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I and my immediate family members all have traveled a lot internationally. This is probably due to the fact that my father worked overseas when I was a child and we got used to traveling internationally. But in my more extended family of American relatives (as I have also extended family/relatives living outside the USA), most of them have never traveled outside the USA (except perhaps to Canada or Mexico) and they don't seem to have the interest to travel internationally although they do travel domestically when they have opportunity to do.
A topic that has come up in other threads....to generalize and summarize....
Of all the developed nations, Americans have the least amount of time off from work. This constraint tends to limit, if not inhibit, travel overseas. If you are going to visit countries in the Eastern Hemisphere, for example, you need a fair amount of time off to make it worthwhile. You don't want to go to another country, and almost immediately have to turn around and go home.
This! and we think we are "winning"! When it's quite the contrary. I was in Montreal on vacation in May who was from Germany and were traveling for a couple weeks all over Canada. We were discussing how horrid vacation time on the average is here in the states. And then wonder why people are over stressed, and on all kinds of medications.
Me and almost every American I know would love to travel overseas. But we're working and middle class, so we can't afford it.
I have a friend who lives in the Netherlands, and she can be in one of two other countries as quickly and cheaply as I can get to the nearest major city (Philadelphia, not even out of my own state). In the time it would take me to drive from one side of my state to the other, she can visit FOUR other countries. So it's an utterly ridiculous comparison, really.
My next real trip will be to a foreign country, but just Canada (I've been before). I'll have to renew my passbook, but otherwise the logistics are pretty much nothing. My drivers license, insurance, cell phone, electrical plugs, etc all work in Canada. It only costs the price of gas to get there. Compared to the logistics and costs of going to Europe... well, again, there IS no comparison.
So yeah. While I'm sure some Americans really have no interest in overseas travel, most of us just plain don't have the time, money, and energy.
Our passports were $110 for the family members who had never had one (a couple of my children). The rest of us only had to renew our old passports, and they were cheaper. I feel sure that US citizens who live near the Canada and Mexico borders are more likely to have passports than those who live in the middle of the country. Canadians have a higher rate of passport ownership than Americans because almost all of them live with spitting distance of the border.
Texas is in the middle of the country and a big state. Houston is half a day's drive from the nearest port of entry into Mexico (Laredo). It's a 2 hour flight to anywhere in Mexico, though. Driving to Canada would be an ordeal though! There are direct flights from Bush/IAH to Europe and Asia (still a PITA, more so on the latter). I can fly to London or Taipei and change planes to my final destination, if needed. With the terrible service on domestic carriers' flights, preferably I take my car to personal leisure domestic travel on the road and save flying to international trips on foreign carriers (such as Mexico).
Quote:
Originally Posted by _Buster
I'd say broadly that most Americans do their typical vacations within the US, and take trips abroad every 4 or 5 years or so. Some will stay more local such as Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean, but quite a few like to travel to Europe and Asia as well. Cost and time are the big factors - for a family with kids it is a huge hassle to take a long trip, and can be very expensive. Also Americans tend to have less time off of work than Europeans.
For summer vacations in the US, many in the east will go to beaches along the mid-atlantic coast (these beaches stretch from outer banks of N. Carolina all the way up to Long Island), or to Cape Cod and Maine. The waters in the south Atlantic coast, Florida, and Gulf Coast are basically very warm and not at all refreshing in the summer-- people go there in the other seasons instead. A lot of people also like to take road trips throughout the central plains and southwest, Yellowstone and other Nat'l Parks, etc.
I would be visiting California more often if not for the distance, the Rockies and the hassle of crossing that obstacle on road trips.
The trouble with visiting Yellowstone and Mount Rushmore is that the northern Intermountain West doesn't have major population centers so airline flights are infrequent, expensive, and are on those small planes (propeller blades; a jet being a plus). Even arriving at the nearest airport still requires an hours-long drive to literally the middle of nowhere. Worse, they cannot be reached by interstate, usually off the beaten path on two-lane US highways. Why go there when there are more accessible places domestically and internationally, both by car and air?
Quote:
Originally Posted by JMatl
Yes, it's a huge hub - but our O&D numbers are very respectable, in the 30 to 34 million range. And EVERYPLACE lags behind New York, what a pathetic comeback.
