A french friend asked me some time ago why americans never leave the U.S and how come they never have the desire to visit Europe, for example?

He lived in Paris for a while and said that he met up with young lads, 20-25 yrs old, from all over the world who came to see Paris, and he was amazed that there wasn't a single young tourist from the U.S.

I told him it's a different mentality. While in other countries, youngsters dream of the day they'll finish their studies, grab their savings, pack their bags and travel the world for a few weeks/months...the young american doesn't share this dream. How often do you hear a young american saying s/he can't wait to visit China/Japan/India/France/England/Spain etc etc? it's simply not part of American culture to travel the world.

Now don't say it's about money. Even if you cut down the prices by half, most would still prefer to stay in the U.S because like I said, it's not part of the "plan". The young american will go on to college, maybe uni, job, then marriage and family. And if there's time and desire to travel, it will most likely be in the states.

People spend so much money on things they don't really need. If they REALLY wanted to travel the world so badly they would've done it. It's just not on top of the list for americans.

That's basically what I told him. I spoke mostly of youngsters, but of course that's not to say most americans go on to travel the world in their 30's or 40's. Not many do, I think.

I once started a thread "how many u.s states have you been to" - many have not even been to half. Does that explain why out of the u.s is out of the question? I don't know. I doubt most french tourists have seen all of France before going to NY and London.

Then Danito started a thread "how many european countries have you been to" -- and many have answered with "zero".

So who is "The American Tourist" ? where can you find him?