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I do think it's true that Europeans can't really grasp how big the U.S. is, and how many cultures it contains. I live on the East Coast, and it would take me maybe a half hour longer to fly to Western Europe than to the West Coast of the U.S.
I will be going to Europe for the first time next year, and hopefully by budgeting well, I can make return trips every few years. In between, I will travel domestically or to cheaper destinations.
I also think a lot of Americans on the east coast overlook how "small" the Atlantic is. Back in 2003 when the exchange rate was better, my wife and I spent a week in Innsbruck for a ski holiday where we also took in Venice, Oberammergau, Neuswanstein Castle, etc... This vacation was about the same cost as a ski trip in the Rockies or Pacific NW would've been and the travel time was only a couple of hours longer.
If the Euro continues to lose value against the dollar, this could become a viable option again. The combination of the Alps, the European culture and history and the surrounding areas for sightseeing made for an incredible week; much better than previous weeks I've spent skiing in the western US.
I also think a lot of Americans on the east coast overlook how "small" the Atlantic is.
True. It's not so much the distance as the expense. I don't think all Europeans realize how much more it costs to fly from America to Europe than to travel between European countries.
True. It's not so much the distance as the expense. I don't think all Europeans realize how much more it costs to fly from America to Europe than to travel between European countries.
My trip to Innsbruck was a package ski trip. The total expense was really no more than it would have been to buy a package ski trip to Colorado, Utah or British Columbia. However, this was back when a dollar bought 20% more in Europe than it does today.
I travel alot and meet alot of other traveling ppl from all over the world, but I never meet americans except for when traveling in the US (well, I do, but not as often as i should).
So, have you never met Americans when traveling or have met them but not as often as you should? Pick one statement and stay with it.
This is the same question that has been asked thousands of times before, but at least the other thousands of times before, the ones who asked the question did not use the word never.
"Not as often as you should" is correct, in the meaning that there are millions of Americans travelling to foreign countries every year, and if you did not see as many as you should, then you must be a very oblivious person.
Quote:
Originally Posted by silfwer
I dont know anyone of my friends or family who havent been to USA or Thailand.. Most of the ppl I know also visited China, Caribea and Australia. (and almost every Swede have visited Germany, Spain, UK, Italy, Greece & France before the age of 10).
Read somewhere that only 20% of the americans owns a passport!! That cant be true, can it?
It does not matter if only 20% or 40% of Americans have passports. The percentage is not what counts, the real number is. Let's just agree with what you throw out, the 20%.
The US population is 313 millions. Twenty percent is 62.6 millions. That's 62.6 millions passports. Not a shabby deal in my book.
The population of Sweden is 9.5 millions. Even if every single man, woman, and child in Sweden possesses a passport, which is a seriously doubtful scenario, that number is only 15% of the amount of passports already possessed by Americans.
Before the EU made its official debut in 2002, Europeans needed passports just to go a hundred miles or even less from their homes to their next-door country, while Americans can travel the same area as the entire width and length of Europe with just a driver license.
The passport was part of European life because before 2002, they practically could not leave home without it. It does not mean that they travel a great deal more than Americans do; it only means that Europeans must possess passports in order to travel even a very short distance, so they automatically applied for it, while Americans can travel greater distance without carrying a passport, so they did not feel the need to have one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by silfwer
Almost every Swede have visited Germany, Spain, UK, Italy, Greece & France before the age of 10.
How difficult is it for a Swede to visit other countries in Europe? The annual road trips that many Americans make every summer and autumn to picking up their children and delivering them back to colleges are many times longer than a trip within the continent of Europe.
The distance between the central of Sweden and the central of Germany is 800 miles, how difficult is it to travel that distance? We drove 6,000 miles RT twice a year (12,000 miles) for four years between our home and our daughter's college. Many people do the same thing. No passports needed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by silfwer
You have a fantastic country, I get that, but still, theres so much more to see.
