Incredible to think that something like 65% of Americans have NEVER left the country, not even to Canada or Mexico. More impressive, even, is that like 40% have left their home STATE.
this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2025
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I mean, it’s a big country. I assume “Europeans who never left Europe” would be a similar percentage. I’m saying this as someone living in the EU.
why would they, sure you could go visit europe, or india, and a lot of people do that.
America is a huge fucking country. If you want to have interesting travel, there are PLENTY of places you can go within america alone. It's just not really required. Sure if you want to experience other culture, and what not, you're going other places, nobody is going to stop you. But you can literally just drive across ALL of america, without a passport, it's so much easier. And again, there are tons of geographically unique places to visit, there is a substantially significant variety of culture within america itself.
It's just not really needed.
America is a huge fucking country. If you want to have interesting travel, there are PLENTY of places you can go within america alone.
I would love for this to be the answer for why most Americans don't travel internationally. The US is massive, and it's one of the most geographically diverse countries on earth. Just look at this list of ecoregions of the US. Also, damn near every nationality you can think of has made a home here, and they brought their culture with them. There are Congolese enclaves in North Carolina, Somalian enclaves in Minnesota, Cambodian enclaves in California, Indian enclaves in New York, Finnish enclaves in Oregon, French enclaves in Alabama... The list goes on and on. It's actually insane how much beautiful variation there is here, both geographically and culturally.
Unfortunately, the real reason most Americans don't travel abroad is far more depressing. The numbers that Dogiedog64 was citing come from a survey conducted by OnePoll, which wound up in this Forbes article.
In fact, survey results showed 76 percent of the respondents wanted to travel more than they do currently. The reasons they gave for why they don't are what you would expect: mainly due to a lack of finances or just feeling unprepared and ill-equipped to venture forth into unknown territory. More specifically, 63 percent of Americans who have never left the country said an international trip would be out of their price range.
When you consider that nearly 40% of Americans can't cover an unexpected $400 expense, it starts to make sense that so many Americans don't travel abroad. It's heartbreaking that we basically invented "grind culture", and yet most of us can't afford the same kind of vacation that a minimum wage worker in Denmark gets.
even if this is true, at the very least people are capable of traveling a lot of interesting places, so it's not all hope lost at least.
If i had to guess, it's probably less money (certainly right now that's the case) and more to do with all the bureaucracy. You can wake up tomorrow and drive all the way across america, with basically no paper work. I would be surprised if many people in america even had valid passports to be honest.
Not to mention all the work you have to do in preparing overseas accommodations. And potential language barriers. Traveling outside of the US has got to be like 10x more difficult than traveling inside the US.
I also imagine that if people DO travel outside, they're going to go on a big trip, to see a lot of things, and it's going to be more expensive. It's just how that kind of thing tends to work. It'll be some shit like a wedding, for example.
I mean it's a very large country with many interesting places, diverse landscapes etc etc, I don't find it particularly strange to never have left. I wonder how many Europeans have never left Europe, though I guess the cultural differences between countries there is larger than between states in the US.
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Do people live without a passport? Cause I dunno, maybe it is how my family ran things in my childhood but everyone of us had a passport as a must. (I'm from a lesser known EU country)
It’s fairly common in the USA to not have a passport
Or maybe a psspsspssport?
I just picked up my first passport in my entire life. I’m trying to get away from this hell hole.
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It's a good idea to keep a valid passport around no matter if you live in North America or Europe. Doesn't hurt to be prepared.
Good luck getting one right now, they fired everyone who's not a cop
Edit: I've been corrected, passports are going it seems. I wonder how visas are...
Even when they run at full capacity it takes about 30 to 90 days for the paperwork to process.
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Better hurry and get it before they make it practically or literally impossible for everyone except the most privileged..
I mean, they basically already have.. It cost $165/person for a passport that can go anywhere but Canada and Mexico. Over $600 for a family before you can even go anywhere. For probably 90% of families, that sort of disposable income is a dream when most people can't afford a $500 emergency expense.
or they force you to serve in the military first to earn a passport. kind of like earning your citizenship in starship troopers.
too old to serve?.....didnt ask....
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Americans are starting to self deport to discover new worlds.
cries in transgender
It's only a matter of time until they stop letting us out
Best to work on your cardio now as well, if you've gotta trek to a destination it's best to have some endurance.
We've got big long borders and a lot of it is incredibly undeveloped.
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By the time you realize you need to have a passport, you should have already gotten one. I got my first passport in 2000. It took like a week. I lost it and had to get a new one in 2007. I got grilled by Homeland Security in a windowless office about whether or not I was familiar with the terrorist cells in the country I was vacationing in because it was a country with a significant Muslim population. I can’t imagine what it’s like now.
Sign up for some exchange program in a neutral country, buy a round-trip ticket, and just never come back.
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What good would it do? Unless you’re planning to overstay a tourist passport entry and become an illegal in that country?
A passport is one of the most important documents you can have. It has many uses, and is relatively easy to get… at least in my country where we have government efficiency with funding— so we get it in two weeks else it’s free.
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Do you prioritize not having illegal status in another country over your own ability to stay alive and stay safe?
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I renewed my US passport about 6 months ago. I was eligible to renew online. Cost around $130 if I remember correctly. The online process was actually really easy and it came in the mail only a few weeks later (2-3 weeks). Highly recommend renewing online if you meet the eligibility requirements.
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