Americans are nomadically challenged
“Only 11% of U.S. citizens even hold passports. Three times that number of people watch NASCAR races, and if there’s a better definition of anti-travel — endless circling, trapped in a lower ring of hell — I don’t want to know what it is.”
–Ed Readicker-Henderson, “Nos Patriam Fugimus”, Motionsickness, Summer 2003
September 22nd, 2003 at 10:38 am
You know, this figure about American passport holders has been touted around so much, yet its implication is not what many think it is – that Americans travel ridiculously less than other Westerners – and it annoys me to see it once again touted without any nuanced analysis.
Take the figures for European passpport holders. They’re much higher than those for Americans. What does this mean? Lets analyze it briefly. Europeans live in relatively small countries surrounded by other small countries with which they do business on a regular business. This often necessetates travel to said countries using passports. No analogous situation exists for interstate travel in America. But an even more important factor is this; climate. The number of British passport holders is so high because if a Brtion wants to escape his miserable winter climate he goes to Greece or Ibiza for some sun. For this he needs a passport.This is true over much of Northern Europe.
An American motivated by similar reasons goes to Florida, California, or Mexico, for which he needs no passport.
Anyone who has been to Thailand knows that roughly 70% of the European tourists are most certainly not there for any sort of cultural enrichment. They’re there for some fun in the sun, on the cheap. Americans merely are fortunate enough to have other venues.
So the disparate passport holding numbers don’t mean what people think – that Americans are uninterested in cultural enrichment and other Westerners are – if analzied with a bit of nuance, it means very little.
Based on my (extensive) travel experince, the number of American travlers interested in cultural enrichment is roughly on a par with other Weterners.
And further, anyone who has encountered the hordes of insenstive and culturally boorish European travelrs who descend on places like Thailand might well wish that Europeans held passports in numbers as small as Americans. A culture of travel is not necessarily a good thing as it pushes people who are not serious into travelling simply because it’s the “in” thing to do.
I think the situation in America is nearly perfect and far superior to what exists in Europe. Only the truly curious and commited travel, wheras those seeking beaches and sun are happy in Miami Beach. Americans keep their beach boors home wheras Europeans export them. There is no virtue in that.
December 19th, 2003 at 3:51 pm
Your comments clearly illustrate the stereotical ignorances and arrogance of the dreaded American traveller.
You people are boorish, I have met onyl a handful of ‘culturally intrigued’ US residents while travelling abroad and those were debased by their proclivity to that shrill, unjustifiably loud complaining that makes the rest of the planet thankful that the trend illustrates a decline in passport interest.
Thankfully the rest of the world has realized that the once lone motivator of taking american cash no longer outweighs the greater price of ignorance, arrogance, loud conversation, destructive nature and utter stupidity of the american traveller.
Europeans are not without their faults, but at least they travel with dignity and applumb.
FYI – I’m Canadian, a land rife with the discomfort and smell of the american beer belly vulgarities. I;m looking forward to the day that AMericans require us to provide passports to cross our border, it will result in them needing one to cross ours. Perhaps that will reduce the raucous conversations to an 11% level of the previous visitors to our “godforsaken frozen wasteland”
December 19th, 2003 at 3:54 pm
PS – Sorry about burning down your White House in 1812. You’ve done a good job on the new one.
December 19th, 2003 at 4:50 pm
Ron – It’s ironic how the blind hatred of your posting reflects the exact ignorance that you claim to be rallying against. Perhaps this stems from the resentment of feeling culturally invaded by your neighbors south of the border? I think Jonathan’s observations regarding the oft-touted passport statistics are astute and well-meaning. Statistics are seldom meaningful without considering their context. While his conclusions can be argued against, I think that attacking his purpose is a sign of a greater ignorance. Surely among travelers there are boorish knaves who hail from all corners of the globe, whether English, Irish, American, Swedish, German – and Canadians are no exception. Of course the loud, obnoxious, drunken folks are the ones that everyone tends to notice first. I would point out though, that there are in fact many curious and respectful – or ‘culturally-intrigued’ as you put it – American travelers, who may be invisible to those who frequent backpacker bars. These students of the world are more likely to travel alone, live with host families, and generally embrace the local culture through true immersion rather than by carousing with their fellow foreign transplants. Maybe you are just looking in the wrong places for Americans who have something besides Starbucks and McDonald’s to offer.