When I travel to Europe, I enjoy seeing the various cultures. But when I go to France, I want to see the French, when I go to Italy, I want to see the Italians. I honestly am not interested in seeing other non European cultures. If I wanted to see such cultures, I would travel to non European countries.

And, as many of those countries are so small, I can simply hop on over to another one in roughly an hour or two, if I feel the need for “diversity.”

I think many of the people posting here, especially lissie and scribetrotter are just travel snobs who from the looks of their photos need to hit the Botox ASAP! They have sunscreen in France and NZ girlfriend! (Yes, I said it. White women DO NOT AGE WELL. Get on top of that! LOL!) Being a travel snob is a sign of insecurity. These are the same people who belittle anyone else’s experiences to seem superior. A jingo of the worst sort in my opinion. The funny part is that if you asked some of the “locals” they hung out with, they would call them a tourist, not a traveler as they like to be called.

And trust me lissie and scribetrotter are bitches no matter what country they live in! That attitude is FOREVER!

To those who travel and don’t brag and act like bitches, enjoy your trip and safe travels!

Traveler there is no path. Paths are made by walking.

First, Americans eat up advertising. Travel deals and ads rigorously promote travel within the nation. The way to an American’s heart is through his/her wallet. The average American will not spend beyond the price of a cheap used car to travel anywhere for any reason. The hard earned dollar is too precious to part with. The compromise is to travel to cheap tourist places.

New Englanders will almost always travel to Florida for the beaches and Disney. Southerners rarely travel out of state and typically like outdoor vacations like camping and such within state borders or at least to another state with a similar culture if the attractions are enticing enough. Some southerners like to visit family and turn the trip into a vacation of sorts.

Many Americans take advantage of cruises that go to other places but visiting a port town hardly counts as “traveling to another country,” since port towns do not fully reflect a nation’s culture as a whole.

The exchange rate is rubbish and whenever you see Brits in Disney world you can bet that the dollar has plummeted in exchange value. This does not help matters at all. However, even if exchange rates were to become favourable for Americans, I doubt that many would travel overseas anyway.

Second, Americans are simply uninterested in other countries. Blame it on a lack of the educational system’s desire to pound geography into student’s heads, Americans couldn’t care less about geography and its relative information. The media reflects this. There are very few news outlets that cover foreign stories of moderate to dull interest. To contrast this, the BBC is all to pleased to comment on milk prices in a rural Bangladeshi town of 15,000.

Hit American movies set in foreign locations are almost always wrapped in destruction and turmoil. If not, then the scene is shot in an unappealing section of a country with unappealing (to US standards) locals engaging in unappealing activities. While not entirely the fault of the American media, some foreign nations are picky about allowing a foreign film company make a movie on location. Some nations will flat out refuse to grant a film permit. To compare this, the city of Seattle Wa, has taken steps to keep non local film companies out of Seattle due to the multitude of problems in the past with television and film companies which is why one is hard pressed to find movies and tv shows with a diverse Seattle backdrop (thank MTV’s Real World Seattle among others). The people of Seattle are simply not interested.

Now this obviously does nothing positive to the image of traveling abroad for Americans.

Third, fear of the unknown. Now one should not use the word “fear” when talking to or about Americans, it strikes the wrong chord as fear means far more culturally than it does in Oxford’s dictionary. Perhaps, “lack of pertinent information to make an informed decision or opinion” would be a better description of why some Americans are not interested in traveling abroad. Americans are not as adventurous as Europeans are and since Americans require loads of information to make decisions about everyday life, traveling outside of America would require the same level of information Americans are used to having.

For example, Disney world / land is popular why? Because virtually every American knows someone who has been there and it generally gets a favorable review. Not every American has been or will visit Disney world / land but through vigorous advertising and word of mouth (which is America’s greatest and most powerful advertising model) coupled with hard to pass up vacation packages, Americans have far more information about a Disney World / land vacation than a ski vacation in Zermatt.

Fourth, language barrier. Americans at present, do not need to know another language other than English to live in America – in fact, many people living in America actually live comfortably without having to learn English. I myself have learned to speak 3 languages other than English but without reinforcement through culture, media and social interaction with native speakers, it simply wouldn’t stick beyond college. I don’t expect anyone to learn something they will almost never practice but “not speaking the language” means that traveling abroad almost always means traveling with a tour guide which is absolutely boring (for some) and too restrictive for the American free spirit at times. Some countries luckily have English speaking populations, normally within tourist hotspots. Communication is big with Americans (or any nationality) and not being able to express onesself is indeed frustrating for anyone. However, the language barrier problem is usually only considered by those who actually want to travel abroad but cannot decide where. Most Americans who do not wish to travel abroad usually have more weighty reasons other than the language issue.

Fifth, time. Americans typically get one to two weeks of vacation. Wow, that really blows. You work hard to make your bosses rich and they won’t schedule the work shifts to allow employees to take vacations on par with world standards. Some companies actually offer four weeks of vacation but it is usually after 5 – 10 years of

service. Two weeks is simply hard to schedule an international vacation for. Thankfully international hotspots are aware of this and will accomodate for this. The exception being Americans with family that live overseas. International vacations become less troublesome for a few reasons.
1. Familiarity, staying with family is comfortable (sometimes) and your family is trustworthy (hopefully) and therefore they become your tour guides (unless they are boring).

