I meant to say "less tourist friendly than Paris,", not "such as Paris."

To me it is simpler in terms of transportation and more cost efficient as a whole for a single traveller on the east coast to travel to Europe. Whew! That was a mouthful. Anyway, I do love the various parts of the US that I've seen, and I'd like to see a lot more, but Amtrak is not a terrific option, driving is out, and bus trips seem terribly dreary to me. So, Europe it is! (Except this year, when it's Vietnam.)

NOPE...Not just Europe but yes the farther the better, not because I would not travel in U.S. but because I think it is rewarding to explore other cultures.<BR><BR>I am proud of having traveled so extensively but have included frequent trips to Hawaii in the past 7 years.

OMG! How can anyone actually go to DisneyWorld 7 times?????<BR>

My secret for cheap travel in the US, Canada or Europe is, of course, home exchange. I love traveling within the US just as much as I love traveling elsewhere.<BR><BR>My next home exchange will be in Sedona, Arizona, in June. September 11th decreased interest in travel here from Europeans just as much as it did for Americans traveling overseas. Sedona is not far from the Grand Canyon and I am sure I will have a fine time.<BR><BR>One of these days I want to see the Mark Twain and Harry Truman related sites in Missouri, follow the trail of Lewis & Clark, see the Lincoln sites in Illinois, etc., etc., etc.

Europe is a little more exciting to me. I like the glamour, which seems to be both a little more natural and a little more accessible to me than U.S. glamour is. I like the U.S. very much, and it's very interesting and in theory it is also great great fun, but a lot of times that fun seems more illusory and elusive and hollow than it does in Europe, although certainly there is a lot of elusive happiness to chase there as well.

I think it all depends on what you will be doing and where you will be staying in either Europe or USA. <BR><BR>I've done big trips (3months+) in both and I'd say Europe was dearer (factoring up the cost as there was a 10 year time difference between the respective trips).

I now am able to do extended travel. In 2000 we spent five months in Europe. This past summer we stayed in the US (plus across Canada) for 5 months. I feel that we travel pretty similarly in both places. Splurges are extended stays in Paris and London while in Europe, and extended stays in New York and Los Angeles in the US. We normally get our airfare to Europe free cashing in FF miles, but usually lease a car there, at least while in the countryside. In the US we took our own car and the trip did include Alaska, which is no doubt expensive (especially the backcountry lodges we stayed at). But when the final bills were tallied, we spent nearly 25% more on this last US trip than we did on the Europe trip the year before. We love both, but arriving back home in October, we both said the same thing -- "sure missed Europe this summer".<BR><BR>On the other hand, I am often amazed when I talk with other US people while in Europe. We stand on a mountain somewhere and they often say, "Wow, there's nothing like this in the US". I ask if they have ever been to Colorado, or Alaska -- no. I think many US travelers to Europe have not even begun to experience our own country, and unfairly compare the US to Europe without really having a good basis for comparison.

Yes, I think most of us do have the passion to see the US. I have 5 more states before I have seen all and 3 more Canadian provinces. Being in Dallas, when I think about going to Seattle/Portland/Vancouver, I look at the prices of airline tickets and I can go to Frankfort, London, Paris for less money--go figure.

This is so silly. Who cares if someone prefers Europe of over U.S and vis-a-versa. Europe is hardly an exotic destination any more. You want to impress people with where you have ventured, tell me about a safari in Kenya (no frills variety), solo travel to Madagascar, India, Latin America, South East Asia. We can all sit here and say you are not a true American you don't know Montana or you are not sophisticated enough you have not skinny dipped on the Rivera. There will always be someone who can look down on you where ever you go. It's nonsense and not the spirit of a true traveler as I see it.

The U.S. is CLEANER than Europe?<BR><BR>Well to each his own, but has anyone driven through Queens, lately? I’ve never seen such filth in my life, anywhere. From fast food containers hanging in the roadside fences to actually seeing rusting 52-gallon drums in the ditches. Whether it’s the deserts of the Southwest or the prairies of the Midwest, it’s virtually impossible to walk a roadway for even a few steps in the U.S. without finding beer bottles; pop cans, McDonalds Styrofoam burger boxes, and dirty pampers.<BR><BR>I’ve been to London on several occasions and have been stunned to see that a city can be so large and still so clean. Toronto is so (comparatively) clean that it is nearly unimaginable to anyone who been to “the other side” and taken a look at Detroit.<BR>

Well, xxx, I guess you accidentally posted this under the wrong thread. Nothing you say relates to anything anybody has said. This has been a nice civil discussion and until you, nothing has read like bragging. Obviously you miss the entire point of travel discussion. If you don't care to read or comment, then don't, but this is a nice way for some of us to compare costs and preferences for US and for European travel.<BR><BR>Why do you now want to turn this civil post into a name-calling or insulting one?

Have you seen inside their restaurants? Our health departments would shut them down in a minute. And the hotel rooms? Dirty, dirty, dirty, even the more expensive ones. Hey, the people themselves don't even bathe everyday. I read a poll once where the results said the average Londoner only bathed two to three times a week. So, I'd say, yeah, as a general rule, the U.S. is a LOT cleaner than England.

