Is it common for Americans (who can afford it) to do long international trips?
Posted by Downtown-Trainer-126@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 821 comments
I currently live in Europe and it seems to me like the middle class (and more generally, people who can afford a trip or two a year) are always very keen to do long international trips. Southeast Asia and Japan are very popular destinations and I feel like I always have a colleague or two who are planning a trip there. But I also know plenty of people that go to less known places in Africa or South America.
Is that common in the US? Do Americans who can afford to travel often go that far? Or do they prefer to stay in the US or going to Canada or Mexico?
Devee@reddit
I'm going to guess that it's really dependent on a person's social bubble. My gut is to say that it's not very common, but among people with good paying jobs, it's more common (and they'll see it as common because it's common with their peers). I just did a quick search, and less than half of Americans have passports. So clearly long international trips can't be THAT common. I've done 3-week international trips twice in my life, once in 2016 and once in 2023. Also keep in mind that the USA is very large. I live in California and have taken trips to New York City, at least a week each.
Also keep in mind that most people working low-paying jobs don't really get much vacation time. There's no legal requirement. The baseline vacation that most office jobs give is 2 weeks per year. Each time I wanted to take a 3 week vacation, I had to save vacation time for over a year.
Fappy_as_a_Clam@reddit
Now look at how many Europeans have passports and how many have left their home country before. Believe it or not, it roughly the same as the American rates.
I'm guessing it's about as common for Europeans to go on extended international holidays as it is for Americans. Let's not forgot, they get paid way less than us and have way less disposable income.
Something tells me OP is just a part of a circle of wealthy europeans that do this.
xangkory@reddit
This may be a technicality, but my experience over the course of half a dozen vacations to Europe is that many more Europeans do take international holidays. Many of them happen to be to other countries in Europe. They don't need passports to visit other Schengen countries.
SoCalRedTory@reddit
And geographically isn't it the equivalent of seeing another state in a way? Different countries and cultures but don't trains help there's?
xangkory@reddit
To a certain extent, there are similarities to states. Travel is much easier, either by train or cheap flights. I think it is much easier and less expensive to take a long weekend on the other side of Europe than to travel to the next state in many parts of the US.
Careless_Mortgage_11@reddit
Where in the U.S. is it difficult to travel to the next state? I've been in seven states in the last week, three just today. We don't do trains in the U.S. because our distances are longer and driving is far more convenient. Driving is less convenient in Europe, cars and fuel are more expensive and getting a license is a long process unlike here. The budget way to travel in Europe is by air, Ryanair, Easyjet, Eurowings, etc. make quick trips possible but most would still drive if they had the access to cars that we in the U.S. do. I spend a lot of time in Europe for my work and most Europeans are less traveled than the average American. You'll find Brits who have never been to Germany or Italy. I'm American and have been to almost every European country.
shelwood46@reddit
Brits do treat Spain like it's their Florida.
DrMindbendersMonocle@reddit
I mean its about the same distance as Florida is from New York so it makes sense
Funny-Horror-3930@reddit
But they have more time
Fappy_as_a_Clam@reddit
But less money.
And I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume the type of Americans that can afford to travel internationally to places other than Mexico and Canada probably don't have an issue with vacation days.
Funny-Horror-3930@reddit
Yes they do, the higher you go up the corporate ladder, the less vacation days taken. I know several fortune 500 regional VP's and Partners that have not taken a vacation in years.
Fappy_as_a_Clam@reddit
That's not because they don't have vacation time to take, they just don't use the time off because they are those types of people.
Anyone who has a role like that has vacation and plenty of it, and almost certainly worked that into their negotiations as part of the role. I'm like a dozen levels below that and have 5 weeks + all the holidays.
Funny-Horror-3930@reddit
You are correct, it is built into their contract, they just don't take it - very competitive.
Do you actually take 5 weeks? My friend is high up and he is given several weeks off a year, but in reality, struggles taking 10 days off.
Fappy_as_a_Clam@reddit
I take more than 5 weeks because my manager almost always throws in a day or 3.
Over the summer I rarely work 5 day weeks, I take Fridays off all the time.
Funny-Horror-3930@reddit
That is great!
leeloocal@reddit
That Google search probably told him that his “less than half” was 48%, but even if we didn’t, we have lots of places we can go without having to have to get a passport, including the Virgin Islands.
Illustrious_Hand7741@reddit
And Guam!
fatpad00@reddit
Guam can be difficult to get to without a passport iirc due to international layovers.
PaperintheBoxChamp@reddit
Eh; when you land in Narita, you don’t pass through customs again so it’s a non issue
fatpad00@reddit
Oh, I was not aware that was optional. Good to know.
vwsslr200@reddit
Can fly through Honolulu. But few go because... well... Hawaii is right there. Most tourists to Guam are from Asia.
vwsslr200@reddit
You can also go to Canada and Mexico over the land borders without a passport, which a lot of people don't realize.
A lot of people mistakenly think the rules changed due to 9/11 blah blah blah and you need a passport now. This is all due to a silly law the US (no other countries!) passed, which is unenforceable against US citizens and generally isn't enforced even against Canadians.
leeloocal@reddit
It depends on where you live and how old you are. Only a few states offer enhanced IDs, and you can only use your birth certificate to cross the border without a passport until you’re a certain age.
vwsslr200@reddit
You don't need an enhanced ID, another misconception. It makes things easier, but not required.
Standard DL plus birth certificate is absolutely fine.
leeloocal@reddit
To go TO Canada, that’s absolutely true. But to get back into the US, US citizen adult travelers can present a valid:
U.S. Passport; Passport Card; Enhanced Driver’s License; Trusted Traveler Program card (NEXUS, SENTRI or FAST); U.S. Military identification card when traveling on official orders; U.S. Merchant Mariner document when traveling on official business; or Form I-872 American Indian Card; or Enhanced Tribal Card (when available). That’s straight from the CBP website.
vwsslr200@reddit
That law is an unenforceable joke.
All US citizens are allowed back to the country no matter what, even without any ID at all. They are in the border officer's computer which is much more trustworthy to them than a passport that could be forged anyway, just takes them an extra few seconds to look you up.
Funny thing is the law doesn't even seem to be enforced against Canadians either - post after post on the US/Canada border subreddit of Canadians forgetting their passport and being allowed into the US anyway.
leeloocal@reddit
I mean, it’s unenforceable, but it’s just easier to get the passport than to sit in a border control office detained because you don’t have the correct paperwork.
vwsslr200@reddit
Nobody on the border subreddit reports being detained because of this.
Even so “passport is easier” isn’t the same as “passport needed”
tangledbysnow@reddit
Apparently 76% of Americans have visited another country with 26% visiting more than 5 according to a poll by Pew Research. Which if you figure in those with enhanced licenses and those that go on Caribbean cruises that actually makes a lot of sense.
GrasshoperPoof@reddit
That seems shocking. Not because Europe is some paradise where everyone loves to travel, but because the countries there are smaller so it's easier to go on trips that leave them. Maybe the EU means a lot of people don't have passports but do leave their home country sometimes.
SoCalRedTory@reddit
Don't they have a more extensive train system as well?
GBreezy@reddit
It's a lot more expensive and until very recently, annoying to go international than just using Ryan Air
QuietObserver75@reddit
I think flying around between countries there can be cheap too with their regional airlines. I'm going from London to Edinburgh next week I was shocked at how cheap it was to do that flight vs the train.
wizardyourlifeforce@reddit
The US has the most extensive train system in the world and it’s not even close
Fappy_as_a_Clam@reddit
Yea but that's freight, not really applicable here
vwsslr200@reddit
They have good train systems within most countries, but for going to other countries (except neighboring) they mostly fly. No train system can compete with Ryanair on cost and international rail in Europe is garbage anyway.
KeekyPep@reddit
Correct.
vwsslr200@reddit
Ding! You got it. Most European countries have open borders with each other so on documentation needed. And even the EU countries with their own borders (such as Ireland and pre-Brexit UK) are accessible with just a European national ID card, no passport needed.
wizardyourlifeforce@reddit
Impossible, all Europeans are progressive highly educated and cultured cosmopolitan travelers
Downtown-Trainer-126@reddit (OP)
Sorry but the fact that Europeans make less and have less of a disposable income and yet their passsport rates are the same as Americans kind of prove the point?
So despite making less, Europeans make abroad equally as often? Meaning that many Americans who could afford traveling abroad don’t?
Prize_Consequence568@reddit
Oh you sweet sweet summer child.😅
Fappy_as_a_Clam@reddit
No. We are talking long international trips here, not going from Germany to Spain or Croatia. That's equivalent of someone in Michigan going to Florida.
Downtown-Trainer-126@reddit (OP)
Going from Germany to Spain doesn’t require a passport. Europeans who have a passport would go farther than that.
Fappy_as_a_Clam@reddit
Im not so sure.
Americans need a passport to go the Canada and Mexico, but I'd hardly consider them "long international trips."
My argument is the fact that a European has a passport does not mean they go to Singapore or Thailand for a month each year. I would go out on a limb and say that type of trip is not the norm for most Europeans, and their passport is used for much closer destinations that are more akin to my above example of someone from Michigan going to The Keys for a week.
Dingbatdingbat@reddit
That’s actually a misunderstanding.
While it’s true that income is generally lower in Europe, so is the cost of living, And after adjusting for both the European Union has roughly the same proportion of disposable income.
There’s a lot of regional variation, but the same is true in the U.S.
Megalocerus@reddit
A few of the people at some of the subsidiaries took adventurous vacations. But going to Portugal or France from the UK seemed pretty ordinary, especially before Brexit. I remember on a vacation being able to walk to Switzerland, France, and Germany. It's not always a major trip.
busyship1514@reddit
With Europeans it's even less if you exclude the ones who have only been to European countries.
guitar_vigilante@reddit
I agree, if we're comparing we should also compare distances since an American travelling to a different state or Canada/Mexico is pretty similar to a French Person travelling to Greece.
Acceptable_Noise651@reddit
A French person going from Paris to Bologna for example is less distance than it would be driving across Texas.
guitar_vigilante@reddit
If we're looking at comparable trips, the Paris to Bologna trip is about 50 miles more than a trip from Dallas to El Paso, although Houston to El Paso is farther than Paris to Bologna.
France is about the size of Texas, so most distances from end to end will be comparable. A comparable trip for an East Coast American would be from Boston to Cincinnati.
AdFinancial8924@reddit
I would compare that with how many people in Europe with passports have actually left Europe. Because they need a passport to get to different countries within their own continent just to go to the beach or go skiing whereas we don’t have to worry about that in the U.S. if we travel with a passport it’s going to be a cultural experience rather than a simple beach or mountains trip.
vwsslr200@reddit
They don't, except Brits (who not coincidentally, have much higher passport ownership than the US or continental Europe).
But your overall comparison is on point. Europeans have overall passport ownership rates as Americans, because they have relatively similar rates of leaving the continent.
Docnevyn@reddit
do you need a passport to travel to another EU country?
WWGHIAFTC@reddit
On the other hand, a EU citizen doesn't need a passport to visit half of Europe, and there isn't even boarder control at many many countries. So the passport metric is a little skewed.
Fappy_as_a_Clam@reddit
I guess my argument to that would be going from Germany to france is like going from Virginia to Georgia...so in this case, does it even count?
WWGHIAFTC@reddit
Yeah, that's the thing, it makes a very difficult comparison. Totally agree.
vt2022cam@reddit
This, most Americans don’t have enough vacation time for long vacations.
guri256@reddit
People outside the US need to understand that many companies use “Paid Time Off” systems that merge “vacation days” with “sick days.” So if you have 3 weeks of PTO, and get sick for 2 weeks, you only have 1 week of days off.
And even that single week might not be vacation time, because you might need to take a day off for errands.
Many people do get three months of legally mandated sick time (FMLA), but: 1) That time is not paid. 2) Companies are permitted to force you to use your days of paid time off during your FMLA leave. Although, if a company does this, it does mean the time off is paid, rather than unpaid
ObjectiveKale837@reddit
In Germany, if you take vacation days and get sick during that time, it won't count and you can use the vacation days again when you feel fit.
pagesandcream@reddit
American here. I really can’t tell if you’re joking 😭
vj_c@reddit
It's true in the UK, so I'd guess they're telling the truth. I'd guess it was probably an EU directive at some point when we were still in it.
pagesandcream@reddit
I mean, it is perfectly reasonable. We’re just so used to nothing being humane here, reasonable starts to feel like a fairy tale
vj_c@reddit
Oh, I hope it didn't sound an accusation- even if your labour laws were great in every other way it's perfectly reasonable not to know the details of another country that don't apply to you. Unfortunately, from what I understand, you guys seem not to have any sort of reasonable workers rights. Time to organise & join a union!
Signal-Anxiety3131@reddit
Also, unions don't always work as well for employees as they should. Unions sometimes work best for the union bosses. Just last night I ran into my favorite local grocery store employee at a fast food place (El Pollo Loco) and ate with him and he told me about some union change that did not benefit the employees, but my old brain can't remember what it was today. 😩
vj_c@reddit
I don't know about in the US, but here in the UK, unionised workplaces generally have better terms & conditions than non-unionised ones & better pay outside the public sector. Most decisions need to go to a ballot of union members, since about the '80s, so union bosses can't dictate things that easy. My current workplace isn't officially unionised (as in the company doesn't recognise a union for collective bargaining), but I'm still a member of a union & have rights to bring a union rep with me to any sort of official HR type meetings etc., should I have any, despite that. So it's a very different culture & legal environment here
Tullyswimmer@reddit
So, I happen to have a ton of experience working with unions in the US. 10 of my 12 years in the field I'm in (IT), there's been a union I've had to work alongside for certain things. It varies WILDLY, even within a state or region.
The one big difference from how you describe it is that unions in the US fight to have better employment terms and benefits than non-unionized ones... But ONLY for members of the union, not for all employees at the company. In some states it's also a step further and there are laws that say "to work for this company in this particular role, you MUST be a member of this union"
You also cannot be a member of a union if the company isn't in a contract with the union, so the scenario you're in cannot exist in the US. Where they exist, unions often have a TON of control over the labor market for certain industries.
I had to work through a strike, too, because I was with the phone company and we ran 911 services... The amount of shit the union could get away with during the negotiating process was, in some cases, literally criminal.
And as far as why people don't unionize... There's a few big reasons.
- Unions are extremely active politically. On both sides of the aisle. Union endorsements are a huge part of presidential campaigns. And if you don't participate in their political activities, you will likely be treated poorly by the union leadership and they won't fight for you as hard
- You are required to pay dues to be in the union, and because of point 1 (and FWIW it doesn't just apply to state, local, or national politics, internal politics and cliques and shit also play into it in the more toxic unions), some people feel like it's unfair to have to pay to be able to work, and then have the group that's supposed to be on your side just leave you out to dry if you don't get along with the union leadership.
- Unions CAN be very restrictive on what you can do. I had a coworker get grieved once because they were asked to check for link lights on a fiber router port, and the tech who was on site was only supposed to work on copper ports.
vj_c@reddit
That sounds like a closed shop, which is definitely illegal here.
Unions are normal membership organisations here, they have rules about who can join them, but they tend to be pretty loose as if you're a member, you have to pay, so the more members, the better.
This also helps with unionising a workplace - if enough members of a particular workplace join a union, they can trigger a ballot of employees to force the employer to recognise a union (that's a simplified version of it, anyway). The company I work for is quite a new one & is losing it's start-up culture & becoming more corporate, as it does so, more staff are joining a union. We'll probably be close to that trigger point soon.
The Labour party grew out of the Union movement here & most are still affiliated & joining a union can give you a vote on internal Labour party politics - however, since Thatcher, Unions must keep their political funds separate & give union members the option to opt-out of the political levy (this also opts you out of any Labour party politics). They're still Labour's biggest donors & most influential bloc, though. I find it hard to imagine a union politically active on the right!
A lot of your description sounds like how unions had become here pre-Thatcher & why she was able to break them - they're far weaker here than they once were & some of her reforms were needed - though many would argue she went too far. But I've anecdotally noticed that they're still prevalent in bigger companies as well as the public sector. As they should be - a good union rep will flag concerns to management that employees don't feel they can talk about directly. With management & the union having a constructive relationship - unions aren't stupid, they know a company needs to thrive & make profits to pay well.
As the stigma of '70s unions dissipates, it wouldn't surprise me if union membership has started trending back upwards, but I've not researched it.
Tullyswimmer@reddit
>That sounds like a closed shop, which is definitely illegal here.
Yep, that's the term we use here. The law is referred to as "right to work", so "right to work" states don't allow closed shops, but states without "right to work" do.
>This also helps with unionising a workplace - if enough members of a particular workplace join a union, they can trigger a ballot of employees to force the employer to recognise a union (that's a simplified version of it, anyway). The company I work for is quite a new one & is losing it's start-up culture & becoming more corporate, as it does so, more staff are joining a union. We'll probably be close to that trigger point soon.
Yeah, and this is a huge difference. In most of the US, the union would not allow you to join if you were working for a non-union business, unless they were actively trying to unionize that business (like Starbucks). But even then, because of labor laws (particularly "right to work" laws), in some states it's actually not LEGAL to join a union and work at a company that doesn't have a contract with the union.
>The Labour party grew out of the Union movement here & most are still affiliated & joining a union can give you a vote on internal Labour party politics - however, since Thatcher, Unions must keep their political funds separate & give union members the option to opt-out of the political levy (this also opts you out of any Labour party politics). They're still Labour's biggest donors & most influential bloc, though. I find it hard to imagine a union politically active on the right!
Yeah, in the US, the unions *technically* have to give those options, and keep funds separate. But in practice you basically get bullied into it. And again, if you're, say, an electrician in a state that doesn't have right-to-work, you basically will lock yourself out of 90% of jobs if you don't go along and also donate. It's technically illegal but hardly ever enforced because it's really hard to prove. Most of our unions support most of our left wing, but in both 2016 and 2024, a few of the larger ones endorsed Trump (because of specific policies). I know a lot of police unions endorse right-wing candidates because, well... Our left isn't kind to police.
>A lot of your description sounds like how unions had become here pre-Thatcher & why she was able to break them - they're far weaker here than they once were & some of her reforms were needed - though many would argue she went too far. But I've anecdotally noticed that they're still prevalent in bigger companies as well as the public sector. As they should be - a good union rep will flag concerns to management that employees don't feel they can talk about directly. With management & the union having a constructive relationship - unions aren't stupid, they know a company needs to thrive & make profits to pay well.
Yeah, that sounds like it too. But because of how autonomous states are, it's much harder to get the kind of changes (even the needed ones) at a national level here. The other thing I will say is that a lot of the time, the unions do NOT have the same respect for companies. Sure, if the company does better and thrives, the profits and pay are better... If you don't have the legal authority to monopolize the company's workforce. When you have that, the company becomes a free ATM for the union leadership. They will gladly screw over a company for their own personal gain.
vj_c@reddit
This seems wild to me - why would a union not want a member? Most union members never need union help, so they're essentially free money & it means that they can get a toehold in a non-union business. If they can demonstrate their worth to a member, that person will go around telling their colleagues to join, so they can slowly build up a union presence. I can fully understand why people might not want to join a particular union, but not why a union wouldn't want members.
This would seem to be against freedom of association - here, employers can't legally discriminate on the basis of union membership (or non-membership) & unions have to be fair in who they offer membership to.
That said, there's a few jobs that are legally banned from unionising/striking - notably the police can't join a union, they've got a staff organisation called the Police federation, but it's toothless. The military can't join unions. Prison officers have a union, but are banned from striking (the prison officers association campaigns for the right to strike, unlike the Police federation). There might be other similar types of jobs, too.
Swimminginthestorm@reddit
Unfortunately, trying to unionize will typically get you fired in the US.
KayDeeFL@reddit
Do you have to show any proof of illness?
vj_c@reddit
Only over 7 days, here's the government guidance: https://www.gov.uk/taking-sick-leave
KayDeeFL@reddit
Thank you!
Expert_Donut9334@reddit
I got sick last year while on holiday in Brazil. I brought a doctor's note in Portuguese stating the days that she would have written me off sick. I got those days back from my German employer, no questions asked and no translation needed.
ObjectiveKale837@reddit
https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/burlg/__9.html
Signal-Anxiety3131@reddit
If you're not joking as another poster wondered, that's really amazing and nice!
Nan_Mich@reddit
At one place I worked in America, if you came home from vacation sick and called in sick on what was supposed to be your first day back, they refused to pay your vacation pay for the time you took off!
conbird@reddit
I’m American and have never heard of sick days and vacation days being combined into PTO. Which I guess proves the original commenter’s point about it depending a lot on your social bubble.
PaperintheBoxChamp@reddit
Yeah; at least at USPS we have accrued annual leave (I’m at the 6 hour per pay period with the 4 weeks fronted in January every year) and accrued sick leave at 4 hours per pay period.
CoolStatus7377@reddit
My job combined them for a total of 2 weeks PTO, which actually meant 10 working days. In addition, if you wanted to get paid for holidays, you had to work either the day before or the day after the holiday. For example, Labor Day is a Monday. If you wanted to get paid for it, you had to work Tuesday. You couldn't combine Labor Day with 4 PTO days and get paid for the week.
Gabbiani@reddit
I’m in AZ and in every role I have been in save 1 in my life has a single bucket for hours that are sick and vacation.
I get 20ish days of PTO now due to my years of service, but that’s is all inclusive. If I need a day off it comes out of my single bucket and I earn a certain amount of PTO each pay period.
I’m in a good job in a fortune 100 company.
conbird@reddit
Yikes! The lowest I’ve ever had when first starting a new job was 15 vacation days and 10 sick days and I struggled with that. I’m sorry.
Gabbiani@reddit
Well, I live in a state that doesn’t have any unions or worker protections- so that’s kind of on me.
I’ve had a lot of people moving to my area from other worksites my company has been closing and they have been very surprised at the work culture shock of coming from somewhere else like CA or WA.
I tried to tell them before they opted to relocate… but we are all spiraling into the abyss together now so…
silly_name_user@reddit
It’s a more fair arrangement. I never ever got sick, so those who did got more time off than I did.
Mistie_Kraken@reddit
My job ALSO combines holidays in there. So if I get sick too much or want to take a long vacation, it means working Thanksgiving or Christmas.
conbird@reddit
That’s terrible!
Just_Me1973@reddit
Yup. I had to have a radical hysterectomy due to cancer and had to go back to work after two week because that’s all the vacation time I had and staying home unpaid wasn’t something I could afford. It was only late January and all my time off was gone for the year.
DeliciousBlueberry20@reddit
I genuinely try so hard to not get sick but when I do, I go to work on 18384239847mg of DayQuil™ so that I can save up my PTO to go on an international trip every year lmao
SeparateFly2361@reddit
The possibility of wfh has reduced this now, but before that, only vomiting or a full blown flu would have made me use a sick day
Dalyro@reddit
My husband is a health care provider. He gets 26 days a year... but that includes holidays, sick, and vacation. So 6 of those days are required to be used on days that his office is closed for Christmas, New Year's, Thanksgiving, July 4th, Memorial Day and Labor Day. It's wild to me that he has to use his days for times the office is closed.
I work in higher Education administration. I get much better paid leave. I have 20 vcay days, 12 sick days, 3 mental health days, and 12 paid holidays.
vwsslr200@reddit
How often do you get sick for 2 weeks though? That's a very unusual/unlucky situation. I don't think I've ever needed to take more than 3 sick days in a year, or had an employer that offered more than 5.
I celebrated when my company went from separate vacation/sick to combined PTO - more vacation for me!
TechieGottaSoundByte@reddit
I normally spend one week sick in the fall and another week sick in the spring. It's not that unusual.
Plus many people have chronic conditions. 1 out of 10 people get migraines, for example. Obviously people with food allergies two to avoid their triggers, but some are very difficult to avoid 100% of the time - so those can cause a few days off. Seasonal allergies can be bad enough to make work unrealistic, and can trigger additional issues like sinus infections. Endometriosis can be so painful that you can't work through menstruation. And so on. Age generally doesn't help with these issues, also.
And there are things like food poisoning, injuries, caring for children or spouses who are ill, etc., that also fall under sick leave.
I do know some people who don't use all of their sick leave, but they are a minority.
guri256@reddit
2 out of the last 3 years. One was COVID. The other was a nasty flu-like thing that wasn't COVID.
Floater439@reddit
For me, a surgery had me take almost three weeks off work…if you don’t have short term disability coverage or your need doesn’t meet qualifications, you either burn PTO or don’t get a paycheck.
Direct_Ad_7053@reddit
Us people with small kids. We are the ones that are always sick.
Ordinary-Tax-7026@reddit
Or the kids are sick and we use sick days for that
Megalocerus@reddit
I'm not sure I'd enjoy an international vacation with kids whose ages are in single digits.
Dead_before_dessert@reddit
I work in retail and keep getting covid. It generally takes me out for at least a week. The first time I was out for a whole month. The last time was a week with this new strain.
I honestly feel like...*because* I've had it so much I now get over it faster, but because my immune system is primed the symptoms are worse. so...out for a week with covid and maybe another week of just general flu or whatever scattered throughout the year...that eats my sick pay up *very* quickly.
I'm honestly lucky to be in retail and have *any* sick time at all. Plus I don't have kids so if I'm taking sick time it's because I...personally...am actually sick.
I love retail, but hate how much it's not considered a "real" job. Bitch...I'm here 40 hours a week and I actually materially help people. How is that not real???
Empress_Clementine@reddit
Yup. I had to fill out forms confirming I had exhausted my PTO before I could go on FMLA when going through cancer treatments. But part of it was also that I had to use it all before I could start the short term disability my company provided.
vt2022cam@reddit
This is great. I don’t think people outside the US understand PTO in the US or a culture that penalizes you for using your sick or vacation time.
Ozzy_undead@reddit
Yes especially the culture and just the nature of some jobs. Like I get plenty of pto (for America) accruing 6.5 hours of pto per bi weekly paycheck. But if I take even a whole week off it's so difficult to get caught up. So I use most of my pto time on essentially long weekends either taking Friday or a Monday off or my favorite move of adding a day or two onto one of the few paid holidays we get. But yeah a long vacation is just not feasible for me regardless of any cost of it.
WrongJohnSilver@reddit
And even when we have enough vacation time, taking more than two weeks off at a time doesn't go over well at work.
Tullyswimmer@reddit
And I'll be honest... I don't feel it's fair to the people I work with to take off like, 3-4 weeks at a time even though I probably could once every few years.
We have a great culture at work and a great team. But me being out means someone has to pick up my responsibilities on top of theirs, and that can be a lot.
I mean this with zero shade, I cannot fathom just leaving work for like, 4 weeks at once like it seems is common in Europe. Like, SOMEONE has to be doing my work on top of theirs for that time.
IWantALargeFarva@reddit
Forget work. My kids have too many activities. Right now we’re at the mercy of theatre rehearsal schedules.
Gabbiani@reddit
Mine is in marching band and technical theatre.
Send help.
Vlish36@reddit
I was in marching band, regular band, and JROTC back in high school.
SnooChipmunks2079@reddit
Our daughter is doing things with three different theater groups. It's horrible when the shows overlap.
Argosnautics@reddit
So mainly young adults on the cheap, before career employment; retired people; and wealthy people that aren't required to show up for work everyday. Otherwise, getting more than two weeks off work is not very common for most of us.
Mad_Hokte@reddit
*Young adults with well-to-do parents
vwsslr200@reddit
You don't need to take more than 2 weeks off to go on a long haul trip though.
whineandqis@reddit
But from where I live it takes such a long time to get somewhere, and then jet lag, that it is hard to make it worthwhile to take just a week. Last time I came home from China it took over 24 hours of travel, and that is exhausting.
AnnieB512@reddit
Shit. Taking more than 5 days in a row off is frowned upon.
TheNakedTravelingMan@reddit
And normally a lot of vacation days are just used as rest days. I generally leave 3-4 months between job switches so that I can go live somewhere else in the world when I only got 3 weeks a year. Now I get 6 weeks + I can explore the world on my time off. Sick days don’t count towards vacation days here as well which is nice.
Luna_C1888@reddit
I work in the service industry and have 0 vacation days. This means I have to save double to go on vacation in the sense that I have to save for the lost income on the days I’m going to miss work and also save for all the travel expenses. I go on shorter 8-10 day international trips maybe once every year to year and a half but I am extremely lucky by having a lower rent than most of my coworkers due to a nice landlord and having a partner who can shoulder some of the financial burden too. It’s bullshit.
vt2022cam@reddit
For retail and service, most places don’t offer any vacation time. In MA, they if they have over 11 employees they have to give paid time off, 1 hour for 30 hours worked, upped 40 hours a year. If they are under 11 employees, they still have to give 40 hours of unpaid leave.
cat_prophecy@reddit
That's not necessarily true. People here tend to think that no one has any vacation days because they are only hearing the complainers.
goodsam2@reddit
But the amount is low and can be eaten up by holidays. If you only get Christmas off and want more than 1 day off or have a family reunion. That's where a lot of time off can go. It's not a 2 week vacation.
Most Europeans it seems just take a summer month off and that is specifically not what happens in the US.
SlothLover313@reddit
God I’m so jealous of the Europeans
vwsslr200@reddit
Have to compare benefits and salary together, not in isolation... That extra 2 weeks of vacation comes at a price.
