Why don't Americans travel

Re Vegan:
"because that's what makes life interesting
paying bills doesn't make life interesting, discovering and experiencing does"

Can't argue with that. However, is say, seeing the Hagia Sophia or Mount Fuji in person superior to visiting Crater Lake or hiking the Appalachian Trail? I'd say it's a matter of taste.

Let's not forget that not everyone wants to travel, even if they can, anymore than everyone who could afford it wants to rough it in the taiga for a week.
 
Belisarius said:
Let's not forget that not everyone wants to travel, even if they can, anymore than everyone who could afford it wants to rough it in the taiga for a week.
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Yeah, at this point I'm fucking sick of it. Pack your clothes, rush to the airport, take 30-45 minutes to get through Security, then wait another hour before the plane takes off...you get there...find the easiest, cheapest, internet connection, go on Bluelight, run around for a week going to overpriced places because, "we're on vacation!"...and then do the whole thing back home.

It's just too much work to be thrown into an unfamiliar environment.
 
if i could travel indefinitely i'd be happier than ever. i love that shit.

luckily, i'm looking at possibly working on some international business. :)
 
lol @ paying bills doesn't make life interesting.

We'll see who's travelling 40 years from now.
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well, in my opinion, life is now, not tomorrow or in 40 years

maybe in 40 years you won't travel because
a drunk driver will have settled the problem
you'll have family responsabilities
your buisness that you'll have worked all your life on will have bankrupted
you'll have committed suicide because your life was too boring
you just won't have the physical shape or motivation anymore

"all the guys that really have the money are too old to have a good time with it" Perry Farrel
 
waking_orange said:
Why don't American's travel outside the country. I read an article saying that less than 10 percent of Americans have a passport. I have traveled around the world and I meet people from around the world except American's. Is our society so individualistic that we don't give a shit about any other place except our own.
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Lack of funds to do so. Im DYING to travel (Im from California). Seriously, DYING to. One of my major life goals. I work at a minimum wage job though, and have to get by. Ive saved 2 grand towards my travels so far, and when I get double or triple that amount saved I plan on taking time off to do some traveling. Of course that means I may have no job or home to come back to, but thats how big a priority traveling is for me. :)
 
another reason is that most people, not specifically americans, arent willing to resign their stable life in their home country to travel for an extended period of time anywhere. what separates a vacationer from a traveler is the willingness/balls to just let go of everything in search of something new. for a lot of people, this concept is pretty scary or even unfathomable. americans, for a number of apparent reasons, really seem to cherrish stability.

to truely experience and understand different cultures, you have to spend a lot of time emmersed in them. this cannot be done in america. the culture may be there, but true cultural understanding can only be learned through direct contact. a lot of what forms/sustains culture is the land from which it was born.

in my travel experience, america is geographically the most stimulating place i have ever lived. i love it for that. but beyond that, its got nothing on the rest of the world.
 
i went to canada for a few days once. it was pretty cool but i had a hard time not making fun of canadians.
i've also had this problem w/mexico.

ya, americans pretty much rip on every other country in the world.
 
^ya, if i left the country these days, i'd just tell everyone i was canadian.
although im told you wont catch too much shit as long as you make it known that you dont like george dubbyah
 
^iunno. when i was in toronto everyone sounded normal. the only person that talked funny was the crackhead that was screaming nonsense at ppl who walked past him on the sidewalk.
 
why don't americans travel as much? my guesses:

1) america is huge and there's a lot to see.

2) americans get about 2 days off every decade.
 
^or we're just too lazy to request time off work.
thats my prob. only time i ever make a point of getting off of work is the 3 days of DEMF
 
bc americans are completely satisfied by their pathetic status quo-esque lives and they would rather sit at their home in the cul-de-sac with twelve other houses that look exactly the same, watching their new flat screen TV that just increased their credit card debt by 10%, eating delivery pizza or maybe frozen dinners/kraft macaroni and cheese if they really want to go out of their way
 
I don't like traveling, in a form of a vacation to go and see a place for a week or two, I personally don't gain anything from such a short visit. What I'd like to do once I am done with my commitments is to go to another country, get a job there and live for a few years, then move again. I'v lived in four different countries and it's been much better than just visiting. Of course, once you buy a house and settle somewhere, this can't be done, but I don't plan on settling down yet.

Why don't Americans travel as much? I am not an American do I am not sure about it, I would guess that if I lived in the US I would go around, from state to state, to see new places and meet new people. You have a very diverse envornment, and I am sure the same applies to the culture as well.
 
A more serious answer to this, it's a combination of a few factors:

1. There is a lot of places to travel within the US, if you are looking for a ski vacation (Denver, North Carolina, North California) a tropical beach (Miami, LA, Hawaii) etc. you can find most of it within the US without the need to leave the country.

2. Patriotism - perhaps the less recognized but many people would rather spend dollars right here in America and help the economy, rather than traveling outside.

3. In recent years the cheapest place for an American is America. I of course am not including third world countries, but since the Euro and British pound has got much stronger than the US dollar, it has become a very expensive trip to try and visit those places as oppose to taking a vacation here. In addition any time you cross the ocean with a flight the prices go up substantially.

I'm not saying I agree with any/all of these reasons, but they are what they are.
 
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