What makes you want to travel outside of the U.S.?

[Anonymous]

Every place is different...every time I travel, I learn new things. Vienna, Taipei, Zurich, Bejing, Tokyo, Seoul, and even Vancouver are very different than DC, not better or worse. Same is true for Seattle, Portland, San Fransisco, NY, Philly (ok that is worse), Boston, etc...

Each place is a new experience which is woven into my overall psyche.

[Anonymous]

The OPs question is one of the major problems I have with Americans. Why bother learning about other cultures and people, ours is so awesome!

Get out more OP, you could use it.

[Anonymous]

'Merica sucks. It's great to escape whenever possible.

[Anonymous]

The OPs question is one of the major problems I have with Americans. Why bother learning about other cultures and people, ours is so awesome!

Get out more OP, you could use it.

That is an assumption.

Learning about other cultures is a great thing, and I speak from experience.

However, you could also learn about other people in the US and help the local economies. Nothing wrong with going to Europe, but, also nothing wrong with spending your money here. I say this as one who lived outside the US for a number of years and wish I had the opportunity to see more of my own country--the USA.

There is a thread on this forum of places you don't want to go. It is amazing how many people have already decided what parts of the US are awful--places they have never been.

[Anonymous]

Visiting friends -- we have friends all over the world and love to see them in their homes
Learning about different cultures and experiencing them first hand
Seeing historical places that I read about in history class
The food! Oh, the food.
Helping my kid understand that people do things differently elsewhere--the US is not "the norm" and the way we do things is not the only way to do them. Broaden their horizons

There are great things to see in the US, too, and we do that, but it's also fun to see other places.

[Anonymous]

To not be an ignoramous

[Anonymous]

I personally don't like to vacation outside the US. I never have, actually. I do a fair bit of international business travel and use the points and miles to explore my own country on vacation.

[Anonymous]

I don't even understand the question, OP. Are you that much of a nationalist? The world is huge and amazing. Why would you not want to see as much of it as possible?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To not be an ignoramous

+1

It's not an "either/or" question, OP. I've been to 37 states and 29 countries. I want to see it all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't even understand the question, OP. Are you that much of a nationalist? The world is huge and amazing. Why would you not want to see as much of it as possible?

PP here.

Our country is also huge and amazing. You could travel your whole life and never experience all the difference landscapes and cultures.

[Anonymous]

This can't be real, right? Maybe you aren't interested in art, architecture, history, food, music, politics, or science.

Of course there are lots of places in America to visit. I love driving cross country and wandering into little towns and weird roadside attractions. But, the breadth of human experience is a lot more expansive than just the U.S.

If for no other reason, traveling abroad gives you a chance to meet people who might see America differently than you do. Since our country is inescapable to the rest of the world, their perspectives can be eye opening.

[Anonymous]

Architecture, climate, culture, food, history, art, fashion, beaches, and just an all around different way of doing things--like the way everything shuts down in Italy for riposo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:tail

More abundant or younger outside the U.S.?

With all the sex tourism that just sounds gross.

[Anonymous]

warm weather in winter, mostly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am an American citizen. My great-grandparents on my mother's side were born in Italy. My grandparents on my father's side were born in Italy. We have been here in the U.S. since the late 1800s. I am the only person in my family to leave the U.S. for travel, and that was a vacation in Italy. My family had no desire to ever go back to Italy to visit or to live there again.

When I was a teenager, airfare was very expensive. I am just curious, with so much variety in geography in the U.S. what makes you desire trips to Europe (after one or two sight seeing visits) or to Mexican beaches and resorts or other countries?

I would rather shoot myself and travel to a vacation resort. That said, I visit about a dozen countries a year, primarily urban capitals where I'm looking to see the latest in food, art, design, music, and culture -- living culture, not churches and dusty museums. I'm in my late 20s, I want the entire world in my orbit, not to be confined to a provincial backwater (it's a charming city, but c'mon, it's true) like DC. I'm not much for nature travel at all.