Why don't more Americans travel abroad?

Citizen Runner wrote:

Ahem wrote:

Ever try ordering a meal at McDonald's in Zurich? $12

Perhaps a bigger question than why Americans tend not to travel abroad, is why they would go to a McDonalds when they do.

Ahem wrote:

Ahem wrote:

Ever try ordering a meal at McDonald's in Zurich? $12

Citizen Runner wrote:

Perhaps a bigger question than why Americans tend not to travel abroad, is why they would go to a McDonalds when they do.

Haha, fair question. I actually got that figure from a friend who was recently visiting from Switzerland. She was blown away at how affordable everything was in America. She saw the McDonalds prices while in the airport terminal.

I have been to many countries. lived in two, other than the US.

it is really fun to go to a mcdonalds in a foreign country and see what they offer. i loved a double bulgogi burger in korea. i hated the mcdonalds in japan. it was like 12 bucks for a big mac meal.

Zurich is far and away the most expensive city that I have ever visited. Anything looks cheap after a week there!

Swiss Miss wrote:

Zurich is far and away the most expensive city that I have ever visited. Anything looks cheap after a week there!

Ever been to London? Everything there costs just a little more, times two!

vivalarepublica wrote:

Because America is huge and has a great number of kickass things we can visit cheaply and easily without having to deal with the hassles of international travel. Fun times.

^This.

Well,don't lots of them get only a fortnight for annual leave if working,so not worth the effort.Majority,as in most places,are too poor to travel overseas anyway except as back packers.

All those smelly European countries are stacked on top of one another so they have no problem hopping the rails to sniff each other. The article states that 50% of the US citizens' international travel was to Mexico or Canada. Duh - there's a giant f***ing ocean on either side of us that has to be crossed to go anywhere else...or cross into another hemisphere to visit South American countries. It's a lot more expensive and time consuming for us to leave paradise. We can look at their culture, architecture, food, and women on TV anyway.

I think it depends on what you call "standard of living." Yes, ice is novelty (so much so that my expat brother bought himself an ice machine; his Austrian wife thinks it is a bizarre thing to have). The washer/dryer they have is far smaller than a typical US washer, reflecting smaller houses/apartments. AC is less used, and usually just a single unit to cool the main rooms of use, not the whole house. I think they view this as a virtue, not a lower standard of living.In exchange for these things, they have universal health care, zero medical bankruptcy, free higher education, etc. And the pricing of McDonalds is a bonus in my book- and may correspond to their waistlines. Finally, with so much good cuisine out there (in the US as well), why waste calories on McDonalds ?

Ahem wrote:

[quote]

I've been to Europe several times. While I enjoy it immensely, I wouldn't say the standard of living is up with America. Simple things like ice, washer/dryer, and AC are commodities there still, it seems. That's not to mention the cost of living. Ever try ordering a meal at McDonald's in Zurich? $12 (Swiss Franc is basically 1 to 1 with the dollar as well, so it's not a conversion issue). With all this said, if I couldn't live in America, I would definitely choose Western Europe. I'm still glad I live in America though.

Ahem wrote:

Haha, fair question. I actually got that figure from a friend who was recently visiting from Switzerland. She was blown away at how affordable everything was in America. She saw the McDonalds prices while in the airport terminal.

Before the emergence of microbrews, when we were camping up near the border, and with the pre-9/11 US Customs we used to drive over to Canada just to pick up a few cases of beer. "How long have you been in Canada?" "About 10 minutes, sir . . ."

dd wrote:

I think it depends on what you call "standard of living." Yes, ice is novelty (so much so that my expat brother bought himself an ice machine; his Austrian wife thinks it is a bizarre thing to have). The washer/dryer they have is far smaller than a typical US washer, reflecting smaller houses/apartments. AC is less used, and usually just a single unit to cool the main rooms of use, not the whole house. I think they view this as a virtue, not a lower standard of living.

I appreciate your point. I just get tired of people idolizing Europe when they have very little first hand knowledge of it. In the same way the right yells "no taxes", the left yell "look at Europe", neither have much knowledge of what their talking about. They both just know the talking points. Both sound silly to me.

Do you know in Switzerland you are not a citizen unless your ancestors were Swiss? I doesn't matter if you were born there. If your parents were born in Italy, you are Italian. You can only get an Italian passport and everything. If you were born in Switzerland, and your kids were born in Switzerland, even they would be only Italian citizens if the grandparents are Italian. And people call America ethnocentric?

Because stupid ass Obama sucks. We don't have jobs.

I think it is because people are scared. I don't blame them, hopping of a plane in some foreign land not knowing the language is pretty intimidating.

Cost really shouldn't be that prohibitive. Flight yeah, but there are some insanely inexpensive places for accommodations.

And I don't think it has to do with quality of life anywhere. There isn't a place in the world that doesn't have good and bad things.

The last time I travelled, I noticed how many young people (18-20) from other countries were on huge post high school world tours. I imagine those kids are all going to become lifelong travellers. Most americans skip that. Or have a really reduced "study abroad" term at the most.

A lot of people seem to compare the cost of living in their small town to the costs of touristy areas in some of the largest cities in Europe. Yeah, Europe is more expensive, but its not as bad as people make it out to be.

why dont more europeans travel here? HHMMM- small mindedness maybe!

there is a ton in America to see, without ever having to leave this nation - and its a lot cheaper

why don't more Americans visit different parts of the US?

Well, I'm a lifelong traveler because that's how I was brought up. Egypt, Spain, Iceland...also went to Peru with just my younger brother (no tour group or anything, just me and my high school Spanish) when we were in our teens.

Most of the kids I went to school with considered driving to a nearby county a "trip." Flying on a plane was a huge deal to them. Not surprisingly, kids who grow up like that don't know what the world is like, have no appreciation for different cultures beyond those funny hats people in their history book wear, and in general are less educated. No matter how much you know, if you've lived in just one country all your life, you don't know crap.

As for why, well, distance plays a role, as does money. But neither of those are very important. My brother and I ate on $6 a day in Peru- three full and delicious three-course meals for each of us. You don't have to go to London to be abroad. Here's the real reason Americans don't travel: their parents didn't raise them to be adventurous, to question, or to wonder. American exceptionalism is a big part of it, too. If we just KNOW America is head and shoulders above the rest, well, you'll just be polluting yourself by visiting a foreign country, now wouldn't you?

Sad.

[American exceptionalism is a big part of it, too. ?

Esactly. America is an exceptionally long way from anywhere (excluding Mexico and Canada).

[quote]nlce try wrote:

if you've lived in just one country all your life, you don't know crap.

quote]

About what?

US Americans are unable to do so, because some people out there in our nation don't have maps, such as....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKOLDv8CaUk&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL