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I've done more intl' traveling in my lifetime than most people. Been all around 5 continents.
Haven't left the US now in almost a decade. Don't get me wrong, I like to travel, do take frequent domestic trips, but after a while the novelty wears off a bit. What I mean is I've had my fill of world traveling (for a while).
The money and time costs are a factor, but it's a lot of work too. After a while, it just gets to be sort of a hassle and I need a break from it.
1. A certain percentage of Americans can't afford it
2. The U.S is a big place. When Europeans travel a few hundred miles, they are in another country. We go to another state. The states, in a sense, are like countries though. In any other part of the world a state is synonymous with a nation. Traveling to another continent requires more resources, time, and effort. It's easier to travel locally. No passport. You can take your car.
3. Americans are not cultured. We live in a world of strip malls, Fakebook, TV, material possessions, and freeways. Our culture is about more more, status, keeping up with the Jones, look at me. I think Americans have a misconception about the rest of the world. We are insular. This nation is isolated due to it's size but also what the media tells people about the outside world. I think some Americans are fearful of places that don't know or understand. Americans like the security of what they know and expect. When the do leave, they hop on a cruise ship with burgers and a buffet. Americans are detached.
4. Americans are obsessed with work and long hours. Many people only get a few weeks off a year. They don't have time to travel long distances and when the do they want to see everything all at once. People also want to spend time with family in the limited time they have off.
1. Inadequate funds-yes, indeed. With the economy in poor shape, I don't see improvement in the near future.
4. Lack of time. The sharply limited vacation time is a severe constraint, and that includes those of us who are not obsessed with work.
(Actually, when I read about the more abundant vacation time granted to other nationalities, it sounded too good to be true.)
And, unfortunately, people who have an adventuresome streak may be stuck with problems 1. and/or
4. These are bottle necks that must be squeezed through, and the more bottle necks there are, the fewer and fewer people will be able to travel abroad.
Last edited by Tim Randal Walker; 10-03-2015 at 12:03 PM..
The US is definitely diverse, but in terms of travel, no. Even San Francisco is not so much different from San Antonio, or Seattle from Boston. Maybe for an American they are dramatically different.
They are dramatically different for anyone willing to actually open their eyes. Everything about them is different--the food, weather, geography, and dominant heritages of the people are like night and day to each other. The food cultures, the architecture, everything is different about them.
Saying San Francisco is like San Antonio is like saying Athens is like Amsterdam.
You may want to explain this to the girl I met from NYC, the gentleman I met from Cleveland and the family I met from Green Bay, WI when I spent a week in Dublin, Ireland a while back. I can safely say that despite Dublin's reputation at the time as Europe's playground, the only nationality that exceeded the number of Americans I met on that trip were the Irish themselves.
1. A certain percentage of Americans can't afford it
2. The U.S is a big place. When Europeans travel a few hundred miles, they are in another country. We go to another state. The states, in a sense, are like countries though. In any other part of the world a state is synonymous with a nation. Traveling to another continent requires more resources, time, and effort. It's easier to travel locally. No passport. You can take your car.
3. Americans are not cultured. We live in a world of strip malls, Fakebook, TV, material possessions, and freeways. Our culture is about more more, status, keeping up with the Jones, look at me. I think Americans have a misconception about the rest of the world. We are insular. This nation is isolated due to it's size but also what the media tells people about the outside world. I think some Americans are fearful of places that don't know or understand. Americans like the security of what they know and expect. When the do leave, they hop on a cruise ship with burgers and a buffet. Americans are detached.
4. Americans are obsessed with work and long hours. Many people only get a few weeks off a year. They don't have time to travel long distances and when the do they want to see everything all at once. People also want to spend time with family in the limited time they have off.
5. Language barrier.
I feel like number 5 is a combo of ignorance, and school systems not pushing to study foreign languages. English is good enough, maybe that was the case 50 years ago but now? My niece is trying to be multilingual. The world is different, when I read about Americans going to the Caribbean for vacation, one of the negatives is the lack of English spoken, how about they learn some basic Spanish? We're in their country.
I don't agree with this thread at all. I think most Americans would have the interest to travel abroad if they felt more confident financially.
* While raising a family I would not have risked international travel with children. I wouldn't have had the patience.
.
As I recall there was a thread about traveling overseas with small children.
Without even looking into the money involved (an entire family versus single adults who pay their own way) you have to consider putting small children on a long flight overseas. Then, disrupting their routines, while you drag them around. I figure this would be one of those trips where a bus load of tourists runs from monument to monument, because of so little vacation time.
I can already see two demographic groups drop out, young parents and small children.
BTW, one group you might expect to travel, young single adults, have been graduating into the worst economy since the Great Depression, and often have huge loads of debt for student loans.
I feel like number 5 is a combo of ignorance, and school systems not pushing to study foreign languages.
As far as I know, most American schools require at least two years of foreign language study. But ultimately, people who do not throw themselves into it and use it on a regular basis are not going to retain it. It's the same way in the UK so if Americans are ignorant, so are the British - the vast majority of British people take French in school, but retain very little of it.
Actually, googling it it looks like there are more Americans who are bilingual or multilingual than British.
Quote:
The world is different, when I read about Americans going to the Caribbean for vacation, one of the negatives is the lack of English spoken, how about they learn some basic Spanish? We're in their country.
Well, I think that was the point the other person was trying to make - that many Americans don't visit other countries because of the language barrier. They do not show up in a foreign country and expect everyone to speak English, therefore if they can't speak the foreign language, they don't go there.
Foreign languages are a use-it-or-lose-it proposition. Which brings us back to the bottlenecks mentioned earlier.
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