Battle of the passport-free zones: Schengen vs. The United States (construction, living)
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Both of these are first-world zones where there is no border control between member states, even though each member state has a distinct identity. Sure, the U.S. is one country, but each state has a distinct identity, and each city within each state has its own identity.
Which offers more variety, scenery, changes in climate?
As much as I loved visiting Paris, Munich, Vienna, and Salzburg, I'll have to say it's the US of A for me.
The U.S. has basically every climate zone found in the Schengen--and then some more.
Alaska has the climate of the Nordic countries.
California has the climate of Iberia.
Washington State has the climate of Northern France and Germany.
The Cascades have an Alpine climate.
Then you have the intense humidity of Florida and Gulf Coast, which have no European equivalent. In fact, the entire Southeast mirrors the climate in Southern China more than anywhere else.
Simply put, one reason why America's the best country in the world is because its vast size encompasses incredible geographic and climatic diversity--and it can all be visited without a passport! I can travel from California (climatic equivalent of Southern Spain) to Wilmington, North Carolina (climatically similar to Shanghai) without a passport! I am just beginning to travel across America outside of the West. Every time I go to the Eastern U.S. I am amazed. I have had just as much joy in traveling to Washington D.C. and Atlanta as I have to Singapore or Munich. The U.S. is full of world-class destinations within its borders.
Both of these are first-world zones where there is no border control between member states, even though each member state has a distinct identity. Sure, the U.S. is one country, but each state has a distinct identity, and each city within each state has its own identity.
Which offers more variety, scenery, changes in climate?
As much as I loved visiting Paris, Munich, Vienna, and Salzburg, I'll have to say it's the US of A for me.
The U.S. has basically every climate zone found in the Schengen--and then some more.
Alaska has the climate of the Nordic countries.
California has the climate of Iberia.
Washington State has the climate of Northern France and Germany.
The Cascades have an Alpine climate.
Then you have the intense humidity of Florida and Gulf Coast, which have no European equivalent. In fact, the entire Southeast mirrors the climate in Southern China more than anywhere else.
Simply put, one reason why America's the best country in the world is because its vast size encompasses incredible geographic and climatic diversity--and it can all be visited without a passport! I can travel from California (climatic equivalent of Southern Spain) to Wilmington, North Carolina (climatically similar to Shanghai) without a passport! I am just beginning to travel across America outside of the West. Every time I go to the Eastern U.S. I am amazed. I have had just as much joy in traveling to Washington D.C. and Atlanta as I have to Singapore or Munich. The U.S. is full of world-class destinations within its borders.
USA because the Schengen area does not include areas of a true tropical climate. All of the overseas European possessions (Martinique, French Polynesia etc.) are not part of the Schengen area as far as I know. The Canary Islands have a desert climate even though temperatures are technically tropical at low elevations.
Climate isn't everything. When I travel - I rather focus on history, culture, architecture, languages, values etc... European countries offer more.
Voted for Schengen zone.
BTW:
If you are an EU national (or a national of Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway), you do NOT need to show your national ID card or passport when you are travelling from one border-free Schengen EU country to another.
Lol. How dare you to compare The USA with Europe? Haha. The only places worth visiting in the states are less than 10 places, and I am being generous; California, NY, Hawaii, Florida, Colorado, Las vegas, Boston, Chicago....what else??? Lol. It's just suburbia, Mcdonalds, obese people, cars and highways everywhere, and Trump's supporters. No, thank you. Europe only with Italy has much things to see, learn and experience than the USA. Now add that 25 other unique and different countries. I wouldn't like to have an American passport either, so many people hate that country. With an european passport (depends on the country) you can also access to working holiday visas and live in places like Canada, South America, Asia, etc.
Btw not all EU countries are in Schengen, Bulgaria for example wanted to enter around 2010 when Holland was against Bulgaria/Romania in the eu but then the current government jumped on the populist wave and said we don't need Schengen anyway since Muslim refugees will come through Turkey. Long story short: Obviously America, you can't travel so easily in Europe even if you want to enter Greece you can't unless via plane. Around 2025 or 2030 this will likely change.
As an addendum to my original answer, I would like to break it down further. I read the original OP as solely to do with climate and in that case, USA wins. As a tourist, I definitely think Schengen is much better as it has more diverse cultures, architectures and many different languages that you can experience in one trip. However, for day to day living, then the USA wins simply because it is more culturally and linguistically homogeneous and it is easier to move around and integrate into different states than it is in the Schengen Zone (i.e. Netherlands and Greece are a lot more far removed than California is from Minnesota.)
Simply put, one reason why America's the best country in the world is because its vast size encompasses incredible geographic and climatic diversity--and it can all be visited without a passport! I can travel from California (climatic equivalent of Southern Spain) to Wilmington, North Carolina (climatically similar to Shanghai) without a passport! I am just beginning to travel across America outside of the West. Every time I go to the Eastern U.S. I am amazed. I have had just as much joy in traveling to Washington D.C. and Atlanta as I have to Singapore or Munich. The U.S. is full of world-class destinations within its borders.
