USA Is The World’s “Most Liked” Country…No, Really It Is

Nein, nein, nein! Warum!!! Yup it’s true. Germany has indeed been dethroned as the “most liked” country in the world. No longer is the land of giant pretzels and beers the most beloved according to a new survey. So what country is “most liked” right now?

The United States of America.

Yeah I was shocked too. But the results from a summer 2009 survey of 20,000 people in 20 geographically and economically diverse countries revealed that the world is seeing the US of A in a whole new light.

According to Forbes, which released the results, “The survey asked respondents to rank 50 countries in six categories: governance, culture, products and services, people, tourism and immigration/investment.” Many are saying that the jump to 1st is solely based on the popularity that President Barack Obama has right now around the world.  “The Obama Effect” has truly been phenomenal for the global image of the United States.

So just how much has the world changed its opinion on the USA? Well according to Simon Anholt, an independent policy advisor which conducted the survey, British approval jumped from 53% the previous year to 69% today. Love among the French rose to 75% over the last 12 months, up from 42% in 2008. Tres bien!

This was the first time that the United States came in first place since this survey started back in 2005. Last year USA was ranked seventh in the world. What’s not to love about us? We started two wars, currently suffer from the worst job market in nearly 100 years, lack affordable health care to millions of citizens, fail to provide a decent education to our youth, suffer from an obesity epidemic, refuse to use the metric system, and have “news” stations show balloon boy coverage 24/7 instead of actual world events.

Oh yeah Americans will sleep soundly tonight knowing that people around the world like us…they really, really like us. Take that the rest of the world! By the way the previous paragraph was not some “Anti-American” soap box speech. I love my country, but it does have a few flaws right now.

Here are the results of the survey’s top 10 “Most Liked Countries” around the world with their ranking from last year in parenthesis:

1. United States (7)

2. France (2)

3. Germany (1)

4. United Kingdom (3)

5. Japan (5)

6. Italy (6)

7. Canada (4)

8. Switzerland (8)

9. Australia (9)

10. Spain (tie) (11)

10. Sweden (tie) (10)

Tags: australia, canada, france, germany, italy, japan, president barack obama, spain, switzerland, united kingdom, united states of america, usa

Saturday Travel Shot: Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington freeways (Picture courtesy of Flickr user Mike Hornblade)

Tags: seattle, usa, washington

Monday Travel Shot: New York, New York

A bird's eye view of New York City and it's "backyard." You might know it better as Central Park. It was in this great city that Labor Day was first celebrated in the United States (after being created in Canada) way back in 1882.

Tags: central park, labor day, new york city, usa

Americans Vacation Less Due To Work Related Stress

A survey released by Expedia.com finds that 34 percent of employed Americans will not use all of their earned vacation days in 2009. When asked why they are planning to  not take a break from the office, the number one reply was “work-related pressure.”

On average, American workers will give back three vacation days this year, according to the ninth annual Vacation Deprivation survey performed by the opaque travel website. Expedia’s study also revealed that workers are taking fewer extended vacations, with the number of adults who plan to take a two-week vacation dropping to 10 percent in 2009, as compared to 14 percent in 2008.

Other interesting notes from the survey include:

• Women tend to feel guiltier than men when it comes to taking time off from work (40 percent of women vs. 29    percent of men).

• Roughly 39 percent of working Americans expect to use most of their vacation time in 2009 by taking at least    one full week of vacation and spreading out remaining days.

• On average, Americans had 13 vacation days in 2009, one day less than the previous three years.

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Although French get the most days off, they were once polled as being the crankiest workers in the world.

So how did the rest of the world fare in the Expedia Vacation Deprivation survey? Well the site asked countries like Canada, Great Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Australia, Japan, and for the first time, New Zealand. This year, Canadian, French and Australian workers will be granted between one and two more vacation days than in 2008, while all other countries will either receive fewer vacation days or see no change in earned time off.

Want a lot of vacation time? Move to France, where the workers receive and use the most vacation days of all countries surveyed by Expedia. French workers receive 38 days and leave only two days unused.

Now while it may look gloomy for American workers, since we receive the smallest number of vacation days, Japanese employees are the least vacation-minded, as 92 percent of the workers polled said they would not use all vacation days and will leave an average of seven days on the table.

Tags: american, australia, austria, canada, england, france, germany, great britain, italy, japan, new zealand, spain, Travel, uk, usa, vacation

Airlines May Have Run Out Of Ideas For Additional Fees.

That will be $4 for your two drinks...plus a $5 tray fee, $4 smiling fee, $5 cup fee & $9 carrying fee.

Over the last year or so we have seen pretty much every major airline tax on fees to such items as food, drinks, seat assignment, pillows, blankets and checked bags to counteract the cost fuel, competition being fierce and the awful economy. But according to a report Sunday by Kyle Peterson at Reuters, airlines might have run out of items to charge you when traveling with them. That is good news to passengers…but will it last long? I mean the airlines are obviously hard at work thinking of new ways to “nickel and dime” consumers in order to make up for weak sales.

What’s next? Charging infant travelers? Asking for $5 to recline your seat? Penalizing you with an $5 extra if you do not put the seat back in the upright position? Make you pay $15 to carry on a bag? Or maybe add a $30 surcharge for a seat belt and life vest? As funny as those all might sound, you just never say never when it comes to this industry. As lousy as it has become to fly due to all the extra fees, can you really blame the evil airline suits? I mean American Airlines reported that they made a cool $2.1 billion in extra fees alone in 2008, that is up a whopping 60% since 2002!

Ah the friendly skies...please insert your debit or credit into the slot next to the toilet paper.

As long as airlines make the moolah, they will make new fees. Although no new fee makes customers happy, the backlash from US Airways soda fees were so bad that the airline later changed its mind and canceled their “buy on board” program as of March 1st this year. RyanAir might have sunk the lowest with their idea of “sticking it” to their customers when rumors came out that the low budget carrier was thinking of adding a potty charge for customers that needed “to go” when flying. I mean seriously Ryan? Wow.

So are airlines done with new fees? Ha!

Tags: airline, american airlines, fees, us airways, usa