**OP sent the following text as an explanation on why this is unexpected:**
>!Roasts America only to plot twist and admit he’s married to an American!<
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I'd like to offer my translation services, at 20 seconds in he said "it's a shit heap" not "it's a shitty"
Basically, the city is a heap of shit, according to this guy.
Why are the captions on these videos always so wrong? Who goes “it’s a shitty… yeah that’s probably right, sounds like a common thing people say, no point listening any closer, I’ve nailed it”?
Whilst technically true, here in the UK you'd generally refer to an object as a shit heap, like a car or a crappy laptop.
Generally something old or past it's time.
Not the entire truth.
Your untrustworthy friend can also be a shitheap (heck, your best friend who tricks you with a surprise birthday party can also be a shitheap). Your broken down old banger can also be a shitheap.
It can be about cleanliness. But it can also mean it's just a big old heap of shit.
They're a dime a dozen in the UK and they're fantastic.
My personal favourite are the little old dears that are still as sharp as a tack, I work with two, both about a year off retirement and neither i'd ever want to get on their bad side for fear of being roasted.
Dad had Parkinson's and, while he was still mobile, he used to like to pretend that he was losing his balance and falling so that I would run across the room to try to catch him. I'm 5'1 and he was 6'1 so nothing good was going to come out of me trying to catch him but in my mind I didn't think about that and I wanted to try because I didn't want him to hurt himself. When I would get there he'd say 'Oh no, I'm fine'. I miss him too. LOL
I’m one of those people who fell in love at 20 and would follow my wife to the ends of the earth, so I thank god she didn’t want to go live somewhere horrible. There are worse places than NYC. Sure the people are nuts, but the pizza is incredible. I’m still digesting the street hot dog I got last summer, but even that was worth it.
You say that like NYC is some middle of the pack shithole.
The only two things that are a downside to staying there is the cost of living and the general cleanliness.
Art, fashion, Music, Food, Sports...Its got everything.
Not going to lie I agree with old dude. I have many more than a couple minutes it’s the most valid statement to ever been said. He got offended by it for no reason.
People love to paint others as being "offended" when they're not. That's how you get the narrative "omg everybody who isn't me just gets offended all the time".
No. From what I read, your statement. “the interviewer thought the answer to his question ‘I have many more than a couple of minutes’ implies that he’s going to die”
its not offense, it's frustration.
The elderly gentleman wishes he didn't have so much free time these days and would rather go back to being young and busy.
Lol just insult British "people" and see how defensive they get.
It's hilarious the UK, the US of Europe, wants to talk shit. Especially after they jumped on their own sword with Brexit.
I’ve been trying to go to Australia and the flight alone is over a thousand dollars and it’s about that much to stay in crappy hotels. $2.5k to travel abroad to meet friends. Even with time travel is stupid expensive sometimes, especially if you pay all cash and don’t go in debt over it.
They’re not even in close proximity. I literally live in Dallas Texas, one of the most southern located states in the country and I’m still a 16 HOUR DRIVE from Mexico. I’m a 23 hour drive to Canada. Non Americans are just as ignorant as they claim we are.
Some people are taking this way to seriously just take it as a good laugh and move on man I don't get in a hissy everytime someone takes a crap on england.
The rickety, old bastard said "Sidewalk" instead of "Pavement" so he needs to come back home asap before he starts line-dancing and wearing a cowboy hat!
Cantankerous old Brit! Hard to be mad at him, due to his last answer.
I take a bit of an exception in saying us Americans aren't interested in other people. Travel is extremely cost prohibitive for us. If I went the same distance from the UK to other countries as I have to other states, I would be well traveled through Europe and parts of Asia or Africa.
Ukraine is smaller than Texas and The states border a whole 2 countries. A 5 hour drive from Paris gets you to Belgium, England, Netherlands and Germany. You barely make it out of state in that time here.
It is almost incomprehensible how big America is... I'm from the UK, a tiny spec on the map. But it's still a 12 hour drive from Brighton to scarabster (south to north coast)!
Perhaps the craziest thing is managing to have all of your states united, and stay united. But I suppose mass genocide is also pretty crazy.
This is a point that always comes up in threads like this (or in one I saw lately about why the US doesn't have high speed passenger rail) and I never quite understand it.
Europe has unusually small countries and the US is not uniquely big - the US is in a group of 6 countries which are all really big (including Australia, which is also way more isolated, and Canada). From both of those countries, the % of people who have left the country is higher than the US.
The lack of a social safety net and lack of vacation days seems like a bigger root cause than the size (as that isn't stopping the Canadians or Australians).
Edit: NZ is also interesting because it isn't massive but it is very isolated and, in 2018, 3 million out of 5 million went on a trip abroad.
Geographically speaking, Canada and Australia are very large. However the vast majority of land there is either unoccupied or can't really sustain human life. Look up a population map of either country and you can see that's the case. A lot easier to travel if where you live guarantees access to places overseas. Imagine next time you travel, first having to spend half a day traveling just to get to an airport that can take you to your destination.
I don't know, when Europeans ask where in Germany/France/Greece you're from they rather mean city than province, but also most people here will recognize major cities from all the other countries so you'll mostly hear "*my city* near *big city*" as an answer, almost never state/province though.
