Americans Should Be Allowed to Travel

Canada or Mexico don't count

Hello bloggers and whoever else is reading this post. I was surfing the internet during one of my streaks of boredom here at my "office-space" like job when I encountered this little article titled "Why Americans should never be allowed to travel". The article consisted of travel agents accounts of their conversations with American customers. The part of me that likes to laugh at stupid people made the article entertain me for about a minute but then I started pondering how many Americans are actual overseas travelers. I then took it upon myself to perform some vital research (vital in the sense it was better than doing my job). I found out from the Travel Industry Association of America that the actual number of Americans traveling overseas is close to 21 million from a population of 280 million. Even further reducing the amount that actually leave North America 14 million of those 21 million people travel to Canada.

I must admit the U.S. and its large cities tend to be a cultural melting pot (evidence of this was made clear when I went to lunch today and was served Italian food from someone of Asian descent while sipping on French coffee) but it's nothing like actually flying to Rome and then having some homemade carbonara. While some may throw their anecdotes about how Fat Tony's in NY has some artery clogging goodness, I ask, can you eat it next to the Coliseum?

While I agree that not everyone has time or the finances to pursue an international expedition it can be an insightful experience. Getting to witness why people dislike the French, for example, can give you an actual reason to boycott their products. Ofcourse one cannot speak of travel abroad without speaking of 9/11 and the war in Iraq. If not the fear of crashing from the former it is fear of anti-Americanism from the latter. It is certainly understandable to have apprehension about flying. I mean just the security process alone is enough to turn anyone into a terrorist. The concept of flying on an airline itself is somewhat of a jittery concept. You sit on a large metallic object filled with thousands of pounds of fuel while going hundreds of miles per hour, which can strangely also define a missile. I'm sure there are many factors that contribute to American's hesitation to fly abroad (i.e; airline food, cramped seating, Anti-Americanism, etc etc.) but it's amazing to me that so few people in the U.S. leave the country yet we are the richest country in the world. Whatever the reasons, everyone should go visit another nation at least once (not counting Canada or Mexico) just to see what all the fuss is about. I placed the links on the bottom of the page with the first one for the article I'm talking about and the second one for the travel info. That's all for now.

(currently listening to the Thievery Corporation's "The Cosmic Game")

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I always enjoy travel and learned a lot from it. It's an experience everyone should have. Unfortunately, the cost of travel these days is far out of reach for many people. I doubt I will be traveling abroad in the future unless someone else is footing the bill.

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Yeah, I doubt I will get the chance to travel to Europe or overseas in the near future. I have only travelled within Canada and twice to the US (the farthest South I have been is Minneapolis), and most of that has been for school trips. Although I have one travel goal that I would like to accomplish: To go to Cuba before Castro dies! Hooray for cheap Cuban cigars!

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