OK, guys, I knew I'd take a hit on the seven times at Disney. We have three sets of relatives in Orlando. Try visiting them and telling your kids they can't go to Disney World. Plus each of the four kids felt entitled to have a least one trip when they were old enough to really remember it (I think eight years old is what the kid needs to be).<BR><BR>Luckily, two sets of relatives moved away (unfortunately, not to Europe) and we can sort of get away with meeting the remaining bit of clan elsewhere. Thank goodness.<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>

To all the Europeans out there reading this thread, I apologize for all of the arrogant and ethnocentric comments you have found. It is not like we can control these people and it is not like they get away much either. ...Sorry <BR><BR>Interesting how some even know the frequency of your bathing. How does this info get out on a two week vacation?

I live in Europe, so I look forward to my trips back to the U.S. as much as many Americans look forward to Europe! But I don't need as much help in planning--I'm usually visiting places where friends or family live or where I've been to before. But I'm still passsionate about the places themselves.

Re all above: "and that", after all, "is what makes the world go round". We have been to all fifty States, i.e., done something of a touring/vacationing nature in each State and loved it. There is so much natural beauty in this Country. And, there is history. No, it doesn't go back a thousand or more years (in terms of what there is to see now), but remnents of the Hohokam Indians go back to 700 AD in Arizona. To walk the redoubts where Lafayette led the charge against the English, tour Mt. Vernon, Plymouth Plantation, an Antebellum Mansion in Mississippi or Louisiana, The Alamo, Fort Robinson in Nebraska, the list goes on and on and all of it is very exciting. There is not a State in this Union that does not have something of natural beauty, history and interest to offer. And don't short change Texas. Austin is beautiful with it's rolling hills, trees and surrounding lakes. The Riverwalk in San Antonio and the Cowboy atmosphere in Fort Worth are great fun.<BR>Having said that, we love traveling in not only Europe, but Asia, Latin America and , of Course Canada and Mexico and have done that extensively. There is so much to see and do in this world that I am constantly looking years ahead to plan when we will go where. And, we are passionate about each trip, even Disneyland. It has been many years since we took the kids (by design) to Disneyland every two years. Last week I offered two of our Daughters (our oldest is currently on a three month trip to Asia and India) a long weekend wherever they wanted to go and would you believe they chose Disneyland. These are two sophisticated, successful ladies in their late twenties and they wanted to go to Disneyland. Passsionate for Disneyland? Well, perhaps not, but we went and had a marvellous time.<BR>This year we are doing Belgium in May and Poland in July. But we have already decided that next year we will do the Southeastern US in May because we haven't been there in years (did do a week in Charleston and Savannah area four years ago). We're thinking we may do New England States in Fall because we haven't seen the "turning of the leaves" in years. There just isn't enough time to do everything. We love the area we live in, so we are reluctant to leave during Summer when the days are long, the flowers are in bloom and the barbeque is hot. But the passion is there, for Europe or the Canadian Maritimes or the Southeastern US or wherever. And we will just keep going until we can't go anymore.

Wow, Ross, you apologized for everyone? What a big (and smug) man you are!! Unfortunately, I know people like you. <BR><BR>But I am curious, are you apologizing because some have said that many, many pubs and restaurants in England are dirty? Don't you really think that people can see that it's true--especially the ones that live there? By the way, they also know very well that too much of their meat and dairy are not refrigerated properly. It may be politically incorrect to mention it, but that doesn't make it untrue. And people who are traveling to that country have a right to now the true conditions. Why would feel the need to apologize because some people have stated what are true conditions?<BR><BR>And as far as bathing is concerned, I, too, have seen similar polls and they had the same results. Are you apologizing because the British answered the questions in these polls? Or because of what their answers were? The funniest poll I ever saw was one where the British answered that they only took two or three baths a week, but many remarked that they were cleaner than the French because they were sure the French only bathed once a week.<BR><BR>Polls are polls, Ross. Besides, you are looking at it from an American point of view. The British think bathing two or three times a week is the way it should be. I think YOU are being arrogant and ethnocentric.

Joe made me think a little more about this topic. I have never been to Disneyland or DisneyWorld. They are not at the top of my list, but I do plan to take my little girl to one of them someday because I think she would enjoy it. The key to me is to know what to expect when you travel and know how to get the most out of wherever you are. When I went to Las Vegas for work, I had a blast, and I don't even like gambling. Is it somewhere I would return? I don't know, but I found things to do that appealed to me, like going to Red Rock Canyon, photographing the city at night, and riding the Big Shot on the Stratosphere Tower. DisneyWorld isn't China, Busch Gardens-Williamsburg isn't Europe, and I don't expect them to be. They are fun in their own right. The same can be said for the Europe-U.S. argument. They are different, and each has its own attractions and unique experiences.

Marni do you even understand what ethnocentric means? The bathing remarks did sound stupid and they are exactly the kind of remarks that place us on the hostile reception/stupid list before we speak. <BR><BR>I live in NYC and London is 1000 times cleaner than this city or Philadelphia. I don't know what the comments are about dirty pubs is about I have never frequented a single dirty pub in living in London for 2 years with several trips back since. I can imagine that they exist somewhere but you need to remember the number of pubs there. Perhaps we are all visiting different neighborhoods and you can't expect to find the best quality in every neighborhood. It is like saying all diners are greasy spoons. I would not call the remarks made by posters Ross was referring as arrogant, I would call them stupid and do we really need to live up to that stereotype?