Proud to be an American

[theclefe]

I think Americans need to travel more. Even here in NYC, people are painfully limited, thinking there's nothing worth seeing outside of this city. And Americans, as a whole, think that there's nothing worth seeing outside of our country.

There is a lot to see in America. Sure, there are plenty of unique things in other countries, but you could easily spend a lifetime enjoying only what America has to offer. Few other countries can boast that.

[Art Vandelay]

It's a lot easier to travel within Europe than to travel from the US to Europe. Not to mention the eight weeks of vacation time that many Europeans get.

[knapplc]

It's a lot easier to travel within Europe than to travel from the US to Europe. Not to mention the eight weeks of vacation time that many Europeans get.

Bingo! It costs a bazillion dollars to go to Europe even from the East Coast, whereas it costs a tank of gas to cross three countries in Europe. So are Europeans more well-traveled than Americans? Sure. But I’ll guarantee you I’ve seen more baseball games than the average European (and that MIGHT have something to do with the fact that they don’t have easy access to baseball like we do… maybe).

I’ve been to France a couple of times. The people I interacted with in Paris were very much like people from New York, Philly, San Francisco… you know, big-city folks with the same big-city walls built up, etc. I’ve also been down to wine country and talked to a gazillion people there, and you’d be surprised how well a guy who grew up in American farm country fits in with French farmers. My Grandpa grew corn. They grow grapes. They both have dirt under their fingernails and worry about the weather. Small world.

So while it’s true that Americans are not nearly as well-traveled as many other nationalities, that doesn’t make them better, just different – the product of different circumstances.

[AussieDodger]

It doesn't seem to be very common , or the fashionable thing to do for Americans to move overseas either.
Where I grew up (New Zealand) it was pretty much the United Nations at my high school. There was even a guy from South Korea , but no Americans.
I have been all the way around New Zealand , and up and down the east coast of Australia , and my total lifetime Americans met is 1.

In New Zealand there is a traditional thing for people when they are 18-19-20 to do an O.E (overseas experience) , I'd say that 80-90% of us do it.
And an increasing number are settling in another country. I did - my O.E is technically 7 years and counting.

It's a cultural difference - we are brought up needing to see everything and go everywhere. Whereas it feels like Americans are more insular and house-proud , which is not always a bad thing.

[knapplc]

There are dozens of factors that go into the reason(s) why Americans wouldn't want to move elsewhere, Aussie. The biggest one is that America is a pretty nice place, and while there are other nice places in the world, very few of them are SO MUCH better than America that they draw people there in noticeable numbers.

My sister-in-law moved to Paris a few years ago and loves it at times and hates it at times. I personally have never even heard of any other Americans who have become Ex-Pats (aside from her American friends in France), and I can't remember even hearing of a story of an American who emigrated to another country.

With a country as nice as America, as HUGE as America, and as distant from all but two other countries as America is, it's not surprising to me that most of us stick around inside our borders.

We have huge cities and desolate rural areas. We have wealth and comfort and we have bare living if you're looking for that. We have mountains and rivers and lakes and oceans and plains. We have deserts and tropics and temperate zones, we have near rain-forests and we have huge forests. We have any kind of product under the sun that you could possibly want, and we have most of it in abundance.

Other countries have the same or similar things to offer, but why go there when we already have it here?