Did you know that only 20 % or less of Americans have a passport.?

Lady Shondra

there are many reason why most of us do not have passports,.as many as there are people. the majority do not have the financial resources to travel abroad. (me), this probably hold true for the majority.

until 9/11 we could travel to Mexica, Canada and others without needing a passort. now it is a matter of a need basis and most know they will not be traveling so it is an unnessecry expense.

i have traveled thru most of the US and you're right when you say you could travel the USA in lifetime and still not see all there is to see here. This does not negate other country in any way.

Most Americans are very much aware of the world and the many wonders to see. i wish i could travel too. i have several friends who travel to many different countries and they try to imerse themselves in the local culture. most say it is the people who they find most interesting. they tell me that it is in larger cites where you find the locals rude, aarogant, resentful and they they are the ones who hate america and americas but when you go into the interior, it is totally different with people and their attitudes. they are egar to know armericans and about america.

i, for one, do not consider it aggranance when one shows pride in you country of origin but yet when we do, it is arragance on our part.

one of my best friend's gf is from France and she often tells us about the many merits of France. we do not think she is being arrogant, maybe just a little homesick even though she chose to come to america and become a citizen.

i would never presume to think meeting one Frenchperson represents all Frenchmen and a handful of americans do not represent all american.

perhaps i have given those with negative post some things to ponder and make them more tolerant. i hope so.

Why do you give a **** if Americans have a passport or not? Mind your own ******* business

Dani

I.. and my family, friends... have had passports for years. Sure, we've been to Mexico, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Costa Rico, Canada... but we also look for the cheap fares to the UK and Australia and take those planes. But, because the USA is so large, there are still many places here that I want to visit or revisit. There's a reason so many Europeans come here. By the way.. you also come across as arrogant and ignorant.

Roger

Yeah well Europe these days is almost the same as the United States to cross a country's border which is in the European union a passport is not required in fact its basically the same as going from new york to new jersey there are borders but they use them to check trucks that transport some stuff i live in the Netherlands and i can drive to Spain with just my driving license on me or a European I.D card

but yeah lots of Europeans go to the states these days cause its cheap compare to here

it used to be the other way around i could remember the days the Americans came to Europe to shop

Miss Jinxy

Actually, I think it's Europe who takes their opinions of Americans from television. You do watch our television and our hit movies, you know, we don't see any of yours. I had a German exchange student who's favorite TV shows were the OC and Gilmore Girls. I don't really feel comfortable knowing that a lot of Europeans see these posh rich people and think that's America. Many countries with awfully high obesity rates point fingers at us because of all the media attention on the US.

And- we can't afford to go anywhere. Traveling to Germany for a week costs WAY too much, especially when I'm trying to afford these skyrocketing college fees. Passports cost money, plane tickets are obscenely expensive (I don't know where you're getting cheap ones!) And besides, I don't get vacation time. When am I supposed to find two weeks to relax? Doesn't work that way in America. My mom used up all her vacation time because she wasn't allowed time off for her uncle's funeral. We couldn't spend Christmas day with our family, let alone take time to explore the world and get a less "ignorant" point of view.

James M

This is not actually true. When this rumour first came about it was only 10%

â˜¼â˜¼sunny_girlâ˜¼â˜¼

WOW I did not know only 20% of americans have a passport. I also think in America we have a number of people who cannot afford to even think about travelling to Europe or even Canada. We have a good number of low income people in each state, which means less people having funds to spend on travel. I teach and soooooo many of my kids say they have never been on a plane and I am like what?? No even to Las Vegas or San Francisco ( I live in L.A.) but its true. Also in Europe many of the countries are closer to its easire to travel to another country the some way we may travel from state to state.

Sun Down

So the Brits are flying to NY for "shopping"? Now I know who to blame global warming on.

iamct01

I don`t think it comes from Hollywood I think it comes from our media and fading generations that were taught to fear those different and kill to save.

rustynail

Why would they need passports when they live on a huge continent.? It would take a lifetime to travel from one end of USA to the other and see all the sights you would want to. Only then would they need a passport to see the rest of the world. Most of the Americans who seem arrogant are only a small percentage who have enough money to travel. I think TV does give a stereotyped view of people from all parts of the world.

btw I am not from USA, but from Ireland and have no relatives that I know of in USA, just an observation.

