Posted on 10/21/2017 6:27:48 AM PDT by T-Bird45
I was talking to two friends in their twenties recently, about our travel experiences in foreign parts, and we circled around like an airplane looking for a landing place before we all agreed that foreign parts are all very well, but they’re not… comfortable.
Now, sometimes it’s worth it to endure some discomfort in the name of travel — of seeing new places and broadening your horizons. I put up with an awful lot of it when I was a kid, traveling by train across Europe. It was worth it because I had stuff to see and places to go.
But… In normal life? Every day? We Americans get all sorts of opprobrium from Europeans and other self-designated superior life forms about our obsession with being comfortable, being at ease, doing things in the easier, most direct, and – often – cleanest way possible.
Agatha Christie in “At Bertram’s Hotel” makes a comment about Americans liking their rooms warmer in winter, and needing air conditioning in the summer. There was a faint sneer to the words. Americans, you know, like to be comfortable, and aren’t hardened, easy-going travelers like the rest of the world. They don’t put up with discomfort and inconvenience with a smile. For some reason, this is held against us.
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
As H. L. Mencken said, I’ll trade you the Parthenon for an American bathroom.
Travel does give a great perspective. We’ve been 45 countries: twice to India, to Nepal, to Egypt, to Peru, to Cambodia, to Jordan and many others. Thank God for the USA! You will never catch us “taking a knee”.
Agreed...i think most don’t have any real idea of what life is like for a lot of the world..
I’ve traveled a LOT. With the Army. You want uncomfortable? They’ll give it to you in spades! Believe me, you learn to be comfortable ANYWHERE that is DRY - it doesn’t even need to be WARM.
I can sleep ANYWHERE, no matter what the noise level or quality of the ground I’m on, and my stomach DEMANDS to be fed at exactly 4am, 11:30am and 5pm. ;)
And, yes. ‘Outside’ makes a terrific, ‘bathroom.’ (Always carry TP, always have your canteen full!)
I tell Beau that I’ll travel anywhere he wants to, a long as there’s Room Service and a bathroom. :)
I was stationed in England in the early 1970s and the English were probably 30-40 years behind the U.S. in terms of heating and plumbing. Air conditioning was non-existent, but mainly not needed.
Ever notice how most liberals crave comfort and luxury?
Well, so do most people. Liberals just seem to think it’s not okay to do so, but do it anyway and scold the rest of us about it.
I’m still trying to figure out why they do that.
Just got back from three months in Australia.
Not too bad. Gas is $5 a gallon, electricity, 39 cents a kilowatt hour.
Food did not impress me, service was ok. (no tipping)
People were wonderful, generally, but consumer choices limited. They are just starting to get supermarkets.
Living on a multimillion dollar farm, where electricity was used extremely carefully, I was usually too cold or too hot.
I'll second that. I stayed for a week in Phuket, Thailand not too long ago. While the resort itself was quite nice, the surrounding area showed how the locals lived. Oh, it wasn't terrible, especially compared to other places I've been (South Africa comes to mind)...but the sidewalks looked liked they hadn't been maintained for decades, and the supermarket made Wal-Mart look luxurious by comparison.
On the other hand, getting a two hour long Thai massage for $20....heaven!
That's easy! Liberals are first, and foremost, hypocrites.
Great article.
Anytime some lib starts bemoaning how terrible things are here, the answer should always be “then why do we need a wall to keep people out?!”
PJ Media’s site has REALLY improved. Classy!
Also - I highly recommend ANY of the ‘Fly Over’ or ‘From Above’ DVDs you can rent/buy if you want to see all of the great monuments and attractions of the world from the air. The photography from above is just spectacular!
This is Wisconsin:
The USN took me to 75 different countries.
By far the worst was Pakistan. You could smell Karachi from 20 miles out. Simply putrid.
Surprisingly civilized and clean was Kenya.
That said, I will not travel outside the US again.
People here, even the poor, don’t know how good they have it. Not even peripheral awareness.
If Americans had wanted to live in hellholes - they would have stayed in their various mother countries rather than coming here...
So why do so many want to destroy it? Why does the left think our standard of living is invincible?
We pay just under $.06 per kwh. God Bless America!!!
Ha! Did Mencken really say that? I’ve read about his personality and I can definitely picture it.
H.L. reminds me a little of today’s Steve Bannon.
The author of this piece is not the best writer, but she knows what she’s talking about and has lived it.
Simple. So they can feel good about themselves.
Exactly. Why should we have to live like peasants in Europe.
I have been to many Asian countries, and while the quality of life for the rich there is approximately equal to the quality of life for the rich in the USA, the quality of life for the middle and lower classes tends to be much, much lower. In the USA, we have been able to bring “comfort” to a much broader segment of the population than other countries have - though this progress is under constant threat from Socialists, who find a comfortable proletariat much too difficult to dictate to. :)
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