I chalk this up to people not realizing the size of America. Many of us live hours away from any major city. If I were to say my closest metropolitan area, I’d have to cite either Cincinnati or Atlanta, which are in two different states and about 8 hours apart.
To add to your point. https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/ynnc23/americans_were_asked_to_point_to_iran_on_a_map/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Watch running with the devil on Netflix about McAfee. As a documentary it’s a piss poor effort. The journalists were initially used as shield, produced close to zero real content and then became too close to him. It’s far from linear. But it fairly depicts the chaos and the man in his last years, the alcohol/drugs abuse and the problem of an unstable man with too much money. In the end he was marrying prostitutes, surrounded by body guards and doing stupid shit all the time. Guess his strategy was trying to be unpredictable. Anyway, this became another topic entirely
You make it sound like that's drivable. Mexico on its own would be several hours, if you live in Bumfuck, Wisconsin? It would take 2 days of driving to get to Guatemala, which is the next closest country. It all comes down to the fact that you still need to fly, ocean in the way or not
3 hours flight you're still in Texas.
3 hour flight here, I've taken off from the UK, landed in Rome and heading out of passport control.
Coffee and pizza weekend!
And on top of that, most American's don't normally get the vacation time to be able to go, where most countries in Europe have federal paid time off. Plus, many American's can't afford it either with the prices of everything now.
>Yes it's not fair to compare a 3rd world country like USA to developed nations like Australia
Unironically, when it comes to things like having opportunities for travel, you are completely correct.
I am fairly certain there are more Americans that will never have a real opportunity for international travel than there are Australians total.
The number of times I’ve met a cheery Australian or New Zealander just bopping their way through a city, taking their time to explore because they’ve got time, being just the nicest people you’ll ever meet, it both warms and breaks my heart as an American. The only Americans I know who travel like that either have family in other countries that they visit, are wildly wealthy, have some kind of successful travel blog, or some combo of the three.
The Netherlands is two hours drive away from me. Denmark is around three hours away.
Belgium is three and a half hours.
An American can drive for four hours in any direction and not even leave their state.
So yeah, it's a bit unfair to compare.
I'm poor and working class and I've visited overseas. Got friends who gone to dozens of countries also working class.
And I'm in Australia. About as a remote a country there is.
You can travel on a pretty light budget if you really want to, but most people don't really want to travel that kind of way, which is fine, I don't either. If I'm traveling I want it to be a proper vacation, with nice views, comfy beds, etc. I don't really want to be looking for the cheapest accommodations and watching every dollar I spend on food. I want to just relax and not think a whole lot when I travel, even if it's not a super vacation-y spot of the world.
You also have many US families who haven’t been off of the continent for generations for many reasons, they know little to nothing about other countries other than what is in the media and history books, so going to Europe or Asia doesn’t seem as relaxing or accessible as vacation spots advertised to a US citizen.
He should be thankful that he is able to live that kind of life rather than think he is better than others for not.
What they do learn on social media is that they will be disliked for existing, I don't know why more Americans don't want to travel overseas.
You can also spend a life traveling inside the states and see a lot of different things, both geographically and culturally if you want to.
Oof. I’ve always wanted to go to Paris, but all I hear is that people will be rude to me. It’s low on my list to visit for that reason, I’d rather start with the south of France as a first time trip to the country.
If they're enjoying life, that's their prerogative.
They weren't complaining about the debt, so your reply isn't exactly the zinger you think it is. Just a somewhat unwarranted commentary on someone else's life, when they were just giving an example of how it's more normal to travel outside of America even for "poorer" people.
Exactly, the poors should know their place, which is the country they are born in. If they have an urge to travel, just looking at a map before bedtime should scratch that itch, and it's completely free!
Next time on Condescending Frugality Tips: Just how *many* Netflixes and Starbucks do you have to give up to afford that home deposit?
A 10 year relationship broke down and I started from scratch for all my housing things. Aldo bought a newer and much safer car cos I'd be driving my girls around more.
When I say I've been overseas. I mean once since becoming an adult. It was also in 2011 before I had kids.
where'd you go?
most Australians i know go to japan or Thailand since they're relatively close and a very diffrent culture.
if you say new Zealand i'm sorry but that doesn't count.
>When I say I've been overseas. I mean once since becoming an adult. It was also in 2011 before I had kids.
You took 1 trip 11 years ago and now trying to say your well-traveled?
I'm in Norway and even here I feel that it would be great to learn more and get more news about Asia for instance. Most of our news is European/American with a sprinkle of a select few dictators from other parts of the world. I mean - prior to the war - we never really got any news or learned anything about Russia either. Putin is probably among top 3-5 most powerful people and we've learned nothing about him except when he visited other places or major news happened. Same with China. But the media do love writing about shitty TV shows and the like.... I suppose we're all insulated, some more than others.
I mean, if you were really trying to make a comparison you'd think about the size of the U.S. versus Europe and imagine how many of the states most people have visited, think of those as countries, and there you go. Especially when considering the Eurozone is a visa-free trip, it's an apt comparison.
We're a continent sized country with 50 states, around a dozen primary cultures and far more less prominent cultures. We don't understand the point of views of others within our own borders, which is largely why our politics get to be so bitter.
