>>You are absolutely right. American culture is very insular. One thing that irks me is cruises. People get on these big boats with all the trappings of American life and culture, sail around, get off at some port, go to all the tourist traps, get back on the boat, and start over. Then they think they've been somewhere.
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>It is same for Indians and probably other cultures as well. During my family trip to some places in Europe few years back I found people looking for Indian food everywhere. C'mon try the local foods, OK being Vegans matters but not all food is non-veg. (don't mention the fats and oils used to prepare some Veg. foods :))

I think your observation is quite correct. Japan airlines package tours are a good example. On the plus side, the people who choose to travel that way would probably not travel at all if they were not able to stay in a cultural comfort zone. Personally, I can't do it. I am uncomfortable being anywhere I cannot speak at least a little of a local language and haven't studied the culture. But for me the solution is not to stay home but to spend a lot of time studying language and culture before i go and embrace the experience of being someplace different. ( and i'm not in Paris to eat at MacDonalds <s> )

But that's just me. I love to study history and languages and travelling gives me an excuse to do it. A lot of folks have no interest in that at all, they just heard there are good beaches in Bali or climbing in Nepal or shopping in Milan. I can't imagine that.

I'm glad started travelling young the way I did and have been able to continue doing so ( have to admit in India I had trouble with *not* being a vegan <g> but it was certainly worth it on so many other levels and I am glad English *is* a 'local' language as I'm afraid I had no gift for Hindi. )