SlothLover313@reddit
I’m not saying stuff in life should be free, but we should be making life better. Salary in Europe may be lower, but quality of life is way higher. Also, why does the average American have to need to give up some sort of benefit to get something else? Why don’t you allocate some of the wealth that’s hoarded by the office exes who are exploiting us?
vwsslr200@reddit
Meh, I've made the move. Quality of life better in some ways, worse in others. Also very subjective.
If you redistributed Tim Cook's entire annual compensation to every Apple employee, they'd get $450 a year. Peanuts. Not even enough to cover one extra vacation day for most of them.
shelwood46@reddit
There are certain finance industry jobs in the US that must take 2 consecutive weeks of vacation, it's a safeguard against embezzlement and other malfeasance. A family member has a job like that and the first time her manager told her she HAD to take 2 weeks straight of vacation she was like, what??
alliquay@reddit
Not anymore, that rule was phased out during Covid.
Kajeke@reddit
No, the bank subsidiary of my company has the two week rule for some of their employees.
alliquay@reddit
We kept it for a while after it was dropped during Covid, too, but we've dropped it now.
KeekyPep@reddit
When I was in banking, we were required to take 2 consecutive weeks off. I had 5 weeks vacation altogether (once I had reached a certain level of seniority).
superkt3@reddit
I work for a large retailer with close to 500,000 Us employees, and while we can fall into the "low paid" bucket at times, every single employee gets 2-5 weeks of vacation a year based on tenure.
Samquilla@reddit
To go on a real far away international vacation you need to take 2-2.5 weeks. If you only have 2 weeks vacation time you can’t do that because you need a day or two here or there for a long weekend wedding or family reunion or Christmas with family, etc. You really need about 4 weeks/year to go on a longer trip and LOTS of Americans don’t get that
vwsslr200@reddit
You really don't. I've traveled all over the world and very few of those involved taking more a week off work. Even now that I moved to the UK and get 25 days off a year.
I would much prefer to see more places than take ultra long vacations. The European habit of going somewhere for 3 weeks, 4 weeks has no appeal to me at all.
Samquilla@reddit
You must do better with time changes and travel than I. I’m not traveling 24 hours to be there 3 days and travel 24 hours home again. But more power to you!
vwsslr200@reddit
You're not traveling 24 hours. Boston to Japan was 14 hours. Then I got at least 7 days there, not 3. More if I took advantage of long holidays off.
But yes, I am good with time changes.
beenoc@reddit
The number of people who get a small number of vacation days is much larger then the number of people who get a bunch. The average American gets 11 days of vacation per year. That means that on average, for every person who gets 4 weeks (20 days), there's someone who gets only two days, and for every person who gets 5 weeks (25 days), there's about 1.3 people who get no vacation at all.
And in many jobs, you need to use your vacation for sick time or doctor's appointments if you want to get paid. So let's say you're sick for 3 days a year, you take one day for your doctor's appointment/dentist each year, and two half-days for your dentist visit (assuming you follow the recommended guidelines of annual physical and optometrist visits and 6-month dental cleanings.) So now you have 6 vacation days you can actually use on vacation for the whole year. Even if you get paid a gazillion bucks, that's not enough to go on a long trip to Japan or Italy.
JudgeWhoOverrules@reddit
11 days of vacation time or total time off allowable? Everyone who's worked a job knows there's several buckets you get to choose from for time off from work.
The_Spaz1313@reddit
What are these buckets you speak of lol, my company doesn't differentiate between vacation vs sick time, it's all one PTO and it's like 2-4 weeks a year depending on how you've been there for the average non-manager employee). Sure there's things like FMLA and short/long term disability but those arent for vacation days or if you just get the flu. If you want to take more than l think 3 unpaid days a year thrn your manager has to get it pre-approved by HR. That's it.
xangkory@reddit
Not at all true in the US anymore. I work in government and do have vacation, sick and personal days but almost everyone I know that works for the private sector just gets PTO which combines all of those buckets into one.
vwsslr200@reddit
According to SHRM survey 67% of companies do combined PTO. So it's most but there's still a substantial number of people with separate buckets.
WWGHIAFTC@reddit
Yet every job I've had for 25 years lumps it all together in "PTO"
My last job I accrued 12% of time worked into PTO, so that was pretty good.
TooManyDraculas@reddit
That has been changing. Over the last 10 years. Non-Union, private sector work has been moving to a standard of combined "personal days off". Rather than discrete "buckets" or paid time off types.
So you no longer get like 5 sick days and 10 vacation days. You just get 10 PTO days.
A lot of industries and more entry level jobs in past also just didn't offer paid sick time or other types time off to begin with. It just whatever limited vacation time was offered.
My last few jobs the other thing you get are that PTO block. A couple of bereavement days. And then just legally required thing. So jury duty, national guard duty etc doesn't count against PTO. Then parental leave is just covered by Federal Family Medical leave, which mandatory to participate in. Maybe a couple of other special cases.
But otherwise your PTO is your PTO. In my direct experience this is done to reduce the amount of paid time off offered. Most companies don't seem to have just rolled it together. So much as eliminated other forms of time off, and relabeled the vacation package.
wekilledbambi03@reddit
Anyone who's worked a job in the last \~15 years knows that more and more companies are switching to "PTO" days instead of categories of days off. They usually spin it as a good thing. They may even throw in an extra day or two when they make the switch. But it can come back to bite some people.
CyndiLouWho89@reddit
My PTO is any time off: vacation, sick, FMLA, appointments, kid’s appointments, etc. All one bucket.
Lcdmt3@reddit
Every job my husband has had, sick and vacation were the same bucket. The only time I've had them separate is when I worked for the state government.
Even_Zombie_1574@reddit
The last two jobs I’ve worked have had “unlimited PTO.” We don’t actually get sick days or vacation days. Most of us average 2-3 weeks of PTO a year otherwise management calls you lazy and lets you go (legitimately).
NoSingularities0@reddit
That makes sense. When I first started work, we accrued vacation, so after a couple of years I had a month and a half of PTO available. One day I was in my boss's office and mentioned that I could take a whole month off for vacation. And the response was, well yeah, you could, but then the company may start wondering if they actually needed you.
thepinkinmycheeks@reddit
My job only has one bucket of PTO so I don't know what you're talking about. In my working experience it's been much more common to have one bucket than to have separate sick time buckets.
beenoc@reddit
That depends on the company. At my current job, vacation and sick time are separate buckets. At my previous job, they were not, but there were buckets for jury duty and even National Guard service. These are basically the same job (manufacturing engineer) at different companies, so it's not like I'm comparing retail and lawyering.
PurpleLilyEsq@reddit
Every job I’ve ever had lumped it all together. Personal days, sick days, planned vacation days, etc were all from the same bucket of 10-15 paid days off.
vwsslr200@reddit
This is kind of true, but overly pessimistic. The 11 day figure is for employees with only 1 year of service, and that is vacation only so you don't have to use those days for sick time.
The average time off with a combined PTO bank at 1 year of service is 14 days.
And in both cases average time off goes up considerably once you've worked at a place longer.
lolCLEMPSON@reddit
Even if you get a bunch, it's hard to take them the more responsibilities you have.
ColorlessGreen91@reddit
Also important to not that many companies (every one I've ever worked for, over a pretty wide variety of fields) REQUIRE you to use your vacation time for doctors appointments and whatnot.
Like, you are not allowed to take an unpaid day off to save your vacation days if you have any vacation time left. Even if you have only one day left in July and you want to save it incase you get sick in November, but you have a doctor's appointment in August. SOL.
And even partial days they'll make you take time for. Some bosses will be sympathetic and look the other way (not all) but its against company policy.
Parking_Champion_740@reddit
Yes, my spouse get unlimited vacation day and even a bonus for using 2 weeks at a time. I mean it wouldn’t be practical to be gone more than a few weeks at a time but it’s possible
TooManyDraculas@reddit
Something like 80% of Americans get some amount of paid vacation time.
https://www.bls.gov/ebs/factsheets/paid-vacations.htm
But the vast majority get 1-2 weeks. And the increasing trend the last 10 years has been that block of time doubling as sick time. It's all "personal time off", not discrete sick days and vacation days.
So where as you used to get like 5 sick days, and 14 vacation days. The same position today gives you just the 14 combined days.
Likewise the service industry, which is roughly speaking retail and hospitality, is our largest employment sector these days. And they have both the lowest amount of vacation time, and the lowest proportion of access to it at all. With a kicker of these numbers being drawn from full time workers.
And a disproportionate amount of workers in this sector qualifying as part time workers, even when they work full time hours (cause multiple jobs). So it's not quite as sunny as the main numbers portray.
But we get on average. Less than 50% as much vacation time as Europeans. As the EU mandates a minimum of 20 days/4 weeks. And in lot of Europe there's no cap on sick time, so it's not eating into that the way it often does in the US.
vwsslr200@reddit
This is not true IME. Employers that switch to a combined model generally give more than the vacation amount before.
abhainn13@reddit
Most Americans don’t have passports.
psy-ay-ay@reddit
I believe as of last year 51% of Americans are valid US Passport holders!
ParkingRemote444@reddit
My friends mostly have upper middle class or professional careers and they travel internationally a lot, but they do so every 2-3 years between jobs. Very few jobs will give you more than two weeks off, but you can usually get a couple months between jobs pretty easily.
FLOHTX@reddit
True. Up until I was about 35, I got 2 weeks. Now I'm up to 4 weeks
Stachemaster86@reddit
Age or years at work 🤣😭
newbie527@reddit
Nor can we afford it.
avdpos@reddit
I would say it that it sounds like they don't have time for short either.
Two weeks of continuous vacation is just when I start relaxing more
GrandElectronic9471@reddit
Also for many people the time we are given Includes holidays and sick days. So 2 weeks of vacation time is actually a lot less.
SkyGuy5799@reddit
I get like 4 weeks off a year and that's with one of the best jobs in the country for work life balance, allegedly
pfmason@reddit
Unlimited PTO is becoming more common. Two of my four kids have it and these are the two that do the most international travel.
Mistie_Kraken@reddit
What fields do they work in? I have heard of this legendary "unlimited PTO" but never experienced it.
Icy-Aioli-2549@reddit
Tech
pfmason@reddit
One is a lawyer and one is an economist for a political think tank. Both in the DC area. In reality, studies have found Americans actually take less vacation when it’s unlimited but I’m sure that’s very different for older generations compared to younger. My generation would hate it, feeling like they didn’t earn it and guilty over leaving others with more work. I don’t think the younger generations feel the same.
iadknet@reddit
I have worked at a few unlimited PTO places, but it was still pretty rare for anyone to take more than a week off at a time.
Heck, my current job has “unlimited PTO” and the big reward for working there 5 years is to get a 1 month sabbatical…. which I have earned but haven’t figured out how to use because my spouse only gets two weeks a year and we use all of that visiting family.
wittyrepartees@reddit
I think all that you're saying is true. It also depends on your connections to people abroad. A lot of people who are first or second gen immigrants travel internationally whether or not they're particularly wealthy to visit family, but also because traveling internationally is normal for them. My husband and I travel to East Asia, and meet up with friends we have there when we do. It's not the only reason we're going on those trips, but it's part of the fun. I've also planned a large number of trips to Europe to visit friends who were there for school or join up with friends who were traveling there anyway. We're pretty solidly middle class (so, our total household income for 3 people is 130K, and we live in a very high cost of living area), but we travel cheap, hang out in hostels, go to places where the exchange rate is favorable, and don't buy a bunch of souvenirs (honestly, where would I put them?).
Some of the difference is income, some of the difference is essentially a cultural difference. The people who like going to Disney or to resorts or on a cruise would absolutely HATE the vacations I go on, and I would not enjoy their vacations.
KayDeeFL@reddit
Interesting. Reverse your destinations and it's the same for us. We travel internationally because we prefer to do that, but internally for family reasons.
Trick_Owl8261@reddit
Agreed. Most of the people I know travel internationally every year or two but I don’t think this is true for most of the US population. I have lived in Europe and Latin America and have friends who have lived in India, Africa, Indonesia, the Bahamas and Mexico… and some who still do.
I really think it depends on level of education and how much one’s social circle values travel/cross cultural experiences.
jedi_dancing@reddit
Size of country has nothing to do with whether you travel overseas. Most Australians I know have been overseas, and our mainland is much the same as yours. We aren't particularly well-off, but have been to Europe, Asia, US, Asia, and NZ, as have all our family members.
melodypowers@reddit
With the limited time we do have off, most people choose something more relaxing. Without any data, I'd say the most typical vacations are
stevepremo@reddit
It's not just vacation time. International travel, to me, is a huge hassle. I mean, just getting a passport is not easy or cheap, and getting copies of your birth certificate, getting a passport photo, and meeting the other requirements is a pain. And the flights are long. Why bother when I can spend time in the Sierra Nevada, enjoying and exploring the most beautiful mountains I've ever seen, and I can drive there in much less time than it takes to fly somewhere else?
Background_Tip_3260@reddit
Yes in my field it is common for my colleagues to go on at least two or three long international trips a year.
Mededitor@reddit
I work in publishing, and have done so my entire life. Taking any vacation time is difficult. You learn to add a day or two to three-day weekends, but trying to get a whole week? Nah gahn hahn. It doesn’t matter how much time you have available for vacation. If you’re so replaceable that the firm can live without you for a week, well…
Affectionate_Star_43@reddit
This here, if you have a job that gives enough time off, then you can go. Usually for a two week-ish trip.
On the other hand, I have relatives in Europe and in-laws in SE Asia who did trips that were a month long, which I'm jealous of. However, we somehow had to convince both of them that they couldn't drive from Chicago to Disney World and back for a two day trip. So weirdly specific.
conbird@reddit
This. In my pre-law school career, I worked with one person who took an annual trip to Europe and the majority of my coworkers had left the country once at most. In my current career where my coworkers are well paid, I’m the only person I work with who hasn’t gone further than Canada in the past year and even I made it to Nova Scotia and PEI in addition to multiple US-based trips and would have done more if not for having a toddler.
whip_lash_2@reddit
> I just did a quick search, and less than half of Americans have passports.
As recently as 1990, this was 5 percent. After 9/11 we lost the ability to go to Canada, Mexico (the border cities anyway) and bits of the Caribbean without a passport.
I suspect that most of the difference in passport holding today is a result of weekend international trips, which are cheap and easy in Europe but not in many parts of the US due to country size and cost. I live in Texas. Canada is a 5-6 hour flight and mostly looks like America. Airfare to the Caribbean is weirdly high. There are only a few safe and worthwhile destinations in northern Mexico now unfortunately, and I don't want to lie on the beach every vacation. So weekend international trips are pretty much out.
I do save up and go to Europe or Japan once every couple of years. If you are the next income class down from me, though, it would be less frequent than that, and you start to run into passports expiring and being expensive to renew. So you likely go extended periods without one.
TooManyDraculas@reddit
And that 2 weeks is increasingly combined sick/personal time and vacation. With most employers not doing the accrual thing. So you can't save up more than those 2 weeks off.
So if you take a 2 week vacation. You can't call in sick later, or take an extra day off to deal with something or get a short break.
vwsslr200@reddit
3 weeks is more common for companies that do combined PTO.
guitar_vigilante@reddit
The passport numbers are skewed by older generations for whom international travel was much more expensive, and kids who don't need a passport yet. About 71% of millennials have passports.
I'm a millennial in my 30s without kids and my wife and I usually do an international trip every year or so.
ImPapaNoff@reddit
Small correction. Recent stats are pretty much exactly half of Americans have passports.
PuzzledKumquat@reddit
I make good money at every job I've had over the past decade and none have provided more than 15 days of vacation/personal/sick time.
TheMuffler42069@reddit
Yea but that’s less than half of 350 million people so… still tens of millions of people possibly running around out there internationally
Top-Friendship4888@reddit
Longer trips are not particularly common for Americans. Typically 1-2 weeks max for those with jobs. Some may take longer trips if they can work remote while traveling or if they retire young, but it's just not sustainable to leave work for a month or more for most people.
OkMasterpiece2194@reddit
Almost never. Sometimes middle aged divorced or single people will catch a travel bug and do things like that but it is extremely rare. It is certainly affordable but people just don't have the freedom to do it.
blueforcourage@reddit
Depends on what you consider to be a long trip. If you mean long as in duration, then eh. Maybe? If you mean distance, then for sure.
scumbagstaceysEx@reddit
I’m an ordinary average Joe 50 year old American. I go to Europe once every ten years. Third trip ever planned for next June. (Third since becoming an adult 30 years ago). Will be 15 days in U.K., France, Netherlands, Germany, Austria.
Due-Leek7901@reddit
I have all the vacation time in the world at my company. Seriously, you want it, take it.
Only two caveats:
They didn't expect you to take it
If you do take it, they expect you to be available for calls, to answer emails, to do work at any moment they request it
So, no. Not me
Agreeable_Mess6711@reddit
Upper class and maybe even upper middle class Americans seem to take international trips, the wealthier ones even a couple times a year. Middle and lower classes generally can’t afford it. (I am a flight attendant, so this observation is just based on the calibre of the passengers on my international flights).
It’s worth noting that depending on where you’re located in the country, it’s much more expensive to travel internationally from the US as to get almost anywhere you have to cross an ocean, unlike Europe for example where you can travel internationally by train or with a relatively short flight. So the higher cost and longer distance (coupled with less vacation time, particularly if you work a lower paying job) makes international travel less accessible to many Americans.
pbandjfordayzzz@reddit
As someone who has lived my adult life in NYC and then California, an international trip can be similar price to something local, especially for longer trips (if factoring airfare). A few years ago we wanted started planning a trip to the Hamptons for ~10 days where we’d drive / train. Once we saw the prices we just went to Portugal/morocco instead. My flight back from Dubai was cheaper than summertime flights from Nantucket. Speaking of Dubai, we just paid ~$250/night for the St Regis, the week before I stayed at a meh hotel in Pismo beach for $600/night. This weekend I’m staying at a basic 3 star in Portland, ME for $310/night. Similar to the price we paid for Royal Palace in Madrid a few months ago…
And don’t get me started on food and drink and uber prices…
Stunning-Artist-5388@reddit
Well, it makes a big difference flying out of competitive airports.
It costs me anywhere from $300 to $1000 to fly from the middle of the country to Boston, or even El Paso or Seattle. No joke, I spent over $900 for three domestic fares last summer. That is more than a lot of JFK or LAX transoceanic flights where competition and massive supply of seats often leads to some real bargains.
Internationally, I have never seen a fare less than $1600 a ticket for any trip between March 1 and January 15th, from where I live (traveling in late Jan and Feb can be done for about $1200; but the most common fare in the summer is about $2200).
As much as I have a LCOL in housing compared to coastal cities, international airfare is DEFINITELY the other way around.
pbandjfordayzzz@reddit
Add ATL, DFW, ORD to that list of airports and your almost describing half of the country though…
Stunning-Artist-5388@reddit
ORD yes. But not ATL and DFW.
AA basically controls pricing out of DFW, and it's not easy to find cheap international fares from there. Nothing like JFK/BOS/LAX/SFO (and often ORD). I've flow XXX-DFW-JFK and then separate JFK international fares at times when I am able to score a cheap domestic fare on the first part (which isn't common). Pick a few advanced dates -- JFK-MAD for example will be $700 in economy, and 3K in business class. Same dates, and DFW-MAD will be at least $1200 in economy and $5K in business class. And you'd think maybe it's distance? Well, no. originating from LAX will be a couple hundred dollars cheaper than DFW.
pbandjfordayzzz@reddit
I think you’re trying to pick a fight that’s not there. Have a nice day.
Stunning-Artist-5388@reddit
You may benefit from decently cheap travel on the basis of what airports you fly from -- I've laid out why that is the case for you, but not for a lot of others. It is dismissive to throw in airports like DFW (Which isn't really the case anyways) and say it's "about half the country anyways" as thought that nullifies the relevancy of my comment.
Sorry that you don't have the ability to think about other situations. Have a nice day.
pbandjfordayzzz@reddit
Not trying to gaslight anyone. Living in remote / rural (idk what the terminology is that you would find appropriate and I seem to have struck a nerve so I am treading carefully) areas can mean traveling to anywhere (domestic or international) is often more expensive. I understood that before and yes, you have made your point loud and clear. The airport closest to my house has 11 gates. It usually doesn't work price-wise for me to use that one so I have to drive to the larger airport. Adds about 1.5 hour to my "time budget."
I'm currently trying to plan holiday travel to my parents who live about an hour drive from a 12 gate regional and the flights are an arm and a leg unsurprisingly.
Also if you have a big family, it's obviously more expensive to buy 4-5 international fares than stick the kids in the minivan and drive to Florida even if the (desirable) hotels in Florida are $500 / night vs $100 / night in Uruguay. I will say I came back from a trip from South America in the last year and the only return flight I could find from S/E South America back to the US under $2000 was indeed through DFW. ATL / DTW also had some great fares to Asia over the years for a while that I preferred over a direct route from JFK. Had a nice international layover in MIA a few years ago as well. Just some anecdotal points. I'm not raising this to offend you.
I also compare all this to my experience RV camping. Once you pay for the extra gas, wear and tear from towing, the odd trailer repair that seems to pop up every trip, park fees, not to mention the initial cost of the RV, and all the extra "work" associated with camping - it really does leave me thinking "we could have gone to Europe..."
America is a diverse place. Just because someone else has had a different experience from you, you can disagree without bringing out the pitchforks, profane insults, and hostility.
Stunning-Artist-5388@reddit
"remote/rural" -- Not really. Living in Kansas City or Minneapolis or St Louis or DFW isn't really remote or rural. It's just not living next to an airport that a lot of airlines compete for international flying business at. JFK is extraordinarily cheap because there are dozens of international carriers serving it. LAX, SFO, BOS, IAD, MIA and ORD are also competitive airports.
Nerve -- Yes. It does strike a nerve with me when people dismiss people's comments because it doesn't apply to them. I never disagreed that flying international can be relatively affordable for you. Not sure why you felt the need to respond to my comment other than to handwave it off since you think the affordable airports 'cover half the country anyways' (yeah, even if it did, which it doesn't, it doesn't cover the other half. So what is your point? That it doesn't matter? And to that you just said I was trying to pick a fight and ignored it.).
As for families, that too is a tricky calculation we didn't discuss. I have a family of three (me, wife, and kid) and going to Europe is tricky not just for airfare, but because most rooms in most hotels in most countries would require two rooms due to fire codes. We rarely travel with our kid internationally because it's nearly double the hotel costs. Domestically, we never ever have the problem of getting a hotel that we all comfortably fit into for a single rate. Last time I went to South American, btw, I had to fly from airport to Dallas to MIA and then to my destination both there and back to save about $1000 from the direct DFW flights that existed, and it was for work so my work required the cheaper ticket through the second layover in MIA. I have flown internationally about 30 times in the last 5 years, and only three of those 30 times did I fly the international route through DFW because whether it was on American or a different airline, it was cheaper the other \~27 times to fly out of BOS, JFK/EWR, ORD, MIA, and LAX. More than half those flights I actually flew through DFW on a two hop journey, which sucks.
And YES, America is a diverse place. That is exactly my point. I never discounted your experience, only offered my own, to which you responded by saying that cheaper airfare airports "includes half the country anyways". Anyways? WTF man. What if I discounted your arguments by saying "lol, well that isn't true for half of us anyways"?
pbandjfordayzzz@reddit
I never said you don't matter. That was your interpretation. I have no arguments for you because I don't really have anything to argue with you about. My original points is that international vacations often have better value than domestic. One can usually make up the fare difference on the "deals" from regular vacation activities - decent hotels, fine dining, even golf/skiing can have better deals abroad if you're into that. I didn't even mention a country. And yes, you can probably find a country or activity where all of that stuff is more expensive than the US. Hell, I paid $10/gallon for gas in Europe earlier this year. And yeah, on the other hand, most Americans don't have a passport. I get that. The point of this wasn't to literally caveat every individual circumstance.
This also might be a good opportunity to reflect on the fact that some relatively benign comments from a stranger on the internet seem to be making you so upset. If you are looking to be offended, you will find a reason (for example, I am not a man... but in this context, who cares.. ). The reality is most people on the internet are not trying to make a comment or content that literally covers every single human experience. It's like the people that post budget recipes and then people in the comments are like "but I can't eat gluten" and get all mad that the poster isn't posting recipes with dietary inclusivity. It's reddit. It's not that serious. No need to bring a knife to a drum circle. Hope you find whatever peace you need...
Stunning-Artist-5388@reddit
My only point is that international flights are expensive in a large part of the country. I have two detailed comments to lay out my argument.
I don't know what your point is, fucktard..
AskAnAmerican-ModTeam@reddit
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SnooChipmunks2079@reddit
I've only been to Europe once and was shocked at just how cheap the food was.
KayDeeFL@reddit
We just returned from Germany. The myth that European meals are quite small compared to those in the US is just that, a myth. Every single meal was served HOT and was large enough for us to share, and sometimes (all but once, actually) we couldn't finish it all. I particularly loved the hot food. Here in the US, it's warm, but rarely hot. The service was excellent, so that dashes the "if we don't have a tipping culture the service will suffer," nonsense. Also, there were many, many options for light meals from bakeries, delis, etc. Same for other countries we've visited. Unless you are visiting a Michelin star restaurant, the meals are large and very well prepared.
Agreeable_Mess6711@reddit
I also lived my adult life in Southern California and now NewYork. You can find ways to travel cheaply both in and outside the country if you know what to look for. But I don’t understand, Why are you telling me hotel prices? Just wondering. I’m glad you got good deals but like I said to the guy above, this isn’t practical for most Americans.
pbandjfordayzzz@reddit
Just to show it’s cheaper / better value to travel abroad…
Agreeable_Mess6711@reddit
Ah gotcha! Depending on where you go, it definitely can be and is in a lot of places. There is a lot of value in exploring the US, too, if you get a chance. It’s an amazing country!
startupdojo@reddit
Where?
I looked into quite a few top US national parks and permits are a huge hassle, and hotels near the parks are outrageously priced for really crap standards.
Most city downtown areas are also pretty pricey compared to mid-range Euro cities. To save money, you are stuck staying in the burbs or the ghettos, neither seems very enticing.
Agreeable_Mess6711@reddit
If you’re a resident in southern CA, you can get park entry and camping gear for free through your local library! Even if you aren’t, many other states have similar programs. You just have to dig for it. Sorry i’m not your travel agent, so you’ll have to do the research for yourself, but the information is out there. Where there’s a will, there’s a way! I travelled all over the country on a shoestring budget before I got my current job because (guess what?) I couldn’t afford regular flights out of the country!
If you’re actually interested, and you spend a bit of time researching, I’m sure you can figure it out, too. Also, research on your destination is something you should be doing, no matter where you’re planning to go
startupdojo@reddit
The point of this thread is that things in the USA are very expensive for the same/similar things. Staying in a campground and showering in dirty shared bathrooms is not the same as staying in a nice Airbnb in an Italian village.
I have the will to enjoy vacations and go where my money goes far. I am not dead set on traveling the US just for the sake of traveling the US if the experience is worse and more expensive. US is just bad value for what you get.
Agreeable_Mess6711@reddit
You’re comparing apples and oranges. If I book an Everest expedition (which costs a pretty penny) I’m not going to expect a 5 star resort, even though I paid enough for one in another country. That’s just not the type of trip I booked. The person above mentioned National Parks, so that’s what I answered. If you personally don’t like camping you can just say that, but it’s not objectively better or worse.
(Also, I have been in Italy every week for the past half year, yalls estimation of the cost of things are very dreamy ✨lol)
wittyrepartees@reddit
Ok, so as someone without a car in NYC, I've also found that it's easier to travel internationally because I can use public transit when I get there? Traveling within the states often means I need to rent a car.
Agreeable_Mess6711@reddit
I’m also someone without a car in NYC 🤝 Yep this is one of the many drawbacks to a car dependent society. But don’t let me get on my soap box
waxyjax_@reddit
I’m from California and lived in NYC for most of my adult life and did a lot of international travel for those reasons. Now I’m in Portland, OR and international flights are way more expensive for when I can go (I’m a parent so only when school is out—and the airlines surge their prices knowing that) and it often involves a connecting flight. I now understand how international travel is so out of reach for most other Americans.
OceanPoet87@reddit
That's also living in NYC or LA where international flights are abundant. If someone lives in Omaha or El Paso they might spend part of the day just getting to a hub.
Alert-Painting1164@reddit
Unsurprisingly your money goes further places where they have indentured servitude
AnotherPint@reddit
There’s cultural barriers to long-distance travel too. A huge number of Americans with time and money to do as they please would prefer to drive a big RV to a state park for two weeks over flying to Morocco. The costs are comparable but the culture gulf is too daunting.
SkiingAway@reddit
Yes. And on your second paragraph, living near Boston - this is one of the few areas of the US where travel to Europe is effectively as cheap as traveling around North America is, and not that time-consuming.
As long as I'm flexible on when, I can fly to most major airports in Europe for <$400 round-trip. Western European destinations I can even get to in <8hrs, which puts them at not all that much longer than flying to the West Coast of North America. (which is about 6-7hrs).