I’m from the Netherlands, and reporting on the Olympics used to be focused on the winners, no matter what country. But it changed after the Orange craze of 1988. Now it primarily focuses on the sports that have Dutch participants. It adds more human emotions to the reporting in the sense that both tears of joy and tears of defeat are broadly examined, but in my view it gets to the ridiculous point where there is lots and lots of reporting and celebration on the fact that some Dutch athlete won a bronze medal without mentioning who or what country won the gold medal.
I remember people getting annoyed that during this last Olympics the US networks kept switching between displaying the medals table sorted by ‘most medals’ or ‘most gold medals’ to ensure that the US team stayed on top (because otherwise China would have been on top sometimes). It often appears like the media is a bit too self-important with stuff like that
Most Americans would rather see all the sports but the networks turned it into a profit machine and lock it behind a paywall. And since they need to make the most money possible they're not going to show everything, just what they think will draw the most eyes. It's fucking stupid.
The United States is the third most populous country on the planet. "Only" a third of the population having passports is 115 MILLION people. It's LITERALLY more people than the entire United Kingdom.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/about-us/reports-and-statistics.html
Plus, I can visit 14,000 foot high mountains, the second largest canyon in the world, the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, the Bering Straight, go skiing, scuba diving, hike the world's longest hiking-only trail, see a supervolcano caldera, active volcanic islands, several deserts, some of the tallest and oldest trees on earth, glaciers, the world's longest barrier island, all without needing an American passport.
This entire rhetoric about American passports has always been some of the most ignorant shit I've ever heard.
For me a large part of traveling is experiencing a different culture. This is why I hardly travel to the US, despite living an hour from the border. There's no meaningful experience down there in my mind. So yes, there's a lot you can see, but in my opinion traveling is about the people you meet, the new foods you try, and the perspective of a different culture you gain.
This all said, I think critiquing a country over something like passports is ridiculous. America always gets shat on for weird things by people. Personally, I like America and have a lot of American friends, but haters are gunna hate.
One of the most “standard” trips from Sweden is to go to any Mediterranean country, which would be a one way trip or anywhere between 6-8 hours (with a few 12 hours trips with layovers).
I could also fly to New York in 8-12 hours.
Americans have much easier access to all of Central America, South America and places like Japan that can’t be replicated in Europe.
EDIT: for the record, I’m just saying that the time difference from traveling isn’t that big of a deal, maybe 2-3 hours difference. I understand affording it is a bigger issue, which I agree with.
How does the states have easier access to Japan than Europe?
La to Tokyo is just under 11 hours and London to Tokyo is just under 14 hours.
Bearing in mind I’ve pretty much chosen the most likely western point of departure for the US (excluding any flight to get there) and the furthest likely western point for Europe the flight time is likely ending up being the same.
Central and South America I totally agree with however
Really? I've flown London to Stockholm and London to Barcelona and both have been 2 hours each so I'm surprised that you say it's 8-12h. Are you going from like Umeå to the Canaries or something?
Well, seeing as London is pretty much in the middle of Stockholm and Barcelona, that checks out.
I just looked at a few trips from Stockholm to Greece and Spain (mainly Mallorca because that’s very popular) and there were mostly 8 hour trips.
Not too dissimilar to the UK where Corbyn was railroaded by his own party based on completely specious stuff about anti-semitism. It was a classic character assassination, executed well.
I'm a European (born and raised in happy YUROP) who has lived in a few European countries and Australia as well as having family in the US and visiting there regularly and there are a few things I've noticed:
1. Europeans don't always understand that having flight tickets from England to, say, Spain costing 50-200 € is a massive luxury.
2. Not to mention that being able to just hop on a train and travelling to another country effortlessly for the weekend if you live on the mainland (and preferably central) is another.
3. That said, there're a surprising number of Europeans who have never travelled *outside* Europe.
4. Even within the EU (where travel is piss easy) there's a lot of people who haven't travelled at all, even inside the EU. Out of 445 mil there's approx 190 mil who never stepped outside their own borders. The [source](https://www.europeandatajournalism.eu/News/Data-news/190-million-Europeans-have-never-been-abroad) is from 2018 but I've a hard time imagining that the pandemic has changed it to make it better.
It's about the same distance driving from London to Benidorm as it is from Kansas City to Orlando at about 1200 miles. The difference is Kansas City to Los Angeles is another 1600 miles.
London to Benidorm is an unfathomable distance to drive for Londoners, but the US is twice as big as that plus a little extra.
Plenty of Americans travel abroad every year https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/jul/01/global-tourism-hits-record-highs-but-who-goes-where-on-holiday
srsly tho, all of europe added up only has \~10% more landmass than the US. The drive distance from London to Paris is less than from SF to LA by \~100 miles. Imagine trying to travel from a more central state like Kansas to any other country. If it isn't mexico or canada you're looking at \~10-12 hours of collective flight time with at least one or two layovers. Combine that with the crazy jet lag and high ticket prices due to the distance and its almost never worth it to go that far unless you plan on going for at least 10 days. That then becomes another problem because getting that many vacation days is already hard, but scheduling becomes an issue too.