Yes, there is so much more to see outside of the US, but then there is so much more to see in the US too. Tourists came to the States to visit a few large cities then came home and proudly said they have seen America. Not. Not unless they have spend 50 years travelling throughout 50 states to see our thousands of cities and towns.
Speaking as an American who has been to 2/3 of all European countries and 27% of the world, I am really tired of listening to Americans being bashed by "well-travelled" Europeans. Why don't you hire a car and try to see the 48 contiguous states for yourself before you continue to say that "there is so much more to see". An average person could spend his/her entire life travelling and still would not see all of America, so, from that perspective, why should s/he need to go outside of his/her 3.8 millions square miles of his/her homeland?
Last edited by Ol' Wanderer; 12-20-2011 at 09:14 AM..
I have met Americans frequently while traveling overseas, although I don't really seek them out. Overseas, to me, means outside of US, Mexico, and Canada. I have taken about 20 trips of this nature. Off the top of my head, I have had conversations with Americans in Brazil, Slovenia, Russia, Germany, and Hungary.
I understand your point, but it could also be timing, as I never travel in August to Europe. I typically traveled to Europe in May or Sept/Oct. Brazil I try to go in colder months. I try to stay in the US in summer.
I can't speak for anyone one else, but I'd love to travel the world - if only I owned a bank.
I've been to over 120 countries, paid my own way to every one of them. I made so little money in my lifetime, that my current Social Security is less than $1000 a month. The reason I could travel is because my bank doesn't own me.
Most of the world (outside Europe), can still be done on less than $20 a day per person, for food, hotel, and ground transport.
The US has a similar population to the EuroZone. But European travelers outnumber Americans about five or ten to one, in backpacker hostels in Asia and South America, and virtually no Americans ever get to Africa.
Three main reasons:
1. European college education is basically free, so they have funds to travel.
2. European workers get six weeks paid vacation (instead of one or two), so they have time to travel.
3. Americans are taught to believe that the rest of the world is populated by huddled masses wretched and poor, ignorant and unwashed, and talk with a goofy accent. Americans are literally afraid to travel.
Before the EU made its official debut in 2002, Europeans needed passports just to go a hundred miles or even less from their homes to their next-door country, while Americans can travel the same area as the entire width and length of Europe with just a driver license.
The passport was part of European life because before 2002, they practically could not leave home without it. It does not mean that they travel a great deal more than Americans do; it only means that Europeans must possess passports in order to travel even a very short distance, so they automatically applied for it, while Americans can travel greater distance without carrying a passport, so they did not feel the need to have one.
I ignored most of your rant about "never" and passports. But you forget:
- Europe is 50 countries.
- EU has 27 member states.
- EU was formed in 1958
- EU was named European Union in 1993
- The Eurozone was created in 1999
- Schengen Agreement was signed in 1985 and also includes some non-EU member states.
I think Americans do travel overseas. I've been to Europe, as have most of my friends, but now I prefer to see my own country. We have so much beauty in the United States that I doubt I'll see everything I want to see before I die.
I've traveled to Europe, I love it out there, I'd like to go more often or to Japan, but monetary reasons aside, I think you're right, we don't have a lot of vacation time compared to Europeans. And to be honest, 1 week in Europe isn't enough by the time you dish the money out, get over jet lag, travel around, it seems more like working than a vacation.
Plus we can travel to other places a lot closer and cheaper for a change of scenery, and no worry about a language barrier.
You think YOU have a language barrier. How would you like to travel to China or India or Brazil, knowing only Swedish? Yet, Swedes are traveling everywhere. How do you suppose they do that?
The American public education system methodically obstructs children from learning a second language in early childhood. And then when a foreign language is taught, it is taught the way Latin is taught, which generates no conversational fluency at all, even after several years at college level.
The real reason there are relatively few Americans who travel is their own attitude. There are actually Americans who have posted in this very forum, who ask "Why should I travel, when I can sit in my living room and watch the Nat Geo channel?"
Last edited by jtur88; 12-20-2011 at 10:53 AM..
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