Americans fear solo travel
#46
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
Programs: Frontier Gold, DL estranged 1MMer, Spirit VIP, CO/NW/UA/AA once gold/plat/comped gold now dust.
Posts: 37,910
Re: OP. Well, I definitely buck the trend. Though the whole point about the workaholic culture is a good one, and if you look over the long view you see people giving up more and more personal time for....what? More "stuff" that doesn't get used and more money going to the 1%.
You've also got the bad foreign-language proficiency and the "gap year" not being the done thing, especially for kids from families who can't afford that sort of thing. When few or none of your friends are doing it, it tends to drop from the radar screen and start a lifetime of not-so-challenging things like Cancun being exotic and looking for the Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville there (or some similar corporate spot).
The first trips can be intimidating...like jumping off the waterfall in that scene in "The Beach." I did my first Europe trip with two friends and first Asia trip with a tour, but slowly built up confidence after that.
You've also got the bad foreign-language proficiency and the "gap year" not being the done thing, especially for kids from families who can't afford that sort of thing. When few or none of your friends are doing it, it tends to drop from the radar screen and start a lifetime of not-so-challenging things like Cancun being exotic and looking for the Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville there (or some similar corporate spot).
The first trips can be intimidating...like jumping off the waterfall in that scene in "The Beach." I did my first Europe trip with two friends and first Asia trip with a tour, but slowly built up confidence after that.
#47
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Netherlands
Programs: KL Platinum; A3 Gold
Posts: 28,550
HuffPost: The Great American Passport Myth: Why Just 3.5% Of Us Travel Overseas!
#48
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,103
#49
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,103
Except for business travel and leisure travel to an international destination where friends/relatives live, most other international air travel seems to involve people traveling as a group of 2 or more persons. It's far from being a uniquely American dynamic.
It's not so easy for even most Americans to tell who is a Canadian by briefly listening in on the spoken words of Canadians.
It's not so easy for even most Americans to tell who is a Canadian by briefly listening in on the spoken words of Canadians.
#50
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 38
FWIW, I have had some coworkers who cringe when I mention that I'm going to Europe by myself. Some fear terrorism, some fear general anti-American behavior, varying levels of crime, and others think that the film Hostel is real.
Despite the fears of others, I suspect that for most, it's either family responsibilities, a lack of money, or little to no paid vacation time that hobbles their ability to travel.
Despite the fears of others, I suspect that for most, it's either family responsibilities, a lack of money, or little to no paid vacation time that hobbles their ability to travel.
#51
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Virginia City Highlands
Programs: Nothing anymore after 20 years
Posts: 6,892
The percentage of Americans who have a valid passport, according to the most recent statistics as tabulated by the State Department, is about 46%.
You have not seen ozzies in Kuta and Phuket....
#52
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 57,257
I travel alone more than I travel with others. I guess I'm not an American.
Oh, and I'm leaving on a TATL trip next week - alone. A trip to South America two weeks after that - alone. Another TATL 3 weeks after that one. Alone.
#53
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Prince Edward Island
Programs: Air Canada P25K, Hilton Honors Gold, Marriott Gold, MGM Gold
Posts: 1,581
#54
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Virginia City Highlands
Programs: Nothing anymore after 20 years
Posts: 6,892
If you're talking about foreign travel I think the following end up hurting Americans.
1) Heavy work culture with limited vacation, with many people having only 2 weeks vacation during their working years you really have to go out of the way to travel abroad.
2) The United States is fairly big as it is, and has plenty of opportunity to travel within.
1) Heavy work culture with limited vacation, with many people having only 2 weeks vacation during their working years you really have to go out of the way to travel abroad.
2) The United States is fairly big as it is, and has plenty of opportunity to travel within.
Have been with the company for >8 years and I have not seen a single person in our US office who ever took more than two weeks vacation. At the same time my european colleagues every year go for month-long vacations and this is normal.
Would add another thing to #2 as well - getting from US to anywhere except Canada or Mexico would require at least one day travel by air in either direction. If you want fly from US to Bali/Singapore for example, you need to spend 3 days on travel only on both directions. This combined to limited vacation time really puts Americans into disadvantage.
#55
Join Date: May 2011
Location: San Antonio, TX
Programs: AA EXP, DL Silver, Global Entry
Posts: 1,862
Most of my business travel was and is as a solo. No problem with that and I actually found it a bit annoying when I had to travel with another person or group of people. At times in my career I traveled a lot and often to places I'd been to numerous times. So much so that when I had people traveling with me they looked to me to be the expert on where to stay, where to eat, etc., not a role I particularly liked. Now as for "gripping fear" traveling alone when on vacation.....well seems like I've been married my whole life and generally I've found my wife not to look kindly at me going on vacation by myself. That "gripping fear"!
#56
Join Date: May 2009
Location: South Park, CO
Programs: Tegridy Elite
Posts: 5,678
Their world revolves around them, and their experience is the ground truth and the only one that matters.
I travel alone more than I travel with others. I guess I'm not an American.
Oh, and I'm leaving on a TATL trip next week - alone. A trip to South America two weeks after that - alone. Another TATL 3 weeks after that one. Alone.
I travel alone more than I travel with others. I guess I'm not an American.
Oh, and I'm leaving on a TATL trip next week - alone. A trip to South America two weeks after that - alone. Another TATL 3 weeks after that one. Alone.
#57
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: where lions are led by donkeys...
Programs: Lifetime Gold, Global Entry, Hertz PC, and my wallet
Posts: 20,315
#58
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,103
#59
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: San Diego, CA
Programs: GE, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 15,486
Affirmative on both points. I work for large Fortune 500 european company with really good vacation benefits - after 5 years you can get 23 working days and after >10 years you pretty much can take like 2 month paid vacation as a reward and to figure out what you really want to do in your life.
Have been with the company for >8 years and I have not seen a single person in our US office who ever took more than two weeks vacation. At the same time my european colleagues every year go for month-long vacations and this is normal.
Have been with the company for >8 years and I have not seen a single person in our US office who ever took more than two weeks vacation. At the same time my european colleagues every year go for month-long vacations and this is normal.
#60
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: YYZ (ex-LHR)
Programs: BA Silver, VS Red, OZ Silver
Posts: 446
There's a lot of social stigma associated with doing things alone. I've wasted so much time and lost so many potential experiences because I didn't have anyone to go with. I since learned how to be alone, and now doing things solo is perfectly natural to me. I've had many more positive experiences because of it. I've had friends really want to see movies in the cinema but never actually went in the three months it was showing because 'they had nobody to go with' and it baffles me now.
I do find there's an underlying assumption that if I'm alone in a tourist hotspot, I must be waiting for someone. I regularly had an 'Are you waiting for your friends?' inside Las Vegas shows from those people wanting to take pictures of you. No, I'm on a business trip here, and I'm seeing these shows in the evening because I can.
As a solo female traveller, South Africa was pretty bad. Every restaurant I went to usually involved the server thinking something was wrong with me that I was on my own, with many questions fired at me about whether I actually have friends. At one point I was very nearly refused a table because of it. I found women were generally worse than men. But that's cultural variation.