Why never been out of the country?

[Anonymous]

Marie Antoinette, is that you out there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To me it is about priorities. My child learned more about this world from seeing that children in India don't have the same things in India she does than at the fancy beach house in Delaware or at private school. But we all care about different things.

I care about giving her a world per

You could have saved some money and taken her to Appalachia where there are Americans living in extreme poverty as well. You don't need to fly your child to India to teach her that people don't have the same as her. Take her into the projects. Take her to volunteer at a Soup Kitchen. The money that you used to fly to India could have been put toward helping out some people here.

While travel is nice (I personally love to travel), your justification for travel has fallen short. You can learn about poverty right here in your own backyard AND have the opportunity to actually help them out.

That's what I was thinking too. I grew up in the mountains with the poorest of the poor. I knew people without electricity or people who only had electricity in the kitchen. There were people that bagged up leaves in the fall and used them as insulation around the bottom of their trailers.
There are a bunch of abandoned houses where I grew up and many of them are inhabited by families. It's pretty sad and my kids have seen it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You could have saved some money and taken her to Appalachia where there are Americans living in extreme poverty as well. You don't need to fly your child to India to teach her that people don't have the same as her. Take her into the projects. Take her to volunteer at a Soup Kitchen. The money that you used to fly to India could have been put toward helping out some people here.

While travel is nice (I personally love to travel), your justification for travel has fallen short. You can learn about poverty right here in your own backyard AND have the opportunity to actually help them out.

That's what I was thinking too. I grew up in the mountains with the poorest of the poor. I knew people without electricity or people who only had electricity in the kitchen. There were people that bagged up leaves in the fall and used them as insulation around the bottom of their trailers.
There are a bunch of abandoned houses where I grew up and many of them are inhabited by families. It's pretty sad and my kids have seen it.

Shelter? Running water? Real clean water they don't have to walk miles to get?

No slavery?

They are actually living the fucking dream in your town.

[Anonymous]

I love to travel, think it is valuable, and have been to about a dozen countries and 40+ states. I would rather travel than have extra "things."
That said, it is laughable to assume that most people can even consider traveling abroad. I grew up in a southern state and knew plenty of kids in high school who had traveled to 1-3 additional STATES... that was it. Their families could not afford overseas travel, and these weren't "poor" kids. Some of them might have gotten to travel abroad with a language class on a school sponsored trip, or maybe study abroad one semester in college, but this was a once in a lifetime thing, and most kids didn't get to do this.
If you decide that traveling abroad is super important and save for years, you can probably do it... But the idea that spending $2K on plane tickets alone is "not expensive" is ridiculous and shows a lack of understanding of how most people live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You could have saved some money and taken her to Appalachia where there are Americans living in extreme poverty as well. You don't need to fly your child to India to teach her that people don't have the same as her. Take her into the projects. Take her to volunteer at a Soup Kitchen. The money that you used to fly to India could have been put toward helping out some people here.

While travel is nice (I personally love to travel), your justification for travel has fallen short. You can learn about poverty right here in your own backyard AND have the opportunity to actually help them out.

That's what I was thinking too. I grew up in the mountains with the poorest of the poor. I knew people without electricity or people who only had electricity in the kitchen. There were people that bagged up leaves in the fall and used them as insulation around the bottom of their trailers.
There are a bunch of abandoned houses where I grew up and many of them are inhabited by families. It's pretty sad and my kids have seen it.

Shelter? Running water? Real clean water they don't have to walk miles to get?

No slavery?

They are actually living the fucking dream in your town.

There is a documentary on Shelby Lee Adams. He grew up in Appalachia and now goes back and photographs it. His photos are amazing and very real. The documentary provides more insight into the people he photographs and how he photographs them. It was eye opening to me. I suggest you take a look at it. If you think these people are living the dream, you are surely out of touch with reality. I never really knew much about the people who lived there until I saw this. Somehow, as concerned as we are about helping poverty stricken countries (and I am all for that, mind you), we also seem to be overlooking an unspoken population of America.

[Anonymous]

So there are poor people in America and we should travel to India to see poverty?
I actually agree with this because the poverty in America is different to poverty elsewhere.
At least there are food stamps and other things available to the poorest of the poor.
You really need to travel to know the difference.

[Anonymous]

22:05 Then sponsor a poor family on a world poverty tour.

The disconnect exhibited by some posters here is shocking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh please! We went to Brazil last Thanksgiving and the tix were $550 per person non stop.

You guys should learn how to search for deals if you really want to go.

Price is such a lame excuse!

Then you've obviously never been on a tight budget. Price is a very legitimate "excuse" if you're on a tight budget. $550 per person pays rent, food, and bills.

Oh come on! What's $500 for DCUM's standards?

$500 is a lot of money. And what is "DCUM's standards"? Are you assuming everyone who visits a free public website is automatically rich and floating in money?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some people don't like airports and their intrusiveness
some people don't have the $$
some people are homebodies
I know of a lawyer family in the metro area who have never traveled outside maryland/Pennsylvania/VA; so it's not likely $ alone...I meet people in their 20"s who have never been on a plane...

