How do Americans do holidays?

[Champagneforeveryone]

We've just flown to Venice for a few days, and I was reading the guide book which says that flights arrived only from a couple of US states.

Which got me thinking how very little I know about this and it seems I have a huge amount of preconceptions 🙄

I imagined that you could fly from every state to anywhere in the world - obviously not! So I'm guessing there's a large number of internal flights? Are they expensive? Are they as time consuming as taking a flight abroad, or are they similar to taking a bus.

Also, does this limit how you holiday? I had always imagined that the US was similar to us and people holidayed abroad frequently (ours would be mostly Europe with the occasional long haul "big" holiday) Do you fly to different states or do you leave the US?

TIA for filling the gaps in my knowledge while DH showers 😉

It's 44 percent not 35 percent who have passports. I travel to Europe. I fly to New York or Philadelphia and then on from there. But like many Americans, I don't even need to leave my state to have beautiful and culturally diverse vacation destinations.

Americans are used to long haul drives as well. I split my time between a home in New England and one on Florida's gulf coast. Since I have (large) dogs we make that drive (round trip) a couple of times a year and don't think anything of it.

As for vacation time, it definitely varies but typically starting out in a new job you'd expect 3 weeks vacation time plus about 10 discretionary "personal" days. After 5 years with a company you'd accrue more vacation days, etc.

The stereotypical 2 weeks vacation is an outdated notion unless you have a pretty crap (sorry!) job.

If I'm flying out of Florida international flights are plentiful at most of the major airports here. Back in Connecticut we do have an international airport but more limited. You'd probably fly out of New York or Boston which is no big deal as they're close by.

Also, owning a second home/vacation property is fairly common here so many families will use vacation time staying at a beach/lake/ski property they own.

In an ideal world you could have a second home and travel extensively as well, but we can't all be Jeff Bezos now, can we? :)

There are loads of small - some very small - airports in every state, so you'd go to one of these and get a flight to a big hub and go from there. I live in western North Carolina and can fly from my local airport to (eg) Charlotte, Atlanta, Chicago or Newark and get to the UK from there. Or I can drive to Charlotte though oddly, it's not always cheaper to do that, though nicer to get a direct flight, obviously.

They're in school, it's term time!

Direct flights operate to London from fil states six months of they year the rest of the time he connects in Chicago. Or flies into Germany with Lufthansa and back to London or via Dublin with aer lingus.

America has such stunning nature (Arizona, Utah, where I've been) I'm not surprised they stay there and just travel around the place.
Monument Valley was awesome.

Antelope Canyon is on my bucket-list.

I imagined that you could fly from every state to anywhere in the world
Surely you realised that not every airport flies to every other airport in the world?!? Even in the UK there are differences in where you can fly to/from! You can't just go to your nearest airport and fly to anywhere.

Not exactly, I'm naive not daft 😉 In the UK there are many places where we have to go to the main London airports to access flights. However I know very few people who use internal flights to get there. I guess I just imagined that in each state at least, there would be an airport that flew to most places, not that you would have to travel from state to state to get a flight to Europe for example.

I don't about the regular American but it is easier to see the rest of the world if you live on the East Coast and/or can afford comfortable overnight flights. I know people who live on the West Coast and manage one long vacation in this direction once a year - they often go round the other way to Bali or Japan..

Many Americans will only ever holiday using domestic flights. They are not necessarily missing out on cultural stuff because they don't always 'get it' and are happy with their hiking and all girls' trips to Vegas and the whole world being at home on their doorstep.

I guess I just imagined that in each state at least, there would be an airport that flew to most places, not that you would have to travel from state to state to get a flight to Europe for example.

The airlines run a business that has to make money. If there was enough demand at prices people were willing to pay for a daily non-stop flight from Montana to London, they'd run one. Routing people through major hub cities so that they can fly nearly full flights allows them to make money and keep prices low enough to attract travelers and compete with other airlines.

I get your logic but states are so vast eg the capital of Illinois where I live is Springfield and it takes over 3 hours to drive from Chicago to Springfield the capital all within one state, and Springfield is in the middle so not even end to end.

It will take 7 hours to drive from one end of Illinois to the other and Illinois is not even one of the biggest states so it’s really not feasible to have enough airports that will cater to every city like that.

There are definitely airports in all cities but they may not all have direct flights to London eg BA will only fly direct to major cities, there is just no way for BA to have direct flights to all cities in the US.

And don’t forget when you start leaving the big major cities the population density falls, the US is close to the size of Europe yet has about 350m people conspired to over 1 billion in Europe so there is not enough demand to justify setting up a direct flight from London to many smaller cities.

And comparing to the UK there is a massive drop in destination options available outside Heathrow and Gatwick.

@Plitvice Actually I think most Americans do "get it" it's just that there is a lot to experience domestically for us beyond the typical tourist hubs that attract foreign visitors.