Let's see.. 1 country versus 26 (Schengen Zone only- Not including the 5 other countries that are part of the EU but not Schengen but still have freedom of movement, or the 3 other countries that are not EU but still have freedom of movement).
1 language used everywhere in public (Yes, I understand that there are speakers of many languages in the USA, however, out on the street, save for small pockets of places such as Chinatown in San Francisco, English is the language spoken in public) versus 25+ languages(not including minority languages like Catalan, Swiss German, etc).
1 currency versus 9 currencies (Schengen Zone only)
327 million people versus 419 million
Countless Architectural styles dating back centuries or more all the way up to modern day, and old compact city centers that allow their residents to walk around versus having to drive everywhere and fight for a parking spot versus construction dating back 240 years maximum with infrastructure built so everyone needs a car and has to sit in traffic jams to get anywhere urban.
26 countries' worth of food, most of which have a wide culinary variety between their own regions.
Even if we say the geography between the USA, which includes everything from Alaska to the Florida Keys, and the whole of the Schengen Zone, which includes everything from Iceland to the Canary Islands, is comparable, surely you can't say the other differences between the states in the USA are anywhere close to the variety in the Schengen Zone. The difference between Maine and California is no more different than Santiago de Compostela versus Malaga.
I'm not saying the USA doesn't have diversity in climate, culture, cuisine and architecture. I'm a huge fan of BBQ, Buffalo wings and clam chowder, and I've certainly been wowed by national parks from the Everglades to Hawaii Volcanoes, but at the end of it, it's all the same country with the same underlying attitude. I've been to 45 states in the USA and lived in 4. If we're talking about freedom of movement, moving states is easy, moving countries is not. If you think the 50 states of the USA are anywhere close the diversity and variety provided by the whole of the Schengen Zone, then you need to get out more.
Not to mention, your argument about traveling from Southern California to North Carolina without a passport doesn't really count, since you can travel passport free within the Schengen Zone as well as an EU resident or citizen. You can land in Reykjavik Keflavik airport and get your passport stamped and fly all the way to Santorini with just your ID card. Hell, I remember one time flying from Madrid to Rome and not even having my Spanish ID card checked once, and I'm not even an EU citizen (yet). Security in American airports is a huge overzealous hassle compared to anywhere in the Schengen Zone.
Last edited by wikiwikirunner; 02-10-2020 at 04:30 PM..
Let's see.. 1 country versus 26 (Schengen Zone only- Not including the 5 other countries that are part of the EU but not Schengen but still have freedom of movement, or the 3 other countries that are not EU but still have freedom of movement).
1 language used everywhere in public (Yes, I understand that there are speakers of many languages in the USA, however, out on the street, save for small pockets of places such as Chinatown in San Francisco, English is the language spoken in public) versus 25+ languages(not including minority languages like Catalan, Swiss German, etc). Nope, you'll hear tons of people speaking Spanish in large cities in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Floirda. I'm not talking about just in small ethnic enclaves, I'm talking about Spanish being widely spoken throughout the entire state. Just because Spanish, Chinese, etc. are not official languages in the U.S. doesn't mean they're not spoken by millions of people.
1 currency versus 9 currencies (Schengen Zone only) Isn't that actually an argument in favor of the USA? Why would you want 9 currencies? Just from a collector's perspective?
327 million people versus 419 million More people in a country doesn't mean a more interesting country. China has the most people of any country in the world but smaller countries like Japan arguably beat it in terms of tourist interest.
Countless Architectural styles dating back centuries or more all the way up to modern day, and old compact city centers that allow their residents to walk around versus having to drive everywhere and fight for a parking spot versus construction dating back 240 years maximum with infrastructure built so everyone needs a car and has to sit in traffic jams to get anywhere urban. OK, yeah, Europe has that great medieval architecture that the U.S. doesn't have. BUT, places like Charleston, Boston, Savannah have plenty of 18th century baroque architecture that could rival places like Salzburg.
Also, yes, in general public transport in the U.S. is far behind Europe. BUT in touristy cities like NYC, Washington D.C., and Chicago, public transportation will get you to everywhere that you would possibly want to go as a tourist. Sure, maybe there's not as many trains from Chicago to suburban Naperville as there are trains from Central Paris to the Parisian suburbs. But as a tourist, do you really care about going to some far flung suburb of Chicago? Nope, virtually all the sights are in Central Chicago.
26 countries' worth of food, most of which have a wide culinary variety between their own regions. Good for you, but America has a VAST variety of food. North Carolina, South Carolina, Kansas City, Texas, etc. all have their own style of barbecue. New Orleans, Maryland, Boston, and San Francisco all have their own style of seafood. Chicago and NYC have different styles of pizza. And I haven't even touched on authentic ethnic food.
My responses in bold above.
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