Have We Entered a New Age of American Travel?

Travel Blog • Michael Yessis • 08.20.09 | 9:34 AM ET

Yes, says Conde Nast Traveler editor in chief Klara Glowczewska. She writes:

Today, Americans appear increasingly ready to reject wariness toward the rest of the world. Something new is afoot—a rediscovery of the sheer pleasure of being abroad and a resurgence of pride in being curious, culturally aware, peripatetic Americans.

Glowczewska believes President Obama and his family have played a role in this transition. “Some of the exuberance we are sensing may derive from a new First Family that is as enthusiastic a globe-traveling bunch as any in American history,” she writes. “They are a reassertion of a particularly appealing aspect of the American character—social energy.”