When my DC was young we absolutely did prioritize domestic travel. Places like Mesa Verde are incredible and should be experienced by all Americans. We made a huge effort to expose him to as much of the country and its cultural differences as possible. I left international travel until his late teens and young adulthood when he could both appreciate it more fully and decide for himself what interested him most.

I imagine it's no different from people in the UK. I'm sure you want your children to have a real appreciation for your rich history and diverse cultural backgrounds.

Similar for me in my childhood and as a parent. The Great American Road Trip is a cultural rite of passage for many American families.

Correct. It's about an hour longer the other way because you fly against the prevailing winds on the way back to NY.

When we lived near Chicago we went on holiday to Michigan every year. It was about 3 hours drive away and essentially for my kids was the equivalent of the summer holiday to Spain my family went on when I was a kid. Hot weather, beautiful beaches, lovely little towns with nice restaurants.

Lots of our friends went to Florida for holidays. Also skiing in Wisconsin was popular, and trips to places like Arizona or Colorado for the scenery.

If they really want to go to Europe for the cultural experience and you have plenty of money then many Americans will travel. But if you’re basically going on holiday for a break then I don’t know why you’d fly round the world. It’s the equivalent of us going to the US for a beach holiday when we could just go to Spain or Portugal or Greece.

I'm in the Chicago area.

There are gorgeous places to holiday within a day's drive - in Michigan and Wisconsin in particular. Many people I know own a second property in places like Door County, Wisconsin, or around St Joe, Michigan, and also further afield in Michigan; Mackinac is a splendid old Victorian resort. You can rent all sorts of cabins too. Michigan and Wisconsin are hot in sunner and snowy in winter. You can ski or snowboard or swim or fish or play mini golf or take your boat out on the lake. Beaches are gorgeous, and there are lots of little old towns with old-fashioned ice cream parlors and family-friendly places to eat.

I have relatives in VA who have a beach house in North Carolina. Where you go sometimes depends on where you live, how easy it is to get away. Quicker breaks of the long weekend variety are definitely a thing in summer, when the pace of business and professional life slows a little.

People also do long road trips - all the way to Maine in a mini van, or to the Badlands. Some people like Rocky Mountain region ski areas in summer - Jackson Hole in Wyoming and Winter Park, Colorado are lovely when it's all green. I've driven two days with DCs to get to both places. Flying would have been quicker, but then there's the hassle and expense of a rental car. The interstate system is great.

I have friends who are checking off all the major league baseball parks summer after summer. Others are visiting all 50 states - driving to each one apart from Hawaii.

People do city breaks - Las Vegas, NYC, Austin, Nashville, San Francisco, Kansas City... and there are always busloads of people from Iowa in Midwest cities.

People also travel to the Caribbean, especially in January and February. You can get great deals on flights and accommodation. Florida is another popular destination at the start of the year if your winters are harsh. Ditto Mexican resorts.

Spring break sees students flocking to Cancun, Jacksonville, and other sunny spots.

Some families make a holiday out of dropping kids off to college for the first time, often thousands of miles from home. Some people visit relatives in another state - there are places that are like visiting a completely different country if your home is in the urban north; the Ozark region, southern California, the desert southwest, New England...

I have a good friend in Michigan and her summer holiday by a lake makes me green with envy.

While I can see that there's many beautiful places in the US, it isn't the same as us flying to Spain/Greece/Thailand (apart from in terms of distance/time on train) because by flying to a different county you do get different cultures as well. Different food, language, religions, history etc. Whereas Florida and Michigan aren't going to be that different culturally.

I lived in the US (Los Angeles) for 10 years and when we went on vacation is was usually Mexico or internally within the US. When we did fly back to the UK it was a direct flight to London. I worked for a large company and got 3 weeks paid vacation.

Whereas Florida and Michigan aren't going to be that different culturally.
I'm not sure that is true, really.

I'm now working on a limited paid leave USA contract. We have a small lake house on the Wisconsin border. It gives up a break from city life most weekends.

We also take longer road-trips to places like the badlands or West Virginia and fly for weekends at Disney etc.

We have great vacations but they aren't always long and they often aren't in Europe because that is a fair distance.
If you leave the USA then Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica are all popular destinations we have been to.

I mean I don’t disagree with you. But I suppose my point is are many people, especially families, really going to the med for the different culture, or are they going for a week in the sun?

If Americans are traveling for the food and the culture and the history then yes they will go abroad if they can afford to. But if they just want to chill in a beach resort then they don’t need to travel out of their country for that.

The internet says there are 500+ airports serving commercial passengers in the US.

Wow. So defensive.

Lol, I circled Indianapolis three times when driving back to Chicago from Washington DC. It was late and I was tired and I still don't know how I maneuvered my way to the right exit.