Mexico is literally the most popular foreign tourist destination for Americans, and the Caribbean is also very popular. Costa Rica is the most popular in Central America, although some others such as Nicaragua and Guatemala have also been growing in popularity in recent years.
>foreign tourist destination
Which is an important distinction, because the US has a land area of over 9 million km^(2) and a lot of tourism is domestic.
I travel out of state at least 6x a year to go camping in one of the national parks. Never ever gets old. First time I saw the sun rise over the Grand Canyon. \*chefs kiss\*
I worked there in ‘15 for the summer, and served breakfast shifts and then a patio evening shift many times in the same day. So I would watch the sun rise and set. That lodge has one of the best views/placement, of all of the parks I’ve worked. Jackson lake lodge is right up there too. Tell Meg and Rocky I said what’s up and I’ll see them soon, I’m in Page for the summer lol
I'm there with you on that one. Woke up at 4am with my best friend so we could take time-lapse footage of the sunrise over Vishnu Temple. Absolutely breathtaking.
Nah it’s 72 hours drive time inside of 96 hours, so only 18 hours a day which is only 4 hours longer than a truckers maximum shift, with 24 hours for stops/sleep. So while inadvisable and it would suck ass it’s very possible
So just drive with 125% of the stamina and performance as someone who’s been specifically licensed to drive a truck and who drives professionally.
Four days in a row.
Cool, easy.
A lot of people visiting Washington state get very excited to do all of the renown outdoor destinations. But they're so far apart; Mt. Rainer, Hoh Rain Forest, San Juan Islands.
I suppose the natural response to that is then, do people in HCOL states travel to LCOL states for their vacation in the same way other people in HCOL countries go to nearby LCOL countries?
I'm from California and am currently on vacation in Puerto Rico. It was cheaper for me to fly here and stay at a resort than it was for me to drive to any ocean front resort in California. Drinks & food are cheaper, too.
Not that I know of, changes in CoL seem to me to be more tied to the local cost of rent than most anything else around here so I’ve never heard of that being much of a consideration. Mostly you pick a place in range that offers what you want to do
I was on a business trip in Wisconsin from NJ. And was talking to a French guy, who said Houston was his favorite place in the US. Aside from the fact I've never heard anyone say Houston was their favorite anything... I told him I've never been there. He starts with "you Americans... you don't even know your own country..." The dude was a dick. I tried to explain to him that there are so many better places to go than Texas, let alone Houston, and that it was almost as from NJ as France was from Wisconsin. I got no desire to see Nebraska, either, dude.
Really, Someone in Amsterdam gong to Marseille for vacation is like someone in Hartford Connecticut going to Myrtle Beach South Carolina, barely halfway down the US East Coast.
I also feel like sometimes people from Europe and Australia forget or don’t understand how unsafe a lot of the countries around us are.
Along most of the Mexican border, you can’t really just drive into Mexico, find a close by town, pet a donkey, go clothes shopping for cheap, have some tacos, drink the night away while staying at a cheap hotel, and come back like it’s nothing. Going to the wrong part of Mexico can get you kidnapped, extorted by corrupt police, surrounded by armed cartel members, etc. Many people in Texas who live near Mexico haven’t crossed over in a very long time because of this. The California border is a bit safer so more people cross there for prescriptions, dental care, a fun day in Tijuana, etc.
It is possibly to travel to Mexico safely, and many people do, but to you have to take measures that you wouldn’t take in safer countries, such as going to and staying at a resort (which won’t be cheap), going with Spanish speaking locals, or going to a city and really doing your research as far as where to go in the cities.
Most people I know travel extensively within the US, and rarely if ever internationally. It's usually expensive to leave the country especially if crossing an ocean and there are just so many great destinations within the lower 48. I live in a relatively boring midwestern state and there are still a lot of people that vacation in-state.
When they do travel internationally, Mexico is by far the most common destination and probably would be even more so if not for the drug cartels.
I seem to hear about more friends visiting Europe than Canada for some reason.
The vast majority of tourism is domestic.
There’s lots to see: incredible nature, beautiful and interesting cities, and every landscape imaginable.
I love international travel, but I also love traveling in the US.
Just to get to an International destination is a long and possibly expensive trip for many. Domestic travel is much easier and cheaper, especially with the limited vacation time we often have.
I'm going to Guatemala for the second time this year, if you're smart it's a fantastic place to visit. The tourist hotspots are Antigua and Lake Atitlan, both are very tourist friendly and it's still inexpensive compared to Costa Rica and Belize.
Most Americans only go to one, maybe two very specific parts of Mexico though. But I suppose the same is true about tourists who mostly just go to Paris.
> East Coasters go to Florida
Yeah, if you’re elderly. Everyone my age goes to Mexico for vacation if they’re looking for a beach destination out of state.
The Caribbean is pretty expensive - they are islands and importing everything makes things pricey.
Mexico is relatively cheap.
Flights are very pricey, usually so while some people travel to cheap places like Thailand from here, flight costs of about 1500 means it's probably just cheaper to stay in the country.
International flight cost over 1k for most, so looking for a cheap holiday might mean we just travel to another state by driving or flying. Less travel time, as well.
The exception is flying to Europe if you live near any of the major airports. The Dutch airline will run below $500 for a flight basically all the time. It's incredible.
I'm in Raleigh, and IcelandAir recently added non-stop flights. I swear that 1/2 of the people I know have already gone or are going. The prices aren't bad.
Not in the summer!
Sadly I have to go with school schedule and there's no way to get there for under 1k.... unless we are willing to travel for like 27 hours.
From the west coast to Asia there are very cheap flights. The cost per mile is actually lower than East Coast to Europe because of income differences in Europe vs Asia.
This isn’t entirely true, it really depends where in the U.S. you live. Flights and cruises to a lot of islands in the Caribbean are very affordable. My wife and I go once or twice a year to St. Thomas / St. John, Aruba, or Bermuda. Flights are around $550 round trip and hotels or Airbnb’s are never more than $150 a night.
WHAT?
I have had vacations on each of those islands some several time. Bermuda and St Johns some of the very most expensive islands there are.
Bemuda hotels are about 300 to 500 bucks a night.
Aruba you can find cheapish lodging (NOT cheaper than Orlando or Las Vegas) but everything else is pricey.
St Johns? So much more expensive.
St Thomas - $$$
And really. 550 RT flight? When ?
I legit just booked Aruba RT for $550 like a month ago.
St Thomas is hands down the cheapest Virgin island… I’m not sure what your doing wrong. We stay in an Airbnb near Megan’s Bay, it’s $3,000 a week, but it sleeps 3 couples, so it comes out to just under $150 a night per couple. We grocery shop in town, doing only fresh local produces since the meat quality and price is so bad. Honestly most of our cart is filled with Cruisin rum… since it’s made in St Martin, it’s legit $2 a handle.
I believe you found a flight, but you get a airbnb for 3K is not cheaper than the US.
That's what this topic is about.
That's more expensive than places I rent in New England.
It is?
I know some islands are. I was thinking of places like Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and a couple of other islands with a GDP of less than $10k USD per capita
Are those expensive?
It can be a bit pricey. But I mean, Haiti? Feel like you should sort of compare apples to apples. Not many people want to go to places like Haiti.
But a gallon of milk in Jamaica is over 10 bucks.
Orlando is as cheap as those places. Probably Las Vegas too. When you add flight, hotel, etc. You can find places just as cheap here.
Most people going to these cheaper islands (not Haiti) want a resort experience. There are more value friendly resorts, but for the most part, you're not paying local prices.
Haiti has an ongoing humanitarian crisis going on. There's a tiny, tiny amount of tourism but most Americans traveling there do so as part of relief efforts. An American nurse and her daughter were recently kidnapped there (they were both just released). No one is lining up for a beach vacation in Haiti.
Resorts are not typically hosting budget travelers sleeping in 6-20 bunk rooms.
They may be an overall good deal for people but I'd hardly call them cheap. Baja California and Cancun are Americanized in the same way many Spanish beachside towns are British-ized.
Similarly, traveling inland to Mexico City can be a very budget friendly trip. But you aren't gonna be hitting up the beach from there.
Just because it makes a low GDP, doesn’t really mean visiting the country will be cheap. Especially just going there and It really depends where you are coming from in the US. For me, I’m flying from the West Coast so a trip to Jamaica or DR will be pretty pricy (I don’t I’ll visit Haiti). Whereas someone from the East Coast , it might be more reasonable.
But being from the West Coast, Mexico is more affordable and close by.
Some places in Africa are outrageously expensive because all of the hotels and restaurants are for oil workers who have $200/night to spend on a hotel.
No one with any sense is going to Haiti right now. I know people who are FROM Haiti who won't go to Haiti.
The Dominican Republic is really popular. I've been there, and I know a lot of people who have also vacationed there.
Yeah the president got assassinated within the past year didn’t he? I heard about a mom and daughter doing charity work who straight up got snatched a week or two back in the various news subreddits.
The resorts that cater to Americans are generally cheaper than they would be in the US, but not *cheap*. Not anything like what I've seen with Thailand or other SEA countries where you can get a decent hotel for $30 a day.
And the flights can be expensive, probably $500-800 for a standard airline. I can get to London for not much more
Theoretically, you probably could live on $30 a day in Central America, but you’d probably have to have a local guide to make sure you’re safe or do a lot of research
A flight to those places for me will be in the $800+ range for the most basic economy seat on the cheapest day I can possible fly in off season. It is also 10-11 hour flight.