And fitting with your hypothesis - I observe a lot more people in the middle class around here taking trips to Europe, and taking them relatively casually, than I do in regions where it's more complicated + expensive to travel there. I am not shocked when I hear a coworker took a couple night vacation to London, for example.
Devtunes@reddit
Almost none of them are taking "long vacations" however. 1 week is generally max allowed by our work culture. A few times you can get away with 2 weeks but in my experience it's usually a once or twice in a lifetime trip. The executive class is different though. For people that are considered integral to the company, they seem to be the only ones allowed to take long term vacations. My experience is mostly financial industry, maybe it's different in different jobs.
SkiingAway@reddit
I'm not going to say it's the norm (because it's not), but when I worked on the IT/tech side of a similar employer, there were actual mandates to take lengthy vacations on occasion.
As in - if you weren't scheduling it yourself, HR was going to start directly harassing you and your manager to schedule it, and would eventually just decide for you if you still didn't get it on the calendar.
I think it was every 5 years you got a sabbatical for a month on top of your normal vacation allotment and you were required to take it within a year. And I think you had to use at least a full week at once at least once a year.
You'd be locked out of most of your access and told not to sign in or do any work for the full duration.
If your manager had to call you during that time, that was something that had to get documented and reviewed for why you had to be contacted and why no one else knew it or could do it in your absence.
It was a mixture of the "what if they get hit by a bus/what if they win the lottery tomorrow and never come back" test, and it's also a bit of a risk control beyond that - a lot of schemes for embezzlement and other crimes fall apart once the perpetrator isn't around to manage it/once someone else is looking more closely at your stuff.
Asianhippiefarmer@reddit
Location is everything. Same with flights from California to Asia..
fueelin@reddit
For sure. I'm in Boston too, and almost every place I've ever traveled is cheaper than here. Even in popular tourist-y places, remote islands, etc., food, drinks, lodging, and rental cars are usually significantly cheaper than at home.
It can be so extreme that we're getting close to the point of our dog's lodging while we're away (staying at a sitter's house) being more expensive than our lodging on the trip!
Agreeable_Mess6711@reddit
Yep, location definitely plays a lot into it
Effective_Move_693@reddit
Something else I’ve noticed is that air travel is way more expensive in the US, even domestically, compared to Europe. In Europe I’ve taken flights between cities that cost me less than $50 USD. That’s borderline impossible to do here. I think it goes back to what you were saying with Europe having better passenger rail infrastructure. American flight companies can get away with charging 4x more because it’s common that the only alternative is driving
limukala@reddit
They don’t tax aviation fuel in the EU, but tax the ever loving shit out of consumer petroleum. So driving is expensive and flying is cheap, inverse of the U.S.
shandelion@reddit
I paid more to go to and from Buffalo this fall than I did to go to and from Sweden this summer lol
QuietObserver75@reddit
That checks out.
poortomato@reddit
👀
SoCalRedTory@reddit
Could we make that a reality in America especially if we emphasize affordable walkable cities? Imagine an America where it's cheaper to get to other states than to drive to the other side of your state?
Derplord4000@reddit
No.
Enough-Meaning-1836@reddit
Why? How?
Not being sarcastic, but literally, how and why?
WHY should it be cheaper to go from, say, Memphis to Tampa than to drive from Memphis to East Tennessee? They dont just randomly price things to laugh and screw over people wanting to travel, there has to be a free market economic reason for that. If it's more cost-effective to travel to Tampa OR if there's an economic incentive that (here's the important part) SOMEONE ELSE is willing to cover, then great. And if there was (flights to Vegas, anyone?) then the actual prices would reflect that.
Physical-Energy-6982@reddit
I recently was trying to budget out a vacation and found it was cheaper for me to fly from NY to Iceland than it was to fly from NY to Montana. Domestic flights have been insane since Covid.
WaffleIron6@reddit
My wife wants to go to Montana. We’re in Florida. It’s usually cheaper to just pull up a map of flight prices to Europe, and pick one that’s the same price
PenteonianKnights@reddit
Domestic flights have gotten very cheap. Often no more than the cost of a bus ticket.
You have to compare apples to apples, the cheap flights in Europe are short distance. Chicago to Philly or to St Louis can be less than $30
Effective_Move_693@reddit
I just looked up Detroit to Cleveland and it was $169. Slightly lower flight time than a Naples to Catania flight I did earlier this year for $35
PenteonianKnights@reddit
That's bc no one flies from Detroit to Cleveland .......it would take you less time to drive, and a bus ticket is less than $30
Check Detroit to Denver for example
Effective_Move_693@reddit
Those two flights you selected are a little different because multiple airline hubs exist at both of those airports and offer direct flights, leading to competition and bringing the price down. For a similar distance flight compared to Chicago, I looked up Indianapolis, which isn’t a hub. $224 nonstop. There is a flight through Frontier for $60, however that requires a flight to Denver, as again, that is the hub airport. It gets even worse when going from hub to hub in the same airline. Detroit to Minneapolis is a similar distance flight with Chicago, but as both are Delta hubs, they can up the nonstop price to $269.
If you live in an area where competition exists for domestic flights then I’m sure the pricing is better. I, along with half the country, usually do not have that luxury.
PenteonianKnights@reddit
Chi to Indy is another stupidly short distance that no one flies lol. I'm sure in Europe you could find higher prices too for dumb routes and less traversed cities, gotta compare apples to apples. If you were traveling there you were probably not doing the equivalent of flying Detroit to Cleveland or chi to Indy lol, and you were not tied down to a particular starting spot
In an era of massive inflation, airfares and TVs are two things that have MASSIVELY dropped in price
Effective_Move_693@reddit
I meant Detroit to Indy as a similar distance as Detroit to Chicago. People do make those flights though, usually for connections, but my fiancé just flew to Indianapolis from Detroit this week for business.
Yes flights have gotten cheaper compared to inflation from what they were priced at several decades ago, but all airlines, foreign and domestic, are actively trying to figure out ways to extract every dollar that they can get away with charging for a flight, and they all have entire algorithms dedicated to doing so. American airports also have gates specified for a specific airline (Detroit’s McNamarra Terminal is exclusively for Delta flights, for example) where they can keep airplanes parked at the gate for hours on end if they choose. Compare that to European airports, where the gates aren’t usually made exclusive to one airline and can churn out several planes from several carriers in a similar timeframe. Add that with the fact that the domestic carriers usually don’t have to compete with passenger rail, and it just makes it easier for airlines to charge more for domestic flights in the US compared to what they would charge internationally.
PenteonianKnights@reddit
Ya, on business, when the stupid price is expensed, for a stupid route that only price inelastic customers are going to take, such as ppl taking expenses biz flights
Compare apples to apples, plz. Detroit to indy is like flying Brussels to Amsterdam, or Florence to Rome, or Lyon to Geneva. All those are well over $150-$200. You just took budget flights in Europe and tried to compare them to ridiculous USA domestic routes lol
vwsslr200@reddit
Passenger rail is no competition for most international short-haul flights in Europe. It's almost always more expensive and often crappy.
The gates thing is irrelevant. Gates are much more abundant at American airports than in Europe (where you're often forced onto crappy buses) so airlines owning them isn't generally a constraint on capacity.
There's not much cost difference comparing like for like airlines in the US/Europe. Ultra low cost carriers like Spirit/Frontier/Allegiant are about as cheap as their European counterparts.
bourbonandcheese@reddit
I live in STL and fly to Chicago 2-6 times per year. It has never ever ever been $30. Southwest runs "fun fares" for $49 from STL occasionally but only to smaller destinations like Tulsa and Wichita. I average about $100 each way, but could probably get it a bit lower if I chose off-peak flight times.
ForestOranges@reddit
In Michigan you can get round trip domestic flights on Spirit/Frontier for as cheap as around $50 depending on if you’re willing to drive to Detroit. Any time I’ve tried to fly to Grand Rapids for example it’s always more expensive. You gotta use major hubs like Detroit.
KilroyFSU@reddit
Last year my uncle died and I flew round trip from Orlando to Grand Rapids on Frontier for $58 round trip. Whenever I check prices on Google flights GR is usually very similar to DTW.
ForestOranges@reddit
That’s good to know! I guess it also depends on days of travel, destination, the algorithm, etc
Happy_Confection90@reddit
It varies wildly on where you're going and from where, though. Flying to NYC and Philadelphia today from Manchester, New Hampshire, costs over $400 despite them them only being 300-400 miles away. If I leave from Boston instead (only a half hour longer a drive than Manchester), which is a far bigger airport, I can get flights to both for less than $150.
crazypurple621@reddit
The vast majority of states do not have a "hub city" airport. I would have to drive 6 hours to the nearest hub airport.
ForestOranges@reddit
I said in Michigan. I’m assuming you’re in the Midwest if your nearest hub airport is 6 hours away. 17% of the entire country lives in the Northeast which has great access.
Approximately 23 million out of 30 million Texans live in the Texas triangle giving good access to airports. Florida has several hubs and the Southeast has hubs in North Carolina and Atlanta. And people in Southern/Central California seem pretty set too. While a lot of people may not have access to a major airport, plenty of us also do.
MainZookeepergame425@reddit
yeah i flew with spirit from detroit to Atlanta round trip for about $50 few times actually.
kati8303@reddit
I regularly fly them Nola to atl for about $70, i really hope they keep this route
Massive-Rate-2011@reddit
Yeah and spirit is filing for bankruptcy and stopping service at a ton of airports.
ForestOranges@reddit
Frontier isn’t.
Massive-Rate-2011@reddit
And they have an even smaller footprint. As does breeze.
ForestOranges@reddit
You can still go to Atlanta, Florida, and a couple other places for cheap. Better than nothing.
Uffda01@reddit
depends on the city and airport though.... I'm in MSP and Delta fucks us over at any opportunity they can.... and the discount lines like SunCountry etc stay close to their prices.
Fappy_as_a_Clam@reddit
Yea GRR can be a pain in the ass with the flights available, but it makes up for it with how easy that airport is. The longest I've ever had to wait in security there was about 15 minutes, and that was thanksgiving week.
PlantedinCA@reddit
The distance from CA to NYC is the roughly same as from the UK to Egypt. Think of the number of countries between that.
badatclicking@reddit
If you ever look at the itemized breakdown of your plane ticket cost it’s actually like 80% fees and taxes
Overall_Fishing_6792@reddit
That is just flatly incorrect.
badatclicking@reddit
Ok more like 65%
Overall_Fishing_6792@reddit
Not going to argue with you past this comment, but no, still incorrect.
badatclicking@reddit
https://imgur.com/a/jdmYlmp
xangkory@reddit
Ok, you just produced one shitty example that doesn't prove your point.
badatclicking@reddit
I mean that's more than the other person arguing with me did
holymacaroley@reddit
So, so much more expensive. I traveled a lot within Europe when I lived in the UK. Now we only go once every several years to see my husband's family. Expensive and it's hard for him to get enough days in a row off.
MilkChocolate21@reddit
There are ULCC that have come and gone. I have flown for as little as $25. It was about 25 years ago but yeah. Many airlines here and in the EU have gone under though bc money is money and lack of profitability eventually matters.
B4K5c7N@reddit
I flew for under $22 euros recently (palma to barcelona) on air europa. Free checked bag too.
AnotherPint@reddit
There’s a small handful of Euro LCCs / ULCCs that have hung on: Ryanair, easyJet, and Wizz. Many more have failed. But the survivors keep fares low across the board. If easyJet disappeared tomorrow, intra-European airfares on Lufthansa and Air France would double or triple.
busyship1514@reddit
European salaries are also a lot lower, and they can employ people from other EU countries with average salaries of 1000 euros a month.
la-anah@reddit
Yeah, even Boston to NYC, which you can drive in 5 hours, is $100+.
Agreeable_Mess6711@reddit
Very true
wbruce098@reddit
Great observation.
But also, the US is big. I mean, really big. It’s almost the same square miles as Europe. In fact, Europe without Russia is about 65% the size of the US. That incredible size means there’s a lot to see here. And since we are highly mobile (often moving far from where we grew up), there’s strong incentive to visit family, who are also in the US. And unless you or they are in Alaska or Hawaii, it’s often a drivable distance, so no point saving up for a flight.
Most people I know who regularly travel internationally have family abroad. That also helps them afford the cost to stay somewhere: a hotel for a week might cost more than the plane tickets!
Former_Pool_593@reddit
Or, perhaps they don’t enjoy a good case of bowel sickness.
Agreeable_Mess6711@reddit
I’m not sure what this means
BitNorthOfForty@reddit
As a middle-aged American, I strongly have suspected that only upper and upper-middle class Americans truly can afford these trips (at least, with more than once-in-a-lifetime regularity). It’s very helpful to read your insights as a flight attendant, u/Agreeable_Mess6711 , given your interactions with many, many American travelers.
DefNotReaves@reddit
I went to Europe every year as a broke college kid. Saved up for a $400 flight, and then stayed in hostels. Wasn’t that hard.
It’s easier now that I have a good job, but if you make traveling a priority over other things in your life, you don’t have to be rich to do it.
Agreeable_Mess6711@reddit
This is what I always did, but a lot of people have other higher priorities, and that’s okay! I am just pointing out that international travel is significantly more difficult for Americans and takes more commitment because of the time and expense involved
Agreeable_Mess6711@reddit
I have noticed a heartening trend of younger folks (women especially) even of lower incomes saving up to travel internationally and it’s really exciting to see! I always try to give them extra treats because I know how hard and long they must’ve worked to be here. But ja, by and large, in my experience at least, it’s mainly the upper classes that travel internationally, like you said, more than once or twice in their lives.
BitNorthOfForty@reddit
Love that you especially look out for the international travelers whose trips likely required years of careful saving and planning! 😊🌟
Texasforever1992@reddit
As a solo traveler I’ve actually found the opposite to be true. I actually wind up taking more international trips than overnight domestic trips because I find it much cheaper. Yes the initial ticket is cheaper domestically than internationally, but depending on where you’re going not by much.
Just looking at domestic flights a month out in November (before everything gets crazy for thanksgiving) I see plenty of round trip flights between Austin and many US cities for $200-300 where as flights to major European cities like Paris and Rome are in the $500-600 range.
Where you can really save money in Europe over the U is the price of lodging and transportation once there. While some people still hold a negative stigma towards hostels, I’ve found most of them to be quite nice and safe. They come with some obvious inconvenience, but you can easily save $100 a night over a hotel room and it is a great place to meet people.
For transportation, European cities are generally very walkable and have great public transport so you can save like $100 a day by not having to rent a car.
So really, by staying in hostels and not renting a car you can make that difference in the flight ticket back in just a few days.
Agreeable_Mess6711@reddit
That’s exactly what I used to do before I got free flights lol.
But, you have to bear in mind that this is low season for a reason. Yes, you will be able to find the cheapest flights between September and mid November and January and mid March, but that’s also because most Americans can’t take vacation then. School is in session, and depending on your job, they might not allow you to take off either. (Retail, for example, might not let employees take vacation time until after the holidays.).
So if you’re single and have flexible work that allows you to take advantage of the low season, by all means do it! But that’s just not the case for most people I think
MilkChocolate21@reddit
Without kids you most definitely can take vacation in spring and fall. And I hate hot weather so that's always been my preferred time to go to Europe. It used to be way less crowded and cheaper in every way.
Bundt-lover@reddit
I work in retail at corporate, and the holiday thing holds. We CAN take time off, but it has to get director approval during Black Friday events.
Agreeable_Mess6711@reddit
Ja when I said retail, people are automatically only picturing cashiers. But it goes all the way up the chain
MilkChocolate21@reddit
I wasn't disagreeing about that. Just pointing out that time of year is irrelevant to some of us. Every time this question is asked, someone answers as if we're all the same. We don't all have kids. We don't all have jobs that get more intense around holidays. We don't all have little vacation. I have friends who spend the entire summer overseas. Others who have never been. I personally do spring or fall for reasons mentioned. Only did August once because it was below the equator.
Bundt-lover@reddit
I get ya. I get 6 weeks of PTO myself (based on tenure), and one of the benefits I qualify for is a one-month sabbatical at 50% pay. I personally haven't traveled internationally in the last decade because I have/had elderly pets, and because I had to replace some appliances in the house. I could go on a trip abroad or I could buy a new fridge.
I've got a friend who makes 5-6 international trips a year, but he makes something like $350K a year. His trips probably cost more than my salary.
Agreeable_Mess6711@reddit
My points exactly 👍 (Btw I traveled internationally while working retail. It was a lot of scrimping and saving tho!)
MilkChocolate21@reddit
I'm glad you made it work.
startupdojo@reddit
Low season is heavily dependent on weather. Sure, flights to Paris and London are cheap in January and so are accommodations, but it is cold and rainy and not nearly as pleasant as visiting during nice weather.
Agreeable_Mess6711@reddit
That’s why it’s low season….
Casamance@reddit
This. In many cases it's actually cheaper to travel outside of the US than within it. If you're eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner while you're traveling in the US that's going to cost at least $60 per day IF you're being frugal. Realistically it's closer to $80-$150 per day especially if you want to try nice places. In Vietnam you could spend like $10 per day and be completely fine.
In addition, hotels are stupid expensive in the US and hostels aren't really a thing here. So if you're traveling for two weeks or more in the US you actually end up spending MORE overall compared to traveling to, say, Czechia or Rwanda. Hostels there can go for €20-€40 per night. This is why I have never traveled to another US state outside of leisure (besides Jersey), it was always work related (fencing competitions in Massachusetts, going to research conferences in Florida and Washington, going to grad school in Minnesota, etc.)
I almost always want to travel out of the country because it ends up being cheaper in the long run and I find other countries to be way more interesting than other states.
Agreeable_Mess6711@reddit
For reference, guys, since people seem to be misreading this-when I say it’s much more expensive to travel internationally from the USA, I am comparing traveling internationally from the USA with traveling internationally in Europe. I am not comparing the cost of traveling internationally vs domestically within the USA.
In Europe I have gotten a €30 ticket from Madrid to Morocco, it is only a few hours flight and you’ve already left the continent. Geographically, there is nowhere in the US where you can do something similar, because we’re huge and there’s just really no one close enough (I exclude Canada and Mexico but only because OP also kinda excluded them in their post). That’s my point
Many_Pea_9117@reddit
My wife and I are middle class DINKs, so we do like 1-2 trips a year. This year we did Madrid in March for my wife's bday, then Japan in September for our honeymoon. We also have a trip to Cancun with friends in December, if that counts.
We save and go everywhere on off-season or non-peak times so it's not too bad. We also have little trips during the year to NYC, or LA. We live in DC, so we try to take the train or drive when it's on the East Coast. Also flying to visit family in Houston for Thanksgiving.
This year is extra crazy cause of our wedding. Next year we want to try having kids, so we may not book anything, but once we have some down time and if the kid seems chill maybe somewhere more local.
turkeybuzzard4077@reddit
And it's so much hassle you basically have to take a long trip if it's not work related.
FearDaTusk@reddit
This tracks with my job(s). Pretty much all of my co-workers are scheduled out for extended periods about twice a year for destination vacations. In previous roles (entry level) it was generally planned out as a splurge.
Traveling is just a casual event in my current office.
christine-bitg@reddit
Dont forget that Canada and Mexico are immediately adjacent to the US.
I get that some people in the US don't really view them as separate countries, but my bet is that you don't fall into that category.
Agreeable_Mess6711@reddit
I addressed this in another comment, but I only exclude them because OP kinda does in the last line of their post. I think they’re both amazing personally!
Dramatic_Stranger661@reddit
Very few Americans will ever have a job that would allow them to leave for more than a week or 2. I could afford the hotel and plane tickets, but I will likely never have enough time off for a long trip like that.
Icy-Aioli-2549@reddit
My goal is to go to a new country every year. I have a few friends who have the same goal. None of us have kids and we can all afford it. I do know a lot of Americans who just like all inclusives to Mexico or cruises. I imagine I will have to change my goal if we have kids. Also remember that the US is huge. I can drive 14 hours and only make it accross half the country. There are tons of domestic travel options for Americans. Flying Denver to Chicago is the same as Spain to Slovenia.
BananaFern@reddit
Compared to Australians and Germans, no. Not even close but, it depends on the generation.
Boomers and Millennials don’t get more than 2-3 weeks of paid vacation each year and, by the time we retire, we’re too exhausted to do long international trips. Plus, the older we are, the more expensive things become, because we expect a higher class of travel. I actually do travel abroad, alone for 3-4 months each year and everyone that knows can’t believe it. I volunteer at wildlife rehab facilities that provide room and board, and venture out on my own before and after, on my own dime. Even staying in hostels and flying coach can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Younger generations I would imagine do, because they can work remotely.
SignificantBends@reddit
I did about a month in Europe between jobs in 2016. I had money saved and a firm start date for the new job, so I visited Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and the UK.
SugarKyle@reddit
I'm going to say no, simply because we have a pretty low passport adoption per population.
As an American who does travel internationally regularly, there is also a difference of scale. Just getting out of the US is half the trip. I'm on the east coast and its 7 hours to Europe. Asia is 20-30 hours and Australia was a day and a half of travelling. To balance that scale its roughly 6 hours from one coast to another. If I go to Vegas from the east its 5 hours. Canada however is an easy 3-4 hour trip as is the Caribbean.
Michael_bubble@reddit
Us is significantly bigger than Europe. Iowa to Texas is like crossing all of continental Europe. Alaska is almost as big as the entirety of Europe. Its hard for Europeans to understand this from what I've observed, and they try to simplify down to their tiny countries which aren't normal outside of... Europe. So in general, reconcile that when you try conceptualize how middle class Americans travel. Going from Tennessee to Florida is like going from Germany to Italy. Millions of Americans go to Florida every year.
Downtown-Trainer-126@reddit (OP)
Yeah, but I’m talking about actually far destinations (like going from Europe to Japan). So like 10-12 hour long flights.
ssk7882@reddit
Very few Americans can afford to take such trips, not only because of pure cost, but also because we don't get the same sort of vacation time in the US that people do in more civilized parts of the world. Few employers here allow their employees to take sabbaticals or enough unpaid time off for such travel. In order to take a long trip like that, people usually have to quit their jobs entirely.
For this reason, usually the only Americans you see taking those sorts of long trips are young people who haven't yet started any sort of career (and who are usually from higher socio-economic backgrounds, which imbues them with the optimism about their ability to get by on their return that -- realistically -- usually comes from having a certain type of familial safety net).
KayDeeFL@reddit
Far from true, that long trips are usually young people. Yes, those who have yet to start their careers are often traveling (there is a general concept that post university many students go on a "grand tour," type of international trip) are doing just that, but there are older people traveling, as well. The older people tend to travel more often and stay longer.
MetalEnthusiast83@reddit
Simply not true.
Constant-Security525@reddit
According to...
Most Americans have traveled abroad, but this varies by income, education, race | Pew Research Center https://share.google/wh0vhxykHOwY9f96x
The percentage is not that high, in terms of frequent travel abroad. Before seeking out these stats, I guessed as much. I know of many people who rarely travel out-of-state, let alone widely within the large US itself, let alone far beyond. Clearly several factors contribute to this. I could surely list as many as 10, if you like.
KayDeeFL@reddit
This reminded me of a time when I was visiting friends in Kentucky. We'd gone to another person's home where friends of theirs were visiting. When I asked those friends if they lived nearby, the woman responded, "Oh no! We live clear thirty miles from here!" I didn't laugh, but boy it was hard not to chuckle.
KayDeeFL@reddit
We prefer to travel internationally, and to stay as long as possible. Recently, we've been to South Africa and to Germany. We'd have liked to stay longer in Germany, but had other responsibilities, so we had to return. We love traveling to Canada, particularly the Northeast and the Northwest corners. Love Vancouver, and Quebec City. My grandfather was from Quebec.
We travel within the US, also but that is most often attached to family requirments, weddings, graduations, that sort of thing.
When we retire, we plan on longer stays to our chosen destination. I'm looking forward to several months in Donegal when that time comes!
rogue780@reddit
By the time you've traveled across the Schengen countries from east to west, the same distance from the eastern United States getting west will still be in the United States. There's not a lot of motivating factors to international travel for most Americans when they're a great deal of diversity and huge land area within the United States
Downtown-Trainer-126@reddit (OP)
The difference can’t be that big. The longest flight in continental Schengen area is around 5 hours. I don’t think the longest flight in the continental US can be much longer than that
djc91L@reddit
I usually go to one big trip a year. It’s not always international, for instance I went to Hawaii last year. However, I only go for one week. I want to go on African safari next year.
Icy_Huckleberry_8049@reddit
for some - yes
for some - no
350 million Americans and EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT
Abeyita@reddit
745 million Europeans and EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT.
what is your point?
Icy_Huckleberry_8049@reddit
people think that ALL Americans are the same, just because we're from America.
They don't understand that just because it's ONE nation that we're all different, even from house to house, neighborhood to neighborhood, city to city, state to state.
I think most people know that Europe is different due to the number of different countries, but they can't comprehend that it's the same in the US and just lump us all together.
Abeyita@reddit
Never met anyone who thinks all Americans are the same. We are familiar with the concept of everyone being different. We are people too.
Icy_Huckleberry_8049@reddit
yes, but on here everyone things that we're all the same, our neighborhoods are the same, our cities are the same, our states are the same.
beenoc@reddit
I wish that the subreddit mods would make a rule banning this answer. It's true, but it's also totally useless. Literally every single question that has ever been asked in this subreddit (or /r/askEurope or /r/askTheWorld or any other similar subreddit) that isn't about an explicit law could be answered with this. Nobody on Earth in any country is a perfectly homogenous unified blob.
MilkChocolate21@reddit
This part. These questions always ignore this part. Plus most people refuse to answer without pretending their life represents everyone else.
MinimumPosition979@reddit
I would say it's probably not common for middle class families, but starts to be more common with upper middle class if they don't have kids, or have kids who are grown and out of the house. The families I've known who have gone on international trips with their school age children either had 500k+ income per year, or had family ties from the country they were visiting and stayed with family.
The most frequently visited places seem to be Mexico and the carribean, which are obviously more accessible. Then I also hear about London, Paris, maybe Italy or Ireland as maybe a sort of once or twice in a lifetime type trip.
Cost, and ability to take time off are usually the biggest limitations for people.
BubbhaJebus@reddit
It's the short vacation times Americans have that contributes to the rarity of long trips. Two weeks a year is common.
I was able to get six weeks of unpaid leave during a low season at one of my jobs. The company appreciated it, saving the company money while my colleague got more hours. Win win win.
Other times it has been between jobs.
Now that I work from home I can travel any time as long as I allot the hours needed for work.
SouthbutnotSouthern@reddit
We generally don’t have enough vacation time. I’ve done 3 wks once but that was maybe 8 years ago.
MessoGesso@reddit
The people I’ve known who don’t need to ask permission to take time off, prefer in depth travel. Two months scuba diving in the South Pacific practicing underwater photography, over a vacation covering great distances. Or stay in their cabin in the mountains and ski for a few months with a small group. Then they’ll keep having ski cabin trips wherever they want to ski
I don’t hang out with people in those circles anymore, but that’s what I’ve experienced.
aliendepict@reddit
I think its very dependent on your bubble. In my bubble everyone i know has been to Asia at least once and europe once. I my self have spent a month in 14 countries and seen 19 in total.
Orangeshowergal@reddit
Yeah. Americans, on average, get substantially less vacation time than any European you know. This makes vacation time more valuable
Cold_Elk947@reddit
And it’s not like we get the lump sum of vacation days at the beginning of the year, we have to earn it every pay period. It’s a joke.
FintechnoKing@reddit
Speak for yourself. Many of us do get access to all our PTO on Jan 1.
PaperintheBoxChamp@reddit
Yep, Jan 13th really for it to kick in at the start of the year and can carry over up to 550 hours
xqueenfrostine@reddit
This is employer dependent. I’m in the US and I get my yearly allotment of my vacation days all at once every September. My job doles them out on the anniversary of your hire date, so everyone in the office gets them at different times. I’m lucky that my job lets them role over too so I could technically save up two years worth and leave for a month, but I haven’t and likely would never do that.
Cold_Elk947@reddit
The multi-billion company I worked at didn’t let us roll over our PTO. Two years after I started, they changed the PTO policy from 20 days to 10 days for new employees. Again, MULTI-BILLION dollar company being stingy with PTO.
xqueenfrostine@reddit
While my PTO rolls over, our PTO policy sounds stingier than yours as new hires don't get any PTO at all, even holidays and sick days. You don't qualify for PTO here until you've been with the practice for a full year and at that time you only get 5 vacation days plus 3 sick days and 7 paid holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve & Day, New Year's Day , Memorial Day. Independence Day and Labor Day). Once you've been here for 3 years, the number of vacation days you get raises to 10 days, but it never raises any higher than that. In terms of benefits,. people who have been here 3 years get the same as people who have been here for 20.
Cold_Elk947@reddit
That’s terrible. Not giving your employees paid time off can lead to burn out and high turnovers.
MetalEnthusiast83@reddit
That's company dependent. My PTO technically accumulates, but I can take it all off and have a negative balance for a while. I can also roll time from year to year if I am planning on a big trip, but I already get 5 weeks of PTO.
christine-bitg@reddit
But if you get seriously ill, you'll burn through that PTO time. Been there, done that.
