Why Are There Proportionately So Many More Brits Than Americans In Thailand?

[endure]

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not require payment for time not worked, such as vacations or holidays (federal or otherwise). These benefits are generally a matter of agreement between an employer and an employee (or the employee's representative).

http://www.dol.gov/d...ges/holiday.htm

In the UK all workers get 28 days of statutory holiday a year - pro rata if you're a part timer.

[klubex99]

As a Brit Thailand was about as far as I could get away from my ex wife without NASA's help:)

Priceless.

[chops]

At my last job many years ago they didn't give me any vacation days. That's right. 0 days of vacation. I had to quit my job to visit Thailand(!) These days I'm self employed and I can travel whenever I want(one of the great fringe benefits ).

Many many Americans have no time to travel. Also, there is more poverty there.

[RakJungTorlae]

because Thailand has cheep dentists.

[NanLaew]

... why does there appear to be so many wee Bonny Lads (Scots) interested in Thailand?

Because, like many other brilliant inventions that mankind cannot live without, the Jockinese invented mongering. Hamish Monger; b: Rutherglen, Glasgow, 1889, d: 1978, Lucy's Tiger Den, Surawong, Bangkok.

[NanLaew]

... It's like the first time one has Cuban coffee in Miami with a Cuban dancer on a nude beach at sunrise.

Something akin to getting naked on Copacabana with 'twins' from Help Discoteca.... and then some bugger stole my shirt and jeans with wallet and the moment was lost.

[NanLaew]

... The majority of Americans I have run into in Thailand are all oil & gas workers or in some support industry.

... and still think they are in Taiwan.

[NanLaew]

...and then there was professional hardship as bosses in the UK can get away with anything; bosses in the US have to be accountable...in the UK they're worse than corrupt asians in most cases...

Thankfully, not long after tutsi departed the shores of fair Albion, things were set to rights with the Industrial Revolution.

[NanLaew]

There seem to be a lot of Scots on here. There seem to be more English northerners than southerners. Is it the weather, jobs ?

Not just 'on here', it is a global fact that based on head of population, the Scots are the most traveled and non-domiciled nationality.* With around 5.2 million at the last show of hands, out of a UK population of over 62 million, being blessed with the shit weather at the northern end of the rock and the 'southern' domination of early evening television with English reality TV such as Coronation Street, Eastenders, etc, they seek the better life overseas. The fact that there are about 3 million more dogs than Scots in the UK could account for BOTH their reason to leave their homeland AND their preference to settle down in Thailand.

*The New Zealander's briefly tried to steal this accolade (and the wheels off my Rover, btw) but their diasporic figures were skewed by the huge amount that only get as far as Australia as that's good and easy for wheels and stuff and they can also go home on remand.

[Soutpeel]

... The majority of Americans I have run into in Thailand are all oil & gas workers or in some support industry.

... and still think they are in Taiwan.

Actually most still think they are in the gulf of Mexico...most of them are drilling so one can forgive them for not knowing were they are, as drilling guys are know for not being the sharpest knives in the draw, irrepective of the nationality...

[Baloo22]

Most Americans can travel withing the United States and find what they are looking for in a vacation. If you live in Ohio and want to take your family for a nice ocean beach vacation, there are tons of beaches in Florida alone that are every bit as nice as any in Thailand. The same for many states along the Atlantic coast. I lived in Florida for two years within 10 minutes walk from a un-crowded, white sand beach with fantastic clean water. Better than spending thousands of dollars and 20-plus hours for your family on an airplane for crowded Thai beaches with sewage water! And if you are in the western U.S. you have the west coast beaches and also the Great Salt Lake!

I lived in Europe for three years and constantly had to educate Europeans that the United States was a little larger and had far more varied terrain and climate than their postage-stamp size countries. (Did I say that out loud??) I will continue the effort. Pull out a map of the U.S. Find the state of Louisiana. That one state is larger than England.

We have the beaches, mountains (REAL mountains), rain forests, Grand Canyon, Great Lakes, and even a Great Salt Lake! And More! And if you really do want to travel outside the U.S. there are many great destinations in the Caribean, Central and South America that are much closer.

[MB1]

There seem to be a lot of Scots on here. There seem to be more English northerners than southerners. Is it the weather, jobs ?