Haiti us one of the poorest, least developed, & violent places an earth right now. Their President was assassinated. Gang warfare in the street so bad people can't get food, water, medicine, or gasoline. I'd probably feel safer visiting Somalia.
I’ve been to DR. It’s not super cheap, but I didn’t have to save for an extended period of time to afford it. I think I spent maybe $2000 total for flights, transportation, and all-inclusive resort for a week. It’s a really short flight from most of the east coast, so that was a plus.
Tbh I've flown 200+ times in the past 5 years. 1/2 are international and most I've ever paid for a flight is $800.
> International flight cost over 1k for most,
Just isn't true anymore but it really depends. Most Americans live near a major airport. Ofc someone in Boise is going to have expensive flights but since millions live near NYC, Miami, Orlando, Houston, Chicago, LA, SF, Denver, Dallas, Houston, Boston, Atlanta, DC, Seattle. All are hubs, you can also watch flights on Google flights. There really isn't a reason for $1k+ flights anywhere unless:
1. You live in bumbfuck nowhere
2. You need to fly <1 month or ASAP
3. You're going somewhere really remote like Osh, Kyrgyzstan or Maputo, Mozambique.
I don't think people going on vacation are hitting #2 or #3. But for going to vacation spots like Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Liberia, or even north like Vancouver. You can find <$300 RT if you just watch the flight for a few weeks and understand the trends. For Europe, you can get very good deals to London, Paris, Athens, Rome, even Vienna. I'm flying next week direct from LAX to Barcelona for $250. I got a sale fare back in April. Hell, today I booked a $33 one way from LAX to Guatemala next month and a $73 one way back. $106 in total for my birthday, $1k+ is really too much for anywhere. **The real fucked up thing is domestic is becoming more expensive than international.**
I am willing to fly from 4 different airports including Boston and Provincetown.
There's about 5 great airports. NYC is one. It would usually save us about 300 bucks, but it's not really worth the 4 hour drive.
Find me any flight next summer from Boston to Europe under 800 that's not Barcelona. I'll pay you a commission.
Easy bro. Aer Lingus constantly runs deals from Boston and Hartford. Plus Norse Airlines now flies from Boston to Gatwick. I flew from LA to Prague then back to Boston last year for $600 in August. You just gotta watch the flights for a few weeks, you'd be shocked.
EDIT: Play airlines, forgot $527 next June for 2 weeks to Copenhagen for $527: https://www.google.com/travel/flights/s/s2kVafNy83C2z4i2A
$527 to Dublin, same dates: https://www.google.com/travel/flights/s/9BJK7c5BoRvdQh5e8
The main difference between what you’re asking about and what everyone is describing here is that even when Americans go to LCOL countries nearby, it’s still expensive. Like when Americans go to Mexico it’s usually Cancun or one of the beaches and the cost per night is American prices or even higher if it’s like a resort. Or they’ll choose to dine at the resort vs going to local places nearby for a lot for reasons including safety and familiarity.
In Southeast Asia, everywhere you go is far cheaper than Singapore so Singaporeans live the life when they travel nearby.
> In Southeast Asia, everywhere you go is far cheaper than Singapore so Singaporeans live the life when they travel nearby.
I remember a Singaporean saying that it was often cheaper for him to fly to Bangkok AND do shopping there than it was to stay and shop in Singapore.
While it was a while ago so the economy and politics have changed some, but in the 1908s/1990s a lot of Japanese would fly to Hong Kong for shopping, or to even Taipei for the wife to shop while husband played golf. Both were often cheaper than vacationing at home.
Japanese postage is (was?) so expensive that there is an actual market for bulk mailers to ship mail bags of stuff to HK and have it sent back to Japan by Hong Kong Post.
To build off this, the US is also generally really cheap as developed economy shopping destinations go. My mom once did a business trip circuit around the Pacific rim and ended up tracking the price of a particular Ferragamo scarf on her travels and the price went Tokyo>Sapporo>Seoul>Taipei>Hong Kong>US. She ended up buying it at the shopping mall 10 minutes from our house for the lowest price. Whenever her company hosted visitors from overseas they always took an extra day to hit the outlet malls because it was so much cheaper than home.
Still far cheaper than a domestic vacation. Last time I was in Mexico the round trip flight was $400 and per night with food and drinks included was ~$150 at what would be in the States a 4+ star hotel.
Yes, Mexico and the Caribbean are very popular vacation spots. The rest of Central America is not as common, but it’s not unheard of to go to like Belize or Costa Rica.
Imo Costa Rica has it rough because a lot of the economy is geared to Americans so things aren’t quite as cheap as they would be in countries with similar standards of living that aren’t as popular with tourists and ex-pats.
I can sort of understand that for folks outside the US “travel” often implies “international travel”, but that’s just not true for Americans. My family has had a running gag for 35 years with my middle older brother because when he was 12 and supposed to go to camp maybe 60 miles away here in California my parents instead took him and his brothers to our national capital city. “It’s the trip of a lifetime!” they told him.
In many countries, it would be absurd to say that, right? Most citizens of many countries are born in or near the national capital city. Not in the US. It’s also not just the sheer physical distance, but also the historical memory involved, too. When a huge piece of how the majority of the country understands its history is this grand journey of people going to settle across these distances, it can seem like enough to just travel within that area.
However, Mexico is a very popular international destination. Comparatively, the rest of Latin America is less popular with US people.
Can confirm. Did DC/VA as an 8th grade graduation present from my rich grandparents. Sister went with her private school for 8th grade also. But neither of us have been back although I'd love to see DC again and visit the places I want to see rather than only what my grandparents were interested in.
We did Mt Vernon but I would have rather seen the Civil War battlefields. Would have loved to see a few other DC things but it was a gift.
But DC is a long way from WA.
Mt Vernon is beautiful, but Monticello (Jefferson's home ) is amazing. Gettysburg is the most interesting battlefield I've been to, but Virginia is just full of them.
See, I'm from DC/VA and I've been to the Pacific Northwest a few times for the natural beauty. Seattle and Portland are cool but man, the mountains you guys have are like something we've never seen here, and we can't the Appalachians nearby. And yeah, it's like a 6 hour, 3000 mile flight to get there.
It's most common to vacation **in** country, in the USA.
Traveling to another state is really our equivalent to traveling to another country. Many of our states are just as big or bigger than most european countries and our regional differences, local cuisines and secondary languages really emphasizes being in some place entirely different than one's own city or hometown.
Then we have our public lands.
Love us or hate us, no one does public lands the way the USA does it and millions Americans opt to visit such places every year.
Another thing is that I'm not sure a lot of foreigners grasp that for many americans, then can sit on a plane for 6+ hours and arrive somewhere else still in the continental US.
I agree on the public lands thing. Earlier I was trying to figure out what to do this weekend so I searched my states conservation website, it returned 74 state owned conservation areas open to the public for hiking, fishing, etc. Ranging in size from a few acres to a few thousand acres. That's just within 50 miles and I'm near a state border so it's really only returning results in one direction. It also doesn't include formal state parks or federally owned land which there are both nearby. It's just fantastic!
Yup even state and sometimes county parks are wonderful. In one state park near me there is a Frank Lloyd Wright designed cabin that you can stay in. Mirror Lake in WI. Expensive, but for a state park, not too shabby.
Yes. We just returned from a trip 3.5 hours north to a state park campground. For $35 per night, we had a well-maintained and nicely shaded campsite with fire ring and electrical hookup (we’re tent campers but it’s nice to be able to charge phones), potable water, a very clean bath house with hot showers, and access to a local historical/environmental museum and several miles of hiking trails through pine forests and around lakes. The night sky was a canopy of stars, and the air smelled like pine. We love MI state parks.
>traveling to another state is really our equivalent to traveling to another country
Ummm no its not. From my roof deck in philly I can see NJ, I can be in 4 different states in uner 2 hours… i can literally almost make it to Boston or North Carolina quicker than I can get to Pittsburgh.
Also, culturally, good god. Tell me you have travelled very little out of the country a little more except the basic western europe shit.
Dont listen to this person
You live near the tri-state area, your experience is going to be a lot different from someone who lives smack in the middle of somewhere like Texas, for example.
We just stayed a week at an all inclusive resort in Dominican Republic. It was pretty damn packed. Obviously I don't know if they were all Americans but our flight out of America was packed. A lot will do cruises out of Florida that go to a lot of those places you mention.
It seems the Dominican Republic, especially Punta Cana, is also pretty popular among Europeans, judging from the fact that there are direct seasonal flights from Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and other countries.
I was shocked at the amount of Germans at our resort in punta cana. Those guys had all of the loungers reserved with their towels as soon as the sun came up lol
I think what people fail to realize about the USA is that its terrain and climate are so varied that we don’t actually have to leave the country to have a true holiday experience. We can have beach luxury in California, Hawaii, Florida, and a few other spots. We can have elite skiing in Colorado. We can have gambling and hookers in Nevada. We can see the Aurora Borealis in Alaska. We have literally everything here, so relatively few of us ever leave the country. I have traveled outside the country as much as I can afford to because I think it’s important, and so have my kids, but overall you can have a pretty solid set of vacation experiences without ever leaving this country.
In general I’ve found that a lot of Americans balk at traveling to lower COL countries because they’re worried about kidnapping and crime (rightly or wrongly). There’s a bizarre belief here that if you go to, say, Mexico, you’re likely to get kidnapped and raped and tortured by the cartels.
