(BUFDRVR) wrote in message ...
If Europe was as dispersed and involved the same routine travel
distances as much of the US seemed to... but it doesn't.

So you choose not to travel. This could be for personal reasons, or it could
be fuel prices.

It's largely due to a much smaller country

If its the former, than high fuel prices don't impact your
quality of life, but if its the latter, than they do.

The former. I think there's a mutual incomprehension between many
North Americans and Europeans about the relative densities of their
countries, and the different viewpoints that suggests. It's not _just_
cheaper fuel that pushes North Americans into huge, lazy-engined
roadsters: it's the frequent necessity for much more travel.

To give an anecdotal example, a friend of mine spent a year in the US
working near Chicago: an hour each way on the freeway was 'routine
commuting' there. Here, it would be 'serious travel - do you really
like that job so much?' Not money so much as time.

I'm not sure if its the size of our country or weather American just like to
travel our nation by car, but many (high percentage) would feel paying
$4.00US/gallon of gas was a severe negative impact on their quality of life.

It certainly would, given current consumption and no adjustment
period, and it would never escape significant impact anyway.

--
Paul (overseas)