When I first started working, vacation time and sick time were two separate categories. Now many companies combine the two into Paid Time Off (PTO).
MetalEnthusiast83@reddit
I guess but short term disability and FMLA are also a thing. I am actually on leave at the moment and am not going back to work until December.
christine-bitg@reddit
Worth remembering that FMLA is unpaid leave.
And that's if you can get FMLA. Small employers below a certain size are exempt from that.
MetalEnthusiast83@reddit
Oh yeah, I would never work for a small business again. They are shitty employers and probably the Trumpiest demographic around is small business owners.
Cold_Elk947@reddit
I worked for Fortune 100 company. We didn’t get our PTO in a lump sum. I had to be hospitalized for a week at the beginning of the year and didn’t have enough hours on my books so I had to “borrow” from my future accrued PTO. This was when we used PTO for sick leave. And we couldn’t roll over any unused PTO either.
Last job I had, they gave us 30 days of sick leave. I used up 11 days to recover from surgery and also went into septic shock. I never used the remaining days because we all worked from home so if I got sick with a cold or stomach issue, I just worked through it. Can’t contaminate anyone over Teams.
Bundt-lover@reddit
That’s the double-edged sword of accrued PTO. When you leave your company, it gets paid out. But you have to earn it over time.
At my job, all our PTO is awarded at once, and it’s use-or-lose and does not get paid out.
rctid_taco@reddit
This is universally true. Around a dozen states require it to be paid out but the rest just leave it up to company policy.
OceanPoet87@reddit
Same! Going to Cabo next year ND I had to argue with my dentist who wanted me to go back 5 times in the next few months. They negotiated to two before they let me leave yesterday.
hike_me@reddit
That’s why when I start a new job I don’t take a long vacation my first year. I build up a balance of PTO, then the next year I can take 3-4 weeks off pretty much whenever I want and the vacation time I earn that year basically pays back my buffer.
TheEternalChampignon@reddit
Every job I've ever had in the USA didn't allow rolling over PTO to the next year. You gain it slowly, so assuming you don't even use up any of it on sick days or needing to take a day for medical appointments or other errands, you only end up with enough for a real vacation fairly late in the year. And then if you don't use it all up, it's gone at the end of the year and starts over in the new year.
It's fucking barbaric.
hike_me@reddit
Every job I’ve had in the last 25 years has allowed me to roll vacation time over year to year. They did cap it though.
TheEternalChampignon@reddit
It's a huge problem that there aren't federal laws about this so companies just do whatever they want.
ColorlessGreen91@reddit
I've never had a job that allowed you to carry over vacation time to the next year. I dont know many people with jobs that allow them either, across many fields and industries.
I know they exist but its not exactly common.
yourlittlebirdie@reddit
I’ve worked some jobs where you weren’t even allowed to take vacation the first year.
hike_me@reddit
I started a new job two months before I had an already two-week vacation planned in Iceland so I they let me take one week of vacation time (going slightly negative) and I took the other week without pay.
LostSomeDreams@reddit
Varies by industry
Genepoolperfect@reddit
And if you have kids, you end up taking those sick or vacation days when your kid is sick. Depending on number of kids & their constitution, you might burn through those days fast
islands-washover-me@reddit
A lot of Americans don’t or cannot afford holiday.
PaperintheBoxChamp@reddit
I’m like a solidly middle to upper middle class, I’ve taken 4 trips this year. 3 domestic and 2 and a half weeks to the Philippines. Some people are hesitant to pull the gun or just prioritize saving up for it
Orangeshowergal@reddit
Yeah, but many can lol.
My wife and I don’t have kids, both make good money, and take a nice vacation every year
Makeup_life72@reddit
Same, but our kid is 30 and married. We are 52 and 54. Spouse is retired Military and I get 6 weeks from my work. We love Caribbean vacations.
islands-washover-me@reddit
That’s a rude response. You seem poor to me. Enjoy your holidays.
v2a5@reddit
Yeah... I can afford the cost. But I don't want to spend my precious little PTO back and forth on planes and dealing with jet lag.
pwlife@reddit
The vacation time is the real kicker for a lot of people. I know families that are pretty well off but their work is pretty demanding and they can't be gone for too long. They tend to do a lot more small weekend trips that allow for minimal time off work.
Several-Program6097@reddit
Large part is priorities though. Many people lever all their money and can't afford to take time off. If you're willing to go unpaid then taking a month off isn't hard. I once got threatened they'd fire me if I did but never did because if me being gone for a month was bad for them then firing me was worse.
pwlife@reddit
It's not about being unpaid, some jobs just require a lot of prep work to take any significant time off. One of my friends is a couple of attorneys at very busy firms. They take a vacation with their kids in the summer but it's nowhere near as long as they'd like. I have another friend that is a physician, he really.loves to travel and decided to take a pay cut and is now an attending at a local hospital. When he was in private practice it took a lot of effort and coordination to vacation, between scheduled patients, it's a lot to sort out, nowthat he is an attending it's pretty much shift work.
Flimsy-Opportunity-9@reddit
I was going to say, I now have “unlimited pto” but we are only allowed to take 1 week at a time. We can’t stack multiple weeks.
Which basically excludes going somewhere that takes 2 days to travel each way. I could definitely do some places in Europe in that time, but Japan? Australia? Thailand? Out of the question.
vwsslr200@reddit
I would disagree with that. You can see plenty in Japan or Australia taking a week off work. Take vacation time plus holiday(s) you'd already get off to get extra days.
PaperintheBoxChamp@reddit
I’m going to the phillipines in January and was just there this past January, so once a year I guess I do
No_Bake_3627@reddit
The US is so big most could go to a different state every year and still not even come close to seeing the entire country.
Sharontoo@reddit
Getting more than a week off from work at one time in the US is difficult
judijo621@reddit
I have zero desire nor intention of international travel. I don't have a passport.
BFF (age 70) is visiting Italy now. But she was a last-minute add-on filling a seat someone else had vacated.
I can afford it. Both my kids have traveled internationally. Coworkers would visit family in Mexico or Central America. 🤷
Anon-John-Silver@reddit
Not many Americans can afford it.
almostaarp@reddit
For this American it is. We’ve two teenagers at home. Since they were 8 & 10 we’ve started traveling internationally every other year or so. So far we’ve visited Ireland (my wife’s 1st choice) and Australia (my cousin, whom I’m close to lives there). Central/South America will be our next destination. On the off years, we visit places in the US and camp locally. We aren’t independently wealthy. We have to save and plan our trips. But, traveling opens the mind and heart. We think that’s important.
TimeMachineNeeded01@reddit
We consider it lower status to stay domestic, so far flung destinations are v popular, especially w the influencer types
Big_Succotash_8076@reddit
I am in the top 2% of u.s. earners by income. I take a couple of international trips for pleasure per year. I do not take extended trips (more than 2 weeks) bc I have a demanding job to make the income.
stephen__du@reddit
Vacation time is usually the issue not money. If you live on the east coast, north east in particular flying to Europe is not overly expensive compared to flying to Mexico. The problem is most people only have maybe two weeks vacation a year so if they have to use days for other non trips that doesn't leave much time
yay4chardonnay@reddit
I wish I had a more European mindset. They seem to enjoy life so much more. Plus you can get to other countries easily for short stays.
Valiant_QueenLucy@reddit
Most of my friends or acquaintances dream of going to Europe but know we likely won't be able to due tp financials
Evil-Cows@reddit
Well traveled American here I have never taken a three week vacation. Two at the very most maybe a little bit over too if I’m taking a day or two extra for travel or buffer when getting back, but that’s it. American stroke at that higher time if you’re really handsome or you on your own business or something like that, you might have different opportunities but as a whole Americans, don’t have that kind of time. Even if your company did offer unlimited time off the chances of them approving a full three week vacation is pretty slim.
GreenBeanTM@reddit
As of September 8th a study found that about 42% of Americans have never left the country, and about 25% of that 42% never plan to.
If I’m being honest, I actually thought those numbers were a lot higher.
Travelin_Jenny1@reddit
2-3 weeks max due to lack of vacation time. Typically South Africa, Europe, Thailand, most popular. None I know from USA have been to turkey but many in uk go often to turkey for holiday. Just one example.
Rezboy209@reddit
My cousin won 24 million USD in the lottery years back. She would go on weeks long trips to Europe a few times a year.
If I had that kind of money I'd do the same honestly, so I'd assume it's pretty common for those who can afford it.
Spare-Anxiety-547@reddit
My brother has lots of money and he and his wife got on international trips once a year with their 2 children who are under 8. Their 3 year old has been to way more countries than I have.
I have been on 2 international trips (I'm in my early 40s). Once to a foreign country for almost 2 weeks where said rich brother got married and another time, I went to England for a week because my good friend was there for a month and she offered me a free place to stay. I did go to a border town in Mexico once, so technically 3 international trips. My dad lived a couple hours from the Texas/Mexico border so we drove down to the border. We went through the border crossing and walked around the town for an hour or two, just so I could say I had been to Mexico.
So it really depends. Some people have the time and money to be able to do international vacations but many people can't.
Leta19@reddit
I’m 40 and I’ve lived in California my entire life and really enjoy the outdoors and there’s so much in my state I’ve never seen. Let alone surrounding states. I mean I can drive for 6 hours and still be in California. However I just got my passport and will be going on my first international trip next month :) and outside of military men I’m the first of my family to travel out of the US.
OceanPoet87@reddit
Grew up in CA to solidly middle class boomers. Every year we were able to vacation but did roadtrip all over California and to every western state except ID or WY. I never left the country until I was in my 20s and those were just nearby Baja and Canada. Did Central America later on my own. But my parents never had the cash to travel abroad until all three of us were adults. They are currently retired and on a month long trip to Croatia and Italy. Previously they did Germany and before that France. But they are retired and can go when it is off peak.
SnooChipmunks2079@reddit
I grew up in Illinois and I think we went to Canada (Niagara Falls) once or twice, but otherwise we never left the country on vacation.
poortomato@reddit
Same here. My grandparents took me and cousins to Niagara Falls when I was in 4th grade. We mostly stayed on the NY side but went to the Canadian side for a day or two. Before you needed a passport to cross.
My parents' idea of a family vacation was going to Colonial Williamsburg and all sorts of historic battlefield locations (like Valley Forge). But they went to Turks and Caicos by themselves one year 😒
SnooChipmunks2079@reddit
My mom used to drop us kids off with her parents and go to NYC. LOL.
poortomato@reddit
Lmaooo, damn 😭 I was lucky, I went to the city more than my parents, pretty sure. School field trips or a day of adventuring with grandma, lol. My mom barely went more than 30 miles from home, generally, and my dad was working all the time (the aforementioned family battlefield vacations were always his desire and he would be the sole driver).
Fappy_as_a_Clam@reddit
Nice! I remember my first international trip as an adult, I was pretty excited even though it was only to the Bahamas.
Where are you going?
Leta19@reddit
Japan. For 42 days, I’m both extremely excited and extremely nervous.
Majestic_Empress1106@reddit
I was born and raised in SoCal and I live in Japan now! You’re going to have a wonderful time!😊
Gallahadion@reddit
Where in Japan are you going?
Leta19@reddit
I have hotels booked in Tokyo, Hakone, Osaka, Hiroshima, (5 day break with nothing booked cause we’re not sure where we want to go) and then the last week of Christmas/new years back in Tokyo with day trips planned throughout.
Gallahadion@reddit
Neat. I've been to all of the cities on your list except Hakone. Hope you have a lot of fun activities planned!
Leta19@reddit
The Hakone was kind of a last minute addition, because I found out you can ride on pirate ships in Lake Ashi, so I figured a few days there were warranted :) any suggestions or recommendations for my in between of Hiroshima and Tokyo? It’s five days, I was looking in to Nagoya but I’m open
Gallahadion@reddit
OK, now I have to add riding on a pirate ship if I ever go back to Japan.
A couple of other cities I spent some time in were Kyoto (the old imperial capital, where the palace can still be visited) and Nara (the imperial capital before Kyoto). Kyoto was one of the few cities that wasn't destroyed during World War II, so there are still a lot of historical architecture like Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. Kiyomizudera has a platform (first image in the linked article) with a great view of the surrounding nature. I was there in the fall, so the view was even nicer with the changing colors. In Nara there's Tōdai-ji and the deer that wander through parts of the city looking to be fed. Those are just some of the things I remember doing when I visited several years ago. I really need to go back sometime.
Leta19@reddit
I did plan on doing day trips from Osaka to both Kyoto and Nara! I am really going to try to visit every possible castle, including Himeji (another day trip). Thank you for the recommendations.
& now with the pirate ships info, you have yet another excuse to go :)
Gallahadion@reddit
You're welcome. I'd forgotten about Himeji Castle. I've been to Osaka Castle and Yoshida Castle, but both of those are reconstructions. Himeji Castle is one of the few originals left. Is Hikone Castle also on your list? That's another original and it's in the same region as Osaka. Matsumoto Castle is another one that I'd like to visit someday; it has a mostly black exterior unlike other Japanese castles.
Leta19@reddit
It was, but where I’m staying in Hakone is right by Lake Ashi and so I’m not sure if I can fit it in, but if I can find a way, I will try and see it. I didn’t have Yoshida castle on my radar, so I will attempt that as well. I am trying to convince the person I’m going with that a day trip from Tokyo to Tsuruga Castle in our last week is totally normal and doable. But we’ll see lol
Matsumoto Castle looks so beautiful, maybe Matsumoto can be my last destination before going back to Tokyo.
Gallahadion@reddit
Yoshida castle is very small, but the view is nice. Hopefully the museum will be open if you visit.
Flexappeal7@reddit
My favorite place I went in Japan was Kyoto! I spent 4 days there and wish I had spent at least double that, but I’m also kind of a history nerd
Leta19@reddit
We’re staying in Osaka for 8 days and planned on doing a few day trips there, maybe more.
antares127@reddit
I’m literally on my second day in Japan. It’s amazing!! Don’t be nervous at all!
Leta19@reddit
Omg I love that for you!! I hope your entire time is so magical!
Fappy_as_a_Clam@reddit
Dude, that is going to be fucking awesome.
Don't be nervous at all, only excited. That is one of those things that only happens a few times in your life, if that. I'm really happy for you! And a little envious!
Leta19@reddit
Thank you so much! It seems unreal tbh. I do payroll for a small company and I’ve never taken more than a week off in ten years so, it’s going to be quite the shock to my system I think.
Stachemaster86@reddit
Same but I’m in Wisconsin and Minnesota areas. Tons of nature and other spots to see.
POCKALEELEE@reddit
I read your six hours drive comment, and just for fun did some searching. Michigan has 2 points in the state that are 9 hours and 29 minutes apart. Ironwood Mi to Lambertville MI. It appears to be the longest direct drive in any of the 48 states, but that's an AI generated answer.
awmaleg@reddit
Texas spans two time zones
SnooChipmunks2079@reddit
So do Florida and Indiana. Possibly Tennessee and Kentucky as well, I don't recall.
It doesn't really mean much.
christine-bitg@reddit
Sort of. There's only a little piece of the state (El Paso) that's on Mountain time.
Dry-Chicken-1062@reddit
Crescent City CA (at the Oregon border) to San Ysidro CA (on the Mexican border) is 14 and a half hours.
slpybeartx@reddit
Texan here, El Paso to Texarkana is 11hr 40 min (813 miles). And going N S it’s Brownsville to Dalhart at 12 hr 19 min (860 miles)
xangkory@reddit
The first time I drove into Texas was coming through New Mexico. I knew Texas was big but I didn't realize how big until the road sign said Louisiana was just over 1,000 miles.
milkshakemountebank@reddit
It is a 12 hour/800 mile drive from CA's southern border to the border with Oregon. AI seems to be rarely right
FLOHTX@reddit
Good thing its gonna take all our jobs somehow.
snakesaremyfriends@reddit
I feel the same way about our beautiful state. Congratulations on the upcoming trip, how exciting!
Automatic-Concept147@reddit
I've never had more than 40 hours a year vacation, this has had me vacation in the Caribbean, Mexico and South America. I"ve vacationed across the South Eastern US and California, I'm looking forward to seeing New England in my own country, Alaska and more of the West of country. I'd like to visit England one day and Ukraine after it wins the war.
SuperShelter3112@reddit
lol I’m a public librarian and when I worked full time I got 14 days of paid vacation time per year. I also have 2 kids. I used some of those days on THEIR problems (their sick days, their dentists appointments, whatever). Now I work part time and get ZERO paid vacation days. I haven’t taken 5 consecutive days off since 2023. My husband is a mechanical engineer. He gets three weeks paid vacation, so slightly better, but since I no longer get any, he bears the brunt of taking the kids to their various things or staying home with puking children. So, no. We do not have the time or money to take long international trips. That said! We did just all get our passports renewed because of wishful thinking so let’s hope we can make use of them soon!
Few-Reception-4939@reddit
It’s not unusual. My parents travelled a lot and took long trips. My sister usually goes on an international trip a year. I’ve never had enough vacation time to travel much
tranquilrage73@reddit
If I could afford it, I would spend a month in Europe every year. Getting tome off work is also a factor.
For now, we spend about two weeks there every few years.
I live very close to the Canadian border, and have spent time there. I have also spent time in Mexico, but Europe is my absolute favorite place to visit.
beardiac@reddit
I have yet to travel internationally except to Canada, but all the people I know who have do tend to go for more than one week. Partially because it's something they're unlikely to do multiple times and also because it's such a long flight.
Agreeable_Cow_7230@reddit
I am from the US but now live in the UK. One of the things that really changed my world view was coming here and realising how often people here go to a European country or Portugal and Tenerife etc. And how unbelievably cheap the airfare is to get there.
In a lot of cases you can just take a ferry and then drive to any other European country. It is incredible. All the countries in this part of the world are so close to each other!
In America, I would say most people never leave the US. (Unless born in another country and going back and forth) Because it would be so expensive to fly to Europe. I've seen ads in the UK to fly to Tenerife for 39 pounds. But To fly there or to Europe from the US is going to cost 800 dollars per person.
Also it would be a 10 hour journey over the Atlantic but usually with layovers and flight switches so it can take 24 hours for the trip there.
The US is also massive. I can't even emphasise that enough. So someone from the North East might visit nearby states and sometimes go to another region of the country like the southeast/Florida. But it would take a staggering 24 hours to drive nonstop from the North East to Florida.
And several days to drive to California. That is just for scale. Flying is of course a lot faster. But the point is, an American going to the next state over in America is the same distance as someone from London going to Belgium (5 hour car ride) and even up to 8 hours to drive across some states Florida which is like someone driving from London to France.
Texas is 800 miles long, so you would have to drive from London to France and back to London and that would take the same amount of time as driving across Texas in one direction. And California would take 12 hours of nonstop driving to get across that one state.
Since the US is so huge, and the states and regions are so different from each other, someone from the North East would feel like they were visiting different countries if they travelled to other states outside their region
Most people from the US who travel and want to go someplace relatively nearby and exotic go to coastal Florida or Hawaii. Others go to the Caribbean. That seems the most popular out of country place to travel to.
In my experience those who travel to Europe do it as a once in a lifetime trip. People who are very wealthy and love to travel are the ones who go there more often. The exception is if someone has relatives living in another country.
Super long answer but since I now live in the UK I have a good perspective on other people (outside the US) perspectives on what America and Americans are like.
SwimmingBridge9200@reddit
Most Americans do not have the vacation time and/or money to do this. The majority of those who do are probably upper middle class. Or are young, adventurous, and willing to stay in cheaper accommodations and work along the way to help pay for it. And some of those might even have help from upper middle class parents.
Most people I know either never go overseas or only a few times in their life. The luckier ones may go on a trip in high school through a travel program and later on a special anniversary, birthday, retirement trip.
I’m 54 and my husband and I just went overseas for the first time two years ago. We hope to get another trip or two in our lives. But health issues for him means we have to budget for an earlier retirement so who knows.
Mrs_Gracie2001@reddit
Most Americans who work (who are not rich or retired) get only two weeks’ vacation per year. We generally use it for family.
annaopolis@reddit
Not at all.
shadowmib@reddit
A lot of Americans vacation elsewhere in america. Go 500-1000 miles away in America you might as well be in another country.
sneezyailurophile@reddit
We normally get 2 weeks vacation a year (unless it’s lumped with sick time then zero) so unless they have a lot of savings and an understanding job, no.
AngryRabbitFoot@reddit
It’s not very common among that average American. Most of us don’t make enough money to even take a weekend trip in another state, let along a long international trip. And if you can afford it, good luck finding a job that will allow you to take more than a week off a year.
It really just depends on your job, how much money you make/have, and what resources and you have. I know people who have family in Europe, so taking trips out that way is a lot more doable as they don’t have to find accommodations.
Prize_Consequence568@reddit
"Is it common for Americans (who can afford it) to do long international trips?"
No.
georgia_moose@reddit
Private international travel is generally expensive because of distance. With exception of Canada and Mexico, crossing a major body of water is required to get anywhere. If you live deep in the interior of America not near a major airport, the travel rate just went up. Where I currently live I am about 3.5 hours drive from anything that would be considered a major airport, 1.5 hours drive from a minor airport. But probably very close to a crop-duster airfield but that's not helpful to international travel, let alone significant domestic travel.
GulfofMaineLobsters@reddit
From my experience no it is not very common at all.
athenank@reddit
I’m poor so I wouldn’t know. An international trip regardless of the length of time is kind of like a once in a lifetime thing for me and my family lol. My parents didn’t get their first passport until they were in their late 40s/early 50s.
Sinthriel@reddit
2-3 weeks at a time usually, a month was the longest.
Unique-Fan-3042@reddit
Americans are not travelers. In general, and it’s because it’s not common to have more than a couple of weeks vacation time per year. And most Americans are broke no matter what their income is. It’s expensive here.
But mostly it’s a cultural thing, that travel is a luxury. It’s unfortunate.
clementynemurphy@reddit
Yes. Most people I know plan overseas, even for just a week. Anything here is just a road trip. If someone goes to like, Philadelphia, it's because they have family there. A trip or vacation is usually over seas or Mexico/Lat America
Former_Pool_593@reddit
Oh nothing. I’m sure no one’s ever sick going to another country after being trapped more than 12 hours on a plane.😆
helikophis@reddit
It’s not that common, no. We get very little vacation time so going on more than a two week trip would require quitting your job for many of us.
JonOrangeElise@reddit
I’m on the US west coast, so even getting to the UK is 11 hours. Asia is longer. My UK and EU coworkers take far many more vacations to other countries because they’re just train rides away or a 90 minute flight. Beyond that, Americans are far less vacation oriented than UK and EU.
Emily_Postal@reddit
The longest I can go being away from home is three weeks.
AnnBlueSix@reddit
Don't forget Central America. Costa Rica is relatively safe, close, affordable, and fun to visit. I meet a lot of Europeans every time I visit. Panama is also relatively safe and interesting. Slightly braver folks visit Guatemala, Ecuador, etc.
Crossing a large ocean is a bigger investment in time and money so those trips should be longer to maximize value, especially those living away from the major coastal airports where a connecting flight or 2 or 3 are often required. Though as a Chicago resident near O'Hare we do have a lot of direct flights in the summer particularly.
Cindy-Pancake-82@reddit
Exactly - I think many Europeans don’t realize that to travel from the US to Europe includes long plane rides and big time changes - whereas traveling to the Caribbean/Mexico/Central America can involve much shorter flights and time changes so these trips ceh be more popular for Americans. Luckily, I work in financial services and we get almost five weeks of PTO so I can swing a 10-day to two week trip to Europe, which is enough time to adjust and make it worth it (but I can also bop down to Riviera Maya/Cancun Mexico for a long weekend and it’s only a 3-4 hour direct flight and depending on time of year, only an hour time change).
Aggressive_tako@reddit
They certainly don't appreciate that it can be a 10 hour flight just to get out of the US. We flew direct from O'Hare to Tokyo earlier this year and 2/3 of the flight was clearing Alaska.
AnnBlueSix@reddit
Whenever I go to Asia the time change is brutal on me. Half the trip I feel sick then when I get back I'm sick again. Ireland is not as bad and more tolerable.
Dingbatdingbat@reddit
No.
Half of Americans don’t have a passport and about 40% have never left the country.
Even in affluent areas, there are families who rarely go abroad. For most people, a weeklong vacation to another continent is a rare occasion.
Just_Me1973@reddit
Americans don’t really get enough vacation time to take long trips anywhere. Some get no vacation time at all.
Maleficent_Coast_320@reddit
We pretty much only travel to Europe for International trips. Like the states there is so much to experience from one country and even region of a country that I can't get at home. But that is also true from one state to another. They can have a very different identify from one state to another.
22FluffySquirrels@reddit
Define "long trip."
behindthevale@reddit
I really like leaving the country when I can, honestly I'd move out of it if I could afford to, but I can only ever go for a week or so at a time and only twice year. I'm on the lucky side of things, most people can't even do that.
ryguymcsly@reddit
Not really common, no. My circle of friends do a lot of international travel but we’re both well financed and weird.
Mostly families with money go to fancy resorts in the US instead.
WiseQuarter3250@reddit
It's because for Americans, international flights can easily be $1,000 to $2,000 or more. From what I remember, flights from New York to London last around 8 hours. Easily over 12 after adding in security lines, getting to/from the airport, getting through customs, etc. (New York to Bangkok could be 20 or more hours flying time, one way).
that cost is the equivalent of days in a hotel. so when you can go, it's both more time & cost effective to do a longer trip, potentially with more stops.
Plus, flights regularly eat up most of a day for travel one way, another day back. and with severe jetlag you want a couple days to recover before returning to work.
Nan_Mich@reddit
Working class households like mine, when a kid, did not leave the continent. Upper middle class kids went to Disney or traveled to national parks. Working class families who wanted vacations rented a cabin near a lake for a week. Auto plant workers might earn enough to own a small cabin on a lake in northern Michigan. Growing up in the 1970s, I knew no one who had flown to Europe or Asia. I met some older couples at my husband’s first job who had been to Europe. We were on the East Coast, then.
PhiloLibrarian@reddit
Our family prioritizes travel outside of the US. Before kids my husband and I went to Europe (various spots ranging from London, Madrid, Barcelona, Prague, Paris, Budapest…) every few years.
We just took our daughters to London and Paris for the first time in August (and none of us wanted to come back to the US… )
We saved a lot for the trip and had some family money set aside - and still couldn’t afford to eat out a lot or stay at a fancy hotel, but we had a blast.
Parts of Europe do things so differently yet with bizarre familiarity, it’s a trip!!!
No-Resource-5704@reddit
I’m my 40s I had the seniority and rank to qualify for 5 weeks of vacation. While taking such a period in one block was frowned upon, I was able to take 3 weeks to travel to Europe (Netherlands, Germany and Finland). I had shorter trips to Hong Kong and Mexico. My wife on her own or with other family members traveled to Italy and Yugoslavia (before it broke up). The bulk of our travel has been in the United States and a bit in Canada.
MyDogSam-15@reddit
The people I know often travel from America to other countries. Several work for or have airline privileges which helps! But so many others just have or make a lot of money and can travel. Even our young adult “kids” travel, mine included. But I don’t, unfortunately, although I have always wanted to but can’t afford to. I feel very left out of my circle of family and friends as many of them travel together. I’m late middle aged and promise myself that “one day” I’ll go, too!
ConsumptionofClocks@reddit
In my experience, no. I believe it comes down to one big reason: Americans assume travelling anywhere abroad is just as expensive as America. In the USA, you have to get a hotel ($80 a night for a 2 star hotel), rent a car (another $80 a night), plus eating out here is not cheap. You don't have to deal with these expenses in a lot of places. Abroad, lodging is typically a lot cheaper, and you can choose between hotels and hostels, renting a car is not a necessity and you can justify eating out frequently (hell, I ONLY ate out for the 20+ days I was in Asia). The only thing that is expensive is the flight, but it is a lot cheaper to fly to Europe for $600 and stay for a week than it is to fly to most American cities for $200 and stay for a week.
MizzGee@reddit
The middle class can't. The upper class can. Though, those who are upper class pretend they are only middle class because it allows them to pretend to be victims of capitalism because they can't be robber barons.
VentusHermetis@reddit
how long?
Thuesthorn@reddit
It’s not common, but it’s not uncommon either. Many Americans have 1 or 2 international destinations that they would kinda sorta like to see some day, but international travel seems expensive. And the United States are huge and varied, and there are lots of options here, with no language complications and… well for many of us it’s easier to stay in the states.
hardrock527@reddit
What's a long trip? 1-2 weeks anywhere is considered a long vacation for Americans and the most popular destinations are Europe, Asia, and central america/ Caribbean.
Most destinations are cheaper than vacationing in big American cities so the expensive flight isnt really a limiting factor
Zayzul@reddit
My wife and I take an international trip every year, but most people we know have never traveled outside of the country.
Americans on average have less vacation time than Europeans, and a lot of us feed into the propaganda that it's safer to be on American soil so I feel like many people are scared to travel abroad. The US is also massive and we have some of the most gorgeous National Parks in the world as well as many different cultures to experience domestically.
ThatInAHat@reddit
“Who can afford it” is the load-bearing clause. You’ve got to have a lot of disposable income and a lot of vacation time.
