美国人为什么不爱出国旅游 [美国媒体]

Why Don’tAmericans Travel Internationally?
In Enlighten, favorites, Featured, On The Road by NatashaDecember 29, 2015Leave a Comment

为什么美国人不爱出国旅游



“Danke,” the cashier says to me as I walk away with my groceries from one ofthe supermarkets in Turkey.

当我从土耳其的一家超市购完物出来的时候，收银员给我甩了句（德语）“谢谢”。

I am not German.And despite the name Natasha, I am not Russian either.

虽然我名字中有娜塔莎这几个字，可我既不是德国人，也不是俄国人。

Then I must befrom Scandinavia, Australia, or The Netherlands. Nope, Nope, Nope. I go onto tell them I am from the United States.

难道我像是从斯堪的纳维亚，澳大利亚，又或是荷兰来的。不、不、不是的，我告诉他们说我是从美国来的。

Usually, the country does not register until Ifinally just say “America.” Most of the time I get a cheerful andfriendly response, once in a while I will get resentment. But more often than not Iwill just get confusion.

一般情况下，我要是不说，没人会想到我会是美国人。当我表明身份后，多数人会给我一个友善的反应，偶尔会受到鄙视。但更多的时候却让我感到困惑。

“Wow, Americans never come here,” or “Oh, we don’t meet many Americans traveling.”

“喔~，美国人在这里不常见啊“，或是“哈~，很少能碰到美国游客呐”。

Actually, in amajority of my travels, I have only met a small handful of fellow Americans.Now, maybe I am just staying at the wrong places, but for the most part, I amsurrounded by all the other nationalities of the world besides my own.

在我旅游的时候，美国同胞确实很少见。此时，我估计我可能来错地儿了。因为除了我，身边清一色全都是其他国家的老外。

So what is it? Whyam I never guessed to be an American? Why is it so surprising that I amtraveling?

到底是咋了？为什么没人认为我是个美国人？为什么对于像我这样的美国游客感到如此惊讶？

So Why Don’tAmericans Travel Internationally?

为什么美国人不爱出国旅游，原因呢？

We have so muchto offer in our own country

美国应有尽有无所不包

This one is easyand is always my first line of defense.  The US is one massive country.Not only is it gigantic, but it is diverse. You can literally go from buildinga snowman in 20° weather to sipping pina colada’s in the Florida Keys all within a 3-hourflight – no currency exchanges, no red eye flights.

这个很容易理解，而且这还是我们固有的一道心里防线。  美国疆域辽阔、地大物博。3个小时前，你可能还在零下6度的地方堆着雪人，3小时后，你就可以回到佛罗里达的家里品着小酒了（果汁朗姆酒）。无需去换货币。无需赶红眼航班。



We haveextremely pricey passports

护照太贵

Obtaining apassport isn’t exactly cheap. At $135 we have the fifthmost expensive passport in the world. That may not seem like a lot to somepeople, but keep in mind that takes 19 hours of work at minimum wage. I’m no expert, so where all these fees aregoing to make this 5 by 3.5-inch blue book is a mystery to me.

办个护照可真心不便宜。135美元，世界第五贵。对某些人来说这或许不算事儿，但可别忘了，这相当于19小时的最低工资。我不是专家，可这5张3.5寸蓝皮本本，钱究竟都花在哪了，对于我来说还真是个谜。

We are led tobelieve that international travel is expensive

都以为旅游开销很大

Beyond thatwhopping $135 for a passport, international travel can be extremelyinexpensive. However, we are shown that traveling is for the rich, andadvertisements lead us to believe that travel is for people living theextravagant lifestyle enjoying a private villa in the French Polynesia. The number one question I get asked is “Howcan you afford to travel like you do?” Some research and a visit to the World Wide Web willtell you that travel can be incredibly cheap. Most days, we travel on a budgetof less than $35 a day – and yes that is including parts of Western Europe! Traveling doesn’t have to mean fancy meals and privatetaxis. Put your purchases on credit cards to rack up airlinemiles, sleep in hostels, travel during the off-season, or do a Workaway ina foreign country.  If we can do it, so can you.