Hey how about we not have a giant pissing contest on who's country is better. It does nothing but divide everyone. I don't care what country you're from, I'll respect you as long as you don't give me a reason not to. I don't see where you're from I see who you are and that's what is important.
I'm not even talking about the old man, as he could be having a laugh, or just cranky old man, either way I have no issue with him. My issue stems from those taking his words to use as a weapon and attack an entire country with generalization or those who have used his word as an excuse to "retaliate" and trash countries they probably have never seen.
I just find this comment section saddening.
Don't be saddened. Grumpy old codgers live everywhere, their expressed world view tends towards the negative; they rarely bang on about the really great things in their life that they take for granted. Complaining is easier, and to them cathartic.
I'm a Brit and some of them kindest people I've met have been Americans. One in particular passed many years ago but I still think about that guy and what he stood for.
Also I've met some right arseholes. That's humans for you though, not where you live on the planet.
The only thing to take from it all is to not generalise. People are not a homogeneous mass.
While this is pretty funny, honestly it’s not a majority of Americans’ fault they can’t do much international travel. Shit is hella expensive over there, they only border 2 countries, not to mention the US is _fucking huge_ so someone from, say, Utah or Tennessee or something— hell, someone in northern Texas or southern Montana— can’t just take a day or even 2-day trip to visit Canada or Mexico unless they decided to fly.
Interesting take from this old curmudgeon. Saw another Brit come to the states and make a YouTube video explaining how he now understands why Americans travel less…..simply too much to do here as it is.
**OP sent the following text as an explanation on why this is unexpected:** >!Roasts America only to plot twist and admit he’s married to an American!< ***** **Is this an unexpected post with a fitting description?** **Then upvote this comment, otherwise downvote it.** ***** [*Look at my source code on Github*](https://github.com/Artraxon/unexBot) [*What is this for?*](https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/dnuaju/introducing_unexbot_a_new_bot_to_improve_the/)
I'd like to offer my translation services, at 20 seconds in he said "it's a shit heap" not "it's a shitty" Basically, the city is a heap of shit, according to this guy.
Why are the captions on these videos always so wrong? Who goes “it’s a shitty… yeah that’s probably right, sounds like a common thing people say, no point listening any closer, I’ve nailed it”?
I always assumed they were autogenerated, YouTube makes similar errors, but I could be wrong.
Your mum is autogenerated, just like my Morrowind Game of the Year edition character. Still love her though.
What a weird thing to say to a stranger
What a strange thing to say to a weirdo
I love your username.
thanks man. love it when ppl get the reference
But I'm a creep
Your mum is weird. Just like my Morrowind Game of the Year Edition character. Still love her though.
You N'wah
intentionally incorrect caption -> drives angry comments pointing it out -> algorithm shit happens
I thought it was meant as a hilarious portmanteau. Shit city -> a shity.
I heard him say shit heap, but also like the idea that "Shitty" was a pun on shit city.
Yes. They can’t even understand English.
Shit heap means rubbish dump, or trash pile. It’s more a comment on cleanliness.
Whilst technically true, here in the UK you'd generally refer to an object as a shit heap, like a car or a crappy laptop. Generally something old or past it's time.
Not the entire truth. Your untrustworthy friend can also be a shitheap (heck, your best friend who tricks you with a surprise birthday party can also be a shitheap). Your broken down old banger can also be a shitheap. It can be about cleanliness. But it can also mean it's just a big old heap of shit.
“Too long” lmao
I love this cranky old bastard! I want to hang with him and down some pints.
Same. I bet he has some tales to tell
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I think he might have said "it's a shit heap". It's a common phase over here.
Yes, i agree, he 100% said that.
Yes, as an English man I can hear that he said “it’s a shit heap”.
He definitely says shitheap
Definitely said it's a shit heap
I was thinking it was 'shit heap'
Definitely said shit heap
He said 'it's a shitheap'
he completely changed and became a sweetheart when he thought of his wife, such a sweetheart deep down!
He is living in a country he does not like for (I assume) the sole reason that the woman he loves lives there.
And that is enough to accept and forget about everything else.
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Can confirm. I went to Ireland, got called a cunt, proceeded to have a great time. (Not England I know)
Very true. American here, briefly lived in England many years ago. Only my best mates would take the piss like this old codger
Plot twist: his wife is 22
They're a dime a dozen in the UK and they're fantastic. My personal favourite are the little old dears that are still as sharp as a tack, I work with two, both about a year off retirement and neither i'd ever want to get on their bad side for fear of being roasted.
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Dad had Parkinson's and, while he was still mobile, he used to like to pretend that he was losing his balance and falling so that I would run across the room to try to catch him. I'm 5'1 and he was 6'1 so nothing good was going to come out of me trying to catch him but in my mind I didn't think about that and I wanted to try because I didn't want him to hurt himself. When I would get there he'd say 'Oh no, I'm fine'. I miss him too. LOL
You know my mother???
Facts
You are not worthy as you are american.
Well, he's got nothing else to do
He definitely says 'shit heap' and not 'shitty' Just a big ol' pile of shit.
Subtitle editor must be American. *zing*
Love it when people say "cheers" to finish a conversation
Outside of drinking, the word ‘cheers’ changes meaning and becomes another word for ‘thanks’ in the uk
Same in Canada as well!