Not just 'on here', it is a global fact that based on head of population, the Scots are the most traveled and non-domiciled nationality.* With around 5.2 million at the last show of hands, out of a UK population of over 62 million, being blessed with the shit weather at the northern end of the rock and the 'southern' domination of early evening television with English reality TV such as Coronation Street, Eastenders, etc, they seek the better life overseas. The fact that there are about 3 million more dogs than Scots in the UK could account for BOTH their reason to leave their homeland AND their preference to settle down in Thailand.

*The New Zealander's briefly tried to steal this accolade (and the wheels off my Rover, btw) but their diasporic figures were skewed by the huge amount that only get as far as Australia as that's good and easy for wheels and stuff and they can also go home on remand.

Yeah I've seen more of my fair share of Rab C Nessbit in Spain and Pattaya.......

Ok I'll get my coat.

[kerryk]

Most Americans only travel abroad in a uniform.

61.5 million non military trips outside of the US in 2009. Why don't you just come out and put it in your avatar, "I hate Americans." So to sum up you are wrong 61.5 million times.

About 71% of Brits have a passport. How many Americans.? dam_n I forgot the founding farthers just invaded.

The bottom line is you can't put percents of populations in to airplanes it is raw numbers of people.

48 million Brits have passports and 120 million Americans have passports. If other countries want American tourists the destinations have to be comparable of better. Thai women as opposed to Cuban women. Thai food as opposed to Mexican food.

I am of course in Thailand for the Temples.

[meand]

Most Americans can travel withing the United States and find what they are looking for in a vacation. If you live in Ohio and want to take your family for a nice ocean beach vacation, there are tons of beaches in Florida alone that are every bit as nice as any in Thailand. The same for many states along the Atlantic coast. I lived in Florida for two years within 10 minutes walk from a un-crowded, white sand beach with fantastic clean water. Better than spending thousands of dollars and 20-plus hours for your family on an airplane for crowded Thai beaches with sewage water! And if you are in the western U.S. you have the west coast beaches and also the Great Salt Lake!

I lived in Europe for three years and constantly had to educate Europeans that the United States was a little larger and had far more varied terrain and climate than their postage-stamp size countries. (Did I say that out loud??) I will continue the effort. Pull out a map of the U.S. Find the state of Louisiana. That one state is larger than England.

We have the beaches, mountains (REAL mountains), rain forests, Grand Canyon, Great Lakes, and even a Great Salt Lake! And More! And if you really do want to travel outside the U.S. there are many great destinations in the Caribean, Central and South America that are much closer.

It's true, for vacationers that want to see nature, hard to beat the diversity of the US. Not sure about the rain forests, Hawaii has them I guess. It really is quite amazing though.... you can go from a ski slope, to a beautiful desert, to a beach all in a day's or so drive.

[Mosha]

I am impressed 57 posts and everyone is still playing nicely on this thread....

Nobody wants to speak ill of the dam_n Brits. People beat down the Americans (US) all the time. The "other" North Americans never even get a mention.

Alaskaians?

Apaches.

[tutsiwarrior]

I am impressed 57 posts and everyone is still playing nicely on this thread....

Nobody wants to speak ill of the dam_n Brits. People beat down the Americans (US) all the time. The "other" North Americans never even get a mention.

Alaskaians?

Apaches.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.legendsofamerica.com/photos-nativeamerican/Gernimo1886-500.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-geronimo.html&h=500&w=353&sz=40&tbnid=cKGl0VY69hF0WM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=64&zoom=1&usg=__ZkzzddqUIFNqQrLO6wOM1G9MQAU=&docid=TmoDmQEbCrFHWM&sa=X&ei=DSLlT5DZMYnirAfK7KWHCQ&ved=0CIIBEPUBMAg&dur=2386

[Shot]

Most Americans can travel withing the United States and find what they are looking for in a vacation. If you live in Ohio and want to take your family for a nice ocean beach vacation, there are tons of beaches in Florida alone that are every bit as nice as any in Thailand. The same for many states along the Atlantic coast. I lived in Florida for two years within 10 minutes walk from a un-crowded, white sand beach with fantastic clean water. Better than spending thousands of dollars and 20-plus hours for your family on an airplane for crowded Thai beaches with sewage water! And if you are in the western U.S. you have the west coast beaches and also the Great Salt Lake!

I lived in Europe for three years and constantly had to educate Europeans that the United States was a little larger and had far more varied terrain and climate than their postage-stamp size countries. (Did I say that out loud??) I will continue the effort. Pull out a map of the U.S. Find the state of Louisiana. That one state is larger than England.

