First Off, Take the smug, I have traveled and seen other countries so I am "enlightened" and shove it up your collective ass. Anyone with an attitude that they are superior to any othe human being is about as far from enlightened as one can get.
The quote of 1% of the population is far to low a guess - I would bet it is closer to 10%, which by the way that 10% of US population EXCEEDS the entire population of most of the countries in Europe.
Of course Europeans are more likely to visit countries other than their own, you can see everything there is to see in most countries in a couple weeks, by the time they are of age they have already seen everything there is in their country. They have to leave if they want to see anything new.
Cost is a big part of it. Even if the price was the same - less American can afford it, they use their money on useful things like Doctor Bills, College Education (you know the things that are free in most of Europe) for their kids, also their time is used working. Americans get less vacation time, and have much longer work weeks than Europeans.
Come down from your high horse, and get over yourself, traveling the would does not make you enlightened, does not give you any more insite in other cultures than can be achived with Google, and it sure as hell does not make you any better than someone that chooses to do what they want to do.
All it means is you have gone to a bunch of places.
