@Edent I think some of the differences iron out when your unit is time rather than distance?
I live about three and a half miles away from the city centre and I always have to allow an hour for meeting friends in town after work.
Americans would laugh if I said I lived "an hour away" from the centre, but that's my reality.
I'm not opposed in principle to travelling 100 miles, but their 100 miles is very different from mine!