just to add a little perspective here, most american states are larger
then other COUNTRIES. In europe it is not uncommon to be able to cross
an entire country in a few hours by car. Yes, a few hours of driving
and you are in a region with different Laws, customs, culture, etc.
I revently drove from seattle washington to columbus georgia. Go to
yahoo and check out that route. It took 3 1/2 days of continuous
(24hours a day in rotation) driving at between 60 and 100mph. Nebraska
took almost 9 hours to cross at 90 mph. Montana takes around 12 to go
west to east across. Huge stretches of this country are open land with
a small town every few hundred miles.
An airport might be 6 or 7 hours drive away. An airline ticket to
England from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport costs between 500 and
900 dollars for round trip (depending on the season). The average
income in very small towns like trout creek montana (9 hours from
seattle at 90mph) is around 5000 a year. You do the math on
electricity, food, gas etc costs and tell me why more americans don't go
to europe or asia let alone New York or L.A. or other large American
cities.
I'm not apologizing for the colloquialism of my fellow americans I
merely hope to cast some realistic details into the conversation.
Abe
John Rye wrote:
>
> On Sat, 20 Jan 2001 17:49:00 -0500 (EST), Mark Weaver said:
>
> > I would think that it would be one of two things that cause this.
> >
> > 1) plain old American arrogance
>
> NO comment !!
>
> > 2) a very "small" world view caused mainly by spending too much time in
> > ones own back yard and not having enough contact with the outside world.
>
> Yes - it does seem for the visitor that there is a 'small world
> view'
>
> A year or so ago, I spent a few weeks in the US, and was really
> surprised
> at the numbers of people I met who hadn't been 'Out of STATE" let
> alone
> the country.
>
> > America being as big "physically" speaking as it is I wouldn't be all that
> > surprised to find out that 80% of its population has never been out of the
> > country.
>
> I could 'understand' people I met who didn't know where my country
> was,
> or that It's best known after all for it's ability to hold off a
> concerted invasion
> attempt by the US Military for nearly 20 years only by means of
> Flour-bags
> and Rubber Duckies!! However, that I seemed to know more about the
> general physical geography of North America was a real stunner!!
>
> I remember one young woman who was amazed that one could sit in an
> aircraft for 15 hours without even seeing land just getting to the
> US, and
> THEN spend another 5 or 6 hours getting from one side to the
> other!!! The
> same young woman was later heard to argue with another about the
> difference between Texans and Arizonians - her primary argument
> being
> that one must be more suntanned than the other - 'because of all
> the desert'!!
>
> > That doesn't include Canada or Mexico. I'm referring to off the
> > continent adventures and such. Its surprising how different the outlook
> > and attitude of the Europeans is from that of the Americans. Being an
> > American myself the difference between the European and American world
> > views is sometimes startlingly great.
>
> I think you all think that, I think I know that you all think that,
> I just wish that
> we all knew that we all knew that we all thought that !! <grin>
>
> It would be a wonderful world if ALL it's (the worlds') population
> realised just
> how small this speck of interplanetary dust we inhabit is!!
>
> Cheers
>
> John
> --
> Mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> "The number of UNIX installations has grown to 10, with more expected"
> (The UNIX Programmers' Manual, 2nd Edition, June 1972)
