americans in india?

amarama

we americans blend in so well with our "do as the Romans do" attitude. Secondly, who, in there right mind would openly admit being an American in a foriegn country. The fear factor is increasing, first americans believed India is not such a nice place, and now, everywhere terror, terror, terrorists, terror. The Americans I met in India were much different than the ones you see at wal mart on a satuarday afternoon. Being surrounded by Americans has hurt my faith in humanity, talking on Indiamike has been a life raft at times.

machadinha

None of that addresses the original question though:

I have a hard time believing all those members stay home in the end (nor have I noticed so here).

Personally, I don't know. I don't tend to take a lot of notice of the nationality of those I meet on my way anywhere I guess. A good time had (or not) being more at the forefront.

Again: It's a big place, and it's easy to not stand out as of a certain class of people (except for being a firang) without the slightest bit of effort. Other than that, they may all hang out in Jaipur/Goa/Kovalam etc. with a bunch of other nationalities. I never checked.

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camelgirl

Actually, (head wobble), I think we've answered the OP's question very well with lots of reasons. What does the OP think? Have we satisfied your query?

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the opoponax

You'd think so. But then I ran into someone I know on the streets of Varanasi.

Not an Indian-American, either, or someone I know through India-related channels. An old friend from my art gallery days.

machadinha

Of course. I met plenty. Which is another reason for me to not really get the question nor the answers.

My only real explanation again is you won't run into a whole lot of any specific nationality as they're simply outnumbered. Unless you actively seek them out, no doubt. But then maybe as some others above it's not really what I'm looking for on my holidays anyway.

Sama

It was pretty hard not to notice paler faces in Madurai in January during Pongal! Madurai was loaded with tourists, and judging from accents, few, if any, Americans.

in fact there was a story in the local paper about a group of about 75 French citizens traveling on a bus to different cities in tamil nadu during Pongal. it was that big a deal! or maybe a slow news day.

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the opoponax

You met plenty of people you already knew in India?

Lucky you.

I'll also echo YogaGal and say that, even in tourist meccas like Paharganj, Agra, and Goa, Americans were heavily outnumbered. At least 10 or 20 to one, I'd say.

Sama

not me! I only know Nick and Mrs. Nick!

the opoponax

sorry, that was for Mach, who said "Of course. I met plenty." Just after my post mentioning that I ran into an old friend in Varanasi.

I think at this point we are the victims of quadruple cross-posting.

pirossalma

It is not only India. I remember to read a very surprising data: 70% of Americans do not have passport. It means that they never left the American continent.

As a European American I did see the difference between having 6 week vacation or 2 weeks. To pay a couple of hundred dollars for a plane ticket from any European cities or 2k+ dollars from California. Spending 6 hours on a plane or 24 hours on planes/at airports.

As a European university student I spent all summer travelling, American university students spend the summer to work to pay the extraorbitant tuitions.

Nevertheless I met many Americans - in Noida, Gurgaon, Bangalor, South Delhi Business District. Places where you hardly can see tourists. Yes, they were business travellers, but they might know as much or even more about India then some casual travellers - from the daily contact with Indians, from invitations to Indian homes, celebrations, from tours with local colleagues as guides.

the opoponax

I got a really bad impression of the western business travelers I met. Flying home, I was in line just in front of this Brit who comes to Mumbai twice a year for work. HATES India and had nothing good to say about it - actually asked why the hell I would choose to go there, and couldn't stand to hear that I traveled all around the country for 2 months without getting deathly ill, raped, robbed, threatened at knifepoint, or whatever else.

That said, business travelers don't choose where they go -- I can easily see myself forced to visit South Africa twice a year and having the same attitude towards some cocky young backpacker at the airport.

Rachmilievitch

I was a bit concerned about identifying myself as an American before going to India. However, while there, we always said we were Americans when asked--and we were asked often, and our answer was always received well by Indians, perhaps less well by some Europeans.

Sama

exactly. it's an entirely different attitude and mindset.

I teach in a community college and students are working, working, working. it is indeed a rare student who would take the summer off to travel.

despite all the stuff one sees on TV about wild college students partying their asses off during a one week spring break (and winding up in Snoop Dog's videos ), the majority of the students I know stay home and work during spring break. they don't go anywhere!

the opoponax

I always identified myself as an American and laughed when people said, "Oh, I would have pegged you for a Canadian...", which I think translates to "But you seem polite and quiet and you're not even fat!"

The only problem I encountered with admitting my nationality is that I'd sometimes see dollar signs in the eyes of the person I was speaking to. Which is funny since our money goes less far internationally than most other folks traveling in India, which is ANOTHER reason we don't travel abroad that much. I was kind of thinking, "OK, seriously, see that fat pasty British guy over there? HE's the one you want to be talking to..."

Oh, and most college students who travel for 'spring break' and all that hop in the car and drive a couple hours to the nearest weekend getaway type place. The really rich kids take Caribbean cruises or go to Cancun, or Amsterdam if they live in the Northeast.

machadinha

May I observe here maybe Americans are a little hung up on and/or insecure about their nationality & hence more sensitive to the subject?

It had really not occurred to me to this extent before. It reminds me of that whole stereotypical "traveler's" scene, you know, the tattoos and perennial and obligatory poverty and all. Whereas there's a whole other class of backpackers inconspicuously making their way around the world almost unnoticed and unseen, and apparently not leaving much of a bad taste, nor being easily defined as by their nationality or anything else. They typically get laughed at by those same "hardcore" travelers of course (of the "I've been doing Asia on a quid and a half for two years so you have no right to speak -- now can you spare a dime, and you'd better have, and why are all those Shangri-La's no longer what they never were now that I've told everyone wo wants to hear it about them anyway" variety), if they don't indeed go unnoticed by them in the first place.