You need to get a clue, and realize your paper-thin agenda is extremely obvious and will be challenged.
LOL! Literally half of the state is very rural. I'm sure there aren't many globetrotters in Roanoke or Bristol either.
Texas and Florida are the only red states with significant passport ownership. The global Oil Industry in Houston, the airport's destination choices, and proximity to Mexico are inducements to owning one. Yet, this is a big state in Middle America with significant rural areas and population.
This! and we think we are "winning"! When it's quite the contrary. I was in Montreal on vacation in May who was from Germany and were traveling for a couple weeks all over Canada. We were discussing how horrid vacation time on the average is here in the states. And then wonder why people are over stressed, and on all kinds of medications.
This has been beaten to death on this website on many different threads.
Americans, unlike Europeans, care far more about getting more pay than more vacation time off. This happened over the decades after WWII. European nations were devastated by bombing and war and millions of dead, and when it was over the culture was changed. Massive social programs were installed (most national health care in Europe came about after WWII), and laws were passed by national govt's guaranteeing citizens generous amounts of time off. Living life and enjoying the short time we have on earth were far more important to Europeans versus Americans and their constant craving of material goods and wealth.
Our govt doesn't give a crap about how much time we get off cause it only does the bidding of corporations, and Americans just don't care enough about getting a lot of time off. If they did they would demand the politicians address it with a national law forcing employers to give generous leave benefits.
Maybe if the US had been devastated in WWII you would see a different attitude about life passed down by that generation. Instead, all Americans crave today is money. Time off from work is a joke, and many Americans don't even take the paltry vacation time they are offered.
Me and almost every American I know would love to travel overseas. But we're working and middle class, so we can't afford it.
I have a friend who lives in the Netherlands, and she can be in one of two other countries as quickly and cheaply as I can get to the nearest major city (Philadelphia, not even out of my own state). In the time it would take me to drive from one side of my state to the other, she can visit FOUR other countries. So it's an utterly ridiculous comparison, really.
My next real trip will be to a foreign country, but just Canada (I've been before). I'll have to renew my passbook, but otherwise the logistics are pretty much nothing. My drivers license, insurance, cell phone, electrical plugs, etc all work in Canada. It only costs the price of gas to get there. Compared to the logistics and costs of going to Europe... well, again, there IS no comparison.
So yeah. While I'm sure some Americans really have no interest in overseas travel, most of us just plain don't have the time, money, and energy.
In my experience visiting the Netherlands, Dutch people travel way more than just the neighboring countries around them. Loads of them come to the US, Canada, Australia, Thailand, China, etc etc. The average Dutch citizen has seen far more of the world than the average American. Trust me on that. Pretty much every European has.
No, the fact is Americans don't have an interest, and don't even have the time off if they did. And they don't really care about how much vacation time they do get. If they did, they would never vote for a particular political party which will remain un-named.
Do many Americans go on vacations within the USA or do they tend to go abroad more often? In the US you guys have almost everything you could need, for e.g. beach vacations in Florida or Hawaii, or you got mountain adventure in places like Alaska or around the American West. Do many Americans stay in the US to vacation or go abroad to Europe/Africa etc?
It's great that we have such a great big beautiful country with so much to see and do, but honestly nothing else compares to going out and actually seeing the world and all the different amazing cultures and people. I'm not the most well-travelled person out there. Outside of the US, I've only been to Canada, Ireland, and The UK. But I have a long list of cities and countries over the world that I need to see one day. I don't understand when people say they don't need or want a passport.
No, the fact is Americans don't have an interest, and don't even have the time off if they did. And they don't really care about how much vacation time they do get. If they did, they would never vote for a particular political party which will remain un-named.
Speak for yourself. My husband and I have the interest and the time off to travel internationally so we do so - not every year but every few years. In between we go to places like Maine, and South Padre Island, and all sorts of other cool places in the US - because the US is full of interesting places to visit.
Every single time we're overseas, we are hanging out someplace and hear that familiar Texas accent - and we run across someone visiting from Texas and we all sit around and drink a beer or something. And for that matter, every time we visit Luckenbach, Texas we stumble across Europeans visiting THERE. And we drink a beer with them.
The world is an interesting place.
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