h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

CALLING EVERYONE OF ALL NATIONALITIES:
where are you from?
IE: I'm from NYC.
Where have you been?
IE: I've been to about 15 states, Canada, and Israel.

This is an unofficial poll, but I need the info, particularly from Europeans. Thank you.

oh, also good: what languages do you speak, and to what degree of fluency?
IE: i speak English fluently, Hebrew almost-fluently, and know a few Spanish and German phrases.

aw... come on.
All i need is bunch of people to say where they've travelled to.

Why do you need to know this, I wonder?

I was born in England, lived in Scotland from age 1. Been to Wales, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Madeira, Belgium, Netherlands (again),Luxemburg, West Germany, East Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland, and the Kingdom of Fife. Have seen Ireland and Italy in the distance but never been.

Speak only English with bad schoolboy French, some German, Dutch and Scots Gaelic phrases. OK?

I'm Australian-born, with a rather tangled ethnic background.

I've travelled around most of Australia - there's rather a lot of it - and I've also lived in Ecuador. I've visited Hawaii, California, Mexico and Tahiti (briefly), and I once spent two hours in Auckland Airport in New Zealand. For my next trip I'm trying to decide between mainland Europe and Madagascar.

Estonian is my mother tongue (and I speak it at the same level as a four-year-old these days owing to disuse), but English is my language of habit and daily use. My Spanish was once fluent but it's a bit rusty these days. At school I did French and Latin; at university I did Japanese and Mandarin. I can follow a conversation in German, but not so well that I can join in, and I have a few words of a few other languages. Once upon a time - decades ago - I could manage basic phrases in Pitjantjatjara (an Aboriginal language of Central Australia), but I've lost that through disuse.

Does this help?

I'm Scottish, and have travelled to Italy a few times, Holland, Germany, Portugal, Barbados, Dubai and Thailand. Also have visited family in Canada, just outside Toronto, about 8 times.
I've also been to the US several times, NYC, Chicago, Denver, and, wait for it, Nebraska to see some friends of my sister's.

In terms of languages, I speak basic French and a smattering of Italian, (although I'm going to study that at Uni come October)enough to order food, drinks, get a train and book into a hotel.

I'm English and haven't really been anywhere at all..just Scotland and France. I can seak a reasonable amount of French and one or two phrases in a couple of other languages.

English. Been to Canada(Calgary), France(all over the shop), Spain (south coast thereof), Monaco (and made brum brum noises through the F1 tunnel ), Italy(mainly Rome), Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, England, Scotland, Wales and Yorkshire.

English, born in Norfolk, brought up in Suffolk, moved to Cambridgeshire, then Manchester, then back to Cambridge, never traveled outside the UK, been wales, Scottland, and quite a few bits of England (lake district, pennines derbyshire etc, mainly dooing hiking) Speak a little French, less German, a few words of Spanish and a couple of words in Janpaneese

I'm Scottish and been to England, Norway, Russia, Denmark, Finland, Orknay Isles, Channel Isles, France, Majorca, Ibiza, Italy, Kos and Germany.

I'm an American. I've been in 17 states and the District of Columbia, plus China (Hong Kong/Kowloon, mere weeks after the China handover), Singapore, Australia, Bahrain, Sicily, United Arab Emirates, Mauritius, Guam, and Mexico.

OK, so here's why.
I'm writing an essay for a Vanity Fair contest, the point is to "introduce the American to the rest of the world," since everyone seems to hate our guts, and if they hate us they cant possibly know us very well, right?
One of the complaints I've bumped into when I did some research here on H2G2 was that Americans dont travel enough, dont care enough to see the rest of the world.
I looked it up in my Atlas, and lo, the USA is roughly the size of Europe. Therefore an American who travels the US of A is about as well travelled as a European who's travelled all of Europe.

My question: how many Europeans have been out of Europe, and if the number is quite low, how can they possibly accuse Americans of not travelling?

I'm just curious, It wont be stated as fact in my essay, but it might effect the way I phrase some of my arguements.

PS: if you are American, and over 18, and can write an essay in about 2 days, visit www.vanityfair.com to enter.

hey
i was born in nevada. i currently live in nevada... places i have lived... nevada....
places i have traveled in the us
washington
california
origon
utah
colorado
ohio
new york
alabama
georgia
sigh....
and a lot of other states...
out of the us

Iran
Brittan
whatever county Amsterdam is in
france
italy
um... im missing somewhere...
oh well
cheers
ford

Hey, Ford Prefect again.
Its good to know I'm not the only American reading Douglas Adams.
Can you reccomend some other books I can find in the US that have some good British humor in them?

