Some facts about international travel.

[Rain Man]

I'm looking through a report and have the following fun tidbits to share. It's about "overseas" travel, so I'm presuming that it excludes people driving across our borders with our friendly neighbors to the north and south.

There were 28.5 million trips overseas taken by Americans in 2010.

Residents of the state of New York accounted for 19 percent of all trips. If you exclude California, this is about the same amount as all of the states west of the Mississippi combined plus the upper Midwest states of Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

Nearly half (47%) of international trips involve staying at a private home. (I interpret this to mean that it's less about vacation and more about visiting family in the home country. Maybe there's another interpretation.)

The median international trip is 11 days, and the mean is 17 days.

84% are visiting 1 country, 11% are visiting 2 countries, and 5% are visiting 3 or more.

The most common points of entry (presumably on return) are New York (22%), Newark (12%), Los Angeles (9%), Miami (7%), and Atlanta (7%). However, the two documents have different figures, with the other one showing departures as follows: New York (18%), Miami (12%), Los Angeles (9%), Atlanta (8%), and Newark (8%) as the largest airports where people leave from. I think the second set of figures is better.

The top ten destinations for overseas travel are (in order): United Kingdom, Dominican Republic (WTF?), France, Italy, Germany, Jamaica (wow), China, Japan, Spain, and India. If you add air trips (not driving) to Canada and Mexico, Mexico is an easy #1 and Canada is an easy #2.

The average expenditure on an overseas trip is $4,327.



Sources:

http://tinet.ita.doc.gov/outreachpag...nd_Profile.pdf

http://tinet.ita.doc.gov/outreachpag...vel_Abroad.pdf

If you want to look at overall tourism from the world and not just America, you can check out this site: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ST.INT.RCPT.CD

[cdcox]

I know at least a half dozen people that have made trips to Haiti since the quake. A lot of college student groups and church groups have made trips.

[cdcox]

A group of students in my department are looking at building bag houses in Haiti. A bag house is constructed of "bags" filled with aggregate. In the case of Haiti, they are going to look at busting up the rubble left over from the earthquake. That way they don't have to import any gravel, which would be very expensive.

[whoman69]

We went to Spain. Took off from Chicago. Stayed in a private home in part because the cost of hotels is astronomical.

[MIAdragon]

Originally Posted by Bwana

The D.R.? You have got to be shitting me. The can't be right.

I go once a year, its very nice.

[Bwana]

Originally Posted by MIAdragon

I go once a year, its very nice.

I was seriously thinking about it myself this year, but decided to head back to Belize, perhaps next year?

[The Bunk]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I'm looking through a report and have the following fun tidbits to share. It's about "overseas" travel, so I'm presuming that it excludes people driving across our borders with our friendly neighbors to the north and south.

Not that it has anything to do with anything, but traveling to Canada for work is a bitch. Everytime I've had to cross the border, I get interrogated as to the reasons I'm there. Most other countries wave you across without usually even asking you what your business is. I always found it kind of ironic, because who the hell would want to be in Canada that didn't have to be?

[cdcox]

Originally Posted by The Bunk

Not that it has anything to do with anything, but traveling to Canada for work is a bitch. Everytime I've had to cross the border, I get interrogated as to the reasons I'm there. Most other countries wave you across without usually even asking you what your business is. I always found it kind of ironic, because who the hell would want to be in Canada that didn't have to be?

Mexico and Great Britain both quiz you too.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by cdcox

A group of students in my department are looking at building bag houses in Haiti. A bag house is constructed of "bags" filled with aggregate. In the case of Haiti, they are going to look at busting up the rubble left over from the earthquake. That way they don't have to import any gravel, which would be very expensive.

That's a good idea.

I saw some show about purifying water in these countries, and it turns out that if you take the uncleaned water and set it on the roof of your hovel in the normal plastic water bottles, something about the heat and UV rays or whatever kills all the bad stuff in the water. I suspect you know far more about that than I'm conveying, but I thought it was a bizarrely simple solution.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by The Bunk

Not that it has anything to do with anything, but traveling to Canada for work is a bitch. Everytime I've had to cross the border, I get interrogated as to the reasons I'm there. Most other countries wave you across without usually even asking you what your business is. I always found it kind of ironic, because who the hell would want to be in Canada that didn't have to be?

So are you a logger, or do you work in the hockey field?

(Sorry, Canadians. I couldn't resist.)

[cdcox]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

That's a good idea.

I saw some show about purifying water in these countries, and it turns out that if you take the uncleaned water and set it on the roof of your hovel in the normal plastic water bottles, something about the heat and UV rays or whatever kills all the bad stuff in the water. I suspect you know far more about that than I'm conveying, but I thought it was a bizarrely simple solution.

I wasn't aware of this when you posted it and figured you were talking about some kind of solar still or something. I'm more familiar with the large scale processes used in developed countries. These might include filtration systems with gravel under drains. This solar disinfection is pretty interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_water_disinfection

[Setsuna]

Why the hell are you idiots talking about skateboards? Gtfo.

[Slainte]

Originally Posted by MIAdragon

I go once a year, its very nice.

$13 prostitutes, or so I'm told...

[Slainte]

The top ten destinations for overseas travel are (in order): United Kingdom, Dominican Republic (WTF?), France, Italy, Germany, Jamaica (wow), China, Japan, Spain, and India.

My next major dest-O-nation, Beijing...

[The Bunk]

Originally Posted by cdcox

Mexico and Great Britain both quiz you too.

Not nearly to the extent of Canada (at least for the UK, I can't speak to the extent of Mexico).

[The Bunk]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

So are you a logger, or do you work in the hockey field?

(Sorry, Canadians. I couldn't resist.)

That's about all there is there, other than Tim Horton's.