I'll echo what a lot of people here have said. There is an awful lot to see and do here in the US. I've been out of the US many times, and that was to Canada. No need for a passport there (though it does make it easier these days). Lots of variation within the US and Canada to take in, generally cheaper than travelling overseas.

I'll agree that often Europeans don't have a good perspective of the size of the US. I used to go to school in Colorado (I live in Minnesota), and the drive from here to school was 950 miles (1520km) and took about 14-15 hours to do. While stopping at a rest stop at the border of Nebraska and Wyoming, a couple from Germany came in. They were looking at a map and the husband was saying, see, it isn't that far to Yellowstone, we'll be there in 2 hours. I felt bad when I told them that Wyoming was a big state and that they still had another 450 miles to drive to get to the entrance to Yellowstone, 7-8 hours! They were not happy campers!

 

Thought some of you, maybe, might enjoy a member on the other end of the scale.

As posted several times in other threads, I was employed by first Volvo and then SAAB from 1967 to 1991. In addition to being based in the US for 18 of those years, I lived for two years in Sweden, two in Peru and two in Canada. Upon returning to the US in 1979 and moving to SAAB, my positions in the company required pretty constant overseas travel.

During those years, I went through 4 passports.
1967 issue 20 pages
1973 issue 20 pages plus a 14 page fold out stick in extension
1978 issue 23 pages
1983 issue 47 pages (got elevated to Diplomat size)

I filled every page of every passport with visa stamps, or a total of 496 entries. Mind you some were entry visas and exit visas for the same trip but when I went to Sweden, I travelled there so often that the Customs guys knew me in both Goteborg and Stockholm and often did not stamp the passport.

As well, as Adam knows, when I lived in Sweden once you got to the Continent there were no passport controls if you were travelling by car or rail so you could hit 10 countries in a trip and get no more stamps in your passport.

I almost hesitate to mention this but I also managed to become fluent in Swedish and sort of OK in Norwegian and Danish as well as speaking Spanish fluently and navigable in Portuguese.

I post this not to be a braggard at all but to sort of answer EnglishAdam's question about the travel habits of Americans. Some of us do, some of us don't but we are all the same sort of folk in the end.

Once I left the Swedish car industry my only travels outside the US have been a couple of HobbyTown USA sponsored cruises in the Caribbean. I have not renewed my passport since it ran out in 1993 and unless I can manage to arrange a trip to my birthplace which is Beijing China (I am a Marine Corps brat) I may never get a new one. Between my Lightning and my Blackwood, Pat and I have put on about 40K miles since 1999 "visiting" places in the US we had not seen before.
We could spend the rest of our life doing this and never see it all.

Finally, may I say that after 63 years of bashing about all over the world there is no place I would even consider living in than the US. Well.........................maybe Canada if I win the Lotto.
Bill

 

EnglishAdam, are you insinuating that all Americans are crazy or are you looking for responses from just the crazy ones?

For me, it's the expense. I would love to travel. I am very curious about how others live. I realize that I'm a bit ignorant when it comes to knowing what life is like for others on this planet. I'm poor (mostly because I like to sink money into the truck) though so it will be a while before I can get educated. I do plant to travel eventually.

Our country is the USA, the United States. We are a country made up of fifty very different states. This country takes up a very large portion of this continent. Traveling within this country is quite an adventure. There are different cultures within. Different attitudes. It's pretty wierd, the state that I live in, people in the eastern part have an accent, and in the western part we don't. At least that how we see it from here. It's like this through out.

There is also beauty. The landscape is as diverse as the population. I have only see a fraction of it. There really is a ton to see here.

I'm not saying that it's not worth it to travel to other countries. It's just for more affordable for the middle class people like me to explore the country that we live.

No. I've never had a passport. The only other country I've been to was Canada, and that was only to drive around aimlessly (lost) and have lunch.

 

Yes is is.

Forgive me. Raoul is now the judge of whether peoples' posts are worthy of his time or not. I will consider this fact when posting in the future. To stay on topic, most people will not live long enough to see the wonders that North America has. Thus, no passport needed.

 

I agree, unless your loaded with cash, fully retired there is no need to go visit other countries.

There are a few countries that I would consider worthwhile to visit Britain being one, and I loved Austria. I visited Perth Austria 3 times while in the Navy.

Other then that most are a waste of time. Does it really matter what other countries perspective of America is. NO, not really. When it comes down to it the vast majority of countries only need to know one thing. It DON’T matter what they think of America because there is not a damn thing they can do about it. They may “think” they can, like France but the fact is they are NO match when it comes to America in just about any category you look at.