除了那高达135美元的护照，出国旅游实际是很便宜的。可不管怎样，大家都认为，旅游是为富人准备的，（旅游）广告让人相信，旅游就应该是住法式私人别墅，享受奢侈生活。可问题来了，试问“谁能消受得起这种方式的旅游？”，一些研究和网上调查会告诉你，旅游其实可以是很便宜的。多数时候，我们每天旅游的花费才不到35美元，没错，包括在西欧的某些地区也没问题。旅游并不意味着要吃大餐，租豪车。用信用卡购物可以换到飞行里程点数，住小旅店，在旅游淡季出游，或是在国外打零工。只有你想不到 没有你做不到。



（图为胶囊公寓）

We aren’t givenvacation time

没有假期

The average amountof paid vacation time is 2 weeks. According to Forbes, the United States is the onlyadvanced economy that does not require employers to provide paid vacation time.To make it worse, Forbes explains that 1-in-4 Americans do not receive any paidvacation or paid holidays. I have friends in France that enjoy more than anentire month of vacation! It’s time Americans received the time off that they work for, and deserve.And while you’re at it, Uncle Sam, we could use paidmaternity leave and adequate health care coverage.

带薪休假时间平均为2周。据福布斯消息，美国是唯一一个没有要求雇主提供带薪休假的发达经济体。更糟的是，福布斯解释说，有近四分之一的美国人从未享受到带薪假。我一个法国朋友可有一整个月的假呢？美国人是该努力争取那份本该有假期了。除此之外政府还应该让我们能享受到带薪产假和足够医疗保险.

We don’t useour vacation time

没时间

That’s right, the 3-in-4 Americans that do receivepaid vacation time fail to even use it! Oh my lordy, are we that committed towork that we can’t even take some time to enjoy ourselves?The U.S. Travel Association found that the average American fails to use even 5vacation days a year.  By not taking these days off, Americans areessentially paying their employer to be at work. The result?America becomes an overworked, overstressed, and ultimately unhealthy society.

确实，四分之三的美国人想度假时却没时间。老天啊，我们成天在工作，难道都挤不出一点时间，让自己逍遥一下吗？美国旅游协会发现，普通美国人每年都休不到5天假。可实际上美国人不休假的原因，是因为他们都在为老板打工。后果呢？美国成为一个过度劳累、压力过大，完全不健康的社会。

We are in someserious debt

没钱

Students inAmerica are facing a major debt issue. I know many people, and personal friendsof mine, would love to travel, but are so crippled by the enormous amount ofdebt they raked in pursuing a degree that they simply cannot afford it.According to another article by Forbes, America is suffering from over $1 trillion instudent loan debt, surpassing credit card debt. Holy.Cow.

美国学生大都负有巨债，在我认识的人当中，有不少人，包括我的发小，他们虽然都喜欢去旅游。但是他们多多少少都巨债缠身，根本无法消受得起。福布斯另有篇文章表示，美国学贷债款超过1兆美元，远超信用卡债务。

We are scared

没安全感

We live in a nationof fear. We are just scared, and of what I’m not quite sure. Every time I leave for a trip myparents get nervous for my safety.  This is confusing to me consideringmass shootings are becoming the daily norm in the U.S. The most notable placesI recall being unsafe are in America. In most foreign countries 99% of thepeople are friendly, and just going about their daily lives. Thepolice in the U.K. do not even carry guns, and the last person murdered inIceland was in 2013. The world is not on the brink of destruction, and neveronce in the 40+ countries I traveled to so far, have I ever feltthreatened.