PelagicMonster@reddit
It is very dependent, but I've known a number of people who would rather just travel within the us because there's such diversity. I definitely prefer international
Liljoker30@reddit
It really varies.
I grew up in the San Francisco bay area and it was common enough for people to go to places like Europe or Asia. Being on the west coast of the US it was normal for friends whose family were Asian/Middle Eastern to visit family back home every few years. So travel to me was normal and being close to 3 decent airports made it easier to do so. Also having a passport was common because going to a country like Mexico was super easy to do.
Now in other states where you are farther away from large airports like in the middle of the US where a connecting flight that's still in the US could be 3-4 hours alone makes things much more challenging. People in those areas are more likely to drive somewhere in the US for weeks long vacations.
cowgirlbootzie@reddit
I took 2 weeks off to go to Italy and got laid off my job when I returned.
mountednoble99@reddit
No. It’s not common at all. I defied the stats and spent 7 years of my thirties and forties living in Asia.
-JaffaKree-@reddit
We don't have the sick leave or paid vacation laws necessary to make it possible for most.
chikalin@reddit
My employee handbook states no more than 2 weeks can be requested at a time, only exceptions are the three week maternity leave and short term disability..
AllSoulsNight@reddit
We like to go abroad for two weeks at least. The kicker is getting someone to take care of things while we're gone. We have pets and folk get burned out taking care of them for extended periods of time. We did a month in Asia last year, and there was much whining from the house and pet sitters, lol.
Embarrassed_Fig1801@reddit
It’s not as common as it is in Europe. I’m fortunate enough to have a job that allows me to afford to travel internationally and I do as often as possible. But almost no one I work with does. The majority of of people I know have never left North America and I know a lot of people who’ve never left the country. And I’m in California so Mexico is right there and I don’t know a lot of people who’ve been there. I think only know one person who’s been to Canada, I’ve been there lots of times, I love it there.
Porschenut914@reddit
keep in mind NY to Florida, is equivalent to Denmark to Madrid. most Americans get at most 3-4 weeks off a year, even those well paid. so it becomes even if they could afford, it is often a work culture taboo to take 2-3 weeks at once. something that seems very common for Europeans.
Thus if only taking a week off it becomes, "where can I go in 6-8 hours flight max?" ,so I don't loose 2 days traveling. thus domestic or maybe Europe
ZellHathNoFury@reddit
We Americans are busy spending half our "take-home" pay on healthcare and get 5-10 paid vacation/sick days per year if we're lucky.
So... no. Most of us aren't taking any time off work at all
angry_gavin@reddit
I usually go somewhere new a couple times every year
Efficient_Wheel_6333@reddit
I think it depends on income and availability, not to mention what one's job is, or even social class. Certain types of vloggers and similar job types, can afford to take longer, extended international trips, as it's literally their job.
For most folks, probably not, unless it's somewhere like Canada, Mexico, or even the Caribbean, with the latter 2 being on cruises. I could *maybe* do a week in Canada, depending on where I went and what I did. I'm on a limited income, so I can't take a long trip unless I do so cheaply.
Someone like Bill Gates or any wealthy actor? They can afford to take as many long international trips as they want, just as long as they're not working and sometimes, those international trips are part of their job as well, as not every film or television show that airs on American television and in movie theaters is shot in America. The Power Rangers shows, from Ninja Storm onwards, as well as films like the Lord of the Rings, are shot overseas.
Some shows and films are shot closer, but still out of country: Rizzoli and Isles, for example, was shot in Canada.
Disastrous-Tank-6197@reddit
Not every year. But sometimes, sure. I say this as a middle class, middle-aged guy. Most people I know go on vacation every year, and every once in a while it's overseas to somewhere cool. I'm going to Spain in a few weeks myself.
YankeeDog2525@reddit
No. Because we are not so rich we can afford long continuous trips.
TemporaryGeneral7137@reddit
No. And it’s the “affordability” that makes it such. There’s no mandatory paid vacation laws here.
zenrubble@reddit
I’m retired, as are most of my friends. Most of us retired from good middle class engineering type jobs and have managed to save a bit of money, in addition to getting Social Security or a pension. Amongst this group it is not unusual to take a 3 or 4 week trip, either within the USA or internationally at least once a year. Once you pay the big expense of transportation for an international trip, it makes send to see as much as you can while you are there.
Connect_Mail@reddit
When I was in my 20s and early 30s I traveled to Europe several times. I’ve been to UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic and Hungary
I have also been to Canada (Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia) and Mexico (Coahuila, Chihuahua, and Sonora) on driving trips (Canada more than once, Alberta and BC are beautiful)
In the US I have been to Colorado, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, Wyoming, Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Arizona, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah
AwkwardDuckling87@reddit
We can certainly afford it, and I have near zero desire to travel internationally except the fact that our country is imploding and a sense of normalcy and reason as a baseline might be nice.
I am not afraid of flying, but I hate it. I live about 1.5 hrs from NYC but that also means I have to travel to an international airport by long car ride, then leave a buffer for traffic, min 3 hours for international flight, then fly at least 5 hours to a European destination, then do customs. That is on each end of a trip. It's simply not appealing enough to warrant the expense for me.
keithrc@reddit
"Long" is subjective. For most Americans, two weeks is a long vacation. Is that what you have in mind?
I have been lucky enough to have taken a couple of two-week-long international vacations.
lotusbloom74@reddit
If you are very wealthy, probably. I have been on one international trip in my life for my study abroad program in college. Otherwise I barely even vacation within the US, it’s been a couple years since I had more of a vacation and that was partially for a family member’s funeral
Chuckles52@reddit
Most folks who can afford international trips are also people that enjoy exploring the world. So, based the conditions of your question, yes. Common.
GuyFawkes65@reddit
Americans don’t have liberal vacation policies like Europeans do. We are lucky to get two weeks of vacation per year. No one wants to take a week of vacation and spend three days of it traveling to a distant location. So we are MUCH more likely to vacation close by.
Plus the US is huge. It’s most of a continent. You have to travel great distances just to leave your part of the country. So there’s a lot to see within our own borders.
NoMSaboutit@reddit
My adult friends... extremely common. My parents and aunts and uncles... extremely rare. I grew up poor. Spending money on international trips was not even thought about when you are trying to pay bills and what little extra you do have is trying to create memories in on a budget. My vacations were camping or maybe a "fancy" hotel that my parents still bring up 39 years later.
kjb76@reddit
We are a family of three and we are comfortable but not wealthy. We prioritize certain things, travel being one of them and this year we went to Spain for 12 days, Mexico for 6 days, and will be traveling to Dominican Republic for Thanksgiving break to see my mom.
We don’t eat out a lot and we drive very modest cars that are paid off. We don’t buy luxury clothing brands. But most importantly, we only have one kid. It’s cheaper to travel compared to other families we know with two or more kids. The only ones in that situation who travel internationally are wealthy.
Admirable_Let_4197@reddit
It’s not really an option for most Americans. Assuming you can get the time off it more than likely won’t be paid and since you have to fly over an ocean to get to Europe Asia or Africa most people don’t get over there much. Canada and Mexico are a lot more accessible
Most of us can’t afford to take time off and on top of that can’t afford the expensive plane tickets or lodging.
descendingagainredux@reddit
They go to the Caribbean.
Fecapult@reddit
My wife and I have been to Europe together several times. I've been to India. We've done a huge portion of the USA, some Canada. She's done Mexico and Morocco and we've both been to some Caribbean islands. Conversely, I have some friends who have never left the state we live in, and one who I don't think has driven more than 50 miles away from his home ever. Results vary wildly.
Atomic_Priesthood@reddit
Very
CompetitiveMeal1206@reddit
I’ve only traveled internationally twice (not counting Canada*)
It was a hassle so when I do it I like it to be a longer trip.
*Canada is only an hour away so that’s a long weekend for us.
Substantial-Ad-8575@reddit
Hmm, wife and I get 45 days PTO plus holidays. We can take 3-4 week vacations. But really prefer 14-18 days instead.
We travel internationally. My mum is from Australia and Dad from Rapa Nui. So plenty of trips to go see family. Plus usual visits to Europe and Asia. All over Caribbean and Mediterranean. And of course the US/Canada…
Jaeger-the-great@reddit
I work at a hospital and a lot of the nurses will work like a dog so they can spend a week on vacation overseas. Personally I could not but I can respect that
Ok-Matter-4744@reddit
The US middle class, which has been vanishing since the 1980s, can’t afford more than a local vacation for a week or two as a family usually, and won’t have the time off for an international trip IF they can and even desire to take one, more than every 5-10 years.
damageddude@reddit
One of my former directors, a NYC DINKY, used to do international travel with her partner for a week or two here and there. Then her partner became ill so they traveled no more. Once he passed she retired (long past retirement age).
She does freelance projects for us these days, mostly to keep busy. Now and then we receive an email she will be unavailable for a few months as she will be traveling overseas. She has money and health ... can't take the money with you once you lose your health.
BEniceBAGECKA@reddit
What middle class?
_Smedette_@reddit
Pew Research released this study in 2013 about Americans who travel abroad. It includes income info (scroll down a bit to the age and income bar graphs).
Like others have said, time off is not guaranteed in the States, and we also use the term “middle class” much differently than our friends across the Pond.
computerguy257@reddit
We do? What do non Americans define as middle class?
beenoc@reddit
American class is much more money-based, compared to particularly British class which is still rooted in aristocracy. If you grew up lower-class but made it big and are now a billionaire, you're always going to be lower class in Britain, no matter how "classy" you are. And even if you're on the verge of homelessness and drug addiction and petty crime, if your daddy was the 29th Earl of Bunlingbroughshire-on-Avon and you can trace your lineage back to the Norman conquest, you're upper class.
I think this is more of a specifically British psychosis than it is a general non-American one, but that's the kind of non-American that we're mostly exposed to.
NoodleyP@reddit
My daddy ain’t got no title but I can trace my lineage back to the Norman conquest. Would that be middle class in Britain?
Willothwisp2303@reddit
This is a neat study! It does make sense that once we travel and meet people like us everywhere, we feel connected to them.
I winder if there are any studies about the effect of international communications online and how they impact people's perceptions of the world.
MinuteContest128@reddit
Not counting Canada, I’ve done two - one to China and one to Mexico. I’m not counting Canada because it’s just an afternoon’s drive to get there. It’s a 20 hour drive from my house to my brother’s (Michigan to Texas) - or I can fly, which is still a longer travel than driving to Canada. I have a very generous PTO package, and my husband has a decent one, so we’re lucky in that regard. There’s a lot of sights we want to see here in the States that we still don’t have the time to get to.
Jamie7003@reddit
Distance wise, many European international trips wouldn’t get you out of your home state in the us. Don’t forget how small most European countries are.
QueenLouisss@reddit
Long? No. We don’t get enough vacation time in the US
Floater439@reddit
I don’t think it’s very common for Americans. We have limited vacation time and a huge country of our own to explore; I think folks are more likely to take their two weeks and do the Alaska tour or hit a bunch of national parks out west than travel overseas. The time spent traveling from the US to overseas locations would really cut into the actual vacation time.
I do know a lot of financially well off American retirees that like to do longer trips to overseas destinations. They don’t have to worry about vacation time and can afford the travel. But these people are not really average Americans.
LSBm5@reddit
I try to do a 10 to 14 day trip internationally at least once a year. Europe or Africa or Asia.
virgo_fake_ocd@reddit
Same. If I'm going, I want time to actually enjoy it.
DefNotReaves@reddit
Same!
WowsrsBowsrsTrousrs@reddit
Ive only done 2 international trips other than Mexico, each 8 days rather than 2+weeks, and those each required significan budgeting and planning. And we were comfortable upper-middle-class professionals at the time, not well off but with more spending money than the average household. I know very few prople who have taken longer trips. The biggest trip we ever took was entirely in the US - we rented an RV and drove 7200 miles in 4 weeks, stopping to visit friends and relatives most evenings.
yabbobay@reddit
Maybe because I'm in NYC metro, it's much more common.
It's not hard to jump on a plane to Europe from NY. This summer was great, flights were less expensive to Europe than California.
Fractal_self@reddit
I wouldn’t know 😂
Mushroom_Glans@reddit
I can't afford a $4000 vacation. My millionaire sister has seen the world.
Kajeke@reddit
It’s hard for me to say if I’m upper middle or just middle middle class; if I were married to someone making my same salary, most certainly we would be living the good life, but it’s stupid expensive to be single. That said, I prioritize travel and go overseas 1-2 times a year. My family was not one for exotic trips, although we did cross over to Mexico and Canada if we were near the border anyway. When I was a freshman in HS I asked them if I could go on a class trip to Europe and they said yes. That trip was life changing. I’m the only international traveler in the family.
zabadaz-huh@reddit
My wife and I have really gotten to Europe and cruising the rivers with Viking. They’re fairly expensive but so worth it.
We do it because we realized that our money is probably going to outlive us. We want to leave our son something but we’re not looking to make him rich.
SnowblindAlbino@reddit
It's not common for Americans to do long trips of any kind, because Americans don't get a lot of vacation. In fact, many get no vacation at all, as it is not mandated by law. Those that do typically get two weeks a year. Of those, many do not take the two weeks, because they fear they will look bad or fall behind at work; in other cases they are told they cannot take the full two weeks at the same time.
Half of Americans do not have passports. But a very small fraction are taking "long trips" anywhere, because they simply can't get away from work. Most people you'll see taking longer trips are retired and wealthy. Keep in mind, as well, that the US is about as big as Europe....so going from California to Maine is a pretty long trip, in terms of distance.
teaanimesquare@reddit
The average American gets about 2 weeks of vacation time, some much longer some a little less.
Thing is I’ve traveled to various countries long term sometimes with other Americans and I have the feeling travel for Americans is different than travel for Europeans.
Most Americans seem to want to travel somewhere nice and beautiful just to relax and chill, while a lot of Europeans seem to want to travel somewhere to get a cultural experience and I don’t think most Americans give a shit about that. I’ve traveled with other Americans to Mexico for example and they mostly all stayed at the resort and I was the only person that ventured out.
Infamous_Possum2479@reddit
I would say not too common. I think most Americans might take an international trip "on occasion," and even then, probably in the range of 1-2 weeks' worth. More affluent Americans may take longer or more international trips, but I'm thinking more of people who fall into the "middle class" economically.
I get around 37 days of PTO a year--6 of which are used for national holidays (New Year, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas), plus generally the day after Thanksgiving is required to be off, and then another half a day combined for closing early on Christmas Eve/New Years Eve.
So I do have almost 6 weeks I can use for vacations--but I do need to be careful, because sick days count towards that limit, and time off for errands, doctor appointments, etc.
That all being said, if I assume I can take 4 weeks of vacation (20 days), that's once per quarter, plus bits and pieces of requests, it starts to feel like I'm taking a lot of days off. Keep in mind that Americans view vacation time differently, so even though I only take what I'm allotted, I start feeling self conscious about the time I'm taking off.
BoBoBearDev@reddit
I don't think so. Americans don't see traveling as bragging right. South East Asian is more into traveling and brag about it.
Rocketgirl8097@reddit
Not really. Maybe a cruise.
Emotional_Ad5714@reddit
I try to take a two week vacation to Europe every fall, a one week vacation to The Caribbean or Latin America every January, and a week long summer road trip every year. But I would guess this is far more travel than the average American takes.
rhb4n8@reddit
Most Americans generally can't afford that. For most it's a once in a lifetime kinda thing
Mallthus2@reddit
Long trips, in general, are uncommon for Americans. Most Americans get very little vacation time and are usually encouraged to avoid using it all and certainly to avoid using it together (as in multi week vacations). By the time Americans retire and are conceivably able to take longer trips, they’re conditioned to believe that doing so is either unwise or unjustified.
Personally, I do take longer trips trips, although two weeks seems to be a good fit for me most of the time, as my wife prefers to not be away from our pets and our young adult children any more than that.
Physical-Energy-6982@reddit
Problem is a lot of the Americans who can afford it, can’t get the time off work for extended vacations.
I have a couple friends who either freelance and can work from anywhere and are constantly traveling, or negotiated a generous PTO package and could travel (my one friend who does this literally turned down a Fulbright scholarship for her first job after college so she had negotiating power that most don’t have lol).
I was planning my first international trip for this upcoming spring. Then my transmission on my car went out. That’s probably about how it goes for the average middle class American these days—expenses just pop up as soon as you’re getting comfortable.
mamaMoonlight21@reddit
I think it's much less common than in Europe.
Alternative-Quit-161@reddit
Not only do Americans not have that kind of paid time off....The only people in my middle class bubble who vacation like that are forgoing retirement. You either spend $10-20k a year on vacations or you learn to invest and grow that money and get to retire and not live in poverty. We go camping and take road trips.
Romaine2k@reddit
Until I started working in higher education, I knew very few people who would ever dream of taking more than one week of vacation time in a row. Now, everyone around me takes weeks-long trips in summer, and at winter break. It's possible that I have hit upon one of the few sectors in the US that takes long vacations. Sadly, the pay in higher ed is so low that I can't afford to go anywhere myself, so I just get to hear about everyone's fantastic summer in Paris.
AudienceSilver@reddit
Yes, I have gone on a number of international trips, about 20 of them overseas, and the longest ones were 1 month, 1 semester (twice), and 13 months--all school-related in one way or another. Most of the other trips were with my spouse to conferences, so combined work and leisure.
I'm now widowed and retired, and have the leisure for long trips just for the fun of it. But right now I have two cats, and don't want to leave them for more than a week to ten days at a time--even with someone staying in my house or at least visiting the cats daily.
Indiesol@reddit
I just hit 5 years at my employer and now have a third week of vacation, so my partner and I are trying to do an international trip each year. They're generally 10 days or less though, not sure what you consider "long."
I've been to Europe twice since September of 24. Prior to that I had only been to Canada and Mexico a few times.
I'm 47 now and want to see the world while I still can. That said, there is A LOT to see in the states, so there is certainly nothing wrong with focusing on stuff around here.
Fit-Building-2560@reddit
People go to "lesser known places" (Latin America, etc.) because they're more affordable. European travel takes most people years of saving and budgeting for, and even then, they may only be able to afford 2 weeks. Whereas travel to countries in the developing world can allow for a longer stay. In my observation, people working for state of federal governments, and public school systems, have at least a month of vacation time per year (20 days after being on the job a few years, and teaching faculty get twice as much or more). Those who don't have kids can afford a month of travel to lower-budget countries.
If they have kids, it's common for them to go on camping vacations in the US or Canada.
People in high-paying jobs, obviously, have more options.
imcomingelizabeth@reddit
I’d love to take my family overseas but the airline tickets to go anywhere are out of our budget. We don’t even fly within the US as a family. This year, all we can afford is a camping trip for vacation.
neomage2021@reddit
I usually go on 2-3 international trips a year plus a few shorter in country vacations. I usually 7-10 days per international trip
Only-Finish-3497@reddit
Reasonably wealthy American here: in my circles it's VERY common.
tussentweewindmolen@reddit
There are at most a handful of people I know from the US who have ever left the country, let alone the continent. And many never even leave their state. It's a combination of probably what other commenters have said - hardly anyone has any real amount of vacation time that they could use for such a trip and even if they did, it's expensive. Even with the fact that salaries in the US can tend to be higher for some fields, everything is so expensive there which hasn't been helped by the current administration or by the consumerist culture of the US. Maybe it's because I'm from a pretty poor rural area (although they wouldn't think of themselves as such), I think also for many people this just becomes what life looks like - other people from hoity-toity places go gallivating off to Europe while the normal folk stay home away from anything expensive or unfamiliar/foreign and therefore uncomfortable. My family (two parents, both employed and one bordering on workaholism) never took a single vacation when I was growing up.
KeekyPep@reddit
Can’t speak for all but my husband and I do plenty of long international trips now that we are retired: Europe for 2-3 weeks almost every year-18 months; a month in Africa; 21 days touring Vietnam/Cambodia; 18 days Galapagos and South America; getting ready for 6 weeks in Africa; have a month booked in Iceland next year; plus we do several extended US driving trips every year or two. For us, the issue was never really financial but time. Retirement has solved the time problem. Now if we can just stay healthy and fit so we can keep it up!
ComprehensivePeanut5@reddit
I guess I'm upper middle class, and I would say it's NOT common for people like me. My hubs would never take his 6 weeks of vacation all at once. At my last job I got 3 weeks a year, and I wouldn't want to blow it all at once. I like to travel with my sisters, but it's nearly impossible to align all our schedules for even a full week. Then add in kids and their school schedules. To me, a long international trip would never work out unless I won the lottery or became wealthy somehow. It's sad.
Beemerba@reddit
While I have been in all 48 at least three times and ten different countries, I now live in north central Arkansas. Most of the folks around here have left the county for university or will need to travel to Little Rock or Memphis for medical stuff, but that's about it.
RichInBunlyGoodness@reddit
When OP says ‘long’, i read it as distance, but a lot of answers are seemingly talking about duration of the trip. You have to understand OP, that we can travel distances domestically that would be way further than most Europeans can do domestically. It takes me half a day to fly to Miami, then several more hours to drive to Key west. I could take a flight from Miami to Key West, but that drive is way too awesome to go any other way.
I know a lot of Americans who have never travelled internationally, and for that matter, don’t even travel much domestically. And people who only go to tourist traps like Silver Dollar City or Disneyland or big cruise ships.
I love international travel, esp Japan, since I lived there, and speak the language fairly well. I’ve been going there about once per year during the last decade. I think I’m an outlier.
Tree_killer_76@reddit
My wife and I typically take two international vacations per year. Usually Europe once per year and something beachy once per year. Typically 10-14 day trips. We are upper middle class and benefited by the fact that my wife is a retired AA flight attendant so we fly for free, and I travel for work and stay exclusively in Marriotts so vacation hotels are usually with Bonvoy points. I also rent cars a lot for work so vacation rental cars are usually free if our destination has a National (or affiliate) Car outlet. As a result our only costs are typically food, beverage and tchotchkes. Her vacation time is obviously unlimited and while I technically only get 15 days of paid vacation per year, my employer doesn’t really care or keep track of when I’m traveling.
Professional-Mix9774@reddit
We do go far, but I reserve trips to Europe and Asian every 5 to 10 years or so. We generally don’t have as generous paid vacation/holidays and it’s hard to get a lot of time off. It’s more common for retirees to take trips like that. It’s more common to go to Mexico or Central America. I travel a lot within the US, to hike or visit friends in Chicago.
FlamingBagOfPoop@reddit
Define long. Outside of the ultra wealthy no one is taking a month off to “summer in the south of the France”.
Maybe 2 weeks. It’s not the flight for me, it’s the lodging and daily costs that would get super expensive.
cardamomroselatte@reddit
It is less common because even wealthy Americans do not have nearly as much time off from work as European countries. 2-3 weeks per year for an office job is common, so if you spend some of that on the holidays like Christmas, there is not much left for a long trip.
FlamingDragonfruit@reddit
I live in a pretty solidly middle class neighborhood and my only friends here who travel outside the country regularly are either single and prioritize travel or they have a parent who lives abroad so they prioritize planning their budget and schedule around visiting that parent for a few weeks, if not every year, then every other year.
TissBish@reddit
Solid middle class here and we can afford exactly one week long domestic trip a summer, maybe a few weekend or day trips too. I’m sure there are people going on extended international trips, but my guess is they’re upper class, or they don’t have kids
Sledgehammer925@reddit
One thing I like to think about is if you board a plane in Hawaii and want to go to Maine, you’ll be on the plane around 14 hours if it’s nonstop. Or Florida to Alaska, just a bit less, maybe 10-12 hours. All without leaving American airspace.
So if you board a plane in London and fly 14 hours, you’d be in Moscow, almost. The US is that big.
FlamingDragonfruit@reddit
Even Americans who can afford to make a trip like that often cannot get the time off they would need, to do so. Which makes it less common to travel internationally, generally, so there's less of a social expectation to do international travel. Many, many Americans have never left the country (or if they did, it was only to Canada or Mexico, if they're close to the borders).
Dreadful_Spiller@reddit
All of you (Europeans and Americans alike) should stay on the ground. #flyskam
Dreadful_Spiller@reddit
Also some of our in country trips are longer than your international trips. Within the state of Texas alone El Paso to Texarkana is equivalent to going from London to Venice. Let alone going cross country. At one time it was over 2,000 miles to visit my parents from one coast to another.
Siddakid0812@reddit
Depends on the culture. Well off people do tons of different things depending on their interests and culture. Some people in Tampa may funnel that money into a nice house boat, others in the Midwest might get a lake house. Some people choose to go on long trips, but not all. Some people really like their NFL team and spend $6k a year on season tickets for their family. It’s all over the place. Some people do, but I’d say the lion’s share of international trip takers is students studying a broad and couples in their 50’s, now child-free, exploring the world before retirement age kills their income and their energy.
Afromolukker_98@reddit
No. Not common.
Thankfully I've been lucky enough to do long international trips. Like 5 months in Fiji, 5 months in Jordan/other Middle Eastern countries due to school.
And then a few multiple week trips to Europe (Netherlwnds, France, Iceland) and multiple week trip to Mexico and Suriname and a little bit of Panama and Aruba. Also multiple week trips to Indonesia where family is from.
Sooo it depends, I save as much as I can and not buy new clothes or things like that... so I can afford. But it is hard to do here in US if you are lower or even middle class.
Weightmonster@reddit
What do you consider a long trip?
charlieq46@reddit
I try not to take more than two weeks off at a time, but I try to travel internationally around once a year. I have a well paying job and no kids, same for the friends I travel with.
gutclutterminor@reddit
I know people who do. It is not really common, though.
Obsidian-Dive@reddit
It’s definitely a status symbol if you do
Revolutionary_Pilot7@reddit
I used to drive limo (airport runs) and it was very common to take folks to the airport for two week euro trips
LectureIndependent98@reddit
Wherever I want to to go internationally (minus Canada) it’s at least a several hour flight, so with a little extra money and time it barely matters whether I fly to Mexico or Europe or Japan.
ActiveDinner3497@reddit
I didn’t leave the country until I was in my 40s. Between little money and grinding to climb the ladder at work, I couldn’t do it. I actually took no significant vacation in my mid-20s through mid-30s because we couldn’t afford it.
Born higher poverty. Worked to upper middle. The farthest most people from my home town area made it was a beach resort in Mexico.
snakesaremyfriends@reddit
If we can afford it and my husband has time (he's self-employed, I work primarily from home) we always favor going to Europe since we love history so much and yours goes back eons before ours seems to start. Our international trips last about 3 weeks. If we have less time, we do domestic things like: NYC, Nashville, New Orleans, Florida. Those trips last from 5-10 days. I consider us upper middle class. I have never been to Mexico because I don't particularly feel safe venturing outside of resorts. Canada, well, not opposed, but nothing has really drawn me there yet.
mailslot@reddit
I’ve spent months in Mexico City & traveling all over Mexico. It’s not actually like it’s portrayed on the news. There’s no yellow filter on everything, for one. The sky is actually blue.
I felt safer there than in many parts of New Orleans or Los Angeles. Even the CDMX subway felt significantly less sketchy and much more clean than NYC. Their busses too.
I once stayed at a hotel in an alleyway with tents, as I have in San Francisco. No problems.
Living in San Francisco, it wasn’t uncommon to see a felony or more per day. In my entire time in Mexico, I never witnessed a single crime. Not one.
snakesaremyfriends@reddit
I can certainly agree with what you're saying! Sadly, San Francisco has definitely lost its charm for those stated reasons. You're right, everyone I know who's been in Mexico City has loved it, so I might give it a try!
SillyOrganization657@reddit
If I’m you are gone for +2 weeks from most skilled jobs, they would replace you. 10 days is about the most you could ask and assumes 2 weekend as part of the 10 days.
CG20370417@reddit
I do okay, my father does very well. Like he is a c-level executive for a company that has its name on a major/national league sport venue.
Even among his cohort, taking a multi week trip is rare. Most of his peers have taken a multi long week trip somewhere, but it isn't a "we take August off and travel to Lake Como every year" thing. They planned those trips sometimes for years prior to taking them. Not because of the cost, but because its really difficult to find a time and find people you can trust to keep everything of the rails while you're gone.
Now once people at his level retire, theyll spend 3 months culmulatively out of the US. Despite the image reddit paints, c level people work longer and harder than anyone else. 80 hour weeks are pretty common. Working 7 days a week for extended periods, not absurd. Going on vacation and still putting in 4+ hours a day--standard.
A much more common thing in the US among those who have the means is to go to a summer/winter home. Summering in Idaho or wintering in Palm Springs, having a ranch in CO/WY/MO, a summer home in the Hamptons, etc. etc. my current boss has his permanent residence in the Bay Area, but spends most of the summer at his place in Tahoe. My uncle runs a successful GC in Washington. He basically runs the company from his cabin at Whistler all winter.
mladyhawke@reddit
Only the ultra Rich can afford extended vacations, most working Americans get one or two weeks of vacation a year
Parking_Champion_740@reddit
Yes most years we do an international trip somewhere. I’ve been all over Asia and Europe both of which are quite far for me from the west coast. Australia too. However many Americans have never left the country, not even to Cañada or Mexico
lakas76@reddit
I love going abroad. I’ve been to countries in Europe 3 times and Japan once. But, I am extremely blessed and lucky to be able to do so, which has only been in the past 6 years.