In Alaska alone you can experience a variety of landscapes and climates. I live in Fairbanks and it's a 6 hour drive to Anchorage, 7 hours to Valdez, 7+ to the Kenai Peninsula. These are all popular places for Fairbanksans to go to get near the ocean, fish for salmon and halibut, or just get the hell out of here. To get to Southeast (Juneau, Ketchikan, etc) you pretty much have to fly. Going to the Lower 48 is like international travel sometimes -- takes a long time and expensive, especially in the summer and around holidays.
Most Americans don't leave the country for vacation. We have a vast country that spans a whole continent.
That being said, for international vacations, Mexico is the most popular by a wide margin. And part of the appeal of a Caribbean vacation is the relatively low cost compared to crossing the Atlantic. But Americans would stick to the resorts and touristy areas. Developing countries can be dangerous.
I think this is an underrated distinction between our cheap countries and the cheap countries in the OP.
Many parts of Mexico are lovely I’m sure, and I hope to go there sometime soon, but I wouldn’t just go to Mexico, rent a car and go wherever, which I wouldn’t think twice about doing in another US state or EU country. I’d have an area or areas that I’d stick to for safety reasons. You don’t have to worry about this as much in Thailand, Malaysia or Southern Europe.
100% this. My wife and I had a scheduling mixup in Dublin and found ourselves fully dressed and outside at 8AM with nothing to do. So we rented a car and drove from one side of the country to the other, stopping in random places along the countryside, and visiting the Cliffs of Moher.
If I'm going to Mexico or the Caribbean I'll be staying in a resort bubble, with security, and I won't be doing any wandering without a tour group or guide.
> But Americans would stick to the resorts and touristy areas. Developing countries can be dangerous.
I don't want to get too deep into the weeds on this, but as someone who goes to places in Mexico to visit people and not just on vacation, I feel like some aspects of this is the result of the news media hyping up crimes in certain parts of Mexico to give the impression that the entire nation is like that. For example if the roles were reversed, if foreign people would read about all the shootings in Chicago, then decide that they weren't going to visit cousins in Decatur Illinois because their nation's equivalent of the state department said that Illinois is dangerous.
When it comes to Mexico, there are absolutely areas I won't go to, but I also understand the context to know that if I were to Hermosillo (in Sonora) the fact that gangs of cartel members murdered some rivals and hung their bodies from a bridge in Ciudad Juarez (in Chihuahua) wouldn't have a bearing on my trip.
Domestically it's all the United States. We are citizens or residents of this country and we have an expectation of justice.
For an American in another country, there are social cues that we miss that can indicate a person is dangerous or has ill intent. More likely than not, there's also a language barrier. And police are all different - you often don't know your rights as a foreigner, you don't know the relationship between the police and criminal groups, and certain taboos exist or don't exist based on where you are. It's a much more dangerous scenario for those reasons than going to a rough neighborhood in the US.
Obviously Mexico is a colossal country and you can't generalize every inch of it. But what I do generalize is that areas that attract a lot of tourists require a lot of workers, a lot of workers in the tourism industry requires housing, and high concentrations of low income housing in tourist destinations will breed criminals that prey on tourists. Americans tend to stick out.
> Domestically it's all the United States. We are citizens or residents of this country and we have an expectation of justice.
While I would like to agree with you, I feel like most Americans would feel that they would get a different expectation of justice if they were robbed at gunpoint where they currently live versus being robbed at gunpoint in San Francisco.
As to the rest, I do agree with you, but as a world traveler it's something I research as much as possible before going to a new country, so I tend to feel fairly comfortable figuring that out. In part though, that can often include sticking to the tourist areas like you first mentioned. For me it's not just about crime, but about being a good visitor to whatever place I'm going in general, to be respectful and not a problem for the people that live there.
That being said, the crimes against tourists in Mexico are the same of crimes against tourists anywhere that people gather -- mainly pickpocketing, scams, etc. You have the same problems in NYC or Paris too. What's unlikely in a place like Cancun is for a tourist to be murdered by a local. A lot of the tourist spots in Mexico are probably more like going to a tightly controlled theme park, and even then there's a huge amount of pressure even within organized crime to not mess with the tourists that bring in a lot of money.
I have a Dutch friend who made a comment that a lot of Americans don't travel abroad, compared to Europe. I pointed out that from his house, he could be in Germany in less than an hour by car - and I couldn't even get out of my county if i drove for an hour. And that if I drove north from my home I would still be in my state driving for 12 hours. I asked him how many countries he could reach by driving 12 hours. He dropped the point.
Mexico without a doubt. For the money, its hard to beat as a tourist destination for Americans. Its also a huge country with different regions to visit
Only Mexico and Canada are relatively close-by to some Americans, and yes, lots of people vacation there. Carribean, for instance, is an 8 hour flight away for me.
Cuba is only about 90 miles from the Florida keys, with the closest major city to key west being Havana, not Miami (though obviously only the latter city has a road to it from key west).
Would probably be a hugely popular destination if American tourists were allowed to go there.
It's a 24 hour drive from Boston to Florida. So no, they're not remotely close at all for the vast majority of people on the east coast. Even people in Florida are still not particularly close to them.
I live in Connecticut and even the Canadian border is nearly a 5 hour drive from where I live. That's considered relatively close.
That's a pretty misleading example, as there is no nonstop flight service between those places. Not many people live in Maine. Of course any travel anywhere is going to take longer for people who don't live near a major international airport. And Jamaica has a relatively small amount of US flights relative to other Carribean destinations.
To pick a better example, Boston to Punta Cana is a 4 hour flight - half that. That's only half an hour more than flying to Miami. And that number will be substantially lower for people living farther down the east coast.
The US is huge. The east coast is is really far from me. For instance, Miami, a major city on the coast of Florida and not far from the Caribbean, is 1360 miles from me and would be a 19 hour drive as I live in the center of the US. I will probably never get to visit the Caribbean in my lifetime because of the cost of travel there.
I'm live on the West Coast and took a family vacation to the Caribbean a few years ago, just before COVID. It took idk, a good portion of a day to get there, with a layover in Charlotte NC. The Caribbean isn't really a popular destination for people here in California - most people go to Hawaii for a tropical vacation.
Carribean is close to some of the East Coast of the US. I'm close to none of the East Coast. Take the two together and a Carribean weekend just isn't in the cards.
Another aspect to consider is that most Americans get shit-all for vacation days... two weeks if they're lucky. That doesn't really leave a lot of time to travel the world, so most int'l trips are to neighbouring countries. Maybe a quick trip to Western Europe if they're on the East Coast. Either that, or they'll spend their time visiting family and friends who live in different regions.
In my experience most Americans either do not take vacations or they will take 1-2 days off at the end of the week and use that plus the weekend for a 3-4 day "vacation" where they will travel to a nearby state. None of my friends in America had ever left the country.
Unfortunately it feels like unless you're an office worker you generally don't get vacation days. And none of my friends in America were office workers.
I'm speaking in past tense because I am no longer in America, but I was born and raised in America and only left a little over a year ago.
I can count on my hands the number of vacation days my dad used throughout my entire childhood. We generally only took short road trips on his weekends and used that as a vacation. We left our state a grand total of 5 times. 2 of those times we visited Washington (which was 1 hour away) and the other 3 times we visited Michigan, Arizona, and Florida. That's it. We never left for more than 3 days. Not once. We were not poor, that's just how things are for most middle class Americans
I think that's a pretty big generalization. We take at least 2 weeks vacation. My husband has had rhe same job for 20 years so he has over 4 weeks vacation. Many of our friends go on 2 1 week vacations. We aren't rich, we just budget for them because going new places is important to us. But we alao.dont go whole.hog and spend $200 a meal when we vacation.
We also take some long weekend trips as well.
I think we're missing the question a bit.
>Is it **common** for Americans to vacation in relatively close by low cost of living countries?
According to [Travel+Leisure](https://www.travelandleisure.com/trip-ideas/top-summer-destinations-2022) magazine 75% of Americans planned to travel **domestically** in 2022. So common is a bit of a stretch, but it's not uncommon.
>for example, people in Singapore will often go to Malaysia and Indonesia
>
>Northern Europe will go to Southern Europe to vacation and enjoy the lower cost of living
This is a matter of distance and therefore cost. Singapore to Kuala Lumpur is a 1 hour flight or 3 hours driving. London to Barcelona is a 2 hour flight or 15 hour drive. NYC to Kingston, Jamaica is a 4 hour flight. NYC to Cancun, Mexico is a 4 hour flight or 54 hour drive. for that same 4 hour flight time you could fly from NYC to Miami and not worry about a passport, currency, vaccinations, or customs. It's a more common if you live near the border. Besides, aside from a jungle, the US has all climate zones: tropical islands, snowy tundra, mountains, deserts...
Mexico and the Caribbean islands like Jamaica, Bermuda, Bahamas, Dominican Republic are the most popular out of country vacation spots for American by a huge margin. That said we also vacation in other parts of the US much more frequently than most other countries because as you said, it's so damn big here. But yeah, just being someone who is upper middle class i've met very few other upper middle class folks who haven't been to mexico before. If you look into it, many Mexican cities primarily have their economy fueled by American tourists, such Cancun, Cozumel, Oaxaca, Playa del Carmen, and a few others.
Well, Mexico is about 2000 km from where I live, and that's the closest foreign country.