Mystery

i'm british and yes some americans do think they are the centre of the universe but i have met many americans while travelling the world doing the same as me. in fact many americans hate america!

don't tar them all with the same brush, whether they have a passport or not or travel or not, that's their business. America has so much to see you could live there a lifetime, travel, and never even have enough time to see everything. I don't think the reason they don't travel is because of their views of the rest of the world...

Most Americans have neither the time, nor the money to go overseas. I myself have been lucky enough to do it 3 times, but I and my family have money. I am well aware that I am not the majority here. Plus, considering that you believe Americans to be arrogant and ignorant, and that your opinion of Americans appears to be a popular one on Y/A, explain to me why anyone would want to go anywhere, where they would be looked upon as arrogant and ignorant. That's certainly not any place I'd want to spend my vacation.

Americans hardly have a stereotyped view of other people around the world. If anything, the main complaint is that we don't know enough about other people.

Believe what you want about us. I don't really care anymore. Most Americans are good, hard working, decent people who are just trying to live life day by day, and have more immediate issues in their lives to deal with than hopping on a plane and seeing the world so that they won't be looked upon as "arrogant and ignorant" by other people in other countries, whom they've never met.

bruce m

you have to look at everything they have there though. they don't need to travel. it does hold them back culturally though.

Smokey69er

thats because many of them think America 'is' the world

kinning_park

This nugget of information comes up quite often, usually in a context implying that Americans are not well travelled.

The reason most Americans don't have passports is that they don't need one to travel within the same range as most Europeans.

America is huge. The USA has a surface area of around 9.8m sq km. The EU has an area of about 4.3m sq km. Americans can, and do, travel over twice the surface area that Europeans do, but do not require passports, whereas Europeans have more border controls to pass, and therefore do.

deltagremlin

i thought 60% of the population was mexican anyway

Maxwell

I suspect that the other 80% or so, don't even realise that there is a whole world outside of their country.

Also when you see American tourists in London for example, they will always be going on about "well in America we have..."
"the ones in America are bigger....."
"We do this in America....."

BILL S

I'M THINKING IN THE NEXT 10-20 YEARS, THE GOVT. WILL NEED A LITTLE MORE MONEY ON SOMETHING STUPID AND PASS A LAW THAT WE WILL NEED A PASSPORT JUST TO CROSS THE STATE LINE.

Gaia

I think America as a whole has an overwhelming arraogant, ignorant and narrow view of the world and other cultures. I think the reason they won't and don't travel (like many of our European counterparts) is because they are afraid. They are afraid of leaving the bubble, afraid of seeing that maybe American isn't the promise land they believe it to be. American's, I think more than most other cultures, are so paralyzed by their fears of the unknown. Is it because our country is so big, land mass wise, that its not necessary to travel out of the country to see many places?? I'm not sure. I just know there is significant and unwarranted fear of other cultures. I think, also, American's have a silent fear they are unwilling to admit and that is that most European's would run circles around them with regard to knowledge about world affairs and politics.

habsha girl

no, but i have a passport are you suprised

Razor Jim

Your information is old at best. Passports in the past were not not needed by American Citizens to travel because we had reciprocal agreements with a great many countries. The agreements allowed us to travel without a passport. Now that 9/11 has impacted security many Americans have obtained passports in the last few years. Talk about stereotyping..you seem to have a bad case of it son.

Lori K

That makes over 60 million American passport holders (of which I am one). That is approximately the population of the UK in it's entirety. Most Europeans can't fathom the actual size of the US. You could travel all your life and never see everything here -- from glaciers and frozen tundra to tropical paradise. International travel in the US involves much more than getting on a bus or train.

Negative stereotypes exist for every group of people in the world. I'm not concerned about it. Be realistic...many PEOPLE come across as arrogant and ignorant. This "question" is coming across in just that way -- arrogant and ignorant.

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