A CNN article was recently published that I found just crazy. The article, “Why more Americans don’t travel abroad,” by Natalie Avon, brings to light a striking statistic.

Of the 308 million citizens in the United States, just 30% have passports.

Even more interesting is that there were 61.5 million trips outside the United States in 2009, down 3% from 2008, according to the Office of Travel and Tourism Industries. About 50% of those trips were to either Mexico or Canada, destinations that didn’t require a passport until 2007.

Additionally, our passport percentage pales in comparison to Canada’s 60% and the United Kingdom’s 75%.

The article presents several explanations to this oddity. First, the article shows an argument that says America has enough Cultural and Geographical diversity to satisfy the need for foreign travel. While this may be true, San Francisco is not Asia, New York is not Italy, and Florida is not Brazil. Staying in the states is just not the same as venturing across the oceans. You could say that you can eat the same food here as you could there, but that is where the similarities end. How else are you going to experience French culture without going to France?

Another explanation is the work culture. The article says that Americans are caught up in the same cycle: high school, college, work. The article goes on to say that for people in places like New Zealand and England, many people take off a year to travel before they begin a new phase of their life. Until recently, Gap Years were very uncommon in the United States, but they are rapidly gaining popularity.

Another plausible explanation is cost. According to the Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, the 30.3 million Americans who traveled overseas for vacation in 2009 spent an average of $2,708 each — including airfare, lodging and other expenditures. Yes, that seems like a lot of money, but if you think about it, it could be a lot worse. This cost is like the build up of one good summer job. Also, consider this: average airfare per person was $1,177. Now, that is a lot of money just for air travel, but it still could be worse.

Now here is my explanation. Imagine you are living in Italy. Want to go to Greece? No problem, hop on a ferry. How about Austria? Take the train. France? Train or boat could get you there. Once you are in Europe, traveling is easy, and not as expensive. According to Eurail, train passes within one country cost as low as $45, passes between countries are $169 and between 3-5 countries is $299. Now compare this to air travel from the United States. That is almost a $900 difference! Also, think about plane tickets from Europe. You can go anywhere on the entire continent without crossing a major ocean. That means that they are going to be much cheaper.

In conclusion, I disagree with this article. Though they do give some good explanations as to why we don’t travel, I feel that we don’t travel abroad as much because it is harder for us, not because we don’t want to. I mean who doesn’t want to visit the Louvre or Pompeii? For Europeans it means a day or weekend trip. For us it mean schlepping suitcases, long flights, and annoying time changes. Don’t forget expensive prices, xenophobia, and reluctance to try new things.

So here’s what you should do. Go to your local post office and spend the money to purchase a passport. After all, that is the first step to exploring, dreaming and discovering.

Bon Voyage,

Ryan