When you think about how many Australian backpackers there are relative to the population of Australia, you would think that there would be far more Americans than Aussies since the population of the US is 15x Australia’s, but Australians seem to be far more common.
Is there something in Australian culture that makes people want to travel? And conversely is there something in American culture that keeps people from traveling?
2006-10-23 18:45:49 · 9 answers · asked by Dave-O 2 in Travel ➔ Australia ➔ Other - Australia
Yeah Aussies are used to travelling a lot. Most of our population is spread among half a dozen cities, in a continent the size of the continental USA. Also we're kinda at the ass-end of the world (no offence to our great neighbours). And I guess traditionally, we've been fascinated by what goes on overseas... maybe cos in the old days we were a small part of a global empire. And, in honesty, culturally, a bit of a backwater.
In contrast I found the US to be very insular. Virtually nothing was mentioned on the news about what was going on overseas. And you know everything was always the biggest and best in the world, when it clearly wasn't. Maybe it's the long history of isolationism? The US looked inwards, when Oz looked outwards. But I guess with a bigger population you've got 15 times as much going on at home to concentrate on too.
2006-10-24 05:53:26 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think it is great when a people as a whole are well travelled, because they become more tolerant and well rounded. American youth are not encouraged to travel, in fact a lot are encouraged against it. After all, they already come from the best place on earth right..LOL. Also, Americans don't qualify for the same 'perks' and visas that commonwealth citizens do so it makes long term travel harder.
Most young Americans think about travelling when they retire because it is such a rat race driven culture anymore that they think if they take a few years off everyone else will pass them by and they will have no future. That's not entirely untrue because if you have travelled overseas for an extended time, many employers look at your resume as though something is wrong with you.
I think it is becoming more common now though with young people in the US so it will be interesting to see the trends over the next decades. I think a lot of them have seen what happened to previous generations that were fed a lot of bull about going to college and getting high paying jobs that never resulted and so they figure they better enjoy their youth instead.
2006-10-24 13:11:28 · answer #2 · answered by nativeAZ 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
as a Australian ive been traveling for most of my life,almost nomadic,in my culture iit called going walkabout,plus we are adventurous at heart, its also about expieriencing diffrent cultures we are a friendly easy going bunch an most of us very trusting,,we live in a harsh land so not a lot scares us,also a multicultural society Europeans have been only been here 200years, so we are a young country an we havent had the same wars or issues that say Americia has, ie in Australia our space is 2 people every sq klm compared to 27 per klms in the USA, so we not overcrowded etc not as much crime.
which helps make us want to travel we are used of it, like from sydney to were i live takes 5hours on a train an thats not even leaving the state,mate.it takes 5hours to leave Australian air space. so it makes the rest of the world seem not far to travel in between
2006-10-23 19:01:55 · answer #3 · answered by GOOCH 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hey, im about to go backpacking through UK and Europe. I just like to get out as much as i can. I like a change in scenery, a change in culture amongst other things.
Maybe americans dont travel because they think there are no other countries. Seriously when chasers (a t.v show) went around new york some americans actually thought that Iraq was a rouge state.
2006-10-24 02:43:45 · answer #4 · answered by cokie_999 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
as a person who works in the backpacker field i find that we get a lot of backpackers from all over the world there are a lot that come to australia to follow the harvest trail to earn money to further their adventures. As we are a country so large compared to some of the european countries they love the openess of australia and the friendly people. Travelling this country is far safer than a lot of other countries.
2006-10-24 00:38:37 · answer #5 · answered by bundybear 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
as an Australian i would have to say that there are also alot of backpackers from the UK here. they come because of the conversion rate (one of our dollars is worth 3 of theirs), the Aussie culture (of getting drunk) and the environment (weather, beaches). there's some useless trivia for you. to answer your question Australians backpack overseas because our conversion rate is so bad we can't afford to stay in plush hotels :)
Aussies also like to travel overseas because we can't travel across Europe in a couple of days or go on a train and go to a different country. plus Australians have an inherent need to explore the world and the general consensus is that Americans think they are the world. good question
2006-10-23 19:08:11 · answer #6 · answered by burn 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Aussies are educated, enthusiastic, curious, fun seeking people. we get out and about a lot because its in our nature to want to see and learn more. The fact that we are care free and adventurous is why we find it easy to pick up a back pack and just take off for a while...plus being part of the commonwealth we travel with a lot less visa hassles than the US.
2006-10-24 14:58:59 · answer #7 · answered by Aussieblonde -bundy'd 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well people in Australia love to travel that's why.I think.
2006-10-23 18:49:00 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
theres only 2 thing I think about when I hear the word Australian.. back packers & fudge..
2006-10-23 18:49:33 · answer #9 · answered by Claude 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