Originally Posted by
baggageinhall
A ridiculous joke at that. Comparing raw numbers or the percentage of Americans who have Passports to Brits is meaningless given that it doesn't take into account:
1. That in order to travel outside of the UK, you need a Passport. 30 minutes flying time from London and you need a little burgundy coloured document.
2. The US is a vast country stretching from Hawaii to the tip of New England. An American can travel for several hours before they leave their national borders.
3. Until recently, American's did not need a Passport to visit Canada.
4. The subtext of some of those on this side of the Atlantic sneering at the low rate of American Passport ownership is that it somehow shows that we are broad minded and cultured, whereas the Americans are insular and unadventurous. I would love to know what percentage of UK Passport holders have been beyond (i) Spain/Greece/Cyprus where they are surrounded by other people from Britain (ii) Thailand (getting drunk with their mates for less than in Europe) and (iii) the US, where there is little need to speak another language or immerse yourself in an alien culture.
Apologies, but it's a real bugbear.
I totally agree with you. Lots of (legal) Brits do hold passports but in the main our holiday destinations are to resorts in Spain/Balearics/Portugal that offer no culture of that country. They simply have 'British Bars' serving all day fried breakfasts and pie and chips. Cyprus is very 'British' anyway and most people speak English. Cyprus, however is relatively expensive and the larger louts tend to stay away. There is also some great culture and history there if you look for it. It is my favourite European holiday (if doing a beach type holiday). It's a real problem when going on holiday in Europe to find somewhere where the larger louts don't go and sometimes I do feel ashamed of the British when I see the way they behave.
The figure often touted in the UK is that only 10% of Americans hold passports. This is incorrect. I've dug around and found a website with the percentage of passport holders in each State and 'cosmopolitan' areas held a much higher percentage than a third but states like Mississippi, a much lower percentage held a passport. If this is all evened out for the US as a whole, the figure is about a third.
The UK population btw is between 60-70 million. Actually a lot more than the 30 million as previously suggested. And that's just the 'legal' population. There is no where to go really to get away from other people in the UK. Going to places like Australia where there are large tracts of open land can be a bit of a culture shock to a Brit.