Re: [OT] Completely off-topic and useless celebrating re: World Cup

On Thu, 20 Jun 2002 13:33:21 +0100, "Mike Elliott"
<Mike.Elliott@steria.co.uk>
wrote:

>Many a true word spoken in jest! I know a lady from the States who is
over
>here on a teaching exchange and she told us that the majority of our US
>cousins don't have a passport - they've never been outside their
country!

A friends visited me in Canada (they spent a day in Niagara Falls) from
Mississippi. A friend of theirs came with them. He felt that Canada was
the
only country he had any interest visiting. Even with the similarities
between
the nations, I found the culture shock on their faces quite amusing.
Most of
the folks I've seen down here in the South have never been outside of
the
country.

However, there isn't a lot of difference between Canadians and Americans
in
this regard. Most of my Canadian friends have travelled, but I know of a
lot
of Canadians that haven't been outside of the country either. Most
Canadians
don't have passports readily available (until 9/11 you didn't need one
to go
into the US). The Canadians who travel frequently are usually those who
immigrated or who are first or second generation Canadians.

Folks in Europe tend to forget that between Canada, the US, and Mexico
there's
a whole continent over here that's much bigger than Europe. There's a
lot to
see over here! You could spend an entire vacation in New York without
ever
seeing things like the Grand Canyon, the American or Canadian Rockies,
the
badlands of Utah or Alberta, the Mayan ruins of Mexico, etc., etc. You
can
drive to all of these places, with gas prices that are much cheaper than
in
Europe. Meals and accomodation are a lot cheaper over here, too.
Meanwhile, it
costs a lot of money to get Europe from North America, particularly if
you
bring a family along.

I'm from Scotland. I've visited Scotland once (which is why I got the
passport
in the first place). I would love to visit Britain, and "the continent"
more.
But it took me the better part of a year to save up for a three week
vacation.
I did a 10 day vacation from Toronto to New Orleans without blinking. 

Add to this the fact that there are a lot of areas of the world that are
not
safe to visit if you're an American (or an "American-sounding" Canadian
for
that matter). Then there's the stories (some true, some false) of
anti-American sentiment in safer countries like France and Britain. It's
no
wonder that Americans, not feeling welcome, stay at home. There's so
much to
see in their own country with a lot less of a hassle, particularly now
in the
post 9/11 world.

For the record, my next dream vacation (hopefully in the next 5 years)
is to
Ireland and Scotland. I hope, within the next decade or two, to visit
Japan.
In between time, I have the Grand Canyon, New York, the museums and
sites in
Washington, and a whole whack of Civil War battlefields to visit; none
of
which requires reservations and all of which can be done by simply
jumping
into the car.

Allan Goodall		       agoodall@hyperbear.com
http://www.hyperbear.com

"At long last, the earthy soil of the typical, 
unimaginable mortician was revealed!" 
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