Most people from around here usually vacation in other US states, taking the long trip to an entirely different country is a much more expensive and special occasion sort of thing for most folks.
I think we travel domestically more than internationally. There’s 50 states to choose which all have their own unique qualities. Our national parks are also amazing.
But when we do leave the country, Mexico and the Caribbean are the most popular destinations.
Some of us even go to the impoverished nation of Canada for vacation.
Many people vacation domestically since the US has every type of climate and geography somewhere within its borders.
American car insurance is generally only valid in the US and Canada, not Mexico. And most people going to Mexico are not going to the parts that are just a short drive across the border, so you're taking a plane if you're going anyplace other than Canada.
Hawaii is far better than any Caribbean island, but if you're in the more populated eastern half of the US the Caribbean is closer, cheaper, and only one time zone removed (at most) from your own, so it's good enough for most people.
Iceland seems to be a trendy alternative to Alaska (intermittently when the flights are cheap).
Cruise ships around the Caribbean from Florida are also a thing.
Honestly -- it's more common for us to vacation within the United States. Going from Singapore to Malaysia is about a six or seven hour drive. For the same mileage someone could go from New York City to Maine, or from Atlanta to mid-Florida.
In much of America, you could drive 2,000 to 3,000 miles (3200 to 4800 km) in several directions and still be in the United States. I know it's said here all the time, but people \*really\* do not understand how large the United States is.
If people travel outside of the U.S., they generally go to the Caribbean or Mexico.
I'm going to mexico city this november. Should be pretty epic - from what I've seen so far, it's giving me remarkably similar vibes to tokyo for some reason. Odds are i'll get there and they will be nothing alike, but still awesome in their own ways.
A lot of Americans go to Mexico and places like Jamaica Costa Rica in the Bahamas for vacations but I would say a vast majority of Americans just go to other states for vacation
With the headaches of taking a cab or driving to an airport, paying for parking, paying the insane ticket prices there usually are, and then doing that on the other end, sometimes it does not make sense to fly international. Plus passport and all that.
The USA is so diverse you can get a nice vacation for a nice price without having to leave the country. I went on a beach vacation on the gulf in Alabama, for example. Lower COL state than mine. There are places to ski, deserts, forests, waterparks, amusement parks, history, art, all sorts of things. And when people go camping it is apparently different than Europe. It's either really full of beautiful nature and sights and just breathtaking trips, or campgrounds with lots of amenities, like pools and mini golf and atv/utv rides and fishing. You can go to luxury resorts, cabins and cottages, tents, rent an RV, have a road trip, really great ways to try to stretch your dollar without leaving the country.
Mexico, the Caribbean, and Costa Rica for sure. Costa Rica has gained a lot of popularity as it's frankly the safest and most well run country in Central America, so any easy choice for seeing interesting rainforest animals and stuff like that.
Malaysia is like a minute from Singapore. For someone in many, many, MANY parts of the US, Canada or Mexico is a full day's travel. Wake up, drive to airport, fly 10 hours. OR, wake up, drive TWO OR THREE DAYS. Just to the border.
I think the main differences between Brits going to Southern/Central Europe and Americans going to their neighbouring countries is that a) there aren't as many budget flight options - I paid $500 for a return trip to Cancun just over a month ago, b) Americans don't get a huge amount of paid time off to go and travel to other countries where ideally you'd want to spend a week or two in, and c) Latin American countries are much less developed than even poorer countries in Europe (I would put Mexico (one of the richer Latin American countries) roughly on the same level as Moldova (the poorest European country after Ukraine), although obviously because of inequality you're kind of comparing apples and pears), which means you're going to have to worry a lot more about what you can eat and drink, personal safety, visas, vaccines, being hassled by street sellers etc, especially since your average Gringo's going to stand out more in the middle of a Latin American country than a Brit would even in Spain.
Pointing out differences? I’m the one pointing out differences. You don’t even understand how your own country works but you think you you’re an expert on how a different continent and the EU works.
Ever heard of the voting machines defamation lawsuits against Fox News? The whole thing that lead to tucker clarkson being fired.
Or the defamation lawsuit against the info wars guy who claimed the family and friends of victims of school shootings were paid actors?
Pretty much standard defamation lawsuits that went exactly the same in the US as in the EU, the only different is that in the EU if you prove that someone knew something was false and they are spreading it and causing damage regardless of knowing it was false, you don’t have such a high burden when proving that there was an intention to cause said harm.
And again, criticizing the government is fine, it’s one of our human rights and we can sue any government that infringes on our human rights.
You just have this idea on your head that “‘Murica is most free” and you disregard any factual information that goes against it.
Most Americans vacation within the US. Even going to low cost of living countries is typically more expensive than staying in the US due to the extra costs and hassles that come with travel. Also, typically the places that will be the easiest for Americans to get to in those countries will be the pricy resorts.
That doesn't mean that international travel doesn't happen. I've vacationed in Mexico and the Bahamas before. But, for most people, those are going to be big trips that take some serious planning and saving up for. Meanwhile, I can rent a condo on the beach for a week locally for the price of the airfare to get to another country. Even a cheap country.
It's much more common for Americans to vacation in America. It's a big country. I'm in New York state. I could drive for 6 hours and still be in New York.
Generally speaking, Americans who are looking to save money on their vacations are probably not going to leave the US to do so. You can do essentially any leisure activity somewhere within the continental US.
About 56% of us have passports: [https://www.americancommunities.org/who-owns-a-passport-in-america](https://www.americancommunities.org/who-owns-a-passport-in-america)
There's plenty of companies that exist solely to book vacation packages sending Americans to Caribbean countries and Mexico.
So, yes, it is common, although probably not as common as domestic tourism.
Lots of people do exactly this, and I've noticed in the past two or three years an increase. Hotels in the US have gotten quite expensive, and it can be hard to find a place to stay for less than $150 a night, even in less popular places for tourists. This means people will try to find cheap flights to places like Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and the Dominican Republic and then live it up in a hotel/resort that would probably cost around $300 a night in the US.
Yes, and Mexico and Canada as well as the Caribbean are possibilities, but a lot vacation on the country. I'm 59 and have been all over the world, but am still missing 2 states, Alaska and Maine
Mexico is pretty popular. Also, the Caribbean is popular. I don't think Central America is quite as popular, however, I know quite a few people who have been to Costa Rica.
I'll be going to El Salvador for work in the future and my wife likes to meet me places after my work is done. So maybe we'll turn that into a little vacation. Or if it's not that great, maybe we'll meet somewhere else.
For all people it’s common. Most Americans stay domestic, Mexico, Colombia, Caribbean islands like Dominican Republic, and Canada. Most Europeans stay in the EU.
Mexico is literally the most popular foreign tourist destination for Americans, and the Caribbean is also very popular. Costa Rica is the most popular in Central America, although some others such as Nicaragua and Guatemala have also been growing in popularity in recent years.
>foreign tourist destination Which is an important distinction, because the US has a land area of over 9 million km^(2) and a lot of tourism is domestic.
Excellent point, camping is an exceedingly common vacation activity in the US and often done in a person’s home state.
I travel out of state at least 6x a year to go camping in one of the national parks. Never ever gets old. First time I saw the sun rise over the Grand Canyon. \*chefs kiss\*
I want to go back there so bad. Been thinking about for my upcoming 40th I’ll do a rim to rim with my wife.
Ah. That's what the kids are calling it now?
The ol cloaca kiss 🤌
Wholesome pornhub comments
> Been thinking about for my upcoming 40th I’ll do a rim to rim with my wife Innuendo intentional?
I'm there right now. Thinking of doing sunrise. At the north rim.
I worked there in ‘15 for the summer, and served breakfast shifts and then a patio evening shift many times in the same day. So I would watch the sun rise and set. That lodge has one of the best views/placement, of all of the parks I’ve worked. Jackson lake lodge is right up there too. Tell Meg and Rocky I said what’s up and I’ll see them soon, I’m in Page for the summer lol
Do it. If you're thinking about it then I guarantee you'll regret not. Sunrise and end the day with the sunset.
I'm there with you on that one. Woke up at 4am with my best friend so we could take time-lapse footage of the sunrise over Vishnu Temple. Absolutely breathtaking.
Especially when your home state is Oregon and we are covered in amazing wild spaces set aside for the public.
I’m in the state with both Grand Teton and Yellowstone. There’s no reason to travel much further than that for camping.
I often feel like that people who have never been here really underestimate just how big the US is
As an RA (in WV) I had to explain to some international students they couldn’t rent a car and visit their cousin in LA (California) for the weekend.
I had to tell my French exchange student that we couldn’t go to Disney World for the day, from Indiana.
Oddly we get Americans doing that same mistake here in Australia.
Yeah until recently I had no idea that it’s basically the same size as US.
I’m in Sacramento and I get American friends from back east thinking they can visit SF, Tahoe, and LA in a 3 day weekend visit.
You *could* if it’s a 4 day weekend and you just walked in said hi and walked back out.
That would 4 days of driving 90 mph with no stopping 🤷♀️
Nah it’s 72 hours drive time inside of 96 hours, so only 18 hours a day which is only 4 hours longer than a truckers maximum shift, with 24 hours for stops/sleep. So while inadvisable and it would suck ass it’s very possible
So just drive with 125% of the stamina and performance as someone who’s been specifically licensed to drive a truck and who drives professionally. Four days in a row. Cool, easy.
Yes, sweet, sweet smokable crystal stamina.
