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In my experience (I grew up primarily in low to working/lower middle class and income neighborhoods), the overwhelming majority of people didn't travel due to resources. But, from my conversations with friends/classmates/neighbors/etc., they would have loved to travel internationally if they had the means. Note, for many of the people I'm referring to, even making a trip north of the border (grew up in NYC) would be too expensive, and this is before the expense of obtaining passports.
I've actually met very few people in my travels through the US who did not want to travel internationally (if they had not already done so). Still, while I appreciate my travels overseas (and look forward to more such travels), I don't "need" to travel overseas; the US, including its territories like Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, etc., as some have mentioned, has quite a lot to see and do.
In my experience (I grew up primarily in low to working/lower middle class and income neighborhoods), the overwhelming majority of people didn't travel due to resources. But, from my conversations with friends/classmates/neighbors/etc., they would have loved to travel internationally if they had the means. Note, for many of the people I'm referring to, even making a trip north of the border (grew up in NYC) would be too expensive, and this is before the expense of obtaining passports.
I've actually met very few people in my travels through the US who did not want to travel internationally (if they had not already done so). Still, while I appreciate my travels overseas (and look forward to more such travels), I don't "need" to travel overseas; the US, including its territories like Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, etc., as some have mentioned, has quite a lot to see and do.
Passports work out to about $10 a year in cost. If they can't afford that, then they shouldn't be traveling anywhere other than maybe Jones Beach or Coney Island for a day.
Passports work out to about $10 a year in cost. If they can't afford that, then they shouldn't be traveling anywhere other than maybe Jones Beach or Coney Island for a day.
And that's what they do, I'm sure, or rather "don't" do. Fear and ignorance stop people from doing many enlightening things in life. I find most travel the opposite of "affordable," but then again a grand or two one way or another, or even much more, for a vacation doesn't affect if I have food on the table, roof overhead, and the kids in school. A lot of people don't have that financial latitude, or resources as another person phrased it.
My opinion is "passports" become pointless within 20 to 50 years, as technology becomes sufficiently ubiquitous to make fast, 100%-accurate identity verification via BIOMETRICS to only way to go. One of many ways our lives (are, and will continue to) change over time.
But we'll see: I give a wide date range because ignorance, geopolitics, and civil liberties can and do usually play a major role in sea-changes like "traveling with (or without) papers". I look around to all the crap in day-to-day life still handled via paper (receipts, copies of contracts, etc.) in one of the most technologically-sophisticated areas of a highly technologically-sophisticated country, and realize that old habits die hard. Takes decades, sometimes.
But if not already mentioned, I'd bet money some consider passports to be "racist" and/or "elitist." I think it cost all of $80 to get mine, and renew it ten years later. Another $75 or so got me Global Entry, TSA Pre, NEXUS, and SENTRI which are important upgrades to smooth the experience. Post 9/11, I'd personally vote for a measure that every United States citizen be issued a free of charge, difficult-to-crack passport at birth along with a birth certificate. But that could lead us to "let us see your papers, please" conversations w/authorities. And that's the trap of so-called national ID.
I'm not a big traveler beyond 1K miles of my home; as this thread started (with a quote, in 2009) Americans are lucky that way. My dad stopped traveling outside the U.S. and Canada about the time he realized there was a lifetime of camping and sightseeing for him in his retirement, via car and on-foot. So that's what he did, via car camping with occasional motel stays. I'm off to Africa, shortly, for three weeks just to see for the first (and probably last) time what some of the interesting byways of that particular corner of the world are really like.
I've actually met very few people in my travels through the US who did not want to travel internationally (if they had not already done so). Still, while I appreciate my travels overseas (and look forward to more such travels), I don't "need" to travel overseas; the US, including its territories like Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, etc., as some have mentioned, has quite a lot to see and do.
Of course you don't "need" to travel internationally. You don't need to have a big home, or a nice couch, or big screen TV or a kitchen island either. We "need" very little in life.
Traveling enriches our lives but it is not "needed". The US does have a lot to see and do, if you have absolutely no interest in seeing anything the US doesn't have, such as other culture on other continents, which is a lot.
Of course you don't "need" to travel internationally. You don't need to have a big home, or a nice couch, or big screen TV or a kitchen island either. We "need" very little in life.
Traveling enriches our lives but it is not "needed". The US does have a lot to see and do, if you have absolutely no interest in seeing anything the US doesn't have, such as other culture on other continents, which is a lot.
Sure, I agree 100%. And out of those "needs," I feel that traveling internationally (or, rather, overseas) is lower on the list of "needs." Traveling enriches our lives. But, for some people (if this doesn't apply to you, that's fine . . . indeed, my comment was unique to myself, not passing judgment on any others), domestic travel can be enriching enough.
I was thinking about my link regarding airliners….
I don't know how things would actually play out, but one barrier to travel is expense. Or to put it another way, expense acts as a filter, filtering out lower income people.
So if more efficient aircraft permitted lower fares on longer routes, what would be the result?
The obvious guess would that more people in general could afford to travel to more distant locations.
What countries would more people visit, if they could afford to?
Sure, I agree 100%. And out of those "needs," I feel that traveling internationally (or, rather, overseas) is lower on the list of "needs." Traveling enriches our lives. But, for some people (if this doesn't apply to you, that's fine . . . indeed, my comment was unique to myself, not passing judgment on any others), domestic travel can be enriching enough.
not traveling overseas is totally fine ... not everyone has or is willing to spend the money to see other countries. But let's just not pretend that "the US has everything and we simply don't need to go to other countries". The US offers a fraction of what the world has, more than some countries, less than others. To say the US has everything is ignorant.
not traveling overseas is totally fine ... not everyone has or is willing to spend the money to see other countries. But let's just not pretend that "the US has everything and we simply don't need to go to other countries". The US offers a fraction of what the world has, more than some countries, less than others. To say the US has everything is ignorant.
There's no need to "pretend." Its subjective. What is insufficient to you may not be insufficient to me or others. To take your position is arrogant, borderline-belittling, and doesn't even address my position. Indeed, touching more so on my last point now, who ever said the US has "everything?" I stated the US, including its territories, has "quite a lot to see and do" and that domestic travel can be (depending on the person) "enriching enough." Maybe I or others don't want "everything." I don't see why this is such a contentious point. I already stated that if this doesn't apply to you, then fine. Goodness!
I am sure there are a fewlager louts in Britain who don't own a UK passport.
More likely those are ale holes in the UK.
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