For each European that travels to other continents there is at least one that does not leave his home country.
Maybe even not even their home country (or equivalent.)
But on average Europeans seem to travel more, and to more different countries, than the people of most of the rest of the world.
Part of that is the nearness of the other countries, part is that people do have the money and part is that people do have the time off from work to actually take more than one travel.
In many European countries it is common to have 25 working days holiday per year, that is 5 weeks, where in the USA 10 working days seems still common.
When you do have only 2 weeks, and part of that has also to serve for emergencies and things like moving house, you do not have much time to explore the world.
While we can spend 3 weeks in the USA (or wherever) and still have two long weekends in Europe and still keep a week for emergencies.
On top of that we might get more time off, due to getting overtime compensated with time off or working shorter weeks for the contract than actually and getting the difference in time, like two hours a week difference making up a day every 4 weeks, giving about 12 days extra each year. Allowing for even more travel.
I think the issue might have more to do with the American mentality than anything else as it's not just Europeans who travel internationally on a regular basis. I'm Australian and travel to Europe every couple of years, money is the only thing that stops me going more frequently - and we are a long way from Europe!
More 33% of Australians travel internationally each year, compared to less than 10% of Americans.
From where I live in Germany, I can jump into my car and drive to France, Switzerland, Austria or Northern Italy within just 2 to 4 or 5 hours from my home town (depending on where I go to). Of course I could also go by plane which would be faster, but I prefer road trips. You are more independent, and there are so many interesting things and places to see during your trip, and not only at your holiday destination.
What I actually wanted to say: Neighboring countries are so close in Europe, so we are able to experience a different culture, different people and – in many cases – better weather only within quite short distances. So travelling doesn't necessarily only limit to the big vacation once a year but also some nice, short-termed weekend trips abroad.
There are many reasons :
- people get around 20 working days vacation time and even if one can't afford a long trip a city break to Paris , London or Rome can be done .
- no passport is necessary to travel in another EU country , many borders are on paper only
- most countries are not so big so travel time to another european country is short
- transport is good and cheap : trains , buses and low cost flights
- part of Africa and Asia are closer to Europe then the US
Because it's so easy and so fast to get to another country. If you live in Paris, for example, within less than ten hours' travel by road or train (one hour by plane) you can get to England, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra or Spain. Some of these countries are within a couple of hours if you take the TGV (super-fast train). And when you get the taste of travelling to other countries, you naturally want to extend it further, to Asia, Africa, America, Australia...
By contrast, if you live in the middle of the USA, with 10 hours' road or train travel you can't even get out of the country. This does not give people an easy taste of different cultures.
I am italian and I've actually never been to another country.
By the way, I think that traveling within Europe is easier because you can just move by car. I could jump in the car an go to Switzerland, Austria, Germany, France and Spain whenever I want.
In London I can hop on a flight and within 3 hours can be anywhere from Sweden to Tunisia to Italy to Poland to Iceland.
In the US you can jump on a plane for 3 hours and still be in the US
As for money, you save up and plan for a vacation. If you live in a city in Europe there is good public transportation so you don't need to own a car and pay for petrol and insurance. Unless they are really rich, people don't need to live in big houses, many people are fine living in an apartment. Universities are free or cheap for citizens in many European countries so families and students go into debt for studying. Healthcare is free or cheap in every European country so you don't have to pay for insurance every month unless you choose to buy private insurance. And even then it's cheap. In the UK I pay for BUPA which is a large private insurance company and I only pay ￡35 (about $50/month) but I have never had to use it. I've never had any problems using the free National Health Service
Plus I would rather spend my money on travel instead of consumer goods. I don't have a huge flat screen TV, I don't have a car, I don't have expensive clothes, I don't care if I don't have the latest trendy shoes or handbag. I'd rather live modestly then use my money for nice holidays
Literally half the population of Britain goes to Spain every year because they have at least 6 months of guaranteed good weather and it's so cheap. I paid ￡450 for a fortnight in Majorca last October and it was still in the mid 70s.
I grew up in the UK and I have been to my fair share of countries, but Europe is a continent made up of many countries so it's not too expensive now to go to other countries where I live.
Miller - All of Europe gets a month off in summer? seriously??? The amount of time you get off per year depends on your job and then that depends on the country you are from, for example teachers in certain countries may get more time off than in others. Europe is a continent not a country.
They are better off than we are, so they have time and money to spend travelling. Also, countries are all lumped together in Europe, so it's easier to travel to other countries.
