Is it true that many Americans will never visit another country

[cinaminvanilla]

I remember reading an article where it says that many Americans don't have a passport or leave the USA ever in their lives. Just wondering does anyone with knowledge know if this true. Because the US is so big I could imagine people never travelling to another country. I think I read that for those who visit other countries the two most popular countries for people who live in the US to visit aside from their own is Canada and Mexico.

@britinnyc Hi fellow New Yorker!

@samyeagar Same. I'm about to take a whole 2 weeks off for the first time in forever. I've accrued so much holiday over COVID times that I'm in danger of having too much to roll over at the end of the year.

@Kendodd

Wanderlust is a word I've never seen, I like it tho.

I think I have it, if it means a desire to see places I've not seen before.. I just stick to the UK. I was meant to be hiking 2 national trails last year, a week on each, but Childcare and Covid cancelled those.

I've done 1000s upon 1000s of miles in the UK. From the west coast to the east, fro. the northern tips down to the southern end etc. For a week I biked around Scotland and did over a 1000 miles in 6 days.
My honeymoon, way back in my early 30s, involved a road trip visiting 5 English theme parks in 10 days from the back of my OHs Harley. That took us all over the country.
And not forgetting Wales, I've only seen 5 small parts, but they were stunningly beautiful. There's so much I haven't seen there.

When people say they love travelling, it often doesn't seem to include where they live, like it doesn't count as travelling unless it involves a flight and a different language.

There's so much in the UK I haven't seen yet. Maybe when that's done, I'll try going to some foreign hills and see if they're different to the ones I stomp around on now. In the meantime, I'm packing my pack, lacing my boots and planning the Coast To Coast, east to west.

@lazylinguist

A 'fortnight in the sun' isn't the only kind of foreign holiday though. And do you really think people work long hours in jobs just so they can lie on the beach for 2 weeks a year? I presume you're joking about Milton Keynes though. My PIL live there and it's the most tedious, soulless place ever!

Tongues firmly in cheeks for most of my posting history, don't take it so literal and serious.

I would believe it. We did a road trip of the American South for our honeymoon. Spent a month there and barely scratched the surface of all there is to see. It’s an enormous and beautiful country.

I have been to America and to a decent amount of European capitals but I also like holidaying in the UK. Our youngest DC has an unpredictable health problem that can require emergency surgery. We haven’t been abroad since he was born as it’s not a risk we have wanted to take. And to be honest, I haven’t missed it. There’s plenty of beauty in the UK too.

I grew up on UK holidays and have never seen beach holidays or time abroad as essential.

@Kendodd

The United States has the geographical equivalents to pretty much everywhere else in the world. Take any holiday destination spot, and there is an equivalent within the United States

What a load of bollocks.
I often hear nonsense like this about America have every type of landscape and culture, there's no need to travel abroad to see the world. Almost always said by people who've never left America.
American is beautiful and diverse and I can understand why people might not want to travel further, but it's not the world and only has a fraction of what the rest of the world has.
Its absolutely fine for people to not want to travel and just be happy were they are. People don't need to defend it, in fact given the climate emergency, not travelling could be better.
Although, I did once meet a middle aged man in Brooklyn, born and raised in Brooklyn, and had never been to Manhattan. He just didn't see the need. In some ways I quite admired him, happily living his life, with everything he wanted.
I would also agree with posters comparing Americans never leaving America with Brits never leaving Europe. I wonder how those numbers would compare? We might not look quite so superior.
We're very lucky geographically in the UK. We live in the best continent in the world! Well placed with regard time zones and a short(ish) distance to the Americas, Asia and Africa.

Granted, I am just anecdotal here, but I have travelled extensively outside of the United States. Europe, including pre fall eastern bloc, Asia, South America, and for the vast majority of people, a beach is a beach is a beach. Doesn't matter if it is in Hawaii, Florida, Mexico, any where around the Mediterranean. Same with mountains...Alps, Rockies, Andes...they are all big mountain ranges with great skiing. They all have their own particular charm, but are not so appreciably different as to say any is vastly better or different than the others.

I also met someone in a small town in the south of North America and they didn't know where the UK was.

Some years ago I recall a TV programme where they were interviewing holidaymakers at a UK airport and very few had any idea where the country they were going to was.

The USA is vast - so Americans can experience so
Much without leaving their country.
Beaches, mountains, ski-ing, hiking
Etc
And they can go
To Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and manynUS territories without passports.
Plus it’s expensive to go abroad, so many can’t afford to travel to Europe or wherever.

Well, the implication is clearly that based on passport possession, Americans are less travelled, less cultured, simpler than their more sophisticated European cousins with their passports. I'm not really sure that is the case though.

I mean, if one wants to see Rome specifically, then of course you have to have a passport and travel. But if one wants to see and experience a different big city with history, then who is to really say that travelling from England to Rome is any more cultured than say travelling from central Illinois to Boston? Both are about the same distance.

Read about the Russian old believers if you're interested in this sort of stuff. They lived in a few huts in siberia 700 miles from the nearest village and didnt know WW2 was happening. The last of them eventually went to her nearest city a few times but had been so isolated that she got seriously ill everytime she went as hadnt immunity.

If she wants to spend money she has earned on something to make her feel good, that is her prerogative.

Yes & tbf you can have so many different types of holidays in America.

I can't believe how little holiday allowance people get, why is it so low?

True. The US is so vast with such natural variety, many people never leave. It’s not much smaller than Europe and pretty cheap for them to fly cross country (or road trips)

@amiadillo

They can get away with it. America build an image of the land of the free but it is very far from the truth. Their holiday leave, sick leave, maternity leave, health insurance, employment rights etc leave much to be desired.

