Friday, February 4, 2011

Americans travel less Abroad

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/02/04/americans.travel.domestically/index.html
Begin quote from above article.

(CNN) -- The numbers tell the story: Of the 308 million-plus citizens in the United States, 30% have passports.
That's just too low for such an affluent country, said Bruce Bommarito, executive vice president and chief operating officer for the U.S. Travel Association.
"Americans are comfortable in their own environment," Bommarito said.
There were 61.5 million trips outside the United States in 2009, down 3% from 2008, according to the Office of Travel and Tourism Industries. About 50% of those trips were to either Mexico or Canada, destinations that didn't require a passport until 2007. end quote.

Though the U.S. and China and Russia tend to be the most ethnocentric nations on earth:
(Ethnocentrism is the tendency to believe that one's ethnic or cultural group is centrally important, and that all other groups are measured in relation to one's own. The ethnocentric individual will judge other groups relative to his or her own particular ethnic group or culture, especially with concern to language, behavior, customs, and religion. These ethnic distinctions and sub-divisions serve to define each ethnicity's unique cultural identity.[1]
The term ethnocentrism was coined by William G. Sumner, upon observing the tendency for people to differentiate between the ingroup and others. He described it as often leading to pride, vanity, beliefs of one's own group's superiority, and contempt of outsiders.[2] 
end quote from Wikipedia under the heading "ethnocentrism".


Also, I would say generally that ethnocentrism is not healthy for the world because it tends to lead towards economic or physical wars between nations and was one of the major reasons both World War I and II were fought. So these differences really do make a difference in regard to peace worldwide.

I would say the most dangerous ethnocentric divide on earth at present is between the U.S. and China. Both nations are incorrigably ethnocentric to a fault.

begin quote:

Answers.com - What is incorrigable

Definitions and Word Differences question: What is incorrigable? Something that cannot be corrected. Although it's usually spelt INCORRIGIBLE.


However, even though I have had a passport for about 30 years at present (I would have gotten one sooner but before then I mostly traveled to Hawaii, Canada and Mexico if I was leaving the mainland, so I didn't need one before then. Besides, one has to become wealthy enough to travel which takes some time unless you are born rich which I was not(I was born middle class which means I always had enough but not enough to travel abroad and have it be fun or useful to me before my thirties).


Today, the only places on earth where I feel completely safe when traveling outside of the U.S. and Canada is probably Europe and Great Britain. Most other places I don't feel to safe. Although I felt fairly safe in the 1980s in Thailand, India and Nepal and in Japan. But I was much younger then than now.


Sadly, even though I spent a lot of time in Baja California in Mexico in the 1970s I really don't feel safe in Mexico anymore. I think it was the guys with machetes walking around with hate in their eyes for Americans and the fact that several of my friends were beaten by police in Baja after being given parking tickets in areas that weren't marked. After complaining to the police they were tied to a jail cell and beaten and whipped until they were unconcious. I think these situations sort of ended my joy of going to Mexico. So strangely enough I feel the least safe in Mexico of anywhere I've been on Earth.


And the country I feel the safest in (even safer than anywhere in California is Canada). I think Canada might be now the safest country on Earth in some ways. I'm not entirely sure why this is but I do know
that for example, if you (as a stranger) walk into someone's house(in Canada) a Canadian will say, "What are you doing here?" If you did this anywhere in the U.S. likely you would be shot with no questions asked. You would be dead. This is the difference between living in the U.S. and Canada in a nutshell. The same with visiting there. There is just more respect for life and less paranoia and fear in general in Canada. Sometimes in the 1980s (since the Canadian English accent is almost the same as the standard American English accent) I would tell people who asked me when traveling in Asia where I was from and I would say "Canada" if I didn't trust them or know them.(Because most people there couldn't tell the very slight basic difference between Canadian English and American English) It was a way of staying alive while traveling because often people like to kill or injure or maim Americans for a variety of reasons. So, since nobody seems to hate Canadians it is better to say you are a Canadian even if you are really an American just to make sure you live through the day.(However, obviously if you are talking to authorities or hotel clerks in countries you Must tell them who you really are because you will have to show them your passport. It is only people on the street that you might say you were a Canadian to).


Especially since 9-11 Americans in general (except for College age Americans and people in their 20s) I think generally travel a lot less out of the country. It's just a way to make sure they and their families stay alive. Also, jobs and money have been harder to come by since 9-11 so that is a factor too.

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