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I've taken the taxi, and the flights, and unless you work at it, most international flights land in parts of the world that kind of just look like America but they speak funny.

You have to actually dig and get outside the "tourist" areas to really start to get something different, and you can do that in the USA, too.

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This is a good point too. Areas that are really touristy start to converge on a shared "vibe". I don't know if this is always how it's been and I finally realized it, or if it's a consequence of the more recent boom in travel.

I think it's somewhat both, but mainly the latter.

Decades ago, even touristy places were very "native" for lack of a better term.

But now, things like McDonalds and Starbucks and other American chains have expanded all over the world, the locals like them for various reasons, and you find them in the richer areas (which are often clustered around tourist-attractive areas, too).

However, if you stay in an area for a week or two, and/or get outside the cities, you quickly realize just how different places are.

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