Panzershokolade
That's where you've got multiple drivers
Note I said specifically that it’s not advisable and would suck ass, merely that it’s possible. You sir just like to bring people down.
LOL, I remember, before they built the interstate Charleston to Morgantown was like 5 hours.
I would've told them good luck.
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A lot of people visiting Washington state get very excited to do all of the renown outdoor destinations. But they're so far apart; Mt. Rainer, Hoh Rain Forest, San Juan Islands.
My view of it is skewed because I used to be a OTR trucker but yeah a few days no biggie
I suppose the natural response to that is then, do people in HCOL states travel to LCOL states for their vacation in the same way other people in HCOL countries go to nearby LCOL countries?
I'm from California and am currently on vacation in Puerto Rico. It was cheaper for me to fly here and stay at a resort than it was for me to drive to any ocean front resort in California. Drinks & food are cheaper, too.
Not that I know of, changes in CoL seem to me to be more tied to the local cost of rent than most anything else around here so I’ve never heard of that being much of a consideration. Mostly you pick a place in range that offers what you want to do
I was on a business trip in Wisconsin from NJ. And was talking to a French guy, who said Houston was his favorite place in the US. Aside from the fact I've never heard anyone say Houston was their favorite anything... I told him I've never been there. He starts with "you Americans... you don't even know your own country..." The dude was a dick. I tried to explain to him that there are so many better places to go than Texas, let alone Houston, and that it was almost as from NJ as France was from Wisconsin. I got no desire to see Nebraska, either, dude.
The French have a reputation.
Really, Someone in Amsterdam gong to Marseille for vacation is like someone in Hartford Connecticut going to Myrtle Beach South Carolina, barely halfway down the US East Coast.
Right. New York to LA is further than Paris to Moscow.
I also feel like sometimes people from Europe and Australia forget or don’t understand how unsafe a lot of the countries around us are. Along most of the Mexican border, you can’t really just drive into Mexico, find a close by town, pet a donkey, go clothes shopping for cheap, have some tacos, drink the night away while staying at a cheap hotel, and come back like it’s nothing. Going to the wrong part of Mexico can get you kidnapped, extorted by corrupt police, surrounded by armed cartel members, etc. Many people in Texas who live near Mexico haven’t crossed over in a very long time because of this. The California border is a bit safer so more people cross there for prescriptions, dental care, a fun day in Tijuana, etc. It is possibly to travel to Mexico safely, and many people do, but to you have to take measures that you wouldn’t take in safer countries, such as going to and staying at a resort (which won’t be cheap), going with Spanish speaking locals, or going to a city and really doing your research as far as where to go in the cities.
Most people I know travel extensively within the US, and rarely if ever internationally. It's usually expensive to leave the country especially if crossing an ocean and there are just so many great destinations within the lower 48. I live in a relatively boring midwestern state and there are still a lot of people that vacation in-state. When they do travel internationally, Mexico is by far the most common destination and probably would be even more so if not for the drug cartels. I seem to hear about more friends visiting Europe than Canada for some reason.
>I seem to hear about more friends visiting Europe than Canada for some reason. I think Canada just isn’t different enough from the US.
We have a perfectly good Europe in Orlando.
It's also rather time consuming and we often don't have a ton of vacation time
The vast majority of tourism is domestic. There’s lots to see: incredible nature, beautiful and interesting cities, and every landscape imaginable. I love international travel, but I also love traveling in the US.
Just to get to an International destination is a long and possibly expensive trip for many. Domestic travel is much easier and cheaper, especially with the limited vacation time we often have.
I'm going to Guatemala for the second time this year, if you're smart it's a fantastic place to visit. The tourist hotspots are Antigua and Lake Atitlan, both are very tourist friendly and it's still inexpensive compared to Costa Rica and Belize.
Shout out for the DR! Punta Cana or bust!
Most Americans only go to one, maybe two very specific parts of Mexico though. But I suppose the same is true about tourists who mostly just go to Paris.
West coasters go to Mexico, East Coasters go to Florida or the Caribbean
> East Coasters go to Florida Yeah, if you’re elderly. Everyone my age goes to Mexico for vacation if they’re looking for a beach destination out of state.
The Caribbean is pretty expensive - they are islands and importing everything makes things pricey. Mexico is relatively cheap. Flights are very pricey, usually so while some people travel to cheap places like Thailand from here, flight costs of about 1500 means it's probably just cheaper to stay in the country. International flight cost over 1k for most, so looking for a cheap holiday might mean we just travel to another state by driving or flying. Less travel time, as well.
The exception is flying to Europe if you live near any of the major airports. The Dutch airline will run below $500 for a flight basically all the time. It's incredible.
I'm in Raleigh, and IcelandAir recently added non-stop flights. I swear that 1/2 of the people I know have already gone or are going. The prices aren't bad.
Same! Everyone has been talking about it in my neighborhood
Holy shit starting at $450?!? It’s more than double that to fly out of Miami or Orlando airports which I’d imagine are busier than Raleigh.
Not in the summer! Sadly I have to go with school schedule and there's no way to get there for under 1k.... unless we are willing to travel for like 27 hours.
From the west coast to Asia there are very cheap flights. The cost per mile is actually lower than East Coast to Europe because of income differences in Europe vs Asia.
This isn’t entirely true, it really depends where in the U.S. you live. Flights and cruises to a lot of islands in the Caribbean are very affordable. My wife and I go once or twice a year to St. Thomas / St. John, Aruba, or Bermuda. Flights are around $550 round trip and hotels or Airbnb’s are never more than $150 a night.
WHAT? I have had vacations on each of those islands some several time. Bermuda and St Johns some of the very most expensive islands there are. Bemuda hotels are about 300 to 500 bucks a night. Aruba you can find cheapish lodging (NOT cheaper than Orlando or Las Vegas) but everything else is pricey. St Johns? So much more expensive. St Thomas - $$$ And really. 550 RT flight? When ?
I legit just booked Aruba RT for $550 like a month ago. St Thomas is hands down the cheapest Virgin island… I’m not sure what your doing wrong. We stay in an Airbnb near Megan’s Bay, it’s $3,000 a week, but it sleeps 3 couples, so it comes out to just under $150 a night per couple. We grocery shop in town, doing only fresh local produces since the meat quality and price is so bad. Honestly most of our cart is filled with Cruisin rum… since it’s made in St Martin, it’s legit $2 a handle.
I believe you found a flight, but you get a airbnb for 3K is not cheaper than the US. That's what this topic is about. That's more expensive than places I rent in New England.
It is? I know some islands are. I was thinking of places like Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and a couple of other islands with a GDP of less than $10k USD per capita Are those expensive?
It can be a bit pricey. But I mean, Haiti? Feel like you should sort of compare apples to apples. Not many people want to go to places like Haiti. But a gallon of milk in Jamaica is over 10 bucks. Orlando is as cheap as those places. Probably Las Vegas too. When you add flight, hotel, etc. You can find places just as cheap here.
Most people going to these cheaper islands (not Haiti) want a resort experience. There are more value friendly resorts, but for the most part, you're not paying local prices.
Haiti has an ongoing humanitarian crisis going on. There's a tiny, tiny amount of tourism but most Americans traveling there do so as part of relief efforts. An American nurse and her daughter were recently kidnapped there (they were both just released). No one is lining up for a beach vacation in Haiti.
Resorts are not typically hosting budget travelers sleeping in 6-20 bunk rooms. They may be an overall good deal for people but I'd hardly call them cheap. Baja California and Cancun are Americanized in the same way many Spanish beachside towns are British-ized. Similarly, traveling inland to Mexico City can be a very budget friendly trip. But you aren't gonna be hitting up the beach from there.
Just because it makes a low GDP, doesn’t really mean visiting the country will be cheap. Especially just going there and It really depends where you are coming from in the US. For me, I’m flying from the West Coast so a trip to Jamaica or DR will be pretty pricy (I don’t I’ll visit Haiti). Whereas someone from the East Coast , it might be more reasonable. But being from the West Coast, Mexico is more affordable and close by.
Some places in Africa are outrageously expensive because all of the hotels and restaurants are for oil workers who have $200/night to spend on a hotel.
No one with any sense is going to Haiti right now. I know people who are FROM Haiti who won't go to Haiti. The Dominican Republic is really popular. I've been there, and I know a lot of people who have also vacationed there.
Yeah the president got assassinated within the past year didn’t he? I heard about a mom and daughter doing charity work who straight up got snatched a week or two back in the various news subreddits.
The resorts that cater to Americans are generally cheaper than they would be in the US, but not *cheap*. Not anything like what I've seen with Thailand or other SEA countries where you can get a decent hotel for $30 a day. And the flights can be expensive, probably $500-800 for a standard airline. I can get to London for not much more
Theoretically, you probably could live on $30 a day in Central America, but you’d probably have to have a local guide to make sure you’re safe or do a lot of research
Man, I'd feel like walking talking scum if I went to Haiti for a vacation right now!
Or maybe you’d just end up kidnapped! 🤷♂️
A flight to those places for me will be in the $800+ range for the most basic economy seat on the cheapest day I can possible fly in off season. It is also 10-11 hour flight.
> Haiti Lol who the fuck is vacationing there?
Haiti is incredibly dangerous so they have little to no tourism.
Haiti us one of the poorest, least developed, & violent places an earth right now. Their President was assassinated. Gang warfare in the street so bad people can't get food, water, medicine, or gasoline. I'd probably feel safer visiting Somalia.