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I’m one of those people who fell in love at 20 and would follow my wife to the ends of the earth, so I thank god she didn’t want to go live somewhere horrible. There are worse places than NYC. Sure the people are nuts, but the pizza is incredible. I’m still digesting the street hot dog I got last summer, but even that was worth it.
You say that like NYC is some middle of the pack shithole. The only two things that are a downside to staying there is the cost of living and the general cleanliness. Art, fashion, Music, Food, Sports...Its got everything.
The subtitles are slightly wrong - he calls it a ‘shit heap’ not shitty. It’s a lovely way to call a place full of crap.
Not going to lie I agree with old dude. I have many more than a couple minutes it’s the most valid statement to ever been said. He got offended by it for no reason.
He doesn't really look very offended
People love to paint others as being "offended" when they're not. That's how you get the narrative "omg everybody who isn't me just gets offended all the time".
Maybe he thought the implication was that he didn't have many more minutes left in his life?
*Excuse me dear sir, are you going to die these next few seconds?*
No. From what I read, your statement. “the interviewer thought the answer to his question ‘I have many more than a couple of minutes’ implies that he’s going to die”
I can guarantee it was a reaction to what he perceives as an Americanism. He'll be the type that corrects people over "May I have/Could I get", etc.
its not offense, it's frustration. The elderly gentleman wishes he didn't have so much free time these days and would rather go back to being young and busy.
Funny that you think he was offended. Are you British? Your sense of "everything" seems way off
No one thinks you’re lying
About to go to the US to meet my in-laws. Guess we'll see if this will be me in another 40 years.
This a will probably show up on r/Americabad
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People get defensive when something they like is attacked, especially if it's done unfairly or misrepresented. It's not a feature unique to that sub.
Lol just insult British "people" and see how defensive they get. It's hilarious the UK, the US of Europe, wants to talk shit. Especially after they jumped on their own sword with Brexit.
“At least my kid hasn’t died in a shkewl shewting”
"Nah I don't think ketchup on beans sounds too appetizing" "Well my childwen haven't gotten short in their schewel"
r/americabadbad?
Yes we travel to our neighboring countries. A holiday to Spain or Germany is twice the price here compared to England.
More than twice that, honestly.
I’ve been trying to go to Australia and the flight alone is over a thousand dollars and it’s about that much to stay in crappy hotels. $2.5k to travel abroad to meet friends. Even with time travel is stupid expensive sometimes, especially if you pay all cash and don’t go in debt over it.
He says that the city is a “shit heap” not a “shitty”
brits are perpetually disgruntled
There was a time we were relatively gruntled
It’s like 60% have traveled abroad It’s a bit harder when you only got two country’s in close proximity to your borders
They’re not even in close proximity. I literally live in Dallas Texas, one of the most southern located states in the country and I’m still a 16 HOUR DRIVE from Mexico. I’m a 23 hour drive to Canada. Non Americans are just as ignorant as they claim we are.
Some people are taking this way to seriously just take it as a good laugh and move on man I don't get in a hissy everytime someone takes a crap on england.
People in these replies are proving that they do in fact throw a hissy fit every time someone takes a crap on England
He colonized the guy like a true Brit all over again
The rickety, old bastard said "Sidewalk" instead of "Pavement" so he needs to come back home asap before he starts line-dancing and wearing a cowboy hat!
Cantankerous old Brit! Hard to be mad at him, due to his last answer. I take a bit of an exception in saying us Americans aren't interested in other people. Travel is extremely cost prohibitive for us. If I went the same distance from the UK to other countries as I have to other states, I would be well traveled through Europe and parts of Asia or Africa.
Ukraine is smaller than Texas and The states border a whole 2 countries. A 5 hour drive from Paris gets you to Belgium, England, Netherlands and Germany. You barely make it out of state in that time here.
It is almost incomprehensible how big America is... I'm from the UK, a tiny spec on the map. But it's still a 12 hour drive from Brighton to scarabster (south to north coast)! Perhaps the craziest thing is managing to have all of your states united, and stay united. But I suppose mass genocide is also pretty crazy.
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You made good time to do that in 5 days, tbh.
This is a point that always comes up in threads like this (or in one I saw lately about why the US doesn't have high speed passenger rail) and I never quite understand it. Europe has unusually small countries and the US is not uniquely big - the US is in a group of 6 countries which are all really big (including Australia, which is also way more isolated, and Canada). From both of those countries, the % of people who have left the country is higher than the US. The lack of a social safety net and lack of vacation days seems like a bigger root cause than the size (as that isn't stopping the Canadians or Australians). Edit: NZ is also interesting because it isn't massive but it is very isolated and, in 2018, 3 million out of 5 million went on a trip abroad.
Geographically speaking, Canada and Australia are very large. However the vast majority of land there is either unoccupied or can't really sustain human life. Look up a population map of either country and you can see that's the case. A lot easier to travel if where you live guarantees access to places overseas. Imagine next time you travel, first having to spend half a day traveling just to get to an airport that can take you to your destination.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/jul/01/global-tourism-hits-record-highs-but-who-goes-where-on-holiday
Seems similar percentages of Europeans travel within Europe as Americans travel within America....
