I like your definition of "near". It fits my criteria for travelling: I must be at my destination for more time than my total travel time to get there and home again.

Which means that I *can* drive from Berkeley to SCruz for a day-visit. And I've done it (oy). When I used to drive to LA a lot to visit someone in bed [g] my criterion was that the trip include at least 1 day with no travel on either end.