Majority of New Orleans residents (in out of State shelters) had never TRAVELED
 

I was reading an interesting article in the Washington Post about the people who were sheltered in the Houston Astrodome. It reported that a clear majority of the NO residents (currently in out of state shelters) had NEVER traveled outside of their city before!

Considering that a large number of Black NO residents are currently in shelters, this indicates that many poor black people never travel outside their home-town/neighborhood ever.

Recently I traveled through Europe. Europeans are travelers. Is there a huge underclass in Western Europe who are middle age and have never left their hometown-ever?

More than you can count. I live part time in a rural area of Switzerland and I steadily meet people in the Saturday market who have never gone over the border of their own canton (state) meaning they only have heard of Zürich, Geneva but have never been there. The difference, however is not poverty but a total lack of interest. Even poor people in Switzerland travel once in a while as even people living at the so-called "existential minimum" level are entitled to holidays and make short vacations abroad.
I have seen this in Germany and Italy as well. Even people who could afford going somewhere do not. Plain, pure lack of interest. The common answer I get, when I ask is: Why should I? I have a nice house, a beautiful garden, I have everything I need....
Young people however are different already. They do travel and how...

A lot of the people whom I've met in the US have never gone across the state border and sometimes not even five miles from where they were born and the reasons vary from income limitations to lack of curiosity to fear of the beyond

I don't think they would count as an "underclass", but in our, primarily rural, part of France, there are a good many middle-aged folk who have never travelled outside the region. (Their children probably have, however.)

That being said, it is my perception that an awful lot of Europeans do travel far and wide and that a larger proportion of non-wealthy Europeans own some sort of vacation home than is common in the US.

Lots of people like that around here. PA is the most sedentary state in the US according to census data. It was quite a shock to learn that some of my neighbours had never been to NYC, an hour and a half away.

My brother is a doctor in Tallahassee FL, who spends time in clinics in nearby rural areas. Many of his rural patients have never traveled outside the county in which they were born--and Florida does not have large counties. I think it's mostly lack of curiosity.

There's a big cultural divide between people who travel as a matter of course and people who are just not interested in it. I can't fathom the latter POV, but in many places those people are the majority. Same planet, different worlds.

.....

I concur. I lived in Ticino (Italian-speaking part of Switzerland) for a few years. A neighbour in her 80's had never ventured further than 20 kms from our little village. Her case was/is not unique.
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13F

Spare us the Obvious
 

I used to think a NEWSpaper printed NEWS. What it Washington Post printed was so obvious that I do not consider it News.

Perhaps Bush and FEMA and the Post(do I detect an Inside the DC Beltway commonality here? Hmmm) could hire a dozen Harvard MBAs to do a marketing survey. Spoiler: I can write the headline with no research at all.

Non News Flash: "A study of 1000 inner city citizens, welfare recipients, crack dealers, gang bangers and those with long rap sheets found that NOT A SINGLE ONE is a Hilton HHonors Gold card member, although the two gangstas who had a Hilton Gold Card in their possesion were found to have stolen them."

Duh.

The FT community forgets that it is a minor subset of the USA. Folks here do international mileage runs to other countries for fun. Since only 30% of Americans have a passport, ALL international flying is done by less than 30% of the population.

FT is populated by those fortunate enough to afford to travel. We live in a world of "how can I upgrade" and "how can I get extra miles". Most Americans have never sat in a Y seat once in their lives. That is a big gap. Every time you take a MR JFK-LAX 50 gallons of Jet A is burnt to fly you over millions of people who have never used a drop of Jet A.

I don't have the statistics at hand, but IMHO, I doubt this. If less than 50% of Americans have never flown commercially, then you are absolutely right.

If more than 50% of Americans have flown commercially, then I question this. The FC/Business seats (on those planes that have them) make up a minority of seats available.

<<Edited to add: Arrgh! Shows what a FlyerTalk mentality can do to you, In my second paragraph, I somehow had it in my head that this meant "Of those Americans who have flown, most sat in First/Business," clearly not the poster's intent. Didn't mean to twist the meaning, my bad. :o >>

This isn't terribly surprising, and really has nothing to do with age, race or income. Those of us who are addicted to travel tend to think everyone travels, too, when in reality the overwhelming majority of Americans don't.

Naturally I can't find the citation when I want it, but somewhere around here I have a research paper indicating that the majority - that's the MAJORITY - of Americans have never traveled farther than 50 miles from their homes during their lifetimes. That is millions of Americans who have never gone anywhere, and are quite happy about it. Of course that also leaves millions of Americans who do travel, and they are the ones we compete with for airline seats, hotel rooms, etc.


That's a dangerous generalization to make. Some Europeans do travel - some don't. Just like Americans.

Underclass? Why use the specific term "underclass?" Socio-economic status has very little to do with the yen (or need) to travel or the desire to stay home. Nor, by the way, does age (except, of course, for the very, very young and the infirm aged.) Stay-at-homes are not necessarily part of any "underclass." They just don't see the need to go anywhere else.

We noted that also in suburban Philadelphia. If they went anywhere, it was to the Jersey shore or for a real stretch, DisneyWorld. We actually encountered a family that thought they were going to drive to NYC and park at the Empire State Building, WTC, etc as they made their way around the city. My own siblings who are upper middle income were way past 40 before they got up the nerve to get on a plane and come to San Diego (which they now adore).

I've lived in CA for 10 years or so and my family members never came out here. We'd often buy my grandparents the tix (as a gift, somewhat due to hardship though) until they passed away but even my grandma's last trip out here was 1998.

I'm the most traveled member of my family by far. My dad used to travel for work, had silver on CO for a couple of years and hated every minute of it. My parents now are too busy to go away anywhere far but their idea of a vacation is Cancun.. they've been there.. hmm... 5 times in 9 years? They went to London and Ireland one year though, maybe in 2000..

I have one cousin who's kinda comparable.. his big thing is Gay Pride events around the world. That's fine with me.. he's gone to events in GIG, AMS and LON IIRC (maybe a couple of others) but I have him beat on the sheer number of times crossing the ponds.

I'm still in college, btw.

In a way, I find it strange... I think it's how I was raised.. My parents moved us from NYC when I was 12 to SFO so we'd always go back and forth. Airports, planes etc were always a lot of fun for me then and continue to be. My brother doesn't travel either for recreation, though he goes to MIA, NYC for work a few times a year.

I met a fella in Shanghai on one of those river cruises there.. so we were talking and he's from Southern Germany.. Bavaria area. I asked him if he travelled a lot... "no" he said. Ok... fairly vague answer.. turns out he only left Germany a handful of times. He lived 45minutes from France, and only been there once.

Some people just don't have the desire or curoisty or the means to travel. Insulur? Perhaps....

When I was growing up in Chicago there were people who once they came from the old country never left the neighborhood! Not even to go downtown to shop!

Most all of the folks I work with travel. Maybe not a lot but they have visited several states.

I travel in my job and can't believe that there are people there in towns who will not go to the closest big city! The are convinced they have to best life there is!! There is NO curiosity about other places and they can't believe other people would want to live differently than they do.

The rest of the world or even the rest of the country does not matter as it plays no role in their lives. As an example I was working in a state capital here in the US when the Berlin Wall came down. It was found on page 10 well after high school football!

I think if you look for the same demographic (poor, living hand to mouth, minority) anywhere, you will find folks who have never traveled. A lot of it will be because of lack of funds, but you have to remember that poor folks aren't exactly instilled from an early age with the desire to travel and see the world around them. For them, travel is what the rich folks do, and so for them any desire is quashed early and never really given a second thought.