I went to undergrad in upstate New York, 200 miles from New York City. Some locals living in that town have never travelled to New York in their entire lifetimes - and it was a four-hour-drive, at best. When I asked some of them "Why?", the answer was "Never wanted to".

So I believe it's not just about the money (although, international travel can be prohibitively expensive for a lot of people), it's about a person's interest in what's going on at the other side of the fence, so to speak. Some people are amazingly apathetic.

I grew up in Upstate NY (about 4 hours from the city) and went to NYC on two high school field trips my senior year. I haven't been back since. I didn't have an opportunity to go back before having children and I don't want to go back until they are older and easier to handle.

We have done several trips this summer and are out of pocket about $1500. Mostly spent on fuel. We did several day trips and stayed with my in-laws who live near the beach. It's not crowded O.C. but a little unknown beach that is crowded if there's 3 other people there. I much prefer their beach because I don't care for crowds and noise.

I have been overseas, in fact my kids were born overseas, but I don't plan on going back in the next five years. I want to show the kids where they were born and where we lived but I want them to be old enough to appreciate it and remember it too. It's the same reason I haven't taken them to Disney either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People saying it's expensive doesn't know what they're talking about!

Seriously? It IS expensive.

it doesn't have to be expensive. you all are talking europe [spain, london, paris], but what about eastern europe? what about asia or south america? you don't have to travel first world. i find third world travels much more interesting and the dollar goes further.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh please! We went to Brazil last Thanksgiving and the tix were $550 per person non stop.

You guys should learn how to search for deals if you really want to go.

Price is such a lame excuse!

Then you've obviously never been on a tight budget. Price is a very legitimate "excuse" if you're on a tight budget. $550 per person pays rent, food, and bills.

Oh come on! What's $500 for DCUM's standards?

$500 is a lot of money. And what is "DCUM's standards"? Are you assuming everyone who visits a free public website is automatically rich and floating in money?

when i read posts about how an hhi of at least $250k is necessary for a decent quality of life, um... yeah.

[Anonymous]

Fear of getting out of my comfort zone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People saying it's expensive doesn't know what they're talking about!

Seriously? It IS expensive.

it doesn't have to be expensive. you all are talking europe [spain, london, paris], but what about eastern europe? what about asia or south america? you don't have to travel first world. i find third world travels much more interesting and the dollar goes further.

You are still missing the point. Plane tickets are expensive. Or is there some new, cheap, 3rd world travel option I don't know about?

Also, many people (myself included) have no interest in traveling to a 3rd world country. I'm sure you think I lack a global perspective and don't want to be my friend, but that's fine with me. When I take my precious vacation time, I want to relax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I do have a sense of reality. Why are you saying I don't? Traveling can be cheap if you really want it to. But as we read before some are not willig to stay at a simple B&B, they prefer a fake beach with waiting staff to bring them drinks. Whatever.

My family back home is far from rich but I knew early on what I wanted and I've been working hard for this. Too bad some people don't know about the *tricks*.

We're low middle class and my 12 mo old has been to South America, Asia and the Middle East. It can be done if you want to. The thing is that some of you just don't want to. That's what I've been trying to say but seems like you're not really interested. All you want is to throw a pity party for the less fortunate. Go ahead do it but at least use some plausible argument.

You have yet to prove your contention that "travel is cheap." Brazil seems to cost several thousand dollars. The recent Vietnam and Italy examples are even more expensive.

You also refuse to accept that "prioritizing" is impossible when it means digging into necessities and basic needs. I don't know whether you have a mortgage, but many people do. Many recent US grads have significant college loans, which is not the case for you If you went to college outside the US. Saving for college is an important priority for many low income families - how are you doing on that? THESE ARE NOT "WRONG-HEADED PRIORITIES," THEY ARE NECESSITIES FOR MANY PEOPLE. There, is it clear now?

Why do I get the eerie feeling that Marie Antoinette is lurking somewhere in cyberspace with this thread?

Been to Vietnam. My 3* hotel in Hanoi including a pho bfast and the most delicious lemonade I've ever had was $20/nite. Pho on the street was $1. Sandwiches 75 cents. Not expensive at all. It's just the getting there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh please! We went to Brazil last Thanksgiving and the tix were $550 per person non stop.

You guys should learn how to search for deals if you really want to go.

Price is such a lame excuse!

Then you've obviously never been on a tight budget. Price is a very legitimate "excuse" if you're on a tight budget. $550 per person pays rent, food, and bills.

Oh come on! What's $500 for DCUM's standards?

$500 is a lot of money. And what is "DCUM's standards"? Are you assuming everyone who visits a free public website is automatically rich and floating in money?

when i read posts about how an hhi of at least $250k is necessary for a decent quality of life, um... yeah.

Those posts are ridiculous. That does not mean everyone on DCUM earns over 250K a year.