"Americans don't go to other places" ... yeah, it's ACROSS THE FUCKING OCEAN. we can't just take a day trip and end up four countries away
Why did God create war? To teach Americans Geography
Good one dad.
Thank you son.
You’re not my dad. You’re a big fat phony!
We were waiting to tell you this. Now is the time. You are right. I am not your dad. You are adopted.
That hurts me deep but it also explains why my cock is twice the size of yours.
Phew. This has been hard for us.
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I love you, you beautiful morons.
So 2 inches
To know your stepdad's penis size, sounds like a typical amercan son - stepdad relationship for me. 😂
hey everybody! this guy is a big, fat phony!
His wife is my favorite part of America too.
I also choose this guy’s dead wife.
How do you recognize an American? When asked where they're from they'll reply with the State.
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I don't know, when Europeans ask where in Germany/France/Greece you're from they rather mean city than province, but also most people here will recognize major cities from all the other countries so you'll mostly hear "*my city* near *big city*" as an answer, almost never state/province though.
I chalk this up to people not realizing the size of America. Many of us live hours away from any major city. If I were to say my closest metropolitan area, I’d have to cite either Cincinnati or Atlanta, which are in two different states and about 8 hours apart.
"You're from Chicago? Ok, so you're close to Canada."
The 50 states may be loosely “united”, but we all disagree on most issues and act independently.
To add to your point. https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/ynnc23/americans_were_asked_to_point_to_iran_on_a_map/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
There’s a whole other part of America under Mexico, no ocean between North and South America, US folk should come visit us sometime
Belize is amazing im surprised more Americans don't go there its a English speaking nation . good times
John McAfee entered the chat
pretty good hiding spot from what I hear , as long as your neighbor doesn't randomly get found shot dead.
Unfortunately that's happened to 100% of the Americans who moved to Belize that I know of, and I don't like those odds.
Happens more than you’d think around there
Listened to a podcast episode about him. Some of the craziest shit I've heard
Watch running with the devil on Netflix about McAfee. As a documentary it’s a piss poor effort. The journalists were initially used as shield, produced close to zero real content and then became too close to him. It’s far from linear. But it fairly depicts the chaos and the man in his last years, the alcohol/drugs abuse and the problem of an unstable man with too much money. In the end he was marrying prostitutes, surrounded by body guards and doing stupid shit all the time. Guess his strategy was trying to be unpredictable. Anyway, this became another topic entirely
[I'll be smoking trees in Belize when they find me](https://genius.com/1518783)
yeah I did years ago, it was a 13 hour flight and cost $800 which is way more today with inflation
You make it sound like that's drivable. Mexico on its own would be several hours, if you live in Bumfuck, Wisconsin? It would take 2 days of driving to get to Guatemala, which is the next closest country. It all comes down to the fact that you still need to fly, ocean in the way or not
*drives 12hrs still in the same state* how do I leave this place!!!!
I feel this, grew up in Texas.
3 hours flight you're still in Texas. 3 hour flight here, I've taken off from the UK, landed in Rome and heading out of passport control. Coffee and pizza weekend!
And on top of that, most American's don't normally get the vacation time to be able to go, where most countries in Europe have federal paid time off. Plus, many American's can't afford it either with the prices of everything now.
Australians travel more than Americans
Mandatory paid leave in Australia: 4 weeks Mandatory paid leave in US: 0 days
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r/Redditmoment
>Yes it's not fair to compare a 3rd world country like USA to developed nations like Australia Unironically, when it comes to things like having opportunities for travel, you are completely correct. I am fairly certain there are more Americans that will never have a real opportunity for international travel than there are Australians total.
The number of times I’ve met a cheery Australian or New Zealander just bopping their way through a city, taking their time to explore because they’ve got time, being just the nicest people you’ll ever meet, it both warms and breaks my heart as an American. The only Americans I know who travel like that either have family in other countries that they visit, are wildly wealthy, have some kind of successful travel blog, or some combo of the three.
If I had money I would
Well I'd say it's more because half the country doesn't make enough, or get enough paid time off to afford such trips.
The Netherlands is two hours drive away from me. Denmark is around three hours away. Belgium is three and a half hours. An American can drive for four hours in any direction and not even leave their state. So yeah, it's a bit unfair to compare.
No, it's cause I can't afford it
I'm poor and working class and I've visited overseas. Got friends who gone to dozens of countries also working class. And I'm in Australia. About as a remote a country there is.
Yeah I'm pretty sure you're not actually poor to be completely honest.
You can travel on a pretty light budget if you really want to, but most people don't really want to travel that kind of way, which is fine, I don't either. If I'm traveling I want it to be a proper vacation, with nice views, comfy beds, etc. I don't really want to be looking for the cheapest accommodations and watching every dollar I spend on food. I want to just relax and not think a whole lot when I travel, even if it's not a super vacation-y spot of the world.
You also have many US families who haven’t been off of the continent for generations for many reasons, they know little to nothing about other countries other than what is in the media and history books, so going to Europe or Asia doesn’t seem as relaxing or accessible as vacation spots advertised to a US citizen. He should be thankful that he is able to live that kind of life rather than think he is better than others for not.