We have the beaches, mountains (REAL mountains), rain forests, Grand Canyon, Great Lakes, and even a Great Salt Lake! And More! And if you really do want to travel outside the U.S. there are many great destinations in the Caribean, Central and South America that are much closer.

It's true, for vacationers that want to see nature, hard to beat the diversity of the US. Not sure about the rain forests, Hawaii has them I guess. It really is quite amazing though.... you can go from a ski slope, to a beautiful desert, to a beach all in a day's or so drive.

They have rain forests in Washington State.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

Only about 20% of Americans even have a passport.......................

30 percent now.

The percentage is higher for those that have ever had a passport. Historically most Americans get their passport in order to serve overseas in the military and then let it lapse. Currently percentages are indeed higher, but the fact is a much higher percentage of Yanks have been involved in our current/recent conflicts, not only as soldiers but private contractors. And also more places require a passport to get to that didn't used to, Canada for cheaper drugs, little island states in the Caribbean etc. Texas will probably require one soon. . .

If you ask the average American why they don't go overseas - and I'm just talking a short holiday - the answer would be "why would I ever want to do that?"

Out of those that do travel overseas regularly very very few would even want to consider living abroad, and out of that tiny percentage 99% of them would be considering Europe or maybe Australia/NZ, certainly not a third world country like Thailand.

Generally Americans consider their standards and way of life "the way the world should be" to an even greater extent than other nationalities, they're usually not willing to open up their minds to the degree necessary to adapt to living in other circumstances, and therefore very few places "measure up".

Edited June 23, 2012 by BigJohnnyBKK

[tutsiwarrior]

...and then there was professional hardship as bosses in the UK can get away with anything; bosses in the US have to be accountable...in the UK they're worse than corrupt asians in most cases...

Thankfully, not long after tutsi departed the shores of fair Albion, things were set to rights with the Industrial Revolution.

hey...I lived on Albion Street in SF (near 16th and Valencia) and there were still bums in the gutters back in 1973...but I expected more from the fair shores of 'ol blighty...

[PaiMei]

In Los Angeles I knew several folks that traveled to a destination in Asia at any opportunity, along with a few friends teaching in Japan and Korea. Eventually they influenced me. In the Midwest where I spent a big chunk of adolescence I knew exactly none that had been to anywhere in Asia.

Definitely not an America hater - appreciate what it has to offer and I love the republic of California.

That said - a lot of the criticism pointed at the US is well deserved. Most Americans are notoriously ignorant of world geography and wouldn't be able to identify SE Asia on a simple map. And don't even think about discussing Int'l affairs if it doesn't revolve around the US (usually terrorism). This IS rather dull. Hopefully not permanent.

Brits/Europeans show a hell of a lot more 'global sophistication' or whatever u want to call it

Too bad their (Brit) food does suck.

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app.

[kerryk]

American industry is everywhere. I think sometimes we forget the impact it has on the rest of the world.

Please don't watch this with a mouth full of coffee. It is learning how to say American words in Asia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDFogjXdIVc&feature=related

[Baloo22]

Most Americans can travel withing the United States and find what they are looking for in a vacation. If you live in Ohio and want to take your family for a nice ocean beach vacation, there are tons of beaches in Florida alone that are every bit as nice as any in Thailand. The same for many states along the Atlantic coast. I lived in Florida for two years within 10 minutes walk from a un-crowded, white sand beach with fantastic clean water. Better than spending thousands of dollars and 20-plus hours for your family on an airplane for crowded Thai beaches with sewage water! And if you are in the western U.S. you have the west coast beaches and also the Great Salt Lake!

I lived in Europe for three years and constantly had to educate Europeans that the United States was a little larger and had far more varied terrain and climate than their postage-stamp size countries. (Did I say that out loud??) I will continue the effort. Pull out a map of the U.S. Find the state of Louisiana. That one state is larger than England.

We have the beaches, mountains (REAL mountains), rain forests, Grand Canyon, Great Lakes, and even a Great Salt Lake! And More! And if you really do want to travel outside the U.S. there are many great destinations in the Caribean, Central and South America that are much closer.

It's true, for vacationers that want to see nature, hard to beat the diversity of the US. Not sure about the rain forests, Hawaii has them I guess. It really is quite amazing though.... you can go from a ski slope, to a beautiful desert, to a beach all in a day's or so drive.