Be it military, wealth, knowledge, medical, research and development, auto industry, any high tech industry, government structure, freedoms, ideas, and most important success. Another very simple way to look at it is you could have just about any other country basically completely fail economically and it would not, in a major way, have a drastic effect on America. Sure it may cause some interruptions, and hurt our markets a bit, but we would recover.

On the other hand if America was to ever fail economically it would bring A LOT of other countries to their knees and basically destroy them, with no hope of recovering until AFTER America recovered. It is tough being the worlds LEADER in just about every aspect one could imagine but there ALWAYS has to be a top dog, it is life and that is how it is.

There is more to experience in this country, America then one could ever wish to experience in many countries put together. Britain is right there with America so I do not include them in “other” countries.

I have been to many countries and yes they have different cultures and experiences but NOTHING close to America. I don’t need to know more then one language, and that is the language of SUCCESS English. The others are just there to screw you up but NOT important. Why do you think all these other countries do their best to teach their successful and business people how to speak English? So they have a shot of being apart of success and experience some wealth. The countries that don’t learn English as a language are doomed for failure.

 

I only need this!



Like the majority of the posts, too much to see in North America as it is........ I do have a passport however. I just keep renewing it because it's easy and it's good for 10 years.

 

Farthest I have ever been is from Florida to Texas and if it wasn't for my brother living there, I would have never even been there. We don't ever have the time or money to go anywhere. But there are a few places I would like to visit though. Heck, I have never even been on a plane.

 

someone explain to me the benefits of travelling out of the country?

I have seen the beauty of Hawai, the awesome nature of Alaska, The giant redwoods of California, Trolley cars in San Fran. Napa Valley, Skied in Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado. been to Pikes Peak, Disney on both coast, Washington D.C. in 8th grade, (cant wait to take my son) St Louis and the Arch. Taken 6 Crusies, Lake Tahoe and Veas more times than i want to think about. All trips with Friends or Family at my own expense. Rented a House on the beach in Florida for a week this July.

In the future i plan on New York, Seeing Killer whales up the East Coast, Mt. Rushmore, The Grand Cannon, Universal in Florida, A motor home trip with my kids to hit some of the big roller coaster parks, the Indianapolis 500, the masters,

Why would i want to go someplace that i dont understand the language, dont like my drinks warm, dont like the food, have to spend 8 hours on a plane to get to and the people dont like Americans. Money is a factor as well.

For sheer beauty I would like to now of a place better than Alaska, A September day with a light jacket clear skies and seeing a group of 4 Humpback whales and then 15 minutes latter seeing a pod of Killer Whales with a 2 young calfs then finishing up with a Bald Eagle pearched high in a tree. Now what am i missing?

 

BROTHERDAVE:

I think you hit the nail on the head.

There is NO other country as beautiful as America, there is NO other country with as much to do as America, and there is NO other country one could enjoy with their family as America. There is more entertainment and attractions that can be seen and enjoyed here in America then any other country in the world.

I have seen many countries while in the Navy. Regardless if it was with the Navy or one flying on a plane to see the country is NO different. I was stationed in Yokosuka Japan on the aircraft carrier USS Midway. I have visited, of course Japan, in my opinion very boring, crowed, very expensive, very hard to get around, yet very friendly people. I have visited the Philippines, some very beautiful places out and away from the main cities, yet dirty and poor, very cheap, very hard to get around.

I have visited Thailand, much cleaner then the Philippines, very beautiful tropical areas, yet poor and hard to get around. I have visited Singapore, kind of boring, very clean, crowed, very expensive, and hard to get around. I have visited Hong Kong, clean, very expensive, very crowed, and hard to get around. I have visited South Korea, very cheap, kind of dirty, somewhat poor, and hard to get around. I have visited Austria (Perth) and the country side, very beautiful, extremely friendly, easy to get around, very affordable, clean a very close match to America.

There are a few more countries I have visited that I can not think of. I have “not” visited Britain, but a Senior Chief I worked for while on the USS Midway had on several occasions and told me this “Austria and Britain are very beautiful countries and comparable to America, all the others are just islands floating around with people on them” In other words a waste of time and money to visit unless you have to for business.

All the countries I visited, with the exception of Austria, do NOT come close to comparing with America in beauty, things you can do, affordability, and ease of travel.

