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So here's the question: what's the single longest drivable distance between two points
on earth, but before you tell me to go drive around a roundabout infinite times, let me
place this caveat: this route has to be the shortest one between two points on earth.
Ok, so there are basically four distinct major road systems on earth the biggest one being
this one, the Eur…
EurAf…
Eurafrasian one?
The one spanning Europe, Asia, and Africa.
These three continents are all connected by land so it makes sense that they're all
connected by road, right?
Wrong, because I lied.
It's impossible to cross from Africa to Asia fully on land because of this—the Suez
canal.
This is the canal that makes the trip from Europe to Asia by boat this instead of this.
The only physical connection between the two continents is therefore the three bridges
spanning the canal, but the road system is still contiguous so it still counts as one
big road system.
Speaking of big things, the 6th largest country in the world and 1st smallest continent, Australia,
has its own major road system but there's not much to say about it other than if you
go a little bit this way you get to America—both of them.
Much like Africa and Asia, the Americas technically are not connected because of a man-made canal—the
Panama canal.
But that's not a problem because there are multiple bridges spanning the narrow waterway.
The problem is this—the Darien gap.
Not a single road crosses this desolate swampland spanning over the Panama-Columbia border.
The area is overrun with para-military forces and drug-lords.
There's just not enough demand to make braving the marshy and dangerous area to build a road
worth it.
So that's why North America and South America have two completely separate, unconnected
road systems.
So, where could our longest route start?
Basically, here, here, here, here, or here.
The North American road system goes as far north as Prudhoe Bay in Canada's Canada,
Alaska, and as far south as Yaviza in Panama but this only clocks in 7,500 miles.
That is six straight days of driving, but it's not even close to the longest route.
In fact, quite understandably, North America, South America, and Australia all don't have
any of the longest routes.
Now, common logic would suggest that the longest continuous route would go between somewhere
in Southern Africa to somewhere else is eastern Russia, but common logic is wrong.
There are a few issues.
First, almost every direct route heading up the African continent routes via the west
side of the continent which brings a traveller to here: Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic
of the Congo.
Just across the river from Kinshasa is Brazzaville in the Republic of the Congo but no bridge
spans between the two country capitals.
The fastest routes between Southern Africa and Asia also almost always route through
Western Europe rather than the Middle East since the highways are better developed and
faster, but this means that a traveller has to cross the Mediterranean by ferry which
disqualifies this route.
So we have to originate in Europe.
In Europe, the most extreme point on the contiguous road network is Sagres, Portugal and then
you can drive as far east as the banks of the Aldan River in Russia.
That's 8,437 total miles, but that's still not quite the farthest you can drive.
It's a even longer distance to drive here—Khasan, Russia.
Khasan is the only Russian town to border North Korea and it is also the most extreme
point of their road system.
With no ferries and only two customs checkpoints thanks to the European Union, you can therefore
drive continuously for 8,726 miles in 6 days and 19 hours from Sagres, Portugal to Khasan,
Russia, and that is the longest continuous, direct driving route in the world.
If you do decide to drive this route, I suggest signing up for Skillshare because they let
you learn no matter where you are.
The good news is that their classes will last you the entire drive since they have over
16,000 of them and you can download them offline with the iOS and Android apps.
A lot of people ask me all the time how to get started with making youtube videos and
the first step is to learn how to edit.
For that I recommend their “Visual Storytelling with Final Cut Pro X” class which gives
you a great starting point.
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