Another quirk of American travel without passports is closed loop cruises where they start and end at the same US port and visit Canada, Mexico, Bahamas etc. Only need drivers license as id and birth certificate for reentry.

@cinaminvanilla

I remember reading an article where it says that many Americans don't have a passport or leave the USA ever in their lives. Just wondering does anyone with knowledge know if this true. Because the US is so big I could imagine people never travelling to another country. I think I read that for those who visit other countries the two most popular countries for people who live in the US to visit aside from their own is Canada and Mexico.

@cinaminvanilla

So where have you been in the US? Honestly these threads make me laugh. The ‘oh those poor stupid Americans who haven’t been out of their own country’ coming from those who won’t or can’t drive 6 hours within their own country. (Yes that was a thread here recently).

Just to give you perspective, I drive 4ish hours once a month to go to another office, I’ve been driving 6 hours one way to visit my sick mother every weekend for the past 2 months, in a couple weeks my DH will travel to one of the coasts. 2 days driving 12 hours the first and 8 the second.

I do have a passport (come to think of it, I need to renew it this year) it’s my 3rd. Used annually for business and pleasure. I’ve booked trips to Scotland because there was a restaurant I wanted to go to, spent a week or so driving around and staying in various places. I go to the Caribbean yearly, You know why, because it’s cheap and easy for me to get to. I’ve forgotten the names of half the islands I’ve been to, because they are not ‘the big ones’.

And yes, I travel within the US, because why not, it’s vast, there’s a lot to do, and yeah it’s my own country.

So again OP, please share your vast travel to the US and the rest of the world.

My parents are Europeans & driving long distances is considered completely normal. I find in England it's often not the done thing.

@amiadillo

I can't believe how little holiday allowance people get, why is it so low?

Because the federal law is zero days. I understand people keep sharing how many holidays they have at their American job, but it doesn’t change that the law is 0. And they may feel the average is 10 days or two weeks, but it’s not - the average is 8 days. And since 8 days is an average including millions of American school teachers who have 2.5 months paid holidays, and millions of people with 0, it’s a weird average. And we know 23 percent of Americans have ZERO days. A quarter of the country have no vacation at all. So AT LEAST 23 percent of Americans cannot go on vacation.

As for why the federal law is zero days, because they leave it up to businesses to do what they think is “right,” and businesses have proven they should never have been trusted with that. They will choose profit every time. Just like they do with healthcare, obviously (whole different bun fight, I know).

But also there's a HUGE choice of things to do in America. They can go to the rockies, Hawaii and the deserts of Arizona all without leaving their country.

Exactly. Look at the size of the USA compared to the UK. They don't need to travel to another country to have a great holiday. I do have friends in the UK who don't have passports.

I am a US citizen (dual citizen UK and US) and my husband is a US citizen. We have travelled overseas but not as much as I would like. When I lived in the UK, I had an airport within an hour’s drive and could be in another country after less than 2 hours. Now I live more than 3 hours from the closest airport and when I get on a plane I’d still be flying over the same country 6 hours later. But I love living here and the diversity of the landscapes and weather. I don’t always feel the need to go overseas. I can have completely different landscape and weather in the same country. It’s a beautiful country and I’ve seen a lot of it but there’s still so much more to see. There’s a heck of a lot more to the US than Disney World and Manhattan.

As an Australian, I can tell you geographically big countries like Aus & US have an incredible diversity in culture, food, landscape & weather. You can always find an uncrowded spot (yes, beaches too!) & fantastic weather. It takes longer to fly cross country than from UK to anywhere in Europe. So don't judge someone's travel in passport stamps.

H & I have travelled extensively both overseas & domestically. We don't count the number of countries in our memories.

Yes, many don't travel outside the country, and if you don't, there's no need to own a passport, really. For those who choose to stay inside the US, this is partly because the country is so large, with plenty to see within its own mainland borders (not to mention Hawaii and Alaska, both popular destinations for Americans). Then there's the fact that it's usually much cheaper to fly within the country than to take an exhausting long-haul flight to another continent.

I think it's because their country is so big, with all the many states, and lots of those states are very different in their scenery and locations, so visiting another state from where you live, can be hundreds of miles away, so its like having a holiday in a different country so to speak.

I used to live in the USA many years ago, we were there for three years, and lived in Seattle, and we very often hired motor homes, and had loads of road trips all over the States,, from North to South, and East to West.. Our American neighbours in Seattle, used to say to us, You have seen more of the USA, than we have ever seen,and they were born there.

They have less holiday time, and everywhere is a long haul flight away.

I'm American. I've left the country only twice. I went to Bermuda when I was 18 and to Quebec City when I was 51. I would love to visit countries that are further away but its really, really expensive. And the US has so many different places that I can go to without worrying about passports. Maybe if I lived in a small country like the UK (size wise compared to the US) and as close to other countries as you are I might travel more. Think of it like this, people traveling around Europe is the same as Americans traveling around the different States (size wise).

Passport owning in the US has rapidly increased over the last 30 years.
See here:
www.statista.com/statistics/804430/us-citzens-owning-a-passport/

It’s currently at just over 40% (that’s current passports, only about 20% of Americans have never held a passport at all).

Until the early 2000s you could travel to Canada, Mexico and some of the Caribbean on a US driving license. So there was less reason then.

Given that, even now, enhanced driving license can get them to Hawaiian beaches, world class skiing, Disney, Vegas, New Orleans, New York, New England, Miami, Hollywood and Californian Beaches, the Grand Canyon, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Isles, the Bahamas (so long as it’s on a cruise that starts and ends in the US), Niagara Falls, Dude Ranches in the American West, The northern Lights in Alaska, etc. it’s not that surprising that a lot of people don’t feel the need to get a passport or to keep one current.