Thanks for the explanation, I appreciate it.
Driving LA to Vegas when there is no traffic is just a couple of hours. Not the kind of trip I'd like to make often, but you hear of it being done often enough. Meanwhile to NY, we're talking a couple of days. No one does that unless they're on an adventure, or a cross country truck driver.
Two hours away seems like such a joke. A cousin of mine who lived two hours away was getting married, and wanted help preparing stuff, and also threw a number of pre-wedding and post-wedding parties, in addition to the wedding itself, and I drove back and forth for all of them. Seemed like I went there about 10 times over two months. Wasn't a big deal at all. To have relatives who you don't see often staying only two hours away and not wanting to visit? Wow.
Your perspective makes me feel really sorry for Europeans. At one point I was going to see a medical specialist monthly which was ~4 hours away. I'd leave early in the morning, and come back in the afternoon. I cannot say I enjoyed the travel, but it was better than the alternative. So the European would just stay home, or take a chance with a local quack because there was no one else within their tiny country? Wow, just wow.
Having a hard time following your distance comparisons.
When we talk on the scale of NY and Cali, LA and Vegas are right next to each other.
It's not necessarily being far from services. In the US, the large cities are going to have practically every kind of service you're looking for. However most "experts" are little more than parrots who cannot deal with complex scenarios. If you're having a serious issue, and an expert that is actually better than the rest is one state over, then the travel is worth it.
But if your mindset is to only look at something local, and traveling to another state/country is like going to another planet, then you purposely close yourself off of some better options that may exist.