我们生活在一个恐怖国度里。我们就是有种不安全感，我搞不清楚为什么。我每次出行父母都担心我的安全。考虑到大规模枪击事件正成为美国的日常，这点确实会让人感到犹豫。一说到最不安全的地方，我就想起美国。国外多数国家99%的人都很友善，而且他们只是围着自己的小日子转。英国警察甚至连枪都不带，冰岛最后一个被杀死的人还是在2013年。世界并非处在毁灭边缘，我曾走过40多个国家，可我从未感觉受到过威胁。


  
We are justplain old ignorant

孤陋寡闻

Regardless offacts, there are people that preach nothing but red, white, and blue. I am notknocking my country, for there are many things I love about it; However, we canbe an ignorant bunch. The media is partially at fault all, what we see inthe U.S. is sensationalized news. World news is only covered if it directlyaffects us negatively, or is some mass tragedy. When I turn on Al Jazeera, EuroNews, or BBC News while abroad, I actually see WORLD news.  It’s embarrassing when I travel and foreignersknow the latest American politics, but I couldn’t tell you the latest in their home country. There isa serious lack of information about the world affairs in the United States. Weseem to be in an isolated bubble, where Americans are afraid of the unknown, oreven worse just don’t care. I’ve met Americans that can’t locate Australia on a map, warned me not to get soldinto sex slavery in Thailand, and come across a few that think Tokyo is thecapital of China.

不分青红皂白，罔顾事实。我不是在敲打我的国家，我们有不少东西还是挺招人爱的。我们正成为一个无知且自大的人。媒体总是在护短，在美国所见到的全都是耸人听闻的新闻。只要有涉及到我们负面的，或是某些大型惨案的世界新闻，全都一并掩盖住。只有当我转到半岛、欧洲新闻、或是BBC，这些国外电视台的时候，我才确确实实感觉到是在看‘世界’新闻。令人尴尬的是，在我旅行的时候，就连外国人都比我们还要先知道美国最新政情，但我却无法向你说出我家乡最近发生的事。美国对世界事物的了解相当匮乏。我们似乎生活在一个孤独的泡泡里，那里的美国人不知道为什么要害怕，更糟心的是，对什么还都漠不关心。我所遇到的美国人在地图上甚至都找不到澳大利亚的位置，而且还警告我到泰国时可别被当性奴卖了，有些人还居然认为东京是中国的首都。

We think youhave to speak the language

言语不通

The only languageI can speak fluently is English. It’s embarrassing, and I am making strides to improvethis. But guess what – it gets me around. I didn’t speak Turkish in Turkey, Spanish in Ecuador, orJapanese in Japan (okay, that was a tough one). However, I lived! I did morethan just live, I got from point A to point B, I bought things at the grocerystore, and just today I got a haircut in Italy with no common language spokenbetween me and the stylist. Like a large majority of Americans, I am fortunateenough to be a native speaker of English, the international language. It’s always respectful, and fun to learn atleast a few words of the language of whatever country you’re in, but English is prent around theworld. If you really can’t figure it out, turn to Google.

我唯一能说得溜的语言是英语。难于启齿的是，我还有很大的空间需要提高。你猜为啥，能多出去转转呗。（因为）到了土耳其你没法说土耳其语，到厄瓜多尔说不了西班牙语，到日本不会日语（好吧，日语真难学）。无论怎样，有生之年我不能只为了活着，我从一个地方走到另一个地方，在小卖店买完东西，当天我就跑到意大利去理发，尽管我和理发师言语不通。跟多数美国人一样，我很庆幸——英语这个国际通行语能成为我的母语。它总有种亲和的感觉，有趣的是，无论你到了那个国家你或多或少地都能学到几句，但英语是能通行全世界的。如果你真没招了，谷歌一下吧。


 
DOES THIS SIGN SAYSTOP?

这个标志是停止的意思吗？

So if you are anAmerican that wants to travel abroad, get out there! I want to stop explainingto other nationalities why we don’t travel. Guys, the time is now – currently,the dollar is strong, the internet makes it so easy, and I promise it’s notscary.

要是你是一个想出国旅行的美国人，那就去吧！我不想再向其他国家的人解释我们为什么不去旅行了。各位，现在是时候了，美元仍在坚挺，网络让出行变得如此容易，还有，我保证它不可怕。