Shortlisted but no passport! Help!

[mothy]

If you're making enough money to take a trip outside the country you're in a job that gives you annual leave. Any decent job in the US gives annual leave. For most people I know in the US who are working full-time, a national annual leave law would be redundant. Not to say that I wouldn't support nationally mandated leave laws, but I think it would have no effect on american travel habits.

[OatsCurrySummer]

The problem with having everything you could want within your own country (which is impossible), without the adversity and fuck ups that come with travelling abroad and language barriers, then you've lost most of the point of travelling, no?
So long as you don't end up bleeding out in a back alley with a missing kidney, that is.

[webstaa]

The problem with having everything you could want within your own country (which is impossible), without the adversity and fuck ups that come with travelling abroad and language barriers, then you've lost most of the point of travelling, no?
So long as you don't end up bleeding out in a back alley with a missing kidney, that is.

Well basically, it boils down to: Less than 36% of US citizens can afford to or have the motivation to travel abroad. Somehow the other 64% get by without it. I'd assume the majority of them don't have a yearly vacation, either by not being able to afford it in terms of money or time. Given more funds or more time off, or necessitated by a smaller country in terms of cultural capital or geographic boundaries, I'm sure more Americans would get passports.

Then again, nearly 80% of Americans have a drivers license...

Edit: Good thing I "teach" English and not math.

[hypatia]

Well basically, it boils down to: Less than 36% of US citizens can afford to or have the motivation to travel abroad. Somehow the other 74% get by without it. I'd assume the majority of them don't have a yearly vacation, either by not being able to afford it in terms of money or time. Given more funds or more time off, or necessitated by a smaller country in terms of cultural capital or geographic boundaries, I'm sure more Americans would get passports.

Then again, nearly 80% of Americans have a drivers license...

Yes! This! It was so weird meeting people in Japan from Canada and NZ and the UK that don't have a drivers license/have never had one. Boggles my mind. Unless you live in a few places in America (NYC, for example), it's basically impossible to get around without a car, and even if you don't have a car it's 100% the main form of ID for everything.

[OatsCurrySummer]

Yes! This! It was so weird meeting people in Japan from Canada and NZ and the UK that don't have a drivers license/have never had one. Boggles my mind. Unless you live in a few places in America (NYC, for example), it's basically impossible to get around without a car, and even if you don't have a car it's 100% the main form of ID for everything.

What? What Canadian doesn't have a driver's license? Toronto's subway system is absolutely abysmal and the country is enormous. Getting your permit at 16 is like a right of passage out in the 'burbs and boonies.

[Ini]

You need to get a passport in order to get the card. It's an add-on.

The thing is, where are you going when you go abroad? If you you're not a Europhile or Japanophile, you can hit all the major tourist regions without traveling across national boundaries. Disney? Florida or California. Tropical vacation? Hawaii, Puerto Rico. New York, Washington, LA for all your "cultural needs" and there the Rockies if you need a major mountaineering/winter sports etc hit. If you want natural beauty, you've to national parks in every corner and nearly every possible style - desert, rainforest, mountains, etc. All without needing a passport and all in English speaking areas. No need for foreign language guides, no stress over booking stuff across language barriers etc.

Traveling abroad is also much more expensive. Given that Americans get no guaranteed annual leave, it's not only the several thousand dollars of airline tickets for a single person to go abroad, but also the missed work and consequences from that (You want to take a week off next month? Great, don't come back etc.) For the same price you could fly to two or three domestic tourist destinations and still have money left over. The 36% of Americans that have passports are the 36% that can theoretically afford to go abroad, even if it's only once every ten years. If you don't get one as a youth/young adult, there's no need to apply for one until you need it. The majority of Americans living paycheck to paycheck can use that $120 bucks to feed their family for a week or three instead of getting a passport that they'll never have an opportunity to use.

This is the funniest post ever. This might just sum up everything that is wrong with america.

[OatsCurrySummer]

This is the funniest post ever. This might just sum up everything that is wrong with america.

Can't believe I'm actually agreeing with Ini on something, but yeah.

[Ini]

Less than 36% of US citizens can afford to or have the motivation to travel abroad. Somehow the other 74% get by without it.

110% of US citizens fail basic math...

[mothy]

Americans always give 110%.

[acpc2203]

Wait people haven't gone on an African safari? I thought that was a normal thing.

[OatsCurrySummer]

You didn't go on a Grand Tour?

[Ini]

If your school didnt send you abroad a few times a year when you were growing up then it cant have been a particularly good school.

[Jiggit]

another 1st world country.

What's the first one?

[OatsCurrySummer]

What's the first one?

KEK.

[hypatia]

What? What Canadian doesn't have a driver's license? Toronto's subway system is absolutely abysmal and the country is enormous. Getting your permit at 16 is like a right of passage out in the 'burbs and boonies.

Vancouverites, lol

[OatsCurrySummer]

Vancouverites, lol

but like, even just for ID purposes its important to have. I had only one friend in high school who didn't drive and got a non-license ID from the government, but bouncers and bars always gave him shit and never believed it was real. That's surprising!

[acpc2203]

You didn't go on a Grand Tour?

Hasn't been the same since the steam engine was invented. Now any plebeian can wander around Europe.

[mrcharisma]

Yes! This! It was so weird meeting people in Japan from Canada and NZ and the UK that don't have a drivers license/have never had one. Boggles my mind. Unless you live in a few places in America (NYC, for example), it's basically impossible to get around without a car, and even if you don't have a car it's 100% the main form of ID for everything.

In UK we use proper manual transmission cars, plus our test is on public roads and a bit more difficult than "drive in a straight line through this empty piece of tarmac."

It takes months and usually the best part of £1000 to learn to drive. Most people have gotten round to it by their early 20s though.

[webstaa]

This is the funniest post ever. This might just sum up everything that is wrong with america.

Less funny, more tragic.

No wonder so many people want to escape the country.