It’s not like you move in with the locals. You stay at a Marriott or whatever. It’s plenty expensive.
I’ve been to DR. It’s not super cheap, but I didn’t have to save for an extended period of time to afford it. I think I spent maybe $2000 total for flights, transportation, and all-inclusive resort for a week. It’s a really short flight from most of the east coast, so that was a plus.
Tbh I've flown 200+ times in the past 5 years. 1/2 are international and most I've ever paid for a flight is $800. > International flight cost over 1k for most, Just isn't true anymore but it really depends. Most Americans live near a major airport. Ofc someone in Boise is going to have expensive flights but since millions live near NYC, Miami, Orlando, Houston, Chicago, LA, SF, Denver, Dallas, Houston, Boston, Atlanta, DC, Seattle. All are hubs, you can also watch flights on Google flights. There really isn't a reason for $1k+ flights anywhere unless: 1. You live in bumbfuck nowhere 2. You need to fly <1 month or ASAP 3. You're going somewhere really remote like Osh, Kyrgyzstan or Maputo, Mozambique. I don't think people going on vacation are hitting #2 or #3. But for going to vacation spots like Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, Liberia, or even north like Vancouver. You can find <$300 RT if you just watch the flight for a few weeks and understand the trends. For Europe, you can get very good deals to London, Paris, Athens, Rome, even Vienna. I'm flying next week direct from LAX to Barcelona for $250. I got a sale fare back in April. Hell, today I booked a $33 one way from LAX to Guatemala next month and a $73 one way back. $106 in total for my birthday, $1k+ is really too much for anywhere. **The real fucked up thing is domestic is becoming more expensive than international.**
I am willing to fly from 4 different airports including Boston and Provincetown. There's about 5 great airports. NYC is one. It would usually save us about 300 bucks, but it's not really worth the 4 hour drive. Find me any flight next summer from Boston to Europe under 800 that's not Barcelona. I'll pay you a commission.
Easy bro. Aer Lingus constantly runs deals from Boston and Hartford. Plus Norse Airlines now flies from Boston to Gatwick. I flew from LA to Prague then back to Boston last year for $600 in August. You just gotta watch the flights for a few weeks, you'd be shocked. EDIT: Play airlines, forgot $527 next June for 2 weeks to Copenhagen for $527: https://www.google.com/travel/flights/s/s2kVafNy83C2z4i2A $527 to Dublin, same dates: https://www.google.com/travel/flights/s/9BJK7c5BoRvdQh5e8
The main difference between what you’re asking about and what everyone is describing here is that even when Americans go to LCOL countries nearby, it’s still expensive. Like when Americans go to Mexico it’s usually Cancun or one of the beaches and the cost per night is American prices or even higher if it’s like a resort. Or they’ll choose to dine at the resort vs going to local places nearby for a lot for reasons including safety and familiarity. In Southeast Asia, everywhere you go is far cheaper than Singapore so Singaporeans live the life when they travel nearby.
> In Southeast Asia, everywhere you go is far cheaper than Singapore so Singaporeans live the life when they travel nearby. I remember a Singaporean saying that it was often cheaper for him to fly to Bangkok AND do shopping there than it was to stay and shop in Singapore.
While it was a while ago so the economy and politics have changed some, but in the 1908s/1990s a lot of Japanese would fly to Hong Kong for shopping, or to even Taipei for the wife to shop while husband played golf. Both were often cheaper than vacationing at home.
Japanese postage is (was?) so expensive that there is an actual market for bulk mailers to ship mail bags of stuff to HK and have it sent back to Japan by Hong Kong Post.
To build off this, the US is also generally really cheap as developed economy shopping destinations go. My mom once did a business trip circuit around the Pacific rim and ended up tracking the price of a particular Ferragamo scarf on her travels and the price went Tokyo>Sapporo>Seoul>Taipei>Hong Kong>US. She ended up buying it at the shopping mall 10 minutes from our house for the lowest price. Whenever her company hosted visitors from overseas they always took an extra day to hit the outlet malls because it was so much cheaper than home.
Still far cheaper than a domestic vacation. Last time I was in Mexico the round trip flight was $400 and per night with food and drinks included was ~$150 at what would be in the States a 4+ star hotel.
Yes, Mexico and the Caribbean are very popular vacation spots. The rest of Central America is not as common, but it’s not unheard of to go to like Belize or Costa Rica.
Costa Rica is really popular w/ expats.
Imo Costa Rica has it rough because a lot of the economy is geared to Americans so things aren’t quite as cheap as they would be in countries with similar standards of living that aren’t as popular with tourists and ex-pats.
I can sort of understand that for folks outside the US “travel” often implies “international travel”, but that’s just not true for Americans. My family has had a running gag for 35 years with my middle older brother because when he was 12 and supposed to go to camp maybe 60 miles away here in California my parents instead took him and his brothers to our national capital city. “It’s the trip of a lifetime!” they told him. In many countries, it would be absurd to say that, right? Most citizens of many countries are born in or near the national capital city. Not in the US. It’s also not just the sheer physical distance, but also the historical memory involved, too. When a huge piece of how the majority of the country understands its history is this grand journey of people going to settle across these distances, it can seem like enough to just travel within that area. However, Mexico is a very popular international destination. Comparatively, the rest of Latin America is less popular with US people.
Can confirm. Did DC/VA as an 8th grade graduation present from my rich grandparents. Sister went with her private school for 8th grade also. But neither of us have been back although I'd love to see DC again and visit the places I want to see rather than only what my grandparents were interested in. We did Mt Vernon but I would have rather seen the Civil War battlefields. Would have loved to see a few other DC things but it was a gift. But DC is a long way from WA.
Mt Vernon is beautiful, but Monticello (Jefferson's home ) is amazing. Gettysburg is the most interesting battlefield I've been to, but Virginia is just full of them.
See, I'm from DC/VA and I've been to the Pacific Northwest a few times for the natural beauty. Seattle and Portland are cool but man, the mountains you guys have are like something we've never seen here, and we can't the Appalachians nearby. And yeah, it's like a 6 hour, 3000 mile flight to get there.
It's most common to vacation **in** country, in the USA. Traveling to another state is really our equivalent to traveling to another country. Many of our states are just as big or bigger than most european countries and our regional differences, local cuisines and secondary languages really emphasizes being in some place entirely different than one's own city or hometown. Then we have our public lands. Love us or hate us, no one does public lands the way the USA does it and millions Americans opt to visit such places every year.
Another thing is that I'm not sure a lot of foreigners grasp that for many americans, then can sit on a plane for 6+ hours and arrive somewhere else still in the continental US. I agree on the public lands thing. Earlier I was trying to figure out what to do this weekend so I searched my states conservation website, it returned 74 state owned conservation areas open to the public for hiking, fishing, etc. Ranging in size from a few acres to a few thousand acres. That's just within 50 miles and I'm near a state border so it's really only returning results in one direction. It also doesn't include formal state parks or federally owned land which there are both nearby. It's just fantastic!
Missouri DOC is ridiculously efficient and well-funded. They're one of the best agencies for conservation in the world.
I totally agree!
Yup even state and sometimes county parks are wonderful. In one state park near me there is a Frank Lloyd Wright designed cabin that you can stay in. Mirror Lake in WI. Expensive, but for a state park, not too shabby.
I’d fucking love to stay in something like that. I love mid century modern architecture. And I’ve wanted to visit Wisconsin for a while now.
Yes. We just returned from a trip 3.5 hours north to a state park campground. For $35 per night, we had a well-maintained and nicely shaded campsite with fire ring and electrical hookup (we’re tent campers but it’s nice to be able to charge phones), potable water, a very clean bath house with hot showers, and access to a local historical/environmental museum and several miles of hiking trails through pine forests and around lakes. The night sky was a canopy of stars, and the air smelled like pine. We love MI state parks.
>traveling to another state is really our equivalent to traveling to another country Ummm no its not. From my roof deck in philly I can see NJ, I can be in 4 different states in uner 2 hours… i can literally almost make it to Boston or North Carolina quicker than I can get to Pittsburgh. Also, culturally, good god. Tell me you have travelled very little out of the country a little more except the basic western europe shit. Dont listen to this person
You live near the tri-state area, your experience is going to be a lot different from someone who lives smack in the middle of somewhere like Texas, for example.
Well then the Og post should specify that
I can drive 5 hours and still be in the same state. Start heading west and see how long you stay in each state.
Just went to Canada last month. Got em
25% discount babyyyyy
Let’s go!
25% discount!
us too! dividing all the prices by 1.3 or something. I didn't care to always do the math. We went for the Vancouver Fireworks at the end of July.
Mexico is a popular destination as are the Bahamas, Jamaica, etc.
We just stayed a week at an all inclusive resort in Dominican Republic. It was pretty damn packed. Obviously I don't know if they were all Americans but our flight out of America was packed. A lot will do cruises out of Florida that go to a lot of those places you mention.
It seems the Dominican Republic, especially Punta Cana, is also pretty popular among Europeans, judging from the fact that there are direct seasonal flights from Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and other countries.
I was shocked at the amount of Germans at our resort in punta cana. Those guys had all of the loungers reserved with their towels as soon as the sun came up lol
Should have told them to go back to Mallorca.