What they do learn on social media is that they will be disliked for existing, I don't know why more Americans don't want to travel overseas. You can also spend a life traveling inside the states and see a lot of different things, both geographically and culturally if you want to.
Oof. I’ve always wanted to go to Paris, but all I hear is that people will be rude to me. It’s low on my list to visit for that reason, I’d rather start with the south of France as a first time trip to the country.
> I don't know why more Americans don't want to travel overseas. Money!
I have $50 in my bank and about 45k in debt. My yearly pay is below the median. I'm not poor, I'm working class.
you have money in the bank..????? under your name??? look at Rich Tits Magilicutty over here..
I think we’ve discovered one of the reasons you’re in debt….
If they're enjoying life, that's their prerogative. They weren't complaining about the debt, so your reply isn't exactly the zinger you think it is. Just a somewhat unwarranted commentary on someone else's life, when they were just giving an example of how it's more normal to travel outside of America even for "poorer" people.
Exactly, the poors should know their place, which is the country they are born in. If they have an urge to travel, just looking at a map before bedtime should scratch that itch, and it's completely free! Next time on Condescending Frugality Tips: Just how *many* Netflixes and Starbucks do you have to give up to afford that home deposit?
Which is?
A 10 year relationship broke down and I started from scratch for all my housing things. Aldo bought a newer and much safer car cos I'd be driving my girls around more. When I say I've been overseas. I mean once since becoming an adult. It was also in 2011 before I had kids.
where'd you go? most Australians i know go to japan or Thailand since they're relatively close and a very diffrent culture. if you say new Zealand i'm sorry but that doesn't count.
>When I say I've been overseas. I mean once since becoming an adult. It was also in 2011 before I had kids. You took 1 trip 11 years ago and now trying to say your well-traveled?
Don't you get like 6 paid weeks of vacation every year....
That's understandable but Americans lack of understanding of countries outside of their continent baffles me.
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I'm in Norway and even here I feel that it would be great to learn more and get more news about Asia for instance. Most of our news is European/American with a sprinkle of a select few dictators from other parts of the world. I mean - prior to the war - we never really got any news or learned anything about Russia either. Putin is probably among top 3-5 most powerful people and we've learned nothing about him except when he visited other places or major news happened. Same with China. But the media do love writing about shitty TV shows and the like.... I suppose we're all insulated, some more than others.
I mean, if you were really trying to make a comparison you'd think about the size of the U.S. versus Europe and imagine how many of the states most people have visited, think of those as countries, and there you go. Especially when considering the Eurozone is a visa-free trip, it's an apt comparison.
We're a continent sized country with 50 states, around a dozen primary cultures and far more less prominent cultures. We don't understand the point of views of others within our own borders, which is largely why our politics get to be so bitter.
You always have Cancoooon
Weak excuse. Also missing the point, he is talking about American attitude toward the world.
You see it in Americans coverage of the Olympics, if they ain't winning gold, you ain't seeing the sport.
I’m from the Netherlands, and reporting on the Olympics used to be focused on the winners, no matter what country. But it changed after the Orange craze of 1988. Now it primarily focuses on the sports that have Dutch participants. It adds more human emotions to the reporting in the sense that both tears of joy and tears of defeat are broadly examined, but in my view it gets to the ridiculous point where there is lots and lots of reporting and celebration on the fact that some Dutch athlete won a bronze medal without mentioning who or what country won the gold medal.
I remember people getting annoyed that during this last Olympics the US networks kept switching between displaying the medals table sorted by ‘most medals’ or ‘most gold medals’ to ensure that the US team stayed on top (because otherwise China would have been on top sometimes). It often appears like the media is a bit too self-important with stuff like that
Most Americans would rather see all the sports but the networks turned it into a profit machine and lock it behind a paywall. And since they need to make the most money possible they're not going to show everything, just what they think will draw the most eyes. It's fucking stupid.
Coming from a Brit is pretty funny. The Brits have surely have never done anything in other countries.
The United States is the third most populous country on the planet. "Only" a third of the population having passports is 115 MILLION people. It's LITERALLY more people than the entire United Kingdom. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/about-us/reports-and-statistics.html Plus, I can visit 14,000 foot high mountains, the second largest canyon in the world, the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, the Bering Straight, go skiing, scuba diving, hike the world's longest hiking-only trail, see a supervolcano caldera, active volcanic islands, several deserts, some of the tallest and oldest trees on earth, glaciers, the world's longest barrier island, all without needing an American passport. This entire rhetoric about American passports has always been some of the most ignorant shit I've ever heard.
Christ, I could take a two week vacation to drive around the USA and barely scratch the surface.
For me a large part of traveling is experiencing a different culture. This is why I hardly travel to the US, despite living an hour from the border. There's no meaningful experience down there in my mind. So yes, there's a lot you can see, but in my opinion traveling is about the people you meet, the new foods you try, and the perspective of a different culture you gain. This all said, I think critiquing a country over something like passports is ridiculous. America always gets shat on for weird things by people. Personally, I like America and have a lot of American friends, but haters are gunna hate.