Your comment "you can go from a ski slope, to a beautiful desert, to a beach all in a day's or so drive." describes my home state of Washington. As for rain forests, we have tropical rain forests in Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Guam, and American Samoa.

There are three temperate rainforsts; the Hoh, Queets and Quinault rainforests on Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. After visiting them, drive down to Westport for a charter fishing trip for Salmon, Halibut, and even overnight sailings out for Tuna! Me and my daughter went out on the Salmon charters several times. Great fun!

[Thaddeus]

American industry is everywhere. I think sometimes we forget the impact it has on the rest of the world.

Please don't watch this with a mouth full of coffee. It is learning how to say American words in Asia.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDFogjXdIVc&feature=related

Thanks for the coffee warning...... I'm going to have a cup outside now to calm down a bit after watching that.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

Me and my daughter went out on the Salmon charters several times. Great fun!

My daughter and I.... etc,.

Oh yes you are so superior, I'm sure you already know that, so why try to flaunt it?

Not appropriate here. . .

[Naam]

I reckon because in America if you get fed up with where you are then you can move to another state and it's like being in a completely different country but with all the advantages of a common language and currency.

Whereas everywhere is the same in England and although we have freedom of movement throughout the EU they talk funny and have a worthless currency.

So we Brits tend to move overseas but you Yanks tend to move within USA.

[NanLaew]

Me and my daughter went out on the Salmon charters several times. Great fun!

My daughter and I.... etc,.

Oh yes you are so superior, I'm sure you already know that, so why try to flaunt it?

Not appropriate here. . .

<deleted> BJBKKCIM???!!!.... what did you eat to make you a pseudo mod? It's not even your post I am messing about with. Just having some fun with the colonials mangling of the Queen's English and not pouring scorn on their pretty poor command of proper grammar. That goes without saying. I mean, HM always says, 'My husband and I...' and never, ever 'Me and Phil....'.

A few pages back someone alluded to the fact that the seppo's Americans just don't have a thick skin when it comes to online chiding, japery and name-calling. And there was me about to rise to their dubious defense.

But back On Topic; the lack of decent paid vacation time and the fact that most of the US remains undiscovered by those born there leads me to agree with the 'Why should I?' response when they are asked why they don't go overseas, especially to this dodgy neck of the woods. Even before 9/11 and the paranoia it spawned, most Americans would opt for a safe, summer vacation in London (and wonder where all the marvelous Brits had gone).

Edited June 23, 2012 by NanLaew

[BigJohnnyBKK]

My daughter and I.... etc,.

Oh yes you are so superior, I'm sure you already know that, so why try to flaunt it?

Not appropriate here. . .

<deleted> BJBKKCIM???!!!.... what did you eat to make you a pseudo mod? It's not even your post I am messing about with. Just having some fun with the colonials mangling of the Queen's English and not pouring scorn on their pretty poor command of proper grammar. That goes without saying. I mean, HM always says, 'My husband and I...' and never, ever 'Me and Phil....'.

A few pages back someone alluded to the fact that the seppo's Americans just don't have a thick skin when it comes to online chiding, japery and name-calling. And there was me about to rise to their dubious defense.

IMO quibbling about grammar points when the communications is entirely comprehensible is pettifogging pedantry and obnoxious. Maybe your intention truly was "fun" but that sense doesn't come across the intertubes.

But back On Topic; the lack of decent paid vacation time and the fact that most of the US remains undiscovered by those born there leads me to agree with the 'Why should I?' response when they are asked why they don't go overseas, especially to this dodgy neck of the woods. Even before 9/11 and the paranoia it spawned, most Americans would opt for a safe, summer vacation in London (and wonder where all the marvelous Brits had gone).

Yes, I wasn't casting aspersions on my fellow septics, just trying to give a straight answer to the OP; their POV may well be perfectly justified for themselves, I just don't happen to agree with it wrt myself.

[NBD]

I would suspect the fact that it's nearly double the flight time has a lot to do with it. I know Brits who work on the north sea oil rigs month on month off and travel over here for their month off. Would expect to find the situation reversed in central America or the Caribbean but I've never been there.

[Jingthing]

Call the typical American these days a "septic" and he'll reply, dam_n right I'm a skeptic, don't believe in that there global warming!

Edited June 23, 2012 by Jingthing

[meand]

I personally think the fact that many more Americans don't have an outright tantrum over the fact that they, inexplicably, can't travel to Cuba is a very telling point in this discussion.