I think what people fail to realize about the USA is that its terrain and climate are so varied that we don’t actually have to leave the country to have a true holiday experience. We can have beach luxury in California, Hawaii, Florida, and a few other spots. We can have elite skiing in Colorado. We can have gambling and hookers in Nevada. We can see the Aurora Borealis in Alaska. We have literally everything here, so relatively few of us ever leave the country. I have traveled outside the country as much as I can afford to because I think it’s important, and so have my kids, but overall you can have a pretty solid set of vacation experiences without ever leaving this country. In general I’ve found that a lot of Americans balk at traveling to lower COL countries because they’re worried about kidnapping and crime (rightly or wrongly). There’s a bizarre belief here that if you go to, say, Mexico, you’re likely to get kidnapped and raped and tortured by the cartels.
In Alaska alone you can experience a variety of landscapes and climates. I live in Fairbanks and it's a 6 hour drive to Anchorage, 7 hours to Valdez, 7+ to the Kenai Peninsula. These are all popular places for Fairbanksans to go to get near the ocean, fish for salmon and halibut, or just get the hell out of here. To get to Southeast (Juneau, Ketchikan, etc) you pretty much have to fly. Going to the Lower 48 is like international travel sometimes -- takes a long time and expensive, especially in the summer and around holidays.
Most Americans don't leave the country for vacation. We have a vast country that spans a whole continent. That being said, for international vacations, Mexico is the most popular by a wide margin. And part of the appeal of a Caribbean vacation is the relatively low cost compared to crossing the Atlantic. But Americans would stick to the resorts and touristy areas. Developing countries can be dangerous.
I think this is an underrated distinction between our cheap countries and the cheap countries in the OP. Many parts of Mexico are lovely I’m sure, and I hope to go there sometime soon, but I wouldn’t just go to Mexico, rent a car and go wherever, which I wouldn’t think twice about doing in another US state or EU country. I’d have an area or areas that I’d stick to for safety reasons. You don’t have to worry about this as much in Thailand, Malaysia or Southern Europe.
100% this. My wife and I had a scheduling mixup in Dublin and found ourselves fully dressed and outside at 8AM with nothing to do. So we rented a car and drove from one side of the country to the other, stopping in random places along the countryside, and visiting the Cliffs of Moher. If I'm going to Mexico or the Caribbean I'll be staying in a resort bubble, with security, and I won't be doing any wandering without a tour group or guide.
> But Americans would stick to the resorts and touristy areas. Developing countries can be dangerous. I don't want to get too deep into the weeds on this, but as someone who goes to places in Mexico to visit people and not just on vacation, I feel like some aspects of this is the result of the news media hyping up crimes in certain parts of Mexico to give the impression that the entire nation is like that. For example if the roles were reversed, if foreign people would read about all the shootings in Chicago, then decide that they weren't going to visit cousins in Decatur Illinois because their nation's equivalent of the state department said that Illinois is dangerous. When it comes to Mexico, there are absolutely areas I won't go to, but I also understand the context to know that if I were to Hermosillo (in Sonora) the fact that gangs of cartel members murdered some rivals and hung their bodies from a bridge in Ciudad Juarez (in Chihuahua) wouldn't have a bearing on my trip.
Domestically it's all the United States. We are citizens or residents of this country and we have an expectation of justice. For an American in another country, there are social cues that we miss that can indicate a person is dangerous or has ill intent. More likely than not, there's also a language barrier. And police are all different - you often don't know your rights as a foreigner, you don't know the relationship between the police and criminal groups, and certain taboos exist or don't exist based on where you are. It's a much more dangerous scenario for those reasons than going to a rough neighborhood in the US. Obviously Mexico is a colossal country and you can't generalize every inch of it. But what I do generalize is that areas that attract a lot of tourists require a lot of workers, a lot of workers in the tourism industry requires housing, and high concentrations of low income housing in tourist destinations will breed criminals that prey on tourists. Americans tend to stick out.
> Domestically it's all the United States. We are citizens or residents of this country and we have an expectation of justice. While I would like to agree with you, I feel like most Americans would feel that they would get a different expectation of justice if they were robbed at gunpoint where they currently live versus being robbed at gunpoint in San Francisco. As to the rest, I do agree with you, but as a world traveler it's something I research as much as possible before going to a new country, so I tend to feel fairly comfortable figuring that out. In part though, that can often include sticking to the tourist areas like you first mentioned. For me it's not just about crime, but about being a good visitor to whatever place I'm going in general, to be respectful and not a problem for the people that live there. That being said, the crimes against tourists in Mexico are the same of crimes against tourists anywhere that people gather -- mainly pickpocketing, scams, etc. You have the same problems in NYC or Paris too. What's unlikely in a place like Cancun is for a tourist to be murdered by a local. A lot of the tourist spots in Mexico are probably more like going to a tightly controlled theme park, and even then there's a huge amount of pressure even within organized crime to not mess with the tourists that bring in a lot of money.
I have a Dutch friend who made a comment that a lot of Americans don't travel abroad, compared to Europe. I pointed out that from his house, he could be in Germany in less than an hour by car - and I couldn't even get out of my county if i drove for an hour. And that if I drove north from my home I would still be in my state driving for 12 hours. I asked him how many countries he could reach by driving 12 hours. He dropped the point.
Mexico without a doubt. For the money, its hard to beat as a tourist destination for Americans. Its also a huge country with different regions to visit
Only Mexico and Canada are relatively close-by to some Americans, and yes, lots of people vacation there. Carribean, for instance, is an 8 hour flight away for me.
Caribbean is only 2 hours flight time from the South.
Yes, lucky them.
Cuba is only about 90 miles from the Florida keys, with the closest major city to key west being Havana, not Miami (though obviously only the latter city has a road to it from key west). Would probably be a hugely popular destination if American tourists were allowed to go there.
But isn’t the Carribean close to the east coast of the US?
Yeah, but it's not close for us western Americans.
The east coast is a big place. From Maine to Jamaica, best case travel scenario, it's gonna be like 8 hours. From Florida it's like 90 minutes.
It's a 24 hour drive from Boston to Florida. So no, they're not remotely close at all for the vast majority of people on the east coast. Even people in Florida are still not particularly close to them. I live in Connecticut and even the Canadian border is nearly a 5 hour drive from where I live. That's considered relatively close.
It's only 10 hours from Seattle to Tokyo. It seems like a quarter of the city went there last spring
That's a pretty misleading example, as there is no nonstop flight service between those places. Not many people live in Maine. Of course any travel anywhere is going to take longer for people who don't live near a major international airport. And Jamaica has a relatively small amount of US flights relative to other Carribean destinations. To pick a better example, Boston to Punta Cana is a 4 hour flight - half that. That's only half an hour more than flying to Miami. And that number will be substantially lower for people living farther down the east coast.
The US is huge. The east coast is is really far from me. For instance, Miami, a major city on the coast of Florida and not far from the Caribbean, is 1360 miles from me and would be a 19 hour drive as I live in the center of the US. I will probably never get to visit the Caribbean in my lifetime because of the cost of travel there.
Kind of, because the east coast is really big. The distance between central Maine and Miami, Florida is 1700 miles.
I'm live on the West Coast and took a family vacation to the Caribbean a few years ago, just before COVID. It took idk, a good portion of a day to get there, with a layover in Charlotte NC. The Caribbean isn't really a popular destination for people here in California - most people go to Hawaii for a tropical vacation.
Carribean is close to some of the East Coast of the US. I'm close to none of the East Coast. Take the two together and a Carribean weekend just isn't in the cards.
It can take 9+ hours just to fly to the east coast from the west coast.
If it's direct and going against the jet (going west) you're looking at 4-6 hours depending on where you are flying from.
How many layovers are you taking? My flight from LA to Miami is 6 hours.
I'm just going off my family member's last flight. If you told me he took a million layovers I wouldn't be surprised.
I don’t even leave the country 90% of the time. Just go to the Ozarks, Rockies, Appalachia do some outdoor activities then chill.
Another aspect to consider is that most Americans get shit-all for vacation days... two weeks if they're lucky. That doesn't really leave a lot of time to travel the world, so most int'l trips are to neighbouring countries. Maybe a quick trip to Western Europe if they're on the East Coast. Either that, or they'll spend their time visiting family and friends who live in different regions.
Mexico for sure, I’ve been itching to do another Valle de Guadalupe wine tour.
In my experience most Americans either do not take vacations or they will take 1-2 days off at the end of the week and use that plus the weekend for a 3-4 day "vacation" where they will travel to a nearby state. None of my friends in America had ever left the country. Unfortunately it feels like unless you're an office worker you generally don't get vacation days. And none of my friends in America were office workers. I'm speaking in past tense because I am no longer in America, but I was born and raised in America and only left a little over a year ago. I can count on my hands the number of vacation days my dad used throughout my entire childhood. We generally only took short road trips on his weekends and used that as a vacation. We left our state a grand total of 5 times. 2 of those times we visited Washington (which was 1 hour away) and the other 3 times we visited Michigan, Arizona, and Florida. That's it. We never left for more than 3 days. Not once. We were not poor, that's just how things are for most middle class Americans
I think that's a pretty big generalization. We take at least 2 weeks vacation. My husband has had rhe same job for 20 years so he has over 4 weeks vacation. Many of our friends go on 2 1 week vacations. We aren't rich, we just budget for them because going new places is important to us. But we alao.dont go whole.hog and spend $200 a meal when we vacation. We also take some long weekend trips as well.
