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Originally Posted by davidd
I hear this all too often by people, and your comment explains it. I can go from the tropics of Florida to the desert of Nevada/California all in the same country, without a passport. I can go from Little Italy in NYC to China Town in NYC without leaving a city. Etc Etc.
The USA has been great at taking the best portions of a Country's culture and integrating it. When I lived in Boston I could go to Southy and go to real Irish bars with actual IRA members (you know what that means), or go the North End and be in the heart of Italy.
Lets also realize that US citizens can travel to Mexico, Canada, and most of the Caribbean with a birth certificate.
I simply respond to Europeans by saying, "The EU is like the USA except we we have evolved into one country with no borders, with one prominent language, one currency, and the terrain and cultures are just as diverse as Europe".
If Europeans could have traveled in the past with just their ID cards, no passports, they too would have little or no use for passports.
Unfortunately their governments feed them this bullshit to make it look like we are the animals of the world. Some points could be made for both sides, but their basic logic is flawed...
I wish the European airlines would charge as little as the US airlines so more Europeans could come to the USA. It is amazing how few countries a lot of the Europeans I am with have been to outside of the EU area. Truly a shame.
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If you live on mainland Europe you can drive between countries without a passport, etc. Being in the UK I need one because you can't just drive there so you need it to board the Eurostar or a ferry.
I know what you are saying. I didn't have a passport until 18 but I had been to Mexico a number of times, around a great deal of Eastern Canada, Aruba and something like 25 States.
On the airlines issue..it swings in round abouts. Right now there aren't any cheap deals to the USA on even American based airlines. My travel agent friends have been moaning about it because about now is when the november deals always come through where it is dirt cheap to go to New York and they just aren't there this year. I can fly to Rome for about $30 though if I look hard enough.
Trust me, as a 'North American' specialist when I was a travel agent I know that ignorance of geography comes from all nations. I remember one client who wouldn't listen to me that he couldn't drive from Orlando to San Francisco in an afternoon.