New England is a lot further than I thought

So for some reason I've always believed the whole Northeast is squished up into one little area of the country, thus making travel in and among the states really simple. No wonder the Mayflower Pilgrims decided to stay in Massachusetts regardless of the horrible weather and worse food situation. Beats trying to make it across the country. Before when I said that they should have headed south I thought I was off base. Until I was invited to Vermont for the weekend.

In my head it seemed easy. I would hop on a train and take a ride, maybe lasting a few hours, straight through the state to Burlington. Too bad the ride I was referring to would last a minimum of 7 hours (in a car I don't have) or 9-10 hours (via train or bus). Since I hate riding longer than 6-7 hours, it sucks to think I have to go to all that trouble just to get to a state that is tiny and close by (Just look at the map!) Makes me wish the high-speed trains of Europe all over again. It's crazy to put that much effort into going somewhere for literally two days. Plus in order to fully enjoy the weekend I would have to take a day off work (another option that's not really an option). Wow, the things we do for our friends.

It's just weird. I always heard about people living in New Jersey and Connecticutt and even Pennsylvania and commuting to New York City and it never seemed to be that much of an ordeal. So why is it that things are so much further than they seem? While I understand trying to get to Maine might be a long and exhausting process, I can't see how going to Burlington Vermont could possibly take that much effort.But it is. A TEN HOUR BUS RIDE? A few years ago my friend spent three days on a Greyhound and nearly lost her mind. Really.

I think that all the cartographers responsible for maps of the Continental United States be required to express how unrealistic the maps are. Yes, I know it's not really half an inch, but the scales never make sense without a ruler. What they could do is just have printed in red across the top "IT'S A LOT FURTHER THAN YOU THINK." That's the kind of map I'd like to buy.