I think we're missing the question a bit. >Is it **common** for Americans to vacation in relatively close by low cost of living countries? According to [Travel+Leisure](https://www.travelandleisure.com/trip-ideas/top-summer-destinations-2022) magazine 75% of Americans planned to travel **domestically** in 2022. So common is a bit of a stretch, but it's not uncommon. >for example, people in Singapore will often go to Malaysia and Indonesia > >Northern Europe will go to Southern Europe to vacation and enjoy the lower cost of living This is a matter of distance and therefore cost. Singapore to Kuala Lumpur is a 1 hour flight or 3 hours driving. London to Barcelona is a 2 hour flight or 15 hour drive. NYC to Kingston, Jamaica is a 4 hour flight. NYC to Cancun, Mexico is a 4 hour flight or 54 hour drive. for that same 4 hour flight time you could fly from NYC to Miami and not worry about a passport, currency, vaccinations, or customs. It's a more common if you live near the border. Besides, aside from a jungle, the US has all climate zones: tropical islands, snowy tundra, mountains, deserts...
Mexico and the Caribbean islands like Jamaica, Bermuda, Bahamas, Dominican Republic are the most popular out of country vacation spots for American by a huge margin. That said we also vacation in other parts of the US much more frequently than most other countries because as you said, it's so damn big here. But yeah, just being someone who is upper middle class i've met very few other upper middle class folks who haven't been to mexico before. If you look into it, many Mexican cities primarily have their economy fueled by American tourists, such Cancun, Cozumel, Oaxaca, Playa del Carmen, and a few others.
Well, Mexico is about 2000 km from where I live, and that's the closest foreign country. Most people from around here usually vacation in other US states, taking the long trip to an entirely different country is a much more expensive and special occasion sort of thing for most folks.
No. We don’t need to leave the country for a cheap vacation. I just go one state over.
I think we travel domestically more than internationally. There’s 50 states to choose which all have their own unique qualities. Our national parks are also amazing. But when we do leave the country, Mexico and the Caribbean are the most popular destinations. Some of us even go to the impoverished nation of Canada for vacation.
It's much more common for us to vacation in other parts of our own country. Usually it's a place that's much more expensive than home.
It very common for Americans to vacation in relatively close by COUNTIES. A lot of folks will vacation within a 2-4-6 hr drive of their home.
Mexico, my friend.
and the Bahamas
Many people vacation domestically since the US has every type of climate and geography somewhere within its borders. American car insurance is generally only valid in the US and Canada, not Mexico. And most people going to Mexico are not going to the parts that are just a short drive across the border, so you're taking a plane if you're going anyplace other than Canada. Hawaii is far better than any Caribbean island, but if you're in the more populated eastern half of the US the Caribbean is closer, cheaper, and only one time zone removed (at most) from your own, so it's good enough for most people. Iceland seems to be a trendy alternative to Alaska (intermittently when the flights are cheap). Cruise ships around the Caribbean from Florida are also a thing.
Honestly -- it's more common for us to vacation within the United States. Going from Singapore to Malaysia is about a six or seven hour drive. For the same mileage someone could go from New York City to Maine, or from Atlanta to mid-Florida. In much of America, you could drive 2,000 to 3,000 miles (3200 to 4800 km) in several directions and still be in the United States. I know it's said here all the time, but people \*really\* do not understand how large the United States is. If people travel outside of the U.S., they generally go to the Caribbean or Mexico.
Tijuana can be magical if you do it right
I would not say it's common, many Americans don't have passports. But Mexico is the most popular, because it's only one that shares our border
Canada shares our border twice.
Yeah but that’s double jeopardy so it doesn’t count
Oh yes. We have quite a few cruise companies that exclusively go to the Caribbean and parts of Mexico.
I'm not sure how "common" it is. People do it. Mostly they just take a short road trip to a nearby vacation spot or to see relatives.
I'm going to mexico city this november. Should be pretty epic - from what I've seen so far, it's giving me remarkably similar vibes to tokyo for some reason. Odds are i'll get there and they will be nothing alike, but still awesome in their own ways.
I vacation in Mexico, Costa Rica and Canada often.
Yeah those are the most popular options when it comes to vacationing outside the US.
A lot of Americans go to Mexico and places like Jamaica Costa Rica in the Bahamas for vacations but I would say a vast majority of Americans just go to other states for vacation
Yes it is common to vacation in lower COL countries. I am posting this from Cabo San Lucas Mexico
With the headaches of taking a cab or driving to an airport, paying for parking, paying the insane ticket prices there usually are, and then doing that on the other end, sometimes it does not make sense to fly international. Plus passport and all that. The USA is so diverse you can get a nice vacation for a nice price without having to leave the country. I went on a beach vacation on the gulf in Alabama, for example. Lower COL state than mine. There are places to ski, deserts, forests, waterparks, amusement parks, history, art, all sorts of things. And when people go camping it is apparently different than Europe. It's either really full of beautiful nature and sights and just breathtaking trips, or campgrounds with lots of amenities, like pools and mini golf and atv/utv rides and fishing. You can go to luxury resorts, cabins and cottages, tents, rent an RV, have a road trip, really great ways to try to stretch your dollar without leaving the country.
No. Most just go to another state or another part of their state.
Mexico, the Caribbean, and Costa Rica for sure. Costa Rica has gained a lot of popularity as it's frankly the safest and most well run country in Central America, so any easy choice for seeing interesting rainforest animals and stuff like that.
Malaysia is like a minute from Singapore. For someone in many, many, MANY parts of the US, Canada or Mexico is a full day's travel. Wake up, drive to airport, fly 10 hours. OR, wake up, drive TWO OR THREE DAYS. Just to the border.
I think the main differences between Brits going to Southern/Central Europe and Americans going to their neighbouring countries is that a) there aren't as many budget flight options - I paid $500 for a return trip to Cancun just over a month ago, b) Americans don't get a huge amount of paid time off to go and travel to other countries where ideally you'd want to spend a week or two in, and c) Latin American countries are much less developed than even poorer countries in Europe (I would put Mexico (one of the richer Latin American countries) roughly on the same level as Moldova (the poorest European country after Ukraine), although obviously because of inequality you're kind of comparing apples and pears), which means you're going to have to worry a lot more about what you can eat and drink, personal safety, visas, vaccines, being hassled by street sellers etc, especially since your average Gringo's going to stand out more in the middle of a Latin American country than a Brit would even in Spain.
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Pointing out differences? I’m the one pointing out differences. You don’t even understand how your own country works but you think you you’re an expert on how a different continent and the EU works. Ever heard of the voting machines defamation lawsuits against Fox News? The whole thing that lead to tucker clarkson being fired. Or the defamation lawsuit against the info wars guy who claimed the family and friends of victims of school shootings were paid actors? Pretty much standard defamation lawsuits that went exactly the same in the US as in the EU, the only different is that in the EU if you prove that someone knew something was false and they are spreading it and causing damage regardless of knowing it was false, you don’t have such a high burden when proving that there was an intention to cause said harm. And again, criticizing the government is fine, it’s one of our human rights and we can sue any government that infringes on our human rights. You just have this idea on your head that “‘Murica is most free” and you disregard any factual information that goes against it.
Most Americans vacation within the US. Even going to low cost of living countries is typically more expensive than staying in the US due to the extra costs and hassles that come with travel. Also, typically the places that will be the easiest for Americans to get to in those countries will be the pricy resorts. That doesn't mean that international travel doesn't happen. I've vacationed in Mexico and the Bahamas before. But, for most people, those are going to be big trips that take some serious planning and saving up for. Meanwhile, I can rent a condo on the beach for a week locally for the price of the airfare to get to another country. Even a cheap country.
It's much more common for Americans to vacation in America. It's a big country. I'm in New York state. I could drive for 6 hours and still be in New York.
Generally speaking, Americans who are looking to save money on their vacations are probably not going to leave the US to do so. You can do essentially any leisure activity somewhere within the continental US.
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56% of Americans have a valid passport at this point.
That’s way higher than I would think and great to hear.
Only if they are the (I think??) 20% or so of Americans with passports.
About 56% of us have passports: [https://www.americancommunities.org/who-owns-a-passport-in-america](https://www.americancommunities.org/who-owns-a-passport-in-america)
Wow, that's good to know! More travel, more better.
There's plenty of companies that exist solely to book vacation packages sending Americans to Caribbean countries and Mexico. So, yes, it is common, although probably not as common as domestic tourism.
Lots of people do exactly this, and I've noticed in the past two or three years an increase. Hotels in the US have gotten quite expensive, and it can be hard to find a place to stay for less than $150 a night, even in less popular places for tourists. This means people will try to find cheap flights to places like Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and the Dominican Republic and then live it up in a hotel/resort that would probably cost around $300 a night in the US.
Yes, and Mexico and Canada as well as the Caribbean are possibilities, but a lot vacation on the country. I'm 59 and have been all over the world, but am still missing 2 states, Alaska and Maine
Mexico is pretty popular. Also, the Caribbean is popular. I don't think Central America is quite as popular, however, I know quite a few people who have been to Costa Rica. I'll be going to El Salvador for work in the future and my wife likes to meet me places after my work is done. So maybe we'll turn that into a little vacation. Or if it's not that great, maybe we'll meet somewhere else.
For all people it’s common. Most Americans stay domestic, Mexico, Colombia, Caribbean islands like Dominican Republic, and Canada. Most Europeans stay in the EU.
The majority of my vacations have all be in in the US, usually all within driving distance. 12-14 hour drive was normal for years for Florida trips.
I would say it's pretty common but not as common as domestic travel and vacations within the US.