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Americans largely get 2 to 3 weeks of paid vacation per year. That limits the number of people you'll see in "tough to access" places. The east coast is 6 to 8 hours flight time to Europe. Those flights are stuffed full of Americans. For international origination/destination city pairs, JFK to LHR is #9 with about 3 million passengers. Personally, I'm not going to do a 12 time zone & 24+ hour door-to-door Asia trip unless I'm gone for at least 3 weeks or if my employer is paying business class.
I don't quite understand it, why you only have 2 or 3 weeks to go on an overseas trip, and why go if you can't spend more time?
Life is super short, any of us could be dead tomorrow, so if you have an opportunity to even go to India or 3-4 days, limited on time, do it, do it, do it! 3-4 days is better than none! Yes, you'll come back exhausted, but you'll have lots of time to recoup at home or on weekends.
If I had the opportunity to go to Dubai for only 2 days, and spend countless hours on a plane, I'd jump at the chance!
As far as adventurous travelers, Australians have been rated the most adventuresome, followed by Brits/Europeans, and
Americans coming in last. Too many addicted to their comfort zones?
I made a number of trips to Central And South America, mostly to the smaller or mid-sized cities, and I was actually relieved not to run into other Americans, which were hard to find outside Machu Picchu.
Probably because Laos is one the only very few countries where cannibalism is still practiced in some remote regions?
Probably not, you'd probably be hard pressed to find anyone who's decision to go or not go to Laos was based on whatever cannibalism thing you're talking about. People go to Laos because it feels a little bit less spoiled them Thailand, at least when you get outside the Vientiane to Luang Prabang loop.
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Originally Posted by skeddy
lmao, you're so right .... besides third world countries like Laos and Cambodia are not on most people's bucket list
I've encountered a lot of folks with Angkor Wat on their bucket list. I'm not sure it discounts what you say though, since Siem Reap has an intl airport so for many it's just a quick side-trip from either Thailand or Vietnam. It's possible that many who say they want to see Angkor Wat don't even know exactly what country it is in.
even go to India or 3-4 days, limited on time, do it, do it, do it! 3-4 days is better than none!
To be fair, we've had a poster in here who did go there for that long and came back as an all-knowing India expert who managed to get a good judgement on the true literacy rate of this giant diverse nation from his brief time in intl tourist hotels. He even reported that he even waved at some locals from a bus.
I did all my foreign travel first, then the 50 states after that. Now where to go? The moon?
I've done a bit of foreign travel, have same philosophy as you do it while you can do it.
However the bucket list still contains item #27, go to low-budget professional wrestling show in some smaller city USA. Yell at the heel wrestlers along with everyone else, drink lots of beer, high five someone sitting near me who's wearing a camouflage hunting cap, etc.
... Americans, it seems, are interested mostly in inclusive resorts and Disneyland.
Why is this? Spending money on fancy cars, houses, whatever, and that's it?
I spent the first decades of my adult life living, working, studying and otherwise sojourning in and traveling through many countries across three continents and some five languages.
My conclusion is that it is all in the mind, like the Wizard of Oz, like the Hindu adages "arrive without traveling", "see all without looking", "do all without doing", "the more I learn, the less I know", or like the Herman Hesse novel East of Eden.
And today, not only Disney and other fantasy lands relatively close to home, but also virtual reality entertainment right in the home. It is just so much more efficient for the majority of people.
You may self-righteously judge others, but that's not a business that I would want to be in.
Just enjoy yourself while you can and mind your own business as a steadfast rule.
Good Luck!
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Originally Posted by tijlover
I say do your domestic travel later in life, as the U.S. is well equipped to handle older people, even in wheelchairs.
Forget the U.S. for now, do your foreign travel now, as foreign travel takes a lot of work an energy and you may not have that later in life.
I did all my foreign travel first, then the 50 states after that. Now where to go? The moon?
Quote:
Originally Posted by lieqiang
I've done a bit of foreign travel, have same philosophy as you do it while you can do it.
However the bucket list still contains item #27, go to low-budget professional wrestling show in some smaller city USA. Yell at the heel wrestlers along with everyone else, drink lots of beer, high five someone sitting near me who's wearing a camouflage hunting cap, etc.
We were just in Vietnam for three weeks and we encountered a few groups of Americans. I have looked up some figures and last year 687,000 Americans visited Vietnam. So obviously some Americans do travel. There were 386,000 Australian visitors to Vietnam which is certainly a much higher number as a proportion of the population, Australia only having 25 million people. But the biggest number by far were the Chinese, 5 million visited Vietnam last year.
What I have found a bit surprising and a little bit sad is the number of Americans we come across when travelling in the US who do not seem to have even travelled much in their own country. We have spent about thirty weeks in the US over the years travelling and covered a good amount, from Fairbanks to Maui to Maine to Florida.
I agree with all those who point to the variety of experiences and diversity of the US. There are wonderful things to see and do. But international travel increases understanding of other cultures and has its own rewards.
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.
By only seeing the U.S., you're short-changed by not seeing the Andes Mountains in South America (Mt. Ancogua @22,600 feet dwarfs out Mt. Whitney at 14,600 feet or any mountain in Europe) and the Himalayans (which even dwarf the Andes Mountains). Go view those 2 mountain ranges and you'll soon find that the Rocky Mountains are not so wondrous!
As Thomas Jefferson would say: Travel makes you more wise and less happy! So those seeing just the "wonders" of the U.S. will much happier if they have nothing else to compare it to!
We decided to spend our money on OUR ECONOMY and start visiting National Parks. Every one of them is beautiful and different
Just think if all the foreign travelers that stimulate our economy every year thought like you did! When I lived in Las Vegas, with the all foreigners stimulating the Las Vegas economy, I opted to do a pay back, and travel to Asia and South America as a way of saying: Thank you for coming to Las Vegas and stimulating our economy. without you I wouldn't be able to do the payback!
By only seeing the U.S., you're short-changed by not seeing the Andes Mountains in South America (Mt. Ancogua @22,600 feet dwarfs out Mt. Whitney at 14,600 feet or any mountain in Europe) and the Himalayans (which even dwarf the Andes Mountains). Go view those 2 mountain ranges and you'll soon find that the Rocky Mountains are not so wondrous!
As Thomas Jefferson would say: Travel makes you more wise and less happy! So those seeing just the "wonders" of the U.S. will much happier if they have nothing else to compare it to!
Nope. No way. My desire to do this is in the negative range- as in only if you paid me a good deal
Of money. Either mountain range, even one in the US.
I’d like to see the Rockies- from far away, like 20-30 miles away where they’re just a beautiful range in the distance. But up close and in the mountains- nope. I like my flat land where I can see for miles. Come to think of it, I feel the same way about cities. Love to see them in the distance. Don’t really care to spend much time in them.
And 4 days in India would require 4 days in airports (I’m assuming since that’s what it requires to go to Australia). So we’re already one day too long for a very hectic, stressful, exhausting, expensive vacation. Seeing how my day to day life is stressful, exhausting, and expensive- that is not how I want to spend my vacation.
I need sunshine, ocean, and preferably small crowds- that are within a 4 hr plane ride. That’s becoming harder to find.
I am sure if I had more vacation time and more money for vacation that I would be open to other adventures (but nothing with snow!). But I usually get 5-6 days total. That’s the only time I have- I’m gping to the place that I know makes my soul happy- sun and ocean.
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