Mind you, it took me nearly the next four weeks to recover physically, it completely drained me.

And then, I drove to Armidale on Monday with 1 tank (525km) and the next day (Tuesday), I travelled 981km in just under 11hrs with a 1hr break to stop some overheating (damn thermo fan wire popped out near Ban Ban Springs! ). On the final tank (due to not knowing where I could find 98 Octane fuel in the areas!), I was able to get 580km/60L out of it, from a twin turbo engine. Toowoomba to Gladstone in 1 hit. 👍

So that's really just off 4500km in the past month.

 

[Stotty]

Didn't you also write off your wife's Impreza?

LOL... I did write off my wife's 406 coupe in a head on... but that was less than a mile after setting of from home.

 

[Wenders]

I drove Sydney to Adelaide in one hit 1400kms (870miles). We didn't plan to do the trip in one hit but we stopped for a break around 3 in the arvo and about 6 hours from home and everyone was happy to keep going so we did. It took about 18 hours all up but we had quite a few breaks. 2 cars, 2 adults driving and 5 kids between us made for a lot of toilet breaks. The last hour was the hardest and I nearly ran out of petrol 15kms from home. I wouldn't do it in the night time, not on Aussie roads in the middle of nowhere at least.

 

[TheCracker]

I did 3.7 miles to work this morning. I only stopped once for petrol (not bad for a Subaru!) I didn't feel too tired when i got there but i did require a nice cup of tea.

 

[Hyper-Dan]

I did 3.7 miles to work this morning. I only stopped once for petrol (not bad for a Subaru!) I didn't feel too tired when i got there but i did require a nice cup of tea.

I did 3.4 miles to work this morning and never stopped once, but like you, I also need that Cuppa.

 

[Mrs. Famine]

My desk is 2 metres from my bed....

 

[TB]

I have the day off....

 

[Beerz]

I hate you all.

 

[FoolKiller]

My entire life my family has always done long trips in one stint. When I was a kid and we would go to Florida we would get up at 4 AM and head out, arriving at around 6:00 PM. In sixth grade we went to Niagara Falls, down to New York City, then Philadelphia, and Washington, DC, all in one two week vacation. We did not stop between any of these destinations. We had an exchange student from Spain with us (the main reason for so many iconic American cities in one trip) and he thought we were crazy.

As an adult I have driven to Florida, Gulf Coast Alabama, and near Myrtle Beach in South Carolina in single stints. These are all 8-10 hour, 600+ mile drives.

The last trip to the Myrtle Beach area was my wife and I with my dad and his girlfriend. We left after work ~5:00 PM and drove through all night. My wife and Dad's girlfriend slept in the backseat, my dad drove, and I sat up with him all night navigating. Along the way we hit severe traffic due to an accident, which added an extra two hours to the drive. As we arrived at the beach the sun was coming up. My dad and I then went on to enjoy a full day at the beach and didn't go to sleep until almost 10:00 PM.

I should also add that nearly every year I make a trip to Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH (300+ miles ~6 hours) and/or the Petit Le Mans in Braselton, GA (~450 miles ~7 hours). And at the risk of sounding sexist, the amount of stopping along the way almost always depends on if there are women in the car.

The only long trip that involved a stop was when I went to Ponce Inlet (think Daytona), Florida with the in-laws. My wife and I drove separately, as we were coming back in four days. My in-laws decided we should stop and stay the night in a hotel less than halfway there. I was extremely tempted to just keep going, but they had the keys to the condo and it would have been pointless to arrive 8 hours ahead of them. I decided to drop my feelings about the stop when they paid for the hotel. However, when we came home without them I made the ~850 mile, ~13 hour drive in one stint. I made one non-gas/bathroom stop to walk the cramps out of my legs.



To me, the drive in question seems easy. But I have grown up my entire life making trips like this. Long road trips seem to almost be an American tradition.

If you have never made a trip of this distance before by yourself be prepared to fully judge your own exhaustion and stop if necessary. Mark your map for likely places to stop for the night in advance so that if you start to question yourself you know in advance where you can stop. When you make necessary stops for things like fuel, food, and bathrooms make sure you walk around for a few minutes to get the circulation going in your legs. Be sure your seat is positioned well to not cause any circulation or cramping issues, but also not so comfortably (leaned back too far) that you will drift off to sleep. If you are alone be sure you have proper audio entertainment (music, audiobooks, etc.) to keep your mind alert so that it doesn't just wander to nothing. There is nothing more disturbing than suddenly realizing that you do not know how far down the road you are because your mind was completely absent.

This is definitely possible, but you must be prepared to tell yourself you can't do it if it becomes necessary. Don't push yourself to a point that places yourself and others at risk.