OK, so without looking it up. What is the distance between New York City and Seattle? Or Berlin and Paris? You don't really know how far nor can you "see" that distance in your mind. But you have a really good idea how long such a trip will take.

And like most things in day to day life, the context of the discussion is the indication of travel. Again, you probably can't say exactly how far away the store is, but you do know how long it takes you to get there by foot, bus, train, car, or airplane. Think about how you actually talk about such things in a normal, everyday conversation. When asked, do you tell everyone that the grocery store is 1.2 miles/1.93Km away?