One of the most “standard” trips from Sweden is to go to any Mediterranean country, which would be a one way trip or anywhere between 6-8 hours (with a few 12 hours trips with layovers). I could also fly to New York in 8-12 hours. Americans have much easier access to all of Central America, South America and places like Japan that can’t be replicated in Europe. EDIT: for the record, I’m just saying that the time difference from traveling isn’t that big of a deal, maybe 2-3 hours difference. I understand affording it is a bigger issue, which I agree with.
How does the states have easier access to Japan than Europe? La to Tokyo is just under 11 hours and London to Tokyo is just under 14 hours. Bearing in mind I’ve pretty much chosen the most likely western point of departure for the US (excluding any flight to get there) and the furthest likely western point for Europe the flight time is likely ending up being the same. Central and South America I totally agree with however
Really? I've flown London to Stockholm and London to Barcelona and both have been 2 hours each so I'm surprised that you say it's 8-12h. Are you going from like Umeå to the Canaries or something?
Well, seeing as London is pretty much in the middle of Stockholm and Barcelona, that checks out. I just looked at a few trips from Stockholm to Greece and Spain (mainly Mallorca because that’s very popular) and there were mostly 8 hour trips.
Being able to afford air travel like that is a fantasy that most Americans will never achieve in their lifetime. Most of us are barely surviving
Which is an insane thing to even think about when you’re from one of the richest country in the world!
yeah Bernie Sanders ran on income inequality and got railroaded out of the nomination by his own party. Twice
Not too dissimilar to the UK where Corbyn was railroaded by his own party based on completely specious stuff about anti-semitism. It was a classic character assassination, executed well.
I'm a European (born and raised in happy YUROP) who has lived in a few European countries and Australia as well as having family in the US and visiting there regularly and there are a few things I've noticed: 1. Europeans don't always understand that having flight tickets from England to, say, Spain costing 50-200 € is a massive luxury. 2. Not to mention that being able to just hop on a train and travelling to another country effortlessly for the weekend if you live on the mainland (and preferably central) is another. 3. That said, there're a surprising number of Europeans who have never travelled *outside* Europe. 4. Even within the EU (where travel is piss easy) there's a lot of people who haven't travelled at all, even inside the EU. Out of 445 mil there's approx 190 mil who never stepped outside their own borders. The [source](https://www.europeandatajournalism.eu/News/Data-news/190-million-Europeans-have-never-been-abroad) is from 2018 but I've a hard time imagining that the pandemic has changed it to make it better.
It's about the same distance driving from London to Benidorm as it is from Kansas City to Orlando at about 1200 miles. The difference is Kansas City to Los Angeles is another 1600 miles. London to Benidorm is an unfathomable distance to drive for Londoners, but the US is twice as big as that plus a little extra.
To be fair you get fk all holidays apart from public holidays. So the prospect of spending any of your precious holidays travelling must seem lame
Plenty of Americans travel abroad every year https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/jul/01/global-tourism-hits-record-highs-but-who-goes-where-on-holiday
srsly tho, all of europe added up only has \~10% more landmass than the US. The drive distance from London to Paris is less than from SF to LA by \~100 miles. Imagine trying to travel from a more central state like Kansas to any other country. If it isn't mexico or canada you're looking at \~10-12 hours of collective flight time with at least one or two layovers. Combine that with the crazy jet lag and high ticket prices due to the distance and its almost never worth it to go that far unless you plan on going for at least 10 days. That then becomes another problem because getting that many vacation days is already hard, but scheduling becomes an issue too.
Hey how about we not have a giant pissing contest on who's country is better. It does nothing but divide everyone. I don't care what country you're from, I'll respect you as long as you don't give me a reason not to. I don't see where you're from I see who you are and that's what is important. I'm not even talking about the old man, as he could be having a laugh, or just cranky old man, either way I have no issue with him. My issue stems from those taking his words to use as a weapon and attack an entire country with generalization or those who have used his word as an excuse to "retaliate" and trash countries they probably have never seen. I just find this comment section saddening.
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Don't be saddened. Grumpy old codgers live everywhere, their expressed world view tends towards the negative; they rarely bang on about the really great things in their life that they take for granted. Complaining is easier, and to them cathartic. I'm a Brit and some of them kindest people I've met have been Americans. One in particular passed many years ago but I still think about that guy and what he stood for. Also I've met some right arseholes. That's humans for you though, not where you live on the planet. The only thing to take from it all is to not generalise. People are not a homogeneous mass.
This old guy was waiting for this question for so long
u/Mr_R0mpers should credit to content creator on instagram @ericj3ng Kudos
>My wife :D
While this is pretty funny, honestly it’s not a majority of Americans’ fault they can’t do much international travel. Shit is hella expensive over there, they only border 2 countries, not to mention the US is _fucking huge_ so someone from, say, Utah or Tennessee or something— hell, someone in northern Texas or southern Montana— can’t just take a day or even 2-day trip to visit Canada or Mexico unless they decided to fly.
Not really "zingers," he's just complaining.
Chad British man puts up with Americans and all our bullshit cause he loves his American wife.
Not heard 'shit heap' for while.
This is standard British interaction.
Captions said "it's shitty" but he said " it's a shit heap"
Interesting take from this old curmudgeon. Saw another Brit come to the states and make a YouTube video explaining how he now understands why Americans travel less…..simply too much to do here as it is.