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Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
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Quote:
Originally Posted by steiconi
In the immortal words of Cole Porter, "See America first."
It would take more than a lifetime to see every wonder in the U.S.
If you don't have some kind of special interest in a particular part of Europe, there's no real reason to go.
I'll bet the majority of Europeans never leave Europe, for the same reason.
See, to me, seeing America would be last. It's really easy to do for the most part. Very advanced infrastructure. It wouldn't be tough outside of some things, such as hiking in AK, at more advanced ages if I'm unfortunate enough to get run down.
For now, I want to focus on things where that I might not be able to do then, such as Cambodia, Borneo, the Amazon rain forest, etc.
It can take 24 hours to get to Thailand. Not everyone wants to fly that long out of the choices they have for vacation.
So true. I've been traveling to Thailand and surrounding countries for 26 years and the flight is the worst part of the trip. The older you get the harder it is for your body to recover; on top of the time change you're stuck in the same seated position for 24+ hours... takes me a few days each way now to properly adjust....
Because of having family from the Caribbean,I grew up always having a passport because that was the way of life for my family.One needs a passport to travel to the Caribbean.I have also been to Europe twice and let me tell you,to go to Europe from the states...you really need to put aside at least 1 full month.The first time me and my mom went, we stayed for a month.One really needs to put aside a huge chunk of time to travel to Europe or Asia or Australia.You need the proper time.
On our last two trips to Europe (Greece, Switzerland, Germany and France) I got the distinct impression that they would rather have our money, than us.
The way we were treated was much worse than our previous few trips.
Right then and there we decided to not lock ourselves in an aluminum tube and fly where we were not wanted.
We decided to spend our money on OUR ECONOMY and start visiting National Parks. Every one of them is beautiful and different
So far, we've visited 42-43 out of the 51 NPs plus many National Monuments and National Historic Sites
World travel's loss is The United States gain in our 2-3 trips a year.
Sure there are still still places overseas that we would like to visit, but no more
My husband gets 10 days vacation but can only take 5 at a time. I need sun and the beach when we vacation. I looked at flying to Australia but the flight eats up too much of our time. I don’t want a rushed vacation where half of it is spent in transit.
I agree with the typical short vacation time Americans have as well as the distances. Europeans can visit foreign countries a lot more easily with a short flight or drive; if we want a quick trip out of the US we're pretty much restricted to Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean.
A couple of other factors: most people on the Continent (less so in Britain, I think) grow up learning multiple languages. I'd go to my company's office in Brussels and the clerical staff would speak English to me, French to the local employees and Flemish to each other. I've met Dutch people whose English was so perfect I thought they were British. Having grown up with Latin in church, studied French in HS and German in college, I can fake my way through most European languages (except Hungarian!) so I'm less worried than most Americans about finding myself in a place where English isn't spoken, or trying to read signs or menus. (It's also one of the reasons I haven't visited Asia, except for India, where English is common. Asian languages are HARD!)
Finally, it all depends on what you want out of a vacation. People spend a gazillion dollars every year to go to Disney World and many could probably go to Europe for the same price if they watched their money- flying Coach, looking for bargain fares and using Airbnb. They like Disney. It's predictable, the employees (excuse me, "cast members" are paid to be cheerful to you, it's clean, there are no panhandlers or homeless on Main Street. Same with large cruise ships. Distant destinations can be uncomfortable- different currency, street signs you can't understand, maybe a higher level of poverty...I like challenging my brain and my assumptions, reading foreign newspapers, seeing the world from a non-US angle. Not everyone is into that. To each his own.
We don't? I've been to Paris twice, London once, Russia once, backpacked various other western Euro countries, Tokyo once and Thailand once..and oh yeah Canada about 30 times. I have friends and coworkers that travel internationally 1-2 times per year.
The biggest roadblock for Americans (other then money) is lack of paid vacation time from work. Most people (myself included) are lucky to 2 weeks of paid vacation per year. We're not as lucky as some European countries where 4-6 weeks of paid vacation is a birthright. When you are dealing with 12-24 hr travel days each way from the U.S. you are already blowing 2 days on travel and it doesn't leave much time to vacation. Most people want or need to reserve a few days off for other things like visiting family and other day trips, local vacation etc which may really leave a week of vacation and then it's hard to justify travel time and international air fare for a trip.
1. Many Americans don't get paid leave from their employers to travel
2. Many Americans don't have money to travel because they're in debt
3. Culturally, many Americans don't give a damn about foreign countries
4. America is big enough to have several tourist destinations (Miami, Las Vegas, Hawaii, NYC) without leaving the country.
5. America is not location friendly to travel to other countries outside of like Mexico or the Caribbeans
6. It takes a crapload of money and time just to get out of America, depending on the location you're coming from.
As a person who has been to numerous countries, it's sad that many Americans will live their entire lives without even crossing into another state.
See, to me, seeing America would be last. It's really easy to do for the most part. Very advanced infrastructure. It wouldn't be tough outside of some things, such as hiking in AK, at more advanced ages if I'm unfortunate enough to get run down.
For now, I want to focus on things where that I might not be able to do then, such as Cambodia, Borneo, the Amazon rain forest, etc.
Yeah I agree. My grandfather wanted to do a safari in Africa and never got to make it before he died. Luckily we all went on a cruise down the Amazon a couple of years before he died, so he got to cross that off his list. I try to balance international trips with trips in the US. I don’t have enough vacation time or money to do all the international trips I want to do, but I know with international destinations, you never know how the political climate might change. A place that might be good to visit now might not not even be safe in a few years depending on where you want to go.
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