Your paper is arguing a fallacy. While it is true that an American can travel the length of breadth of the US and cover the same number of miles as a Brit backpacking across Europe, the experience is not comparable. The Brit is exposed to a few dozen distinctly different cultures and languages, and learns tolerance and openmindedness (hopefully). The American need not change languages, and any cultural differences are subtle.

For good British humor, try Terry Pratchett. He does for fantasy what Douglas Adams did for sci-fi.

My arguement is NOT that Americans have the same experience travelling america as travelling europe, although you yourself are quite mistaken if you beleive there is no culture change between Virginia and Alabama, or even Wyoming and Oregon.

My arguement is that its not that Americans dont WANT to travel to different cultures, its that its takes so many MORE MILES to do so. MORE MILES = HIGHER COST.
I would love to pop into France, but lets face it, its a heck of a lot easier for someone in London, or even Germany, or Spain, or Slovakia for that matter. In fact, its easier for a Brit to visit France then it is for a New Yorker to visit Canada.
Although I've been told most British do not beleive it, Britian- and any European country for that matter- is SMALL compared to the USA. I'm not trying to brag or be overbearing. Its a fact of geography. Its also the reason most of us Americans never hit Europe.

Fair enough. There are plenty of very good reasons for Americans to *not* travel internationally. Cost is one. Ease of travel is another... no mucking around with passports, you can drive if you want, etc. And there are so many options right here in the US that other cultures don't have. Why ski the Swiss Alps when you can do the Rocky Mountains. Why sunbathe on the French Riviera when you can do the California coast? Europe doesn't have an equivalent to the swamps of Florida or tropical Hawaiian Islands.

Before you get too excited, though, reread what I've posted here. I'm an American and have been to 17 states, including Virginia (lived there for 6 months) and Oregon (visited Portland for a week, best friend for 4 years was a native). I said that any cultural differences were subtle, not that they were nonexistent. Virginians and Oregonians still speak the same language, shop in pretty much the same stores, and have only subtle differences in the laws they live under and the taxes they pay (Oregon, I think, had no state income tax, but a monstrous sales tax). If Virginians were listening to country music and drank Bud, while Oregonians listened to punk rock and drank local microbrews, did that really make them any different in any significant way?

The only state that I've been to that can make any reasonable claim to a culture all its own is Hawaii... and that's only because the Hawaiians had that culture before we got there.

well, i donno about scifi stuff by brits but if you like WWII, then read Escapes from Colditz by P.R.Reid... its pretty funny.
cheers
ford

Accually every state has its own culture california (for example) has its own, yet suttle, culture. nevada has a sorta miner/cowboy, New York is sorta a buisy yet partying state... i could go on forever but iwont... but your right... and yet wrong on the languages...
sup dawg- hi
goin?- where are you off to?
.... and on and on....
but it is a MINOR change in 'cultures' compared to hitchhicking across europe.
cheers
ford

I think perhaps that your line
"I looked it up in my Atlas, and lo, the USA is roughly the size of Europe. Therefore an American who travels the US of A is about as well travelled as a European who's travelled all of Europe."
would give most people reason to think that you were equating travelling the USA with travelling europe as equals.
Whilst it cannot be denied that an area the size of the USA will inevitably have variances of local culture and dialect, it isn;t really the same as going to a completely different country, that has a completely different history and take on it, that has a language that isn;t just different, but based on a different premise.
(note, not worse, not better, just different!)
Little things such as Federal law being the same throughout the states, the commonality of history of the USA is the difference. Whilst I in no way denigrate anyone who has had the get up and go to go travelling round the USA (personally I still have a dream to do the east coast/west coast on a bike [but not a harley, I want to get there!]) it seems to be more like going to a strange town than a different country. i mean there is a huge variance in dialect and custom just between the counties in the UK, never mind the individual countries that make it up.
Maybe that's where you need to set us forriners straight

One of the things that I think sad is the huge number of people whose only experience of their own country is their home town and the nearest airport. Every country has interesting aspects and I think these are often over looked in the rush to jet off to some far flung place. Neither is 'better' than the other, but to ignore one in favour of the other is to miss out on some rewarding experiences.