I hope to hit all 7 continents and then just go to different countries if I am still able to over the next 10-20 years.
duchess_of_nothing@reddit
Here's the thing. As an American I can afford to go abroad for 3-4 weeks.
But I only get 3 weeks off a year and that includes vacation and sick time.
I will likely not travel to Europe until I retire because I don't have sufficient time off from work.
Icy_Profession7396@reddit
We can afford to travel, but we do not want to do any international travel under the current fascist leadership in America because we're afraid people in other countries will think we support that.
mekoRascal@reddit
My boss takes several a year. I've been on 2 in 40 years.
SabresBills69@reddit
if you travel long distances where you are investing money in plane tickets you want to do a longer trip there.
in the USA people generally can’t take more than 1 week/ 10 days off from work At one time . the times they can are for honeymoons or trip of a lifetime. In Europe you can take longer blocks of time off.
longer trips are easier to do before you are established in your career. ( in your. 20s) or after you retire ( late 50s or older). work and school/ kids are factors in this.
many are able to travel in conjunction with work travel. My brother and his wife are university faculty and they have travelled to Europe. The have done book end conference travel where the starting point is one conference in country A, then they travel ending in country B where the other is attending a conference. There flights and hotels at conference sites are covered. They are just on the hook for the between travel.
chicagoliz@reddit
It very much depends on where they live and how much money they make. There are many Americans who can't afford to go on any vacations at all, and those who are able to take the time off and spend some money on a vacation often need to do it as cheaply as possible, which means driving, and that pretty much rules out international travel.
The area where I live now is a pretty wealthy, highly educated area in an urban suburb of a major city. Lots of people around here do travel quite a bit, and when the schools have vacations, quite a few kids are being taken to Europe. But in an area where I used to live that was not as wealthy or as highly educated, I'm not sure I ever heard of anyone taking their kids to Europe. Usually vacations in that area were to the beach or maybe to Disney World.
n2vd@reddit
It's much less common here in the states. For one thing, we generally do not get nearly as much paid vacation as Europeans do, so there's not enough time for long international trips. For another, the distances involved are much greater - from any country in Europe, one can experience completely different cultures, languages, and cuisines without traveling more than a thousand miles (or even just 100-200) whereas where I am, in the northeastern US, to visit anywhere besides Canada, it would be a multi-thousands of miles trip.
Comfortable-Tell-323@reddit
It really depends. Long trips require a got amount of vacation time which isn't as plentiful in the US as it is in Europe, I think the average is 3 weeks for the year, I know I didn't get my fourth week until my 10th year with my employer and I think it eventually maxes out at 5 weeks. With the long flight times a trip to Europe, Africa or Asia really needs to be two weeks and the cost of flights are insane. It's a 7 hour flight from Boston to Heathrow but first I have to get to Boston which for me is an hour to Atlanta, at least an hour layover, then 3 hours from Atlanta to Boston so I'm already 5 hours in before making the flight across the pond.
That said flying to Central and South America is pretty common, Costs Rica is a popular vacation spot for US tourists as an example. There's the issue with crime and being an underdeveloped country that deters many Americans from traveling outside of the US Canada and the Caribbean at least in the western hemisphere.
The other issue is that most of this part of the world only speaks over language. Mexico and parts of Canada and Brazil being the exception over been all over South America and there's not many places where you can find someone who speaks a language other than their native one.
devilbunny@reddit
This is somewhat off your main point, but why not fly directly from ATL to Heathrow?
Comfortable-Tell-323@reddit
Customs in Atlanta is always a nightmare and it's about $600 more on average. I was using it as an example typically for euro trips I drive a few hours to New Orleans and fly direct to Boston or one of the NY airports and save myself the headache and the money.
wundernerd@reddit
We don’t get a lot of vacation time from our jobs here, if we get any, so it really depends on both individual income and that. Airfare can also be really expensive depending on where you are and where you and to go which can be a huge barrier to travel for some people.
OkTwist231@reddit
Absolutely. If I'm wasting 1-2 days on each end just to get to a place, I'm defintely staying for 2 weeks or more. My family even felt like a week in Hawaii was too short when you factor in travel and that's a 10-14 day trip for us now.
I will say I did a very rough trip at age 19 that was 4 European countries in 10 days and that probably cemented this for me. A couple countries we were in for 1.5 days, that's so silly. It took days just to shake off the jet lag.
My MIL stayed in France for several months in the spring this year and is planning on doing so again next year.
Doun2Others10@reddit
It’s not common, no. Two weeks a year of leave is common, so Americans tend not to take both weeks at once. It’s common to take one week off at once and then the other 5 days is broken up through the year. Some people may do two 1 week long vacations. But there is a pretty low percentage of Americans who can afford to travel like that. Airfare here is very, very expensive. Even domestic travel can be thousands of dollars to fly and stay somewhere.
DustyButtocks@reddit
1-2 weeks in Europe is a once in a lifetime trip for most Americans.
More_Temperature2078@reddit
Depends on the person. I think about a third that can afford it would take an international trip yearly. PTO means you need to limit the trip to max 2 weeks and more likely 1 week. Because of travel times and other difficulties many people prefer to drive to vacation spots or use PTO to relax near home.
nkdeck07@reddit
Common no but if you can afford it going longer is popular just because the flights are so expensive.
frogz0r@reddit
We do 3 week international trips every few years, because my husband is British and he wants to see and spend time with his family there.
JaniceRossi_in_2R@reddit
No
Sleepygirl57@reddit
I’m self employed. I can’t even take time off to go to the dentist or doctor appointments unless I’m miserable.
I do live in an area full of rich people. I often hear folks saying casually they just got back from Europe or are in the way.
Side note. I am not one of the said rich people. lol
carlosmurphynachos@reddit
Long for Americans is two weeks, for most working people. Many companies offer 4-6 weeks of vacation, but it’s combined with sick time too. And it’s highly frowned upon to take more than two weeks off at a time, unless combined with holidays. Not culturally acceptable because if you can take more time off, are you really relevant and needed at your job? Two weeks at a time of vacation is considered a long time. But yes, lots of people I know take 1-2 week international trips.
AshDenver@reddit
American here. Last year, we spent 3 weeks in Bali + 1 week in Singapore. (Second time to Bali, sixth time to Singapore.)
This year, 2 weeks in Champagne / Reims + 1 week in Paris. (But first a week in Napa, followed by a week in Detroit.)
We usually do one domestic short 1 week and an international 2 week. Pandemic crippled that cadence (although there was a month in Hawaii in 2021.)
oldhellenyeller@reddit
Every time I go to Europe I see Americans all over the place. It’s more common than Reddit likes to believe.
Cobblestone-boner@reddit
Among the college educated and upper middle class Americans yes, especially if you include work trips and college study abroad.
Bellis1985@reddit
I'm planning a month long trip... but it's a once in a lifetime trip for me and my mother. Only reason it's so long is the cost to travel to Australia is astronomical and to see everything we want to see will take that long and we still might not see it all.
WorkerAmbitious2072@reddit
I’ve been as far as Spain and Japan the last couple years
glendacc37@reddit
I try to hold my international trips to 2 weeks each, however I often do several trips each year. I have a dog, and when I got him, I feel like I made a commitment to him for (his) life.
I also do a few long weekend trips, kaybe a bit longer, within North America each year.
Scared_PomV2@reddit
It's a lot easier for people in Europe to travel internationally because they are much closer to a lot of the destinations Americans want to travel too. Also, the paid time off, sick days..paid holidays is complete ass compared to many European companies.
Sistamama@reddit
It is very common. I talk to people weekly who have just gotten back from an exotic trip or are about to go on one. I work with the public and have conversations with 15 or so people a day.
blueskyoverhead@reddit
I have no idea what your definition of long is, but ever since I started traveling a few years ago I try to take at least three or four week vacations out of the country. I've hit South america, Southeast asia, and Africa so far. I definitely need to start traveling more in north america, but international travel is a must.
pixievixie@reddit
Where I live, I frequently see older people (who have discretionary money at that point, I assume) doing long international trips to Europe usually. Either a tour of several countries, like France, Italy, Spain or just one specific country, but many times it’s for an extended period, like 3 weeks to a month or more. Which always blows my mind! I’m assuming their retired, so they don’t have to worry about getting enough vacation time, but even without the time worry, it’s not exactly cheap to be paying for lodging for a month! I guess maybe if they get a long term Airbnb and buy groceries instead of going out, maybe that lets them afford more? And maybe they’ve paid off their mortgage already? But it’s way more frequently than I would have imagined, I don’t live in a high income area 🤷🏼♀️
Alternative-Row812@reddit
If they have the time. Getting a lot of time off from work is usually the barrier. But a lot of retirees who have the money do a lot of travel. I think it might be more common to do a lot of trips than to do a very long trip.
RunJumpSleep@reddit
It should also be taken into account that people also use vacation days to buttress other holidays. They don’t always take it at one time. I always take a couple of days around Christmas, Thanksgiving, Labor Day, etc., in order to make the holiday last longer. People also use a day here or there for graduations, family weddings etc., so they may get two or three weeks of vacation days but they don’t actually don’t take it all at once.
Brilliant_Mix_6051@reddit
I’m in my 30s and have only been on two international trips that weren’t just driving to Canada. Both trips were 10 days long.
I would love to travel more if I could afford it.
Soigne87@reddit
The economics of flying to Europe isn't much more than the economics of visiting places closer to home. I'm in Michigan. It's over $600 for the cheapest flight visiting friends in Reno Nevada. It's like $700 to fly to Amsterdam and the Amsterdam flight is more direct and will take less time.
Gullible-Apricot3379@reddit
I’ve never known anyone who took more than 10 days. It’s not that they prefer to stay in the US or even that they don’t have vacation time. It just takes an act of congress to get more than a week approved at a time.
Docnevyn@reddit
Going to Europe for the first time in 30 years next year. International trips since that first one have been in North America (Canada, Mexico) Central America (Belize, Honduras, Costa Rico) and the Caribbean (bahamas, british virgin islands). Mostly cruises except Canada.
Misterarthuragain@reddit
The majority of Americans are geographically illiterate. If they go anywhere outside the U.S., it's probably one of three places: Canada, Europe, and Mexico.
Former_Pool_593@reddit
What, it’s boring out there? They drive on the other side, huh. Oh, so no air conditioning. You had a fight, and you don’t feel well? Wait, didn’t our ancestors leave there to come here?😆
WindyWindona@reddit
Lower class? Hell no.
Middle class and up, it really depends. I assume people near the borders are more likely to hop on over to Canada or Mexico for vacation. People with relatives abroad are more likely to travel abroad for obvious reasons.
Upper class, probably.
It should be noted that it's far easier for Europeans to travel internationally, even if not going to another European nation like Spain, due to size and how close everything is. There's also the matter of less average vacation time in the US, then add in the distance and how jet lag will require an extra day to recover coming and going.
potlizard@reddit
Take Europe for example: A person who lives in say, London, can take a quick 2-4 day trip to Paris one month, and maybe a Amsterdam the next month, and Munich the next month. Americans on the other side of the Pond have to take in as much of Europe as they can in one trip.
Haunting_Scholar_595@reddit
No, at least in comparison to Europeans. Between lining up with kids vacation time and getting consecutive days off its much less common for Americans to take 2 week+ vacations. This is based on the reactions I get from other Americans when I tell them I take long vacations.
That being said there are still a lot of Americans doing it because there are a lot of wealthy Americans and we have a lot of retirees that also can afford it and then have the time.
Independent-Dark-955@reddit
I’ve always wanted to go to Greece and Italy, but have never been to anywhere in Europe, primarily because it seems difficult to get away from responsibilities. I’ve sent my children on long trips to Europe. About the most I have been able to get away are a couple of week long trips to Mexico City, which my husband and I have always loved.
I have a job where I have 4 weeks of vacation per year, but nearly impossible to use for many consecutive days.
Educational-Rate-337@reddit
To me, it’s pretty common. I am 29, six figures, and most of my peers are the same. I myself have done multiple months in South America and in Europe. I always have at least one friend/acquaintance who is somewhere else like Asia or Europe for multiple weeks
julet1815@reddit
I know a lot of Americans who go on long trips, but they’re mostly older, like retirement age.
phcampbell@reddit
My sister and her husband do take long international trips. This year alone they spent a month in Italy, two months in Australia/New Zealand, and now they’ve been in Eastern Europe for a month with no planned end date. They are retired and they planned their lives and finances around being able to travel. I have one friend who takes a long trip at least once a year to Europe or Asia (or at least did before taking care of aging parents got in the way).
Most of my other friends who travel “internationally” do seem to mainly do cruises to the Caribbean or other warm locales.
SnooChipmunks2079@reddit
Most people don't have enough vacation time or disposable income to travel internationally.
Under 50% of Americans even have a passport. I believe a passport is now required for travel to Canada and Mexico.
Kman17@reddit
Kid of. I think it really depends heavily on your social circle+.
America is a big place with a bigger range in incomes & ability to travel.
Like the Dutch tend to be wealthy and well traveled, the Romanians not so much. It’s no different here.
Among the upper middle class in major U.S. metro areas, yeah - I’d say it’s reasonably common. Though in absolute terms that’s not a huge percent of the population. If you’re college educated and in tech / medicine / business, then it’ll feel like everyone.
You kind of have to remember just how far away North America is from a lot of the eastern hemisphere and parts of South America. The flights are long and expensive.
On the flip side, our economy is (currently) a lot stronger than just about everywhere else in the world - so our money goes quite a bit farther when we do travel.
That results in it implicitly making sense to do less frequent but longer vacations when we go abroad.
Normal vacations are within the country, or often to Canada / Mexico / the Caribbean.
yummyjackalmeat@reddit
When I was single, yes. Now that I have a family, no. Vacations are going to see family across the country.
WordsLessThanNumbers@reddit
I am an American who has lived in Europe. In Europe it is the culture to take two weeks off in August. In the US, the culture does not really tolerate more than one week off at a time.
Americans also get much less vacation time. Here in the US I get 4 weeks per year. In Europe I got 6 weeks per year.
I take one international vacation every year, but only for one week. (I also fly internationally for work, but that wasn't your question.)
Leaf-Stars@reddit
I wanted to take my wife to Europe to explore her roots but she prefers to see the US.
DrMindbendersMonocle@reddit
Common for rich Americans, maybe upper middle class. More common for people to vacation within the US or go to the Caribbean or Mexico which are fairly close and have nice resorts
amansname@reddit
Mostly you get 2 weeks vacation time per year. And one of those gets spent at Christmas time, the other split between thanksgiving and some sort of small summer trip.
No, we don’t travel internationally for long periods of time. There might be a few exceptions but most jobs won’t let you take off 3 weeks in a row. Plus the cost of flying internationally is pretty expensive.
RumpelstiltskinsGP@reddit
I’d say it’s completely subjective. My mom is from Europe so we would take a 3 week international vacation every year for my whole life.
Other people I know can afford to travel luxuriously internationally but never do. And then I know people who travel internationally and only stay in hostels or hitchhike the whole time.
But, in general, I would say it’s not very common for Americans to do weeks long international trips.
_iusuallydont_@reddit
As others have mentioned, it depends on location and social bubble. I travel internationally for vacation about twice a year and my trips can range from 1-3 weeks. Most of the people in my life travel as frequently or more than me. However, I also know people who have never left the U.S. and exclusively vacation in the continental U.S.
verminiusrex@reddit
Most people I know who do long international trips either have rich parents or are retired with a comfortable pension. The average person can't afford the several thousand dollars that sort of vacation costs without a lot of planning and saving.
Appropriate-Food1757@reddit
I do shorties because getting huge chunk of time off is nearly impossible. So traveling far away for a short period is not really feasible either.
david_leo_k@reddit
This is an interesting question. 400 million people here. You’ll find all kinds of people, both cultured and curious or completely ignorant or uninterested in the world. There are people who only do all inclusive resorts because they want to over indulge. Or only do Disney World annually for the price of a luxury vacation to St Tropez. I on the other hand want to see the world. One year I may go to Thailand and the next Italy.
If I go to Asia, it has to be for about 2 weeks because getting there takes a full 24h from New York. If I go to Paris, I can justify an overnight flight for a long weekend.
OceanPoet87@reddit
It's always so interesting since our country is so large. You in NYC can go to Europe quickly and cheaply for a weekend which seems crazy to west coasters but it is true. Some in NYC may think it's crazy that some people here do that for Hawaii or somewhere like Baja or western Mexico.
Parents went to Los Cabos and avoided all inclusives. We are doing all inclusive because we have never done that before but we are spending at least one day off resort so we can actually see the area.
MoreCheesePlease8675@reddit
Most Americans prefer to travel within the mainland of the U.S. the ones who are more adventurous (and have the money) may want to include Hawaii, Alaska, and The U.S Virgin Islands. But many Americans I've known haven't even traveled outside of their own town/city or state yet alone the country or other countries. If they do travel to other countries it's mostly Canada, Mexico, and other South American countries since those are cheaper and your dollar goes a lot further there than in many other countries.
As an American living in Peru I can say that I have seen more people from European countries, Australia, and east Asian countries than I have seen from the states. Heck I've seen more Canadians here than Americans. I think this may be due to the bad reputation that the US gives South America as a gang and drug ridden place or that they hate Americans. Even though those things do exist they don't make up the majority of what you will experience. As long as you take proper precautions you'll be ok. I've been living in Lima Peru for 3 years and while it is known to be a very dangerous city I can say that so far I've never been a victim of pick pocketing or extortion (the 2 most popular crimes here).
I think fear is another issue too. The American news media loves to talk as if every country has it out for the U.S. This causes many Americans to have a certain fear of other countries while having a bias as to how safe the U.S is. Despite the guns and such the U.S is indeed a very safe country but some countries are much better in their regards to safety (and ofc much worse countries exist when it comes to that). Many Americans are afraid of their neighbors I can only imagine how much fear those people have for people from other countries with customs and such that differ from theirs. Also the school system and it's focus only on American History and culture and not International history and culture may also be an influence.
It's a combination of fear, not having the time, and not having the funds to travel and what travel means to them. Some want to only travel if it means going to an all inclusive expensive getaway where they don't have to do anything but sit pool side and be waited on by a cabana boy. They don't understand or want to do anything cheaper. They want the rich person experience but can't afford it so they don't travel.
TL:DR it comes down to time, money, fear, and the kind of experience they are looking for.
Alg0mal000@reddit
I (American) traveled a lot when I was in my 20s-30s. I didn’t have a ton of money but I would work hard and save enough to take 2-3 month long trips. I spent a lot of time in SE Asia, N Africa, and Southern Europe. Now, in my 50s I’ve been dealing with chronic illness and I’m thankful I took the opportunity to travel extensively while I was young and healthy.
Juiceman23@reddit
My wife and I are childless, we take one long (2-1/2 week trip) every year over to somewhere new in Europe and we love it. The one thing I think anyone outside of the US cannot comprehend is how big the USA actually is, how many different things there are to do around the continental us and we don’t necessarily need to leave to have a good vacation. With that said we are fortunate to both work for smaller companies that value personal time off so we have a lot more vacation time than most people do.
wawa2022@reddit
We don’t get enough vacation time to do long slow travel. I did a six month trip once when I was unemployed and would love to do month long trips now that I’m retired.
ProbablyMyRealName@reddit
It is common but not the norm. Many Americans take long international trips, but not most Americans, if that makes sense. I’ve taken a two week international trip each of the last three years, many people I know have never left the country.
ladyofthemarshes@reddit
Americans usually don't go abroad for more than 2 weeks at a time unless they have a very flexible job. Longest international trip I've done was 15 days
chuckiebg@reddit
I don’t think people realize how poor a lot of Americans are. It’s becoming more obvious to be sure now that we can all “see” each other’s day to day lives online. The price of a passport is prohibitively expensive for a lot. We don’t get long vacations (some don’t get them at all) and it’s very expensive to travel. This isn’t the prosperous country some people think it is. We’ve been screwed left and right by both our government and businesses for many many years. Until it seemed normal to us. It’s not that we don’t want to travel and explore the world, it’s just that most of us can’t. It’s really sad.
Triple_Crown_Royal@reddit
Likely depends on age, too.
My parents were enthusiastic travelers and hit 6 continents but got to their 50s and had never visited Paris. My younger sister and I visited in our 20s and went back several times and begged our mom to join. She responded that she wanted to do the more challenging trips while younger and more mobile.
We finally got them to France when she needed a wheelchair. But museums and such had them so it worked fine.
That was their last international trip. After that, they traveled within the US seeing the other coast, etc.
A lot of Americans take a similar approach and visit places we think are more challenging while we are more physically able.
Exception being Antarctica. Many Americans assume we will never go there so if we do, it's when we're older and have more money saved
wollflour@reddit
Asia is really a hot destination for Americans in my city right now.
I've got relatives there so I'm condemned to those long-ass flights for the rest of my life. It'd be nice if people stop going, it used to be great 20 years ago when the flights were all super-quiet super-polite Japanese people...
MiniFancyVan@reddit
Americans don’t get much vacation time. They have to be students, independently wealthy or retired with money to go on long trips. Or in debt to their eyeballs lol.
stroppo@reddit
I wouldn't say it's common. About half the country doesn't even have a passport, so no international travel there. Also, you need money. Most people in the US don't have the funds for long international trips.
TooManyDraculas@reddit
Long no.
Most Americans don't have the vacation time for trips longer than a week or two.
Longer trips are limited to the well off, public sector workers who get much better vacation time, and the retired.
International travel isn't super common, with the majority of Americans not even owning passports.
But particularly with younger Americans. Shorter trips to Europe, Asia and Mexico are fairly common and can be surprisingly affordable. Then across the board travel to generally coastal areas in the Caribbean and Latin America is common.
You can travel over land and by boat to Mexico, Canada, and most of the Caribbean without passport with an enhanced ID/Real ID or US Passport Card. Which covers what's probably the most common format of international travel. Cruises/All Inclusives in warm places. And then for those close enough, road trips into Mexico and Canada.
It's far more common to travel within the US.
Which is fairly equivalent to most of the travel Europeans do. So for example my family in Ireland go to Spain regularly, sometimes shorter and sometimes longer trips. This is very similar to how people where I'm from in NY, go to Florida regularly.
And having been to Florida. It might as well be a foreign country. A terrifying and sweaty one.
auntiecoagulent@reddit
We do 3 weeks in Europe every summer
Riker_Omega_Three@reddit
extended vacations are typically the things the ultra wealthy do
1-2 weeks is what I would say is the typical American vacation
Hello_Hangnail@reddit
I can't even afford vacations or time off for doctor's appointments, dude
StanleyQPrick@reddit
I recently realized my husband and oldest kid have never left the country, and my youngest child has never even left the state she was born in, so we're going all the way to Japan next year. It will be at a time in our lives when we're likely going to have more liquid finances than we ever will again and I'm taking the opportunity to broaden our horizons. We can only afford a week and the airfare will be more that a third of the total expense so we most likely won't have the opportunity to go back, but I'm hoping to distill a deeper understanding of the world in all of us.
GetOffMyLawn1729@reddit
Americans also travel to Europe a lot, but usually for 1 to 2 weeks at a time. It has more to do with the ability to put together the vacation time than the expense.
Almost_Amos@reddit
I mix it up. I go international every 4-5 years (give or take). But usually I visit friends and family in the US. It’s a big country and we move around a lot. This year I visited friends in the Pacific Northwest. Last year Scotland and Ireland. A couple road trips to New Mexico mixed in as well
NewWestGirl@reddit
I try to take 1-2 international trips a year 1-2 weeks each time. My husband is foreign born so his family expects us to visit once per year and we try to do something fun for second trip. But we can afford it and have plenty vacation time in pretty good jobs. For a lot of people this isn’t an option. So it depends a lot on individual circumstances.
Miss-marion@reddit
I had a cousin who did that. He was upper middle class. After high school he backpacked around Europe. It's pretty common among young (18-25) middle class. No kids. They usually travel alone on the cheap. I don't think it's that common for older adults or people who have families regardless of income. Rich people may travel to Japan or Africa for a vacation but only for a few weeks.
OllieOllieOxenfry@reddit
It's not routine for middle-class:
#1 reason is lack of paid time off. The average worker gets 2-3 weeks off a year. Take off a week for days needed with Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's; another week goes to weddings or one-off fridays; the last week goes to be sick, obligations, or seeing family. Not a lot else left to travel abroad when it takes so long to get there you need to stay at least a week to enjoy it.
#2 is money
#3 is our country is huge and has a lot of the topography other countries offer but with english, the dollar, no need for a passport and fewer other barriers.
HermioneMarch@reddit
If I’m going to pay that much in airfare im going to want to stay at least 10 days and longer if I can afford it and get time off work. That said, US middle class rarely has enough to do this. Upper class, yes. In US probably once in a lifetime trip to Europe. Caribbean and Mexico much more affordable for us regular people.
LifeFindsAWhey@reddit
Americans don't get much vacation time, so I don't think many take "long vacations". I have a pretty decent job, and when I go back to Australia it uses up literally all my PTO for the year to stay long enough to make the trip worth it.
I also don't think many Americans have passports, probably half or so. Most people that I know here go on vacations domestically (maybe 2/3), with a few that frequent Europe on occasion (maybe 1/3).
Exciting_Vast7739@reddit
Where I live (Urban Midwest) it's a huge status symbol. It's how you know you're arrived at upper class or you're upper middle class and attempting to live that upper class lifestyle.
Hop on my instagram and the people are super pumped to go to Wimbledon, Paris Olympics, Italy, Greece, Croatia, etc. Ski trips, fashion trips, golf trips, More adventurous types go to Morocco or Peru.
Check out your local yoga studio and inevitably you'll find yoga retreats is exotic places.
It's a big deal and a lot of people strive for that kind of travel lifestyle. It is expensive though. My parents were more "pack all the kids in a van and visit national parks,". America has plenty of internal tourism options that are awesome for middle class folks.
But you know you've made it when you're Air BNB'ing through Barcelona.
beebeesy@reddit
I think it's becomming more common but it isn't super common. You have to remember that the US is also huge and a good portion of Americans have a list of places within the US that they want to see first. I personally know a ton of people who have traveled internationally on short vacations or lived internationally for periods of time and I'm from a small town. But for every one person who has made a trip to Mexico, the Caribbean, or Europe, there's probably 100 who haven't seen more than a couple of states in the US. Hell, most Americans won't see all 50 states. I've seen 18 and I have been in 17 of those 18 this year on two seperate road trips to the East Coast and Yellowstone National Park. Mind you that the road time for these trips were a total of 73 hrs of highway time just to reach destinations. Which means that over 3 days worth of my vacation time was spent driving.
But also know that vacation availability is also a huge factor. I only work 174 days a year. I can take multiple long vacations a year if I have the cash. Some people don't have that luxury. Their vacation might be a few days a year and they just go to a closer vacation destination. Some people have to work to get some much time off.
SarisweetieD@reddit
For me it’s about timing and work. Taking a week off work is not a big deal. Taking 3 weeks off work is a lot of work ahead of time and a lot of work when I get back. I can also work remotely a couple times a year for up to two weeks at a time if I stay in the US.
Being on the west coast flying to Europe for less than 2 weeks and dealing with that time change isn’t worth it and I’d honestly prefer 3 weeks! But with that said I was in southern Spain for two weeks in February and it was amazing!
DirectionImmediate88@reddit
How long do you mean? American academic here. I would find being away for more than 2-3 weeks would be difficult for work. I just got back from two weeks in the Shetland Islands which feels like a good length of time. I will be in Tokyo for six weeks this winter but that is a work trip to sit with colleagues and not really a vacation. Many Americans do not have passports and a good fraction of Americans who travel do so on package deals, either cruises or scheduled tours with guides. Quite a long way from how I'd want to travel and I think reasonably expensive as well.
Adorable_Dust3799@reddit
The American version is long road trips. There's much of this country i haven't seen yet.
sleepygrumpydoc@reddit
People that can afford to travel will travel where they want, proximity is not a driving point when money isn’t an issue. I have friends that love Costa Rica, they go as often as possible but they would never ever go on a safari in Africa because that’s not an interest to them.
Middle class isn’t not going to be able to afford crazy expensive trips to places that are far away. Travel is more expensive here, and it depends on which part of the country you are in. It would take me 10ish hours to fly to Tokyo but about 12 to get to Madrid. Where as someone on the east coast is 7 to Madrid and 14 to Tokyo.
startupdojo@reddit
Even back around 2000, a family vacation in Europe was a big thing, something that richer families did...
Today, I think it is much more common. Since Mexico and Canada passport lockdown years ago, a lot more Americans have passports, flights are as cheap as ever, and Americans make as much as ever.
US incomes are pulling away from Europe, making things in Europe seem very affordable. I can stay in a ratty hotel off of some highway for $100-120/night, or I can stay in a picturesque French or Italian village for the same price. Europe is increasing becoming a budget destination for Americans. It is domestic travel that is pretty expensive.
Personally, I am not that keen to pay $200/night and $100/dinner for a quick getaway from NYC to upstate NY. I would rather do a quick getaway to Rome for the same price. Or smaller European cities for almost half. I'm not necessarily saving money, but it is better value.