2. You will almost already have a passport in order if this is a family tradition either procured by yourself or another family member.

3. You already know a ballpark figure about the cost of such a vacation with very little in the way of “unexpected emergency costs”.
4. The time constraints are more or less easier to manage because of traditional activities that have been tailored way back when to accommodate you; your family abroad knows what activities can and cannot be done with the little time you have.

If you do not fit into the category of having family to visit overseas, planning an international vacation to fit into a 2 week time slot, ice cold becomes a daunting and therefore undesireable task in the face of something far simpler.

Sixth, boils down to convenience. It is simply too inconvenient to travel to another country. Passports, visas, choosing the best hotel, best flight, best tour, best food, etc. America is a nation of convenience, time is simply too precious and as the old American adage goes, time is money. You can thank the value menu at McDonalds for painting over American’s selection stratagem. Couple that with the above five reasons and you have a recipe for stay at home soup.

It sounds less rational to make that argument when you replace it with almost any other nationality, doesn’t it? Why do you think Americans aren’t affected by the same factors that prevent the majority of people from extensively traveling outside their home country? Sure, there are Americans who uninterested in or scared of the rest of the world or who want a tidy, homogenized experience when traveling, but those kind of people exist everywhere.

Americans are often underpaid and overworked in comparison to their foreign counterparts, they have expenses that those living in countries with socialist policies rarely have to worry about, and they likely have personal responsibilities that are simply higher in priority than traipsing off to Bangkok to get a US$10 foot massage from a young woman who works 15 hours or more each day (and does things other than foot massages) to support her entire family back in her rural village.

Travel is a luxury and a privilege, and for people like you and me, a hobby or a lifestyle. It’s no different than those who restore classic cars or spend hours each day playing WoW. I’d consider it a waste of my time, but they’re no less legitimate choices. I know it’s difficult for you to imagine, but some people aren’t interested in traveling and still others find the whole experience stressful rather than relaxing or enlightening.

You say that there’s been an uptick in Americans applying for passports because “we are now required to have passports for travel to Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.” So, Canada, Mexico and Caribbean countries aren’t “foreign” enough for you? They don’t have sufficient history or culture to pass your rigorous testing for what counts as “traveling abroad”? Is it because they’re in close proximity to the US or because you think you know better than everyone else as to what constitutes meaningful travel?

I know plenty of Europeans who rarely leave their own countries, and when they do, it’s usually to a nearby country that is easily accessible via car, train or a budget airline. And when they do leave Europe, they tend to spend much of their time in hostels and clubs partying.

I’ve lived outside of the US for more than three years, and I’ve found that because it’s such a sacrifice money-and-time-wise for Americans to travel and because most are aware of and fearful of embodying the “Ugly American” stereotype, they’re more likely to take time to appreciate what a country has to offer. If you really think non-Americans view travel as some kind of mystical retreat, you’ve obviously never been surrounded by Australians, Brits and Germans at a beach resort in Thailand.

If people don’t want to travel abroad then who cares, it is none of my business how one wants to spend his or her life. It isn’t my job to say to people, “traveling abroad was a great experience for me so YOU should do the same!” Because they don’t think like me doesn’t make me better or less ignorant then they are.

A former co-worker of mine has only been to two countries outside of the U.S. – Perú and the U.K. and people gave him shit for only having two stamps in his passport. But this man completed what is known in the backpacking community (not “hostel hopping” community) the “Triple Crown” meaning he has hiked from the Mexican border into Canada twice via Continental Divide Trail, Pacific Crest Trail and the International Appalachian Trail (Georgia to Canada) taking him about four and a half months each to achieve. I guarantee that he has more travel experience then a European “hostel hopper” with a 95L backpack buried in a Lonely Planet guide book. I love those people that claim, for example, that they’ve been to 33 countries but when you ask them how much time they’ve spent in each country it is often only a few days to a few weeks in “backpacker” hostels. Sure, he or she has the stamps but only skimmed through the countries in order to say, “Look at me! Look which countries I’ve visited!”.

I used to have that state of mind while hitchhiking at the age of 19 from La Guajira, Colombia to Buenos Aires, Argentina (it took me 13 months to complete). I used to believe that those whom didn’t travel abroad were more ignorant than I was. But with time I had realized that I was ignorant for generalizing entire peoples and thinking that my lifestyle was for everyone.

Best of luck on all of your travels. Remember, the more stamps one has in his passport doesn’t necessarily signify more impressive experiences.

1. they have little interest about it
2. they have little knowledge about it

Citizens of European Unions member states do not need a passport to travel within the E.U.

So your point is incorrect.

Also “their countries are probably smaller than America”
WTF?

Of course. Please spend some time looking at a globe of Planet Earth.

From this i can tell you haven’t a clue about the world outside your own country.

Americans aren’t as cultured as they need to be, yes, but this point is faulty.