Road Trip Across the Street

A character gets in a car, or similar vehicle for long to medium distance trips, but the trip doesn't even leave the street. Usually a comedy trope, as it's really hard to have a legitimate dramatic reason for it, unless a character is Too Important to Walk.

Not to be confused with driving because a poorly planned road makes it more dangerous to go on foot.

Examples of Road Trip Across the Street include:

Advertising

• There was an advertisement for the lottery that had a man kiss his wife goodbye from his car as he went "to work", he drove around his circular driveway to pick up his check from the mailbox, then drove back. After being about 10 seconds around the driveway, she asks "How was your day?"

Comic Strips

• Baby Blues: The kids want to drive to their mailbox, so they can get in the car.

Films -- Animation

• In Toy Story 2, the toy store owner lives right across the street from his shop, and still drives there. And he gripes all the way about having to drive to work on a Saturday.

Films -- Live-Action

• Leonard of Leonard Part 6 going to his ex-wife's house.
• L.A. Story: Steve Martin gets in his car to go and visit a friend, drives for about the length of three cars, and get out again.
• Not Another Teen Movie
• Steve Martin's character Navin in The Jerk hitchhikes to the end of the block.

Navin: Thanks for the company. I hope I can repay you someday!

• The opening to The Gods Must Be Crazy has a wealthy South African using their car to post a letter in the mailbox just down the street.
• In The Diamond Arm the protagonist supposedly visiting a bakery on a taxi (in USSR, no less) is vaguely suspected by his nosy house-manager—after all, he got a broken arm, not a leg. But that's just a very clumsy cover-up for meeting with a police operative.
• In Casino Royale, James Bond gets in a car in front of a hotel with a Bond Girl, telling her that his place is very close. He takes off and stops 10 seconds later... at the same place. The valet's non-plussed "Welcome back, Mr. Bond" is priceless.
• Early in Bang Boom Bang, Keek gets into his 1970s Ford Taunus and drives to the video rental store. The video rental store is about 100 meters down the same street as his place.

Literature

• Bill Bryson brings up a few real life examples in Notes from a Big Country, one example involved some of his neighbours being invited to his house for dinner one day and despite living a short way down the street they drove there. Bryson mentions jokingly asking if they go shopping via light aircraft.

Live-Action TV

• A couple of times on Get Smart.
  • Once in The Pilot when Max drives from the concert hall to CONTROL HQ—he gets in his car, does a big U Turn, and stops in front of the building across the street (getting Rock Star Parking each time); this example made it to the opening credits.
  • In a later episode, where they get in a cab and tell the driver to go to X address: the driver pulls forward about 10 feet and says, "Here we are."
• In How I Met Your Mother, Ted took Stella on a two minute date. This involved them getting in a taxi two separate times in order to go one building down the street.

Video Games

• Possible in Laura Bow: The Dagger of Amon Ra. During the opening segment in New York City, Laura can cross the road on foot to reach certain locations. It's equally possible to hail a cab and have them take her... to the other side of the street.

Western Animation

• In Avatar: The Last Airbender, Zuko's Servants make him take the palanquin to Mai's house—which is less than twenty yards outside the palace wall—because he's Too Important to Walk. Although he relents when he realizes it is a good way to get past the mob of Fangirls.
• The Spectacular Spider Man: Harry insists on picking up Peter and his date for Flash's party, and then drives them all of half a block, having thought Peter was exaggerating how close the two lived.
• The Simpsons
  • Bart, Lisa, and Maggie are taken away from Marge and Homer to live in a foster home. We see them driven away from the Simpson residence and taken... next door to live with the Flanders family.
  • Another time, Marge drives Bart and Lisa to school after missing the bus. She goes after the bus, but Otto thinks she want a race. It ends when Marge stops the bus just a few feet away from the school, but still wants her kids to be on the bus, admitting herself she won. Averted when Otto forgot to pick up the new kid and goes back.
  • Another variation showed Homer's commute to work; several miles over a heavily trafficed highway, a gridlocked detour, a huge, full parking lot with the only remaining space being at the very far end next to the chain-link perimeter fence...abutting his own backyard. Annoyed Grunt!
• In Bobby's World an episode is dedicated to the drama of Bobby's family moving to a new house. When the time for the move actually happens, Bobby promptly states Are We There Yet? to his father, who immediately replies "Yes". Kind of begs the question why no one told this to Bobby until they were already packed up in the car, but eh, just roll with it.
• In the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Pizza Delivery", SpongeBob drives Squidward back to the Krusty Krab after making a delivery right next door. This after having gotten lost for hours trying to make the delivery in the first place.
• Occurs in an episode of Dave the Barbarian. The Narrator even lampshades this at one point.

Narrator: And, so our heroes set forth on a long and perilous journey to find the Master of Evolution... Which was pretty stupid since he lived right next door.

• In The Angry Beavers, Norbert gets in a boat along with Stump and a crapload of supplies in order to rescue Dagget from the female raccoons. It turns out the island on which their domain is located is... just three feet away from the Beavers' dam.
• Implied on the Looney Tunes short Show Biz Bugs. Daffy Duck arrives to the theater on a cab and complains about how high the fare is. Said fare was 25 cents for one block.
• An episode of Cow and Chicken has the family making a huge, tearful deal out of moving to a new house to escape an ant infestation. The new house is literally next door. The ants follow them, too.

Real Life

• Liberace once bought a Rolls Royce which his chauffeur only ever drove once—across the stage where Liberace was performing, in order to deliver the robe he wore for the next song. The car is now in the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas.