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 Americans and travel?
the US or even hold passports (no source)
Does this sound plausible. Of the Americans here, what would your own experience suggest?
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bobbynox
16-Sep-06, 18:57
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i wouldn't think they would need a passport. If they are travelling on official business, like when they have a junket in China, to pay homage to the Great-and-powerful producer, would they be covered under the Secret Service?
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congress
i do not know for sure. i think most of them travel. after all, we are paying for it! i often hear of the senators or reps from washington going somewhere to grease some palms. they like to visit places to promote business deals for their constituency, to broker government deals, or to get first hand knowledge about issues they need to know about, like for committee work, etc.
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alexwilson
17-Sep-06, 08:30
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I think its about a third of US citizens who have a passport. Its true many people in the US never travel abroad and very few people know a foreign language. (unless you count the immigrants...LOL)
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alex
i heard about 20%, which is also the same as those who hold 4 year college degrees. i wonder what the overlap is. people will defend not traveling abroad and not speaking another language by claiming that the us is big enough to travel in, and that english is spoken everywhere. even if true, this neglects the cultural understanding that can only come from languages and foreign travel. if you want to know how an egyptian thinks, you must learn arabic and spend some time in egypt.
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sirtgl
18-Sep-06, 11:17
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Not only Americans
That happens here in Finland also. My dad got his first passport at the age of 60. He never left the country in his entire life (except to Sweden, where passport is not needed). I bet if similar study was made in other countries, the result would be similar. Even in such a small country as we are, people still do most of the travelling without leaving the country.
I guess there is a big difference between ages in this matter. I can imagine that young people are more interested in travelling and have better possibilities to study and learn different languages. That's just my guess.
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sirtgl
18-Sep-06, 11:22
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Hmmm... I really need to start reading the posts more carefully. I thought this was about americans in general, when in fact it was about congressmen.
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