Basic Trope: A character takes what looks to be a long road trip... but the distance is short.
- Straight: Alice and Bob pack up the car with suitcases full of clothes and supplies and the kids, only to drive to Alice's mom's house down the street.
- Exaggerated: Alice's mom lives next door.
- Downplayed: Alice's mom lives on the other side of town.
- Justified:
- They're Going to See the Elephant.
- A wormhole or other such portal opens, allowing them to reach their destination faster.
- Alice and Bob's house is being fumigated and they're spending the interim at Alice's mom's house, taking the car with them now saves Bob the time of having to fetch it next time he goes to work.
- Inverted:
- Alice's mom comes to see them.
- Alice and Bob and their kids neglect to pack up for a long journey across the country, treating it like some kind of quick trip to the local McDonalds.
- Subverted:
- Bob turns the corner.
- Alice and Bob are just stopping by Alice's mom's place to drop off their dog before going on their vacation.
- Alice and Bob are making a brief stopover to pick Alice's mom up.
- It's across the interstate.
- Double Subverted:
- Alice's mom lives only a block away.
- It's widthwise across the interstate, not lengthwise.
- Parodied: The purpose of this trip is... To go to the end of the driveway to get the mail.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted:
- Alice and Bob don't go anywhere.
- Alice and Bob are taking their family on a much longer trip.
- Alice's mom is on the other side of the US, which is why Alice and Bob need to pack up in the first place.
- Enforced: Rule of Funny.
- Lampshaded: "That was a quick trip!"
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Alice and Bob don't feel it's necessary to pack three months' worth of clothes for a three day trip.
- Discussed: "That's an awful lot of luggage for a short trip to Grandma's."
- Conversed: "Doesn't she, like, live next door?"
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