So the way I look at it, and this is my opinion, is there are only two types of people who travel outside America, those that have to for business reasons, and those that do it for a “status symbol”. When someone tells me they visited a country other then Austria or Britain and that it wasn’t business but for pleasure I think to myself “Well, that was a waste of money”.

 

I have a passport, never used it. Like everyone else, I say we have more than egnough to see here at home. I flew from New York to LA a few years back, was great to watch the country pass beneath me from 38,000 feet.

 

I have seen more of the USA than I would like to. In fact, there are only a few states I haven't been to over the last 6 years. Mainly the far Northern/Central states like Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, etc. I have either lived shortly in all of the others, or driven through them at least. This includes two trips to Hawaii. I do have a passport, and it has been well used in the last six years also Guatemala twice, Spain, Mexico 5 or 6 times, Morrocco(One country I never want to visit again), Canada, Belize later on this summer. I have only been to Europe once, and have no desire to go there ever again. One thing that gets me?? We are expected to have signage and information available for all the possible nationalities that may visit, and/or live here. Yet, no country aside maybe from Mexico, caters to English speaking persons. You may think I'm full of it, but just TRY to take a train in Spain. Trying to figure out the signs and which track/train to board is an exercise in ultimate frustration, LOL!,,,,98

I guess I just enjoy Mexico and Central America the best, that's where I keep returning to over and over?

 

Frank, I read alot here I don't agree with. What does it gain to argue about it?

You completely misinterpreted my use of "acknowledge". It did not mean I do not acknowledge other posts. It just so happened I agreed with everything in that post and from reading the entire thread, it was a minority view. My post was to show support and encouragement for the author not a slight towards others.

Surprised that you would think that.

 

Frank, if you are refering to what Raoul had to say about what Texassteve typed maybe you or texassteve can explain to me what he is trying to say in that post, all i got was that we need to leave the USA to see how others view us, if that is correct please explain the benefit of that and how long you would have to go away so that you could see it with an open mind.

 

English Adam.....and others....

From someone of somewhat advanced years who has travelled the world and lives 6 months of the year in the US and 6 months in the UK let me add another perspective.

Firstly let me recommend a book called "Almost Heaven....travels through the backwoods of America" by Martin Fletcher.
His intro goes.....

"There is an 'other' America, almost entirely unknown to most metropolitan Americans, let alone foreigners.
It goes largely unreported by the city based, city centric US media.
It is a vast raw untamed land found far from the sophisticated coastal connurbations.
It is an extraordinarily insular and conservative place whose inhabitants consider New York and Washington as foreign as London or Paris.
They seldom travel beyond the boundaries of their States, or even to their State Capitals. They meet few outsiders. They are exposed to virtually no external influences. "

Now this is really true. For 20 years I have been fortunate to travel huge distances all over the States (Well to every State actually) and in many places I have met these people.
Where I live in the Rio Grande Valley I have met people who have asked me what language I speak when in England ! TRUE !!

The US is a wonderful country...I love it.

BUT "Travel broadens the mind"...and believe me there are some very narrow minds over there.

Those people who have posted and said "We don't need to travel abroad "

OH YES YOU DO !!!!

In a way it is admirable to find everything you need within the confines of your own boundaries...it is a rather safe and secure feeling.
BUT it leads to the attitudes that some of the rest of the world do not understand.

It's like the fact that many English people who have not been to the States think that it is all "Dallas" or any number of other films or TV programs that seemingly show what life is like there.
But they don't...you have to see it, feel it, hear it and smell it, for yourself.
When I first came to the States over 20 years ago I was amazed to find even the lawn grass was different.

Mind you, travel doesn't always help if it's the wrong sort of travel.
I feel sorry for the Americans who come to Europe on a "See Europe in 7 days trip"
They get paraded around the same hackneyed sights here in England for instance.
Buck Palace, Stratford.....but they don't see the REAL England.

No I'm sorry I can't agree with those of you who deny yourself the chance to experience the world.

Fred Hoyle the famous Astronomer put it best when he was trying to explain how humans view the Universe....and I equate it to how you people see the world.

It's like a fish in the water. It gets near the bank of the river and it sees shadows of the fishermen up on the bank...somehow it knows that there is something out there, but it will NEVER understand what it is. Until like the earliest fish they came out of the water....then look what happened.

You will say that you don't need to because you have everything you need.

But you see the dilemma is that you will go on thinking that until you actually try to....and only then will you see what you missed.

Oh yes, and before you come straight back with your reposts
PLEASE read the post accurately, unlike last time I posted here and wondered why I bothered !