HeresW0nderwall@reddit
I am going to China in April. I can afford two weeks financially and my friends who are going are all doing two weeks. However I’m only doing one week because I don’t really want to kill 2/3 of my PTO in one sitting, so I’m meeting them halfway through that trip
OceanPoet87@reddit
Vacation time itself is a huge issue. I was lucky enough to have my parents pay for a family reunion to Hawaii in July for a week. But I had to cut back on a lot of days off that I would normally get to save my pto for that trip. My wife, my 9 year old (first intl trip in April), and I are going to Los Cabos for 5 days and I've had a really hard time managing my medical or dental appointments and balancing PTO for that upcoming trip. We aren't even that medically needy.
I get three weeks paid PTO but it is earned per pay period. Many Americans don't have PTO.
Chair_luger@reddit
Cruises in the Caribbean are very popular too.
For longer trips going Americans going to Australia and New Zealand are popular destination.
Most Americans would choose to go to Canada, Mexico, Europe, Caribbean, Australia, or New Zealand before going to Asia, Africa, or South America.
xqueenfrostine@reddit
What is a long trip to you? Because I have a feeling that the American version of a long trip and the European idea of a long trip are different.
I’m middle class but I’m lucky enough to travel internationally almost every year (perks of having no kids and low living expenses), and my trips are usually 10-15 days but I’ve done 18-19 day trips before. By (most!) American standards these are long trips as most vacations in the US tend to be about a week. But I don’t think my 2 week vacations meet what most of the world (or even the serious travelers in the US) are what most people think of as long trips.
Skylla124@reddit
I'm going to Japan in February this will be the very first time I leave the country and I am 30 years old. I think there are a lot of great places to visit here and international travel is so expensive so a lot of people kick around here for their vacations. I also know a surprising amount of people that are afraid of air travel and prefer to drive everywhere.
Sea_Dot8299@reddit
You won't regret it at all. Been to a lot of places in my life. Japan is tied for #1, and Tokyo is easily one of my most favorite cities in the world, by far. Been to Japan 4x and still want to keep going back. You'll love it.
trinite0@reddit
In general, international travel is somewhat more rare for Americans, because there's so much great traveling we can do within our own country.
I can go to nearly any climate I wish, visit spectacular landscapes and exciting cities, and have all kinds of amazing adventures, without ever having to get a passport, learn another language, change money, or worry about unfamiliar laws.
International travel is great, but it's far from our only option for vacations.
Danibear285@reddit
We don’t have legally mandated vacations
theantagonists@reddit
No. I have been to almost every state and several countries (would like to go to more). But I am not the common American.
I have met a lot of people who have never left their state or even their hometown.
There are several reasons more Americans dont travel internationally. Cost is the biggest reason. If your job doesn't make you travel you dont have points to do personal travel like I do. This increases your expense. Time is second. To go international besides the Caribbean or Canada it takes a long time. We dont have a train network or cheap flights(mostly) to get us places like other countries do. Combine these two things with having a family and it becomes even more difficult.
Does this mean no Americans travel internationally? Of course not, but a lot of what you have experienced i would say are the minority group of Americans and those of us that make our hobby travel. In that those of us who do travel, do so regularly.
Sea_Dot8299@reddit
Depends on priorities, kids' school schedules, personal and work life. We are averaging 2 trips per year. We are did Australia and Japan this year. Last year was Thailand and England. The year before South Korea and Japan. Been to most of Europe. Most of East Asia.
OkContract2001@reddit
I think it depends on the family and the culture around them.
A LOT of Americans can't afford to go very far and/or don't have the time off.
Among those that do, many will take a vacation to another country. However, many people will just go to resort in Mexico or on a cruise. These are comfortable international trips for folks who don't want to leave a certain comfort zone, since they will be surrounded by Americans and provided activities and food geared toward Americans.
But many people I know do travel internationally a fair bit. Europe is always a popular destination, particularly since it is only a few hours from the East Coast. A ski vacation at a major resort in the Alps is actually cheaper than a ski vacation at a major resort in the Rockies.
It is worth noting that Americans have less incentive to travel internationally than others. We've got nearly every type of biome, from tropical beaches and rainforests to Arctic tundra and fjords. We even have a wide range of cultures one can experience without a passport. Plus, just visiting family often means a several hour flight or a few days drive.So I imagine that feeds into a lot of Americans traveling internationally less often.
I used to travel a lot (I've been to 25ish countries), but since I had a kid I focus on ski trips to the mountains and seeing family and friends within driving distance or a short flight.
elphaba00@reddit
I've scrolled through a lot of comments, and I think the thing that is being missed is "family and culture." I grew up in a family that absolutely did not travel internationally. It just wasn't what we did. My parents were the rare exceptions who would leave the state. A lot of family members just stayed put. No one in our family ever talked about passports, visas, and flights. If you couldn't get there driving, then you just weren't going.
I still haven't traveled internationally, but I put my teenager on a flight to Europe a couple years ago. It was a good thing that the school put most of it together because we would have had no clue. My parents eventually got passports, but that was so they could take an Alaskan cruise and get off at the stops in Canada.
I should say that I grew up with parents who worked for the school district. Vacations were only when the school was closed, and the amount of time off during the year was not very good at all. It still isn't. I mean, it's 2025, and school districts are still telling their female teachers to try to have their babies over the summer so they don't go into the red for vacation and sick time.
PowderedMilkManiac@reddit
My wife and I usually do one 12-14 day international trip per year. We’ll pick a country or two and try to hit 4ish cities before we go home.
We have good jobs and no kids, so we are able to spend the money on ourselves instead.
Electrical-Ad1288@reddit
I've been overseas multiple times growing up. My grandparents were avid travelers and were very generous with their money. I have been to Bermuda, UK, Netherlands, Tanzania, Ecuador, Canada and Dominican Republic growing up.
I started doing it on my own in the last couple of years since I now have a job that gives me 5 weeks off and provides decent benefits that cut my cost of living. Having no debt payments certainly helps too. I went to Croatia last year. I just got back from a trip to Slovenia and Italy. I plan to go to New Zealand next year.
Capable_Capybara@reddit
My own experience is that my family has discussed a Europe trip and may do it in the future. We have gone to Mexico, but mostly travel inside the US.
People I know who have done multiple long International trips are the family of a lead surgeon at a large hospital, the family of a lawyer who owns a small law firm, and a family that ows several small businesses. What they have in common are flexible schedules and $300k+ incomes. Most of us don't have those.
ColorlessGreen91@reddit
Obviously most Americans cant afford that kind of luxury, but even for those who can, the real issue is time off from work.
If I spent 2-3 weeks of my vacation time traveling to Europe, that means I have to go a whole year without taking any other time off. Can't get any work done around the house, can't go to out of town weddings or weekday events, cant see the doctor, cant get sick, and if you have kids, well you dont have a choice, you're skipping the international trip and using those days when you need them.
Some people do have more than a couple of weeks of paid time off, some even have separate buckets for sick days, etc, but the majority have none at all. Most of those that do have PTO, rarely have more than 2 or 3 weeks.
smartypants333@reddit
I am 47. On Sunday my family and I are leaving on a 16 day trip in Europe including 5 countries.
It is the first time in my life,y husband’s life (49) that we have ever taken a trip to Europe and the first time I’ve ever taken a trip more than 7 days.
The reason I’m taking THIS trip is I have stage 4 cancer and I felt like it was my last chance. It’s the trip of a lifetime, and a one in a lifetime experience.
Adnan7631@reddit
A lot of immigrants will make a point to travel, particularly to their homeland (and foreign-born American citizens are ~ 15% of the total population). And a lot of upper middle class/professional class people view travel as an important value. At this point, most Americans have a passport and a larger percentage of them have traveled abroad at some point.
But, in general, most Americans will either travel within the US or to Canada/Mexico. Please keep in mind that the US is roughly the size of the entirety of Europe with tremendous natural beauty. And it is climatically very diverse. If you want to visit tropical beaches, you can go to Hawaii or Puerto Rico. Latin American culture? Try Miami or SoCal. And then cities like NYC, DC, LA, and Chicago are already major destinations and that the US is (well, let’s say before this year) one of the single biggest tourist destinations in the world, and there’s a lot of reason for us to go someplace closer to home.
While some Americans do go to places like Southeast Asia, you have to remember that the US is MUCH farther away than Europe is. When I went to Malaysia, I flew from the US, TO EUROPE, and then to Kuala Lumpur. In terms of sheer flight time, it is getting close to double, and then you have to add on the time it takes for layovers, etc.
DIYnivor@reddit
Only about half of U.S. adults have a passport.
Beneficial_Equal_324@reddit
I'd say only a fraction of Americans have the means for international travel, and only a fraction of those actually travel internationally for pleasure. I'm an early retiree and it doesn't really interest me. I'd rather visit national parks in the US.
lolCLEMPSON@reddit
Very uncommon because people can afford it generally aren't able to take that much time off. More common among unemployed backpacker types.
Sorcha9@reddit
It takes so long for us to travel to Asia. It doesn’t make sense for the trip to be short. If it takes me 20 hours to get somewhere, why would I stay for 3 days. That’s just all jet lag. I will be in Greece for 15 days soon. From Alaska, that travel takes me 28 hours each way.
SouthernTrauma@reddit
Most Americans don't have enough vacation time for long vacations when we do tend to go abroad. It's usually 2 weeks and it's off into Europe or the Caribbean?
delilahhh_xx@reddit
Yeah I am the only person I know who travels internationally on a semi-regular basis, but it's important to me so I'm willing to keep driving my 12 year old car so I can have savings for my next trip. I also don't have kids, so I imagine now that I'm looking into that possibility, our trips will be more domestic for at least the next decade.
Tedanty@reddit
Not common, really no reason to. I’ll go to Mexico or Canada fairly often which I guess is technically international. I’ve been to Asia a bunch and even lived there, as well as Europe a bunch and lived there too. But not a whole lot of reason to leave the US nowadays. Almost anything I can see in other countries can be found in the US by car to some extent.
TalkativeRedPanda@reddit
My family enjoys international travel. But for us- a 2 week trip is a long trip.
We have not managed to make it to Asia yet; but we've enjoyed exploring much of South America and Europe, as well as Mexico, Canada, and the Carribean. There is also a lot to see in the US, so we do a good amount of domestic travel to.
Patient-Ad-7939@reddit
I think some who can afford it do, but others who can afford it just do long vacations inside the US since there’s so much geographic diversity. Even if they want to go tropical they can go to Hawaii or one of the territories like the US Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico.
WhatABeautifulMess@reddit
The main people I knew growing up who did extended international trips was people going to visit family for most of the summer. People doing touristy sightseeing trips or tropical beach type vacations typically do 1-3 weeks from what I've seen.
Ok-Equivalent8260@reddit
I go on about 6 international trips a year. Just got home from Morocco and now I’m in Hawaii. I’m from Seattle.
lexicon951@reddit
I’ve been to 4 other countries and I’m the only other person I know like that. Most people either travel home to Mexico to visit family, or India for the same reason, or white Americans travel domestically unless they’re in the military. I know some people in the church who have traveled to other countries for missions trips (Ukraine before the war, Morocco recently). Otherwise most people I know have never left the country. I felt rude exclaiming on my social media about my recent trip to Canada, that I couldn’t believe the last time I had traveled internationally had been 10 years ago. I felt like a pretentious asshole saying that, because for most Americans international travel is a once-or-twice-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Something you do on your honeymoon, and when you’re old and retired. I’m only 30 and have traveled so much compared to the norm, and yet not at all compared to your average rich kid. I had an ex once who had never left his state before (Florida). I had another ex from Texas who thought China was all rice fields and poverty and didn’t realize they were a modern major world superpower. Like, had never imagined big cities there or thought about the fact that everything we own is made in China. I literally don’t know how to deal with the average uncultured American and yet I’m just as broke, I just hate being grounded to one place. Anyway I’ll not be stupid enough to date someone from Florida or Texas again. I thank God every day I live in Chicago where we have cultural and linguistic diversity 😩💀
counselorofracoons@reddit
Yes, those who have the money often travel internationally. Once a year is usually a big luxury for the middle class, twice a year, you may no longer be middle class. Road trips and more local trips are more for people with kids, pets, or a limited budget.
LastWordBMine@reddit
Currently on a flight from Seattle to Tokyo to check out fall colors in Nikko. I think it’s somewhat common for “the coastal elites” yes. Not so much probably people in ozarks etc
DreadPriratesBooty@reddit
Ive done 3 weeks in Europe and just returned from 3 weeks in Panama. Have travelled other places, but when a flight is that long and costs that much(to lay down) better be there for at least two weeks.
RelationshipLow8070@reddit
I travel 7-10 days internationally at least once a year. The longest trip I did was 14 days. My goal is to be able to take summers off in the next 5-10 years. I’m self employed so it’s on me to make enough to be able to turn down work in the summer months.
-Boston-Terrier-@reddit
About 75% of all Americans have traveled internationally.
A lot of that is Canada, Mexico, and various island countries but it's pretty common for middle class people to go to Europe at least once in their lives. I've been there a handful of times. Southeast Asia, Japan, and Africa are less common destinations for various reasons.
MitchyS68@reddit
Yes if by long vacation you mean a week. Longer is less common unless you are more upper middle class or higher income.
Ok_Membership_8189@reddit
I take longer trips now because I am self-employed and can work remotely. I travel on my weekend, which is Sunday Monday. If I’m going somewhere really far I like to stay a while to get the feel of the place, to live like a local. It’s also less expensive. And if I’m gone for several weekends, I can use my weekends to play the tourist.
Ok_Focus_7863@reddit
My aunt is from Indonesia and she and my uncle go visit her family there for a couple weeks every few years. I don't know anyone else that travels internationally at all
Jayu-Rider@reddit
Most Americans don’t get enough annual vacation time to take long international trips. The labor laws very from state to state, but in most American companies vacation is a bonus for management, and they usually get a week a year. Hourly employee don’t usually get vacation hours, so if they want to take a trip somewhere they have to save enough for the trip and for the time they are not working.
Kyle81020@reddit
I travel internationally for leisure at least once and as many as three times per year. It’s usually once or twice. Always for at least a week, but rarely for more than about two weeks. Most of my work peers and friends also travel internationally, though most do so less frequently than I do; more like once a year or every couple of years.
I get six weeks PTO per year, which is pretty typical for people who’ve been in the workforce for 20+ years in professional or management positions.
Supermac34@reddit
Many Americans travel frequently inside the US, which is giant and has a large diversity of climates and geography. I would say its similar to Europeans traveling within the EU, if not more so.
If someone from Texas goes to California for a week, that's further than someone from Germany going to France for a week, but the German is traveling internationally.
Street-Length9871@reddit
I think it is common, however some people just don't like to travel, fly etc. and are happy traveling in the USA. It is big and diverse as far as climate, land scape etc. You can do mountains, beach, big city, snow, heat, tropical islands etc. I like both types of travel and usually travel for a couple of weeks a couple of times a year. Middle class best describes my economic status. I am a government employee so the longer I work the more paid time off I have.
langstonfleury@reddit
We do two week trips twice per year. I own my business and can take off whenever and my gf is an ER doctor. She is limited to how many days she can take off in a row so usually it is the last week of the month into the first week of the next month. In the spring we did Helsinki and Lapland and we just got back from Panama City and the San Blas Islands. GF is a big traveler while like to vacation.
UrMomsGorditoSancho@reddit
I work for the local government and seem to have a lot more paid time off compared to my friends in tech. Long weekend trips within the state or neighboring states is about once a month. Weeklong trips are about once a year. 2-3 week international trips are about every 2-3years.
gravely_serious@reddit
A long international trip for most middle class Americans is going to be too expensive. I'm doing okay, and I couldn't manage it with a family of 4. Plane tickets alone would be at least $5000, and that's if we got a deal. Those who do manage to swing it aren't going for very long. There are dual issues of hotel costs racking up the longer you're gone and how long you can realistically spend away from work. From a purely cost perspective, I'd much rather take two very nice trips in the US rather than one stressful week abroad on a budget.
Krystalgoddess_@reddit
At my job, it is kinda common, we get more vacation days the longer you work at the company. My coworker just got back from a 2 week international trip. It usually a once a year thing though
NotYourScratchMonkey@reddit
According to the Pew Research Center:
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/08/12/most-americans-have-traveled-abroad-although-differences-among-demographic-groups-are-large/
Whether before or during the pandemic, international travel is something a 71% majority of U.S. adults have done at some point in their lives, according to a June Pew Research Center survey. By contrast, around a quarter (27%) have not traveled abroad.
It goes on to say that "Almost half (48%) of those earning less than $30,000 a year have not left the country, compared with 28% of those who earn between $30,000 and $79,999 a year and 10% of those earning $80,000 or more."
Generally speaking, the people that can afford to travel internationally, generally do. And a TON of young people travel overseas doing the solo/backpacker/hostel thing.
You asked specifically about long, international trips. I would argue that it's mostly those young backpackers who do the long trips because they have the time and they can live and stay in Europe or Asia for cheap. It's the air fare that gets them so they save up for that round trip ticket but spend as much time on the ground as they can. My sister's done that.
Personally, I travel internationally often, but it's mostly to Mexico/Central America so not really a "long" trip. And we generally go for no more than about a week. I have the vacation to spend three or four weeks abroad, but I would just not want to be away from home that long. I'd rather break that time up into smaller, diverse chunks.
alexblablabla1123@reddit
These couple years traveling to Japan is literally cheaper than traveling to big US cities due to FX rate and high hotel/restaurant prices in US. Not to mention SE Asia. But my understanding is the latter is not always family friendly if you catch my whiffs.
I’m glad OP didn’t include tracking to other European countries as those are probably equivalent to traveling across states in US.
Again moral of the story is for US, transportation is not expensive, especially since many ppl drive long distances. Lodging and restaurants are very expensive.
browneod@reddit
It depends, really. Not that I am retired love traveling the world and seeing sites and meeting people. Younger days, didn't have that much time or money.
balthisar@reddit
I don't really prioritize "international" vs "domestic" for trips, and I consider both Mexico and Canada domestic (not in the 51st and 52d state context – they're just not "foreign" [and I've lived in both places]).
Instead I consider the amount of time I can take off in a single block (I have 25 days of vacation plus 10 days of personal/flex time), but in manufacturing engineering, it's sometimes tough to take a lot of time at once. Every second year, then, we'll do a four week trip.
Next, I consider convenience and jet lag. China's (I've also lived there) is 12 hours of jet lag. Do I want to go there for a one week trip, get over my jet lag on day 4, and then repeat the jet lag process 3 days later at home? Nope, China and Asia become an off year trip, and because I don't want to go to the same place every two years, it becomes eight years (per my last trip).
As a Michigander, I'm born and bred for road trips, and so one of the four week years will be dedicated to Quebec and the Maritimes and taking the ferry from Canada to France for a day trip, or to Nevada (dad lives there) via the southern route, or to Nevada via the northern route, or to B.C. via the really expensive gasoline-wise far northern route.
Shorter trips are almost always domestic due to not having time all at once for a road trip, or to avoid wasting time working off jet lag. So, fly to California for a couple of weeks, or drive and spend an extra long weekend in Tobermory or Traverse City or NYC, or go camping in The Pinery or Petoskey or elsewhere a few times per year.
arizonatealover@reddit
No, it is not common.
It is very common that people don't even leave their state, or maybe only live in or visit 1 or 2 states in their lifetime.
I think Reddit skews towards more education and higher pay, so I bet this population travels more frequently than Americans in general.
I also think taking trips abroad has become more popular with young people with access to social media, who see a place they'd like to visit and then can plan to save up for a trip.
Mesoscale92@reddit
My parents literally just finished a monthlong trip to the south of France. So sample size of two: yes.
Careless-Internet-63@reddit
I'm in my late 20s and have seen several people I grew up with who came from money go on seemingly indefinite vacations. It's really not that common though since most people can't afford it
Maximum_Employer5580@reddit
if you have the money to do it, then yeah it's pretty common......if you don't then you're saving the money up for a once in a lifetime trip to an international destination you've always wanted to go to. I know a couple who just got back from Paris, which to them was a once in a lifetime trip that they saved up to take
Amazing_Wolf_1653@reddit
Yes. In my social circle, it is very common. We generally don’t travel in the US. It’s more expensive and less fulfilling.
Bastyra2016@reddit
Cruising is the American entry level international vacation. Going on cruises is pretty common for the middle class with disposable income for vacations and even people who struggle at times with finances. The second most common starter trip is “all inclusive resorts”- many times in Mexico but also in the Caribbean. I don’t know too many “non travelers”whose first international trip is Japan or Vietnam.
Corlel@reddit
Growing up my family was solid middle class. We never left the country but did week long vacations for camping or to Florida (to visit grandparents there). That seemed the norm within our bubble. In college I knew some people from wealthier families that did international travel. Now amongst our friend group of early 30s, I feel most of us have the itch to see more of the world. In fact my husband and I just returned from our first big international trip to Japan. We could only do this because we are a DINK couple and our jobs have generous pto.
QuesoCadaDia@reddit
One or two international trips a year is not middle class here.
ABelleWriter@reddit
In my circle of friends, no. I have one friend who goes somewhere in Europe every year for 10 days. Everyone else is more likely to go to the mountains, lakes, or rivers (we're by the beach) Disney World, or the Caribbean.
abstractraj@reddit
I’ve been to 51 countries and 7 continents, but I really don’t think that’s the norm
PenteonianKnights@reddit
No
In certain classes, yes. But not often, for most ppl. Common for a person to do it at least once. Not common to do it regularly
Pasito_Tun_Tun_D1@reddit
I take at least 4 international vacations a year for at least a week long a time. Mainly between Europe and Latin America!
SeraphsAim@reddit
Not really, unless you’re like, super mega rich and don’t have to worry about things like having a job. The job I’m at right now, you don’t get two weeks vacation until you’ve been with the company for five years, and this isn’t the type of job that gives it’s full timers more than a single day off per week.
MyUsername2459@reddit
Most Americans don't have the time (as in available vacation time at work) or money to go on long international trips.
I'd say only a fairly small minority could afford long international trips at all. . .they probably do it relatively commonly.
The US is a pretty vast place, with a very wide diversity of geography and climate. . .meaning you can see a LOT without leaving the country. It's one reason Americans don't travel internationally as often.
LivingGhost371@reddit
Well, let's get one thing clear- the lower middle and middle middle class like me can't afford that kind of international travel to other continents, it's just an upper-middle and upper class thing.
Of the upper middle class and upper class my observation is about half do and half don't. When you get into that income there's other options like second homes, RVs, and cruising.
bigchilla777@reddit
i live in regular American poverty
i’ve spent 2 separate months in Asia
been to South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines
i have also visited Mexico and some Caribbean islands
flitterbug33@reddit
I'm not poor but I don't have money for long vacations and I don't know anyone who does.
Comfortable-Ad-7913@reddit
My daughter goes to an expensive private school. It is very common in that circle.
Her best friend just did London and Brussels.
We just did Barcleona and Costa Brava.
HudsonAtHeart@reddit
Most of the people I know from NYC travel internationally, even “poor” people from the hood who visit family in DR and Colombia etc.
Most of the people I know from North Carolina haven’t even bothered to get to New York yet.
I think generally if you have money or family abroad, you will travel - if you have neither, it becomes a lifelong pursuit of vacations because it’s so expensive to leave
No-Falcon-4996@reddit
I could not take more than a few days off at a time, one week at the most, sandwiched with 2 weekends and a holiday like July 4 falling on a Monday -- a 10 day trip maximum.
Downtherabbithole14@reddit
My favorite vacations have been my Euro-trips and each time I've done a minimum of 10 days, not including travel time. I haven't been back in sometime, I am hoping in the next year or 2
qu33nof5pad35@reddit
Yes I take 1-2 every year.
capsrock02@reddit
Yes because they can afford it. Most Americans can’t afford it.
No_Street8874@reddit
No, there’s too many places domestically I’d rather travel. Maybe a trip to the Caribbean or Canada, but nothing beyond that for awhile.
PuzzledKumquat@reddit
Husband and I are upper middle class. While we could afford to travel internationally beyond Canada/Mexico/the Caribbean, we don't, simply because I've never had enough vacation time. At every job I've had, vacation time is in the same bucket as sick time and personal time, and the max I've ever had is 15 days. I don't want to use all of that on a single trip. Because if I get sick or there's some kind of emergency, I'd have to go unpaid for the day(s) I take off. And jobs really frown upon taking days off beyond your allowance. I'm finally going to have 21 PTO days as of 2027, so we're planning a trip to the UK and Ireland then.
haus11@reddit
The cost on international travel alone is prohibitive. I’m planning a trip to Japan for the summer. Plane tickets are $1500 each, with a family of we’re up to $6000 before walking out the door. If I accept 51 hours of travel I could get that down to $1300, but time being money spending 4 days of my vacation in an airport doesn’t feel like a good use of my time to save $1000.
There are things that can help mitigate it like mileage credit card and shopping around.
Our jobs also didn’t really allow for long trips. I have a very generous leave package that also allows for carryover of up to 30 days. I built up that reserve. Up until recently my wife was getting 15 days no carryover and we ended up using a lot of them just going to see family or taking a road trip vacation. So taking 2 weeks to go overseas meant we couldn’t travel for Christmas or New Years.
Uffda01@reddit
We don't have the vacation time, even if you've been at your job a long long time (10-15 years) you might get 3-4 weeks of vacation - but it's not common to take two weeks of vacation at a time even if you can afford it.
LifeRound2@reddit
It's very common. When I was on the dating apps looking for a GF, you might say it's an obsession. Nearly every woman on there "loves to travel."
overZealousAzalea@reddit
No. We traveled internationally before children, but now we’d rather travel on road trips to see national parks, visit them at university, take in a game, spend two weeks on the ocean.
Head-Aside7893@reddit
Depends on your social circle. Almost everyone I know has taken multiple long international trips. But I definitely have 1-2 acquaintances who don’t care for that and their circle of friends probably haven’t even left the state
EastTXJosh@reddit
American here. Just my personal opinion, five days is the sweet spot for any vacation, no matter the location. Anything longer it becomes more of a pain. After 5 days on the road, I’m ready to get back home to my own bed and recoup.
No-Theory6270@reddit
Not that much. They prefer to go fishing inside their country, go to exciting Florida and if they’re adventurous visit Canada.
Vegetable-Star-5833@reddit
My aunt did and my grandparents had a trip to Ireland scheduled before she died
Few_Whereas5206@reddit
Wealthy people travel all the time. Middle class and poor scrape by, barely being able to pay their regular bills. We are going to Malaysia this year.
thequirkynerdy1@reddit
That's probably more common for upper middle class than the average American. You have to have both the money and the vacation time (a lot of jobs give 2 weeks).
kodex1717@reddit
It's certainly more common than it used to be. 48% of Americans have a passport today, vs 5% in 1990.
cgjeep@reddit
I’d say it depends on your socioeconomic status. I was fortunate to grow up in a house with physician parents, so fairly well off. We did trips to various countries for spring break (1 week) and summer (usually 2+ weeks). We mostly did Europe and Asia. That was common in my family’s social circle. But I wouldn’t say common overall. It is really expensive for Americans to get overseas. Our flight prices are quite high.
Pretend-Set8952@reddit
Speaking for myself, yes, I do go that far!
but "long" is usually only about 2 weeks. I did do a 20 day trip to Nepal in 2023 and that was the longest trip I'd taken since university. I've also done week-long trips to Japan because why the fuck not 🤷🏻♀️
I was born and raised in the US, but am ethnically Asian so I have some personal motivation for wanting to get on a 20 hour flight voluntarily more than once.
wonderlustVA@reddit
Amoung those I know, yes, a few have went to Asia over the last year. The Caribbean, Mexico, and Europe are far more popular. It seems either a friend or coworker is always in or about to be in one or another of those places. Funny enough, I don't see too many traveling to Canada. My friends and coworkers could typically be classified as middle to upper middle class Gen X and Millennials with salaried jobs that provide good vacation time compared to much of the US.
Valuable-Election402@reddit
in my experience the people making long international trips are international people. maybe they were born in the US, but their parents were born in Chile, and they have family in Italy. or they were born in Peru and migrated, but they still take their long international vacations. it seems to be a cultural thing, or at least in my bubble it is. No one in my bubble has extra money, and these people are prioritizing it as part of their lifestyle.
Cold_Elk947@reddit
We’re lucky if we get 40 hours of paid time off. And if we do, we take a day off here and there to sleep.
MetalEnthusiast83@reddit
Maybe if you work retail? Most office jobs are going to start at least 2-3 weeks of PTO and add more every year.
Cold_Elk947@reddit
Nope. This was a fortune 100 company over 10 years ago. I had to be hospitalized for a week and I didn’t have enough PTO in my books so they let me “borrow” future accrued PTO.
TrillyMike@reddit
Yeah we be catchin flights
MyroIII@reddit
I can get to multiple places in Mexico in a few hours and relatively cheaply. That makes a long weekend or a week at an all inclusive fiscally easy to schedule. It takes almost a full day each way to get to Europe or Japan. It's also multiple times more expensive. So if I'm going there, I want to spend minimum 2 weeks to make the trip worth it
SCCock@reddit
My wife and I take an international trip once a year, in March we are going to japan.
