more discussions rehackedOn the drive home from a movie Saturday night a friend of mine openly scorned the fact that "only 20% of Americans have passports." My response? Isn't this partly attributable to the fact that the United States is so huge, and therefore there is more to travel to and see domestically? As it turns out my theory was on target, at least as far as the square miles go. I'm standing by my theory that Europeans travel "internationally" more because Europe is just a lot smaller than the United States, seeing as how France is only 210,026 sq. miles (including Corsica) to Texas' 267,277 sq. miles. My parents may have never taken me to see the pretzel factories of Germany or siesta time on the Spanish coast, but i've trekked up and down these United States. I've been from the White Mountains of New Hampshire, through the Appalachains in Virginia, and west to Colorado where the continental divide guaranteed that my waste products might someday end up in the Pacific Ocean. Americans can visit the Everglades, see the prairie, and giggle at the Amish all in their backyard. Why spend extra cash on that inter-continental airfaire (ands lets just forget about kids on an airplane - eek) when you can visit the places above and still experience the three essential Vacation Questions ("Why is it so hot?" "Why won't these bugs stop biting me?" and "Why does this place stink like that?") as if you were in Paris? I'd be real curious to see some statistics on continental travel habits. Do more Europeans make the big trek out of their tiny backyards to see the USA? Or do American tourists leap more ponds and frogs for the pleasure of riding that sweet, sweet European public transportation? |
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