People that don’t live in California seem to think that everyone is within an hour from Disneyland. More than once I have had people contact me, telling me that they were going to be in LA, so maybe we can meet up for dinner. Now, depending on where this person is in the LA Basin, drive times from San Jose (40 minutes south of San Francisco) can range from 5 1/2 hours to 6 1/2 hours. People always seem to be shocked to learn how large California actually is. In fact, if you were to drive from the most southern large city, San Diego, north to the Oregon border, it would take you over 11 hours.
Google Can Be Your Friend
The point I am making, is that you need to research your travel times. It is so easy to simply Google the directions from place to place. Google will even given you travel times for car, bus, bicycle, and walking.
But Google Won’t Tell Me
But sometimes Google won’t work. Maybe your characters are traveling on a private jet, or maybe your novel takes place in 1850. Here are some fantastic resources to help you:
Sea Route and Distance Calculator
Need More Depth?
Travel Times in Pre-Industrial Society (by foot, horse, boat, etc.)
Need a Map?
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 20,000+ MAPS MADE FREELY AVAILABLE ONLINE BY NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
And, just for fun. Here is a tutorial on how to create your own fantasy map starting with a public domain map.
If you have other resources that you love to use, I would love to hear about them. Happy writing!
Do you have any resources you love to use? Please leave a comment. 🙂