One thing many Europeans don't realize is the travel distances inside the United States. I live on the east coast and we went to Hawaii for a vacation, it took 11 hours to make that trip.
StrippinChicken@reddit
Plenty of people in the US never even travel out of their own state, let alone out of the country. The only time I've had a chance to travel outside of the country myself was in highschool, for a 9 day trip with the Spanish program that I paid for myself over a year and a half. Most people don't have vacation time they can keep for longer trips (a lot of employers will lump vacation+sick leave as just 2 weeks of PTO), plenty of workplaces do "use it or lose it" PTO, meaning it doesnt carry over to the next year so they can't even save PTO up for a longer trip, and plenty of people simply don't get paid enough to save for vacations often. I grew up believing a yearly vacation was a huge privilege, because we were lucky to even do a one-day family trip to the shore once a year. I'm 23 and have started looking at pricing out traveling, and flying to Europe is so incredibly expensive! I live in the Philly area, and found that pricing it out of Newark and to the major international airport in the European country I want to go to results in the least cost, but it's still around $700+ per roundtrip ticket. Factoring in other fees and usually having to pay a little more for a better suited return flight time, easily at least $1000 on just getting there and back. And then paying for a hotel, food, transport, tourist excursions (ticket/entrance fees, etc) it adds up so quickly for just a 1 week trip. 2-3 weeks? What am I made of money?
An additional factor is lack of coverage in a lot of jobs. Like my boss can take off for a week, come back a week, and take off the next 2 weeks because his main job is monthly report deadlines. If he can cram that in that one week he's back, hes golden. I however have constantly ongoing things to attend to that no one else does, and wouldn't know where to start unless I left very detailed instructions, and even then everything is sent to my email so I would have to redirect everything for 2-3 weeks to someone else, and it would just be a big big shit show.
ATLDeepCreeker@reddit
Assuming money isnt the issue, I would guess it has a lot to do with where you are physically.
If you are on the coasts, you are more likely to go to to Europe or Asia. If you are in the South, you are more likely to go to Latin America or the Caribbean.
Another factor is your ethnic heritage. Americans are keen on "where you came from". Italian-Americans like to go Italy. Irish-Americans go to Ireland. African-Americans like going to countries that are majority Black in order to no feel "looked at".
Most Asian-Americans I know have family still in their mother country, so they go visit for longer periods.
No_Bluejay4066@reddit
In my experience, it's not super common for average Americans to travel to Asia or Africa- it would be considered pretty adventurous. Europe and the Caribbean are much more common.
ThisLucidKate@reddit
I’ve been to Europe for 2+ weeks at least 4 times off the top of my head. England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands…
unsurewhatiteration@reddit
I don't know about "common" but definitely not among the middle class.
I am fortunate to have quite a comfortable lifestyle, though I am not what you would call wealthy. For me to take my family of 4 on a week-long trip to Europe would cost nearly 8% of my entire annual income. Which is something we could certainly prioritize and do if we really wanted to, but it would be quite the investment.
professor__pancakes@reddit
Depends. My husband (31) and I (33) are in a much different place financially than all of our social peers so that impacts things. I also don’t work, and my husband doesn’t have to worry about PTO (partner). We take a minimum of 5 trips a year. We usually do one longer trip that is between 14 - 18 days and the other trips are usually 5-8 days in length.
Most people we know only take maybe one or two trips a year and never for more than a week. 18 days at once is usually our cap because we start to miss our home/routine and kitties (we have a fantastic cat sitter otherwise we wouldn’t travel like we do).
Basically, it completely depends on financials and PTO times in America generally..
1000thusername@reddit
I’ve done it myself quite a few times (and shall again) and know others who do/have, but I wouldn’t call it common.
quiltingsarah@reddit
What do you consider long? For most Americans, most travel to Asia, Australia takes a long flight so we want to stay as long as possible to see everything possible. Because who wants to take that flight frequently,? Some families make it a dream vacation so it's a one time thing. A neighbor family flew into Sweden, bought a Saab and visited all through Europe one summer with their 4 kids. Then, drove back to the Saab place packed all their gear in the car and had it shipped to their home dealership. Must have cost them a fortune but they enjoyed themselves and had been saving for decades for the trip. This was back on the 1990's.
Status-Pair-7469@reddit
Generally no, there was also this article about catching up on sleep during vacation time..
That's not even incorporating the time people take off for doctors appointments and whatnot
https://www.newsweek.com/americans-are-using-pto-to-sleep-not-for-vacation-report-10783162
ucbiker@reddit
I can’t tell you statistics but I know that when I reached a certain tax bracket it seemed like suddenly all my colleagues could share a story about recent European travel.
I travel internationally once every couple of years but I travel a lot more domestically. If I had kids and wanted to do a week at the beach, I’d probably travel internationally even less.
Ok_Olive9438@reddit
Most Americans think a week is a rather long vacation, in part because of how much time we get. It's unusual but not unheard of to talk longer vacations than that.
Maronita2025@reddit
Only about 44% of Americans even hold a U.S. passport. NOT everyone who hold a passport though even travels internationally.
My very first U.S. passport I never used internationally except in Canada and Bermuda (and I really didn't need it for that.) At the time; I really only needed my drivers license to go to either of those. For my second U.S. Passport I have used it a lot more! I am considered by the U.S. government to be VERY LOW INCOME however despite that I have visited (besides what I previously mentioned) Ireland, Italy, Kenya, and Lebanon. I hope to go to England and the Holy Lands. I want to return to Ireland, Kenya and Lebanon.
I only visited Ireland for a week, and that was to meet my cousins for the first time. I had reached out to them in 2019 to tell them I was their cousin. I knew of them my entire life but they did NOT know of us. They did NOT believe me. I told them who their grandfather was and who my grandfather was. I told them I did my DNA testing through Ancestry so one of them did the same, and sure enough; they were told we were cousins. They thought my grandfather was murdered during the civil war in Ireland during the 1920's. I shared with them how my grandfather left Ireland to get married in England and three children there. He and his wife immigrated to the U.S. and had another child here. They have many descendants here. One of his brothers were still alive; they were able to share with him what actually happened to his brother. I told them my grandfather had passed in his 40's as a result of having contracted TB. His brother was happy though that at last to know that he had lived and experienced marriage, and having children, and left behind descendants. What amazed me about Ireland was although I did here a few Irish with the real Irish brogue that I didn't find that most did. Even my Irish cousins who have always lived in Ireland sounded 100% American to me. I wondered what happened that they didn't sound very Irish to me.
count-brass@reddit
I feel as though we like to travel abroad if it’s affordable. So, for me, the answer is yes, we travel. However, I live in the Washington, DC area, so maybe people around here just travel more when possible.
JumpingJacks1234@reddit
I’m doing better than average financially and I’ve known very few people who could afford this. I certainly couldn’t afford it.
OddBottle8064@reddit
My wife and I try to do an international vacation every other year, but honestly every year plane travel with hotels/airbnb gets more crowded, stressful, and expensive, and less “worth it”. It’s so much easier and cheaper and less stressful to do a road trip or 3-4 hour domestic flight, you can leave at a reasonable time in the morning and arrive at a reasonable time in the afternoon without jet lag or losing time to connections.
Roborana@reddit
How are we defining "long" when it comes to trip length?
Most people I know have done two or fewer international trips over the course of their entire lives. The trips are generally 7-10 days.
speedball281@reddit
I don't think it's common for Americans to afford it.
Astronomer_Original@reddit
My husband and I take 3 + week international trips but we are not the norm. Most people are a week - 10 days. Often domestic or Mexico.
gard3nwitch@reddit
I think it's fairly common to do an international trip at least once in your life, but not annually or anything close to that.
Difficult-Equal9802@reddit
It's not common unless you are retired. And even for most retired they cannot afford it. Keep in mind traveling around Europe if you're European is similar to traveling around the US and it's reasonably similar in size etc. Although even domestic travel, I feel like is down a lot over the past 20 to 30 years at least in terms of like vacations.
throwaway04182023@reddit
This is a rough one to answer. I have certainly met American backpackers around the world. They exist. My international trips are usually a month to 6 weeks long. I have to come back but I don’t see the point in paying for a long flight for a short trip. Every person I’ve met in the US thinks that’s crazy. I know many Americans who can’t imagine taking a week-long vacation. So I think the answer is no. It happens but isn’t common.
Guardsred70@reddit
Well, there are plenty of places to go in the US and not have to deal with international travel. I travel a lot internationally and there are still whole places in the US I've not seen. It's basically it's own continent (with apologies to Canada and Mexico).
The other thing is the relationship between who has jobs that pay enough to travel and who has vacation time to travel. A lot of people just don't have the money to travel.....nor do they have the vacation.
A lot of people with good careers do have the money and vacation time, but their job doesn't let them go easily. We go to Europe for a week or so most years, but I usually put in 2-3 hours before my wife gets up just stirring my email around and dealing with quick issues on projects. Nobody does my work while I'm gone. It just piles up and creates more for me to do when I get back.
MilkChocolate21@reddit
In my circle, yes. But not everyone in the US has the same vacation schedule.
FintechnoKing@reddit
I don’t know if it’s “common”, but living in the NYC area, I travel internationally more than domestically.
And I usually go for 2 weeks, minimum.
Entire_Toe2640@reddit
Among my friends and family, 2025 included trips to Italy, Ireland, England, Peru, Iceland, and Portugal. There’s also been a great deal of travel inside the US. The American upper middle class travels a lot, at least my little sliver of it does.
alicat777777@reddit
Most Americans that I know do not take many international trips and long ones even less. When I take trips to Europe, most people congratulate me on getting to take “the trip of a lifetime” because that’s how they view it. But those who know me know I go pretty much every year.
People in the US are more likely to vacation in the US.
muhhuh@reddit
The jobs that do offer vacation time generally won’t let you take three weeks at a time. You have to split your weeks over the whole year. The US is a totally different animal when it comes to worker “rights”
Whybaby16154@reddit
We have one couple in the family that are international travelers and globetrotters and digital nomads. The rest take a trip once a year or every other year such as a cruise or resort area - half in US and half to Europe. I stay stateside.
1maco@reddit
Depends on the city.
New Yorkers seem to travel internationally a lot.
New Englanders? (At least the natives) Tend to have a summer house 2-3 hours away from their house they got every weekend
Places like Miami which are like super foriegn born it’s a lot of “going home” people might spend a month at grandmas in Colombia
In Utah Mormons universally do big mission trips mostly internationally. So in SLC loads of people who are like 24 have spent a couple months abroad.
The US is a big country and different cultures value different things.
EpicAcadian@reddit
For some, yes. The USA is pretty large, with an outstanding amount of variety, so many Americans choose to explore different parts of the USA. For others, they travel abroad. Both are pretty common occurrences.
My family (me, my husband, our 14 year old, and 11 year old) have stuck to US travelling since we had kids. The next three years we are doing international travel (Canada, France, The Philippines) as a family.
Time is a huge factor for many Americans, we do not get a ton of time off work.
CookWithHeather@reddit
As others have said, working Americans don't generally get as much time off as most Europeans. Taking more than a week of vacation at one time is uncommon; anything over about 10 days happens very, very rarely. So even if they can afford it, it can be hard to manage.
If you have kids, you are generally expected to work around their breaks, and mine don't even get a real fall break. They get a few days around Thanksgiving (late November), a longer break between semesters at Christmas, and then a week of spring break usually around Easter.
BookLuvr7@reddit
It's much more expensive here bc of the longer flight. We tend to go to Canada and Mexico or South America as a result. Those who can afford it go all over the world, though. I've often wished I could.
madogvelkor@reddit
Those I know who do international trips (besides North America or the Caribbean) usually go to Europe. The UK, France, Ireland, and Italy are especially popular. Jewish people and evangelical Protestants sometimes go to Israel.
I'm on the East Coast though, so I don't know if people on the West Coast prefer Asia and Australia. It's a very long flight from where I am so it's rare people go.
zipityquick@reddit
I would say no. The expense and lack of vacation time make it challenging. Most people I know of who travel like this are either wealthy, retired, or are young/haven't really started their careers yet and have wealthy parents to subsidize their travels.
When I was younger, I would have loved to been able to travel but couldn't afford to do so. My husband and I are now in our 30s and we make good salaries (technically, we are in the upper income tier for our area). Both of our jobs have "unlimited PTO" in theory. In practice, however, it's a pain in the ass to get any time off approved, and practically unheard of to be able to take more than a week off at a time. So...we still don't get to travel.
No_Water_5997@reddit
I’d love to travel internationally and it’s a regret I have that I didn’t do more when my husband I were kid free and dual income. He was military so we sued our vacation time to visit his family since we live 1,000 miles away from them and turned family visits into vacations by splitting them up between renting a cabin on a lake and going to see his family. We took smaller trips throughout the year that were easy to drive to destinations. Now we’re single income with 2 kids and at the moment can’t afford to travel internationally and now we live 1,000 miles away from my family. We have the time to travel now with his current work schedule giving him every other week off work but we can’t afford to travel now. When we do save for vacation we vacation to see my family. Fortunately we’re both from popular vacation destinations and currently live in his home state, so I joke that we live where we used to vacation, and vacation where we used to live.
We’ve discussed the necessity of forgoing yearly trips back to visit my family in order to travel more and are currently working on getting ourselves into the financial place to do so. I can always fly home solo if I’m feeling homesick and want to go visit.
Shortstack1980@reddit
I could afford it but it is daunting to plan a trip where I may not speak the same language and where I'm going to spend several thousand and many hours in the air just to get there. Also I have 4 plus weeks of vacation time but it's generally frowned upon to take more than a week at a time. It's difficult for me to find a time of year where my work wouldn't suffer from my absence. So we tend to take trips within the US where I can hop on my laptop if needed.
Cold_Elk947@reddit
When my kids were little, I spent a lot of PTO staying home with them (for days even). Not to mention that I would also get sick and spent more PTO.
My last job gave us 30 days of sick leave. I took a week off to recover from surgery then later another week off because I went into septic shock and was in the hospital.
I still had 2 weeks left of sick leave and didn’t even need to use them because I worked from home. So when I got sick, I still worked.
mrggy@reddit
No. I've never really heard of anyone in the US going on a vacation for longer than a week or so. I live in the UK now and get 8 weeks of vacations, but with the caveat that I can't take more that 2 weeks off consecutively (we're a small team). I told my friend in the US and she was like "oh, well that's not a big deal. It's not like you'd ever take more than 2 weeks off. Who would do that." And that's from someone who travels frequently. Couldn't even fathom the idea that someone would take a trip lasting longer than 2 weeks
gangleskhan@reddit
I have European friends who take long trips. A Norwegian friend of mine recently did a months-long trip to Southeast Asia. I assume she quit her job to do it?
The longest trip I've done since becoming an adult is 2 weeks. Honestly it's hard to imagine being able to stay caught up with work for much longer than two weeks even if I have enough vacation time.
Not to mention the cost. Traveling is expensive.
Shevyshev@reddit
Long in duration? Not really. We don’t have as much paid time off as in some European countries. The idea of taking a month off would be unthinkable.
I like to travel internationally. Europe is about as far as I can go without taking a hunch of time off.
NoKing9900@reddit
If you’re still working and have kids in schools, long (over 2 weeks) vacations are rare.
Two weeks of vacation time for the year is the pretty common. The trend here is to call it paid time off (PTO), so that time also includes sick days.
Travel in the US, Mexico, Caribbean, & Canada is very popular because you can arrive at your destination in just a few hours and not lose a day traveling.
One of my favorite destinations is Bermuda. The flight is under 2 hours from Boston. If I can catch a morning flight, I am be on the beach in the afternoon. A nice plus is that you can go through US immigration and customs in Bermuda.
resiyun@reddit
Depends on the person. I take month long vacations to other countries 2-3 times a year, I’m actually currently 2 weeks into a trip that includes Vietnam, Japan and Korea.
Phineas67@reddit
Attitude wise, it is rare. Most Americans do not aspire to that kind of travel and we’re not raised to appreciate it. The exception are wealthier people, especially from the coasts. East coast people from wealthier enclaves and west coast people facing the Pacific tend to get into extensive travel. I am in California. Every year, we take several long trips. I seal up the house, turn off the main water line to the house and our water heater, empty the refrigerator, and get my nice neighbor to watch our house while we head out for 3-5 week trips to Latin America, Asia, or Europe.
SonUnforseenByFrodo@reddit
It depends how many days of remote work you can do but yes. Also I think traveling from one point in the US to another is like the distance of international travel. It is 2555 miles for me to drive to Los Angeles ( like4100 kilometers). Which is like driving from Spain to Moscow
papabear556@reddit
10-14 days to Europe and Japan/Korea are not too uncommon. We just spent two weeks in Spain.
But I’ve also spent 2 weeks in Phoenix Arizona which is about 3000KM from me and I’m still in my own country. And neither my home nor my destination are on either of the coasts.
The size of the US is the #1 thing my European friends say that Europeans think they understand but truly don’t until they come here.
baddspellar@reddit
I am an American who manages a team of software developers in Europe. They all get substantially more vacation time than I do, even though I have beem working far longer. In fact, it is mandatory that they take a minimum of a 2 week uninterrupted vacation every year. I have never had enough vacation to take an uninterrupted 2 week vacation
myboyfriendsback777@reddit
Common for us and one or two others we know, but not most. Solid middle class, older couple, 1 20 y/o still at home.
Mindfullysolo@reddit
US Middle to Upper Middle Class- It seems everyone I know has been to Japan in the last few years. I go somewhere internationally each year, this year it was Mexico and DR. To invest in a 12+ hour flight to Europe I need at least two weeks and I can’t always swing it. Mexico is a 2 hour/few hundred dollar flight for me so it’s sometimes just easier and cheaper. Next year our family will go to Europe for 3-6 weeks but if the longer stay is possible I will have to work while on the trip.
tendie-dildo@reddit
It depends on the person and the income. I have unlimited vacation, so normally I do 3-4 international trips a year. I just got back from vacation in Germany and Austria. Earlier this year we did Spain, and we also did Mexico and Canada. Looking to do an Asia trip around New Years.
North_Artichoke_6721@reddit
A lot of jobs don’t give paid vacations. Those that do often have only 10 to 15 days. A trip to Europe would use up the entirety of many people’s vacation days in one go.
We have family in Europe. We try to visit them every year but when I switched jobs, I had very few vacation days as a new employee, so it was a couple years before we had saved enough days off in order to go.
sureasyoureborn@reddit
The amount of people that can afford those nowadays has gone down significantly. And a lot of the international destinations tend to be closer to home, islands near the us tend to be some of the most popular locations, or Mexico. But long vacations (more than a week) are generally only available to the very wealth these days.
GeekyPassion@reddit
Most Americans cant afford it nor do they have the vacation days to be able to go if they miraculously could afford it
Jswazy@reddit
What do you mean by long? Like a week or so? People pretty often do that, more than a week most people can't take that off work
ChickenNoodleSoup_4@reddit
People don’t take time off like that
slpybeartx@reddit
My wife and travel international often. We did two weeks this summer in Europe.
Random_Reddit99@reddit
It depends on the person. For myself and most of my peers? Yes. For both work and pleasure.
I just returned from Asia, will be in London in December, and back to a different part of Asia for the holidays...but I grew up travelling, work in a global industry where knowledge of the world is a necessary, have been to more countries than states, and am happiest sitting at a dinner table in some foreign city where conversations are happening in 5 different languages.
I also know people who travel for work but given the choice, would rather go on a road trip and visit a national park than have to eat weird food and deal with people who talk funny.
And that's the beauty of America. Both options can be equally exciting and awe inspiring.
OptatusCleary@reddit
I feel like it’s reasonably common as a goal, but less commonly accomplished.
I have travelled abroad a fair number of times, although not as often as I’d like. I have the ability to do so (I have summers off as a teacher, and live in a place where the pay is good so I can afford to go). But even with that, other things often get in the way of it. It’s a big thing to plan, and if I get invited by family members to join them on other, domestic vacations that often takes up the time I would spend on foreign travel. It’s a long plane ride from California to Europe, and so it’s rarely worth going for a short trip (if I lived on the East coast I might be able to go more often).
I rarely encounter anyone who thinks foreign travel is bad or a waste of time. Most people would like to do at least some, and if I say I’ve been somewhere people often ask me questions about it and say they’d like to go (including people who prioritize domestic travel.) But with limited time and nearly unlimited destinations, it can be hard to choose the more expensive and difficult option.
Bright_Ices@reddit
For people on the West Coast in the US, Tokyo and London are about the same distance away. Continental Europe is actually father away from the American West Coast than Japan is.
mckenzie_keith@reddit
Yes. Very common. We are now hearing that US tourists are not very welcome in certain western European countries, so we may not go there. But we will go somewhere else instead.
The travel time and plane ticket cost do factor into it. But for people on the east coast of the US, flying to Europe is not that bad.
Rourensu@reddit
I’ve been out of the country 3 times (not counting being “brought” to Mexico as a toddler). Japan all three times—3 months, 1.25 years, 2.5 months. Korea would be next on my list.
My primary reason for traveling would be for language learning/improvement. I’m a native English speaker and I have no desire to do stuff with French, so no Canada. I’m half Mexican, but even as a kid I had no interest in Spanish, so no Mexico. But, I’m hoping to start my PhD in linguistics next year, so if I end up working with indigenous languages, then Canada/Mexico are on the table. But that’s more like work and not a trip.
There are some historical or cultural areas I’m interested in. Egypt because of all the “Ancient Egypt” stuff I’ve liked since elementary school. Greece because of all the “Ancient Greek” stuff I’ve liked since middle school. Da Vinci is my favorite historical figure, so Italy.
Otherwise, I don’t have much interest in traveling.
Actually, I started wildlife photography a couple years ago. It’s only a hobby so I’m not dropping big money, but I wouldn’t mind traveling to see some animals—especially big cats. I’ve thought about volunteering at like African sanctuaries where you help out and get to spend some time with the animals, including like baby lions and cheetahs.
chrysostomos_1@reddit
We generally go to Asia in the fall and Europe in the spring.
GladUnderstanding756@reddit
Age makes a difference, too. Retirees may make international travel a priority; young adults may want to see the world before they settle down. For young families, it’s very expensive to fly a family across an ocean. Obviously, some families do just that, but they’re either wealthier than most or have some other source paying for their travel (job, extended family for example)
So no, international travel is not the norm for working class Americans. Vacation time & finances limit opportunities. And there is so much to see and do within our own borders; “From the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans white with foam” “From California, to the New York Island, From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf Stream Waters”
ContributionLatter32@reddit
If its not for a longer time its just not worth the plane ticket cost or the time spent traveling. So id guess its common compared to Europe. My one time in Europe as a tourist I spent 5 weeks. Now I live here though, but when I visit the states its also 3 week minimum to justify the trip.
Rich-Contribution-84@reddit
The data varies depending on the source but somewhere between 60% - 76% of Americana sulfa have been abroad.
Only about 1/3 have travelled outside of USA/Canada/Mexico/Caribbean/Central America though.
It’s very much correlated to income. Middle class folks travel to Mexico/Canada/Caribbean/Western Europe/UK in high numbers but not to South America/Eastern Europe/Africa/Asia/ANZ in high numbers.
I am a USA citizen who has spent most of my life in the USA but I lived in Kuala Lumpur for a year and studied in the UK for a year. Work takes me to UK/Ireland/Vietnam/Australia/Canada/USA with heavy travel every week and our family often travels outside of the USA for our vacation/holiday.
But if we didn’t have the disposable income for the international travel? There’s a lot to see in the USA. It’s a large and diverse place. Visiting the 50 States is not dissimilar from visiting Germany and France and Spain and Greece and Poland and Ireland and Italy etc etc in a lot of ways, for someone who lives in UK/Europe.
tangouniform2020@reddit
We’re not “common” upper middle class, your target demographic. We do a lot of international travel, but think nothing of a five day long weekend in St Paul or a Sunday-Friday in NYC or DC. Disney has just become too expensive and crowded (pick one, guys!). We tend to favor off season travel because it’s less expensive. But it’s been a year since we went to Europe.
ZaphodG@reddit
From Boston, I’ve been to New Zealand on a 3 week summer ski trip, Australia twice, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea twice, Chile summer skiing 5 times. Israel is as far as I’ve been in the other direction.
My flight time to London-Heathrow is 6 hours and I take the day flight. We go to Europe once or twice per year. I had a stretch where I had an office and a corporate apartment in Belgium and was in Europe more than the US. I’ve skied the Alps a lot. I worked for a Swedish software company for a while and did a lot of business with Ericsson at one point. I have family in England and we cross-visit frequently. I watch English football rather than most US sports.
All my Asia and Australia/New Zealand flights have been business class. I generally fly economy or premium economy to London since it’s a day flight.
crafty_j4@reddit
As others have said, it’ll come down to social circles. However, I would argue that one has to be at least upper middle class, or be very good at planning/budgeting, in order to travel internationally every year. This is especially true if they’re bringing family. A quick Google says the average international flight is about $1200 so a family of 4 would be $4800. That’s almost $5k without factoring in hotels, food (which would mostly be eating out) and miscellaneous (likely not free) activities. I would guess that the average middle class family isn’t spending that much yearly (or twice yearly) on vacations.
Another thing is Americans on average get less vacation time. I may be an outlier, but I’ve never had more than 2 weeks vacation total for the year. I need to save some of that time for visiting family during the holidays.
tsukiii@reddit
A week or 2 abroad is fairly common for Americans who can afford it (in both money and vacation time). Europe is probably most popular, Asia is becoming more popular but the flights are significantly longer to get there.
meowmeowmeeeoooww@reddit
Yes, we don’t get a lot of vacation time here so we might as well enjoy it! Personally, I go abroad twice a year and domestic a few times a year. I went to Europe this spring and am going to Asia within a few weeks. Once I return from Asia I plan to go somewhere within the states for a weekend.
1979tlaw@reddit
What do you consider long? I think among upper middle class it’s pretty common to do a two week trip, maybe a three week trip to Europe. But I get the feeling you’re talking months. That’s just more difficult for Americans because of vacation time. Even those that are compensated with a lot of vacation time probably wouldn’t be allowed to take it all at once. Although with remote working becoming more of thing, doing this is becoming more possible and I know a guy working remote in Spain for 6 months.
beyondplutola@reddit
I can afford to travel abroad and I try to do so 1-2 times a year. Many people in my social circle do as well. I also have friends abroad who come to the US who I will meet up with when they're on the West Coast. I come across a lot of Americans whenever traveling outside the U.S., do this doesn't seem uncommon.
FrauAmarylis@reddit
Who cares about international when we have Alaska and Hawai’i and Puerto Rico and Guam, without a passport? We did 3 weeks in Alaska and it was one of our favorite trips! We lived in Hawai’i for a bit, too. My husband has lived in Japan, Korea, Kosovo, lots more places.
I don’t like to be away more than 3 weeks.
Americans have big comfortable homes, often with big yards, swimming pools and comfortable furniture and fun hobby rooms.
I live in Europe now and the couches are so hard and everyone has IKEA furniture. Forget about pools or yards. No wonder they can’t wait to get away.
We spent 3 weeks in Aus/NZ, does that count for you?
I haven’t counted been to All 50 states and over 30 countries.
But they don’t count if it wasn’t a month in each? Lol
Significant-Owl-2980@reddit
We don’t typically get much time off from work. Makes it difficult to travel for so long. I would say that and expense are the 2 biggest barriers to long international travel.
Plus, our country is so huge we can travel to other parts of our country for a vacation. We have mountains for skiing, oceans, deserts, forests, lakes. Alaska to Hawaii.
momygawd@reddit
Prior to Covid, I traveled internationally as an American for pure pleasure 3x a year. Now, my industry isn’t doing well so I cannot travel this way as much and I miss it dearly. My next trip will unfortunately be in the US, because of costs. :(
momygawd@reddit
And I still keep my passport on me at all times “just in case” :)
Squigglii@reddit
I’d say the people who can afford a couple international trips a year are upper middle class if not all upper class.
The middle class is kinda disappearing in the US right now because of the economy, and families that used to be able to afford a trip or two a year are now barely getting by.
clingbat@reddit
Define long? My wife and I do 2-3 week trips to various EU locations from the US most years since we got married 14 years ago (with the exception of the covid travel restrictions).
We thought we'd slow down once we started having kids more recently, but not really. Our five year old daughter has already been to Switzerland, Italy and Greece and we're going abroad with our one year old son for the first time next summer just before he hits 2 (obvi daughter is coming too lol).
totesmadoge@reddit
I wouldn’t say it’s common for the middle class. The number of people who can afford that kind of travel is shrinking these days and you have to remember that in the US, people generally don’t get as much vacation time as Europeans since vacation time is not something that’s mandated.
I definitely know people who make international travel a priority, but they’re in the minority. Personally, it’s been 20 years since I traveled internationally, but I am planning a trip abroad next summer.
TucsonTacos@reddit
What do you define as “long” travel? It takes like 2 days of travel (with time change) to cross the Atlantic from the west coast so the times I’ve gone to Europe or Africa I’ve gone for 2 weeks.
Neat_Cat1234@reddit
It’s definitely a priority in my social circle to travel on long international trips. Most people I know go to Europe or Asia at least once or twice a year. Amongst my coworkers, it’s also assumed that if you are taking time off then you are going somewhere international.