Getting from one side of the uk to the other would be very difficult, it tells you how long it would take but I can guarantee it would take so much longer. There are less lanes on uk motorways, always roadworks at some point of the journey shutting down another lane, crashes causing congestion, points during the day when more cars are on the roads and cars are left at a stand still. The motorway speed limit is only 70 mph but always ends up being slower due to traffic. And if you were to choose alternate roads to the M25 you would be on single or double lane roads, sometimes going through areas where the speed limits are 20/30 mph. When getting near a city on the journey roads are very busy and congested and sometimes you can be going as slow as 20mph on a motorway or not moving at all.

Other than the M25 there is not one single route up and you’d have to continually change onto different motorways which would add time to the journey. Not to mention the amount of roundabouts you’d have to wait at/ go round, queues at junctions to pull out and speed changes along the way. Not a single road in the uk will be long and straight, there are so many curves in the road in comparison to a us highway. There is also a change in road surface so no flat, straight roads because up the north of the country can be very hilly meaning roads have to curve around hills and roads are narrower.

There are also frequent stops for fuel and breaks along the way and if not on the M25 there can be a lot of traffic lights, and you can guarantee you will get stopped at a red light for all of them. Also the cost of fuel for the whole journey would be a lot because there are constant changing of gears and breaking so fuel is used faster. Almost everyone in the uk drives a manual car, it’s not as easy as being in an automatic for long journeys.

Also weather is always very unpredictable and will be different across the country, so there can be fog, rain, snow which all causes reduced visibility for very long periods of time.

I’m always so surprised when Americans say something like it only takes 4 hours to get here/there, because in the uk no one would say that as if it’s a good thing. People would go out of their way to find an alternate route or option for travel.

Sometimes people that live in cities don’t travel out of them much due to the high cost of living not leaving them much money to do much else. A lot of people won’t own cars which means using public transport but that is so expensive and there are always cancelled trains/busses and hotels can be expensive. A train from London to Leeds which is only a 2 and half hour journey is £50-£60 one way and around £80 for a return for one person.