“Americans love to travel, and to stay home because of environmental concerns is simply not a solution,” says Mike Smalley, vice president of operations for Cruise America. “All long-distance travel methods create emissions, but RV rental offers a viable means for families to vacation – affordably, comfortably and without excess waste.”

To illustrate the real environmental benefits of a motor home vacation, consider the appliances in your home that consumes energy on an average day:

• Heating/Air Conditioning

• Stovetop cooking

• Microwave cooking

• Lights

Also include the things that require water:

• Dishwasher

• Sinks

• Showers and Toilets

All of these items are available for use in a motor home, but by their very design they require less energy or water to operate than what you will find in your home. As such, just by traveling in a motor home, your family leaves a far smaller ecological footprint than you would if you just stayed home.

They also move more passengers and cargo than your average car. It is far more environmentally sound to have a group of friends travel together in an RV to a tail gate party or camping then it is to have them each drive their own cars and meet up separately.

“When customers use our discount mileage special to plan RV camping trips for cooler climates, they also save on energy bills by turning off the air conditioning at home,” Smalley says. “Besides saving money on utilities, reducing energy consumption also helps families become more environmentally friendly.”

Or consider this: According to an article in the May 7 edition of The Nation, the effects of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses released by jets during air travel are around 270 percent higher than those of average emissions caused by driving the same distance, making air travel, “one of the most destructive things we can do,” writes George Monbiot, the article’s author.

“When compared with flying,” says Smalley, “RV vacations are actually an energy-saving option, producing fewer carbon emissions on most trips and often leading vacationers to travel shorter distances.”

RV rentals are available in compact, standard and large sizes, sleeping from four to seven people and offering a kitchen, bathroom and living area. For vacationers who’d rather drive their own vehicle, Cruise America also offers camping trailers for rent with no mileage charges, as well as motor home sales at locations across the U.S. and Canada.

Population Size:
The European Union (EU) has about 500 million citizens (492 million according to some figures). The United States only has 310 million citizens.

Economy:
The European Union has the worlds largest economy.
Europe also has the most Fortune 500 companies.
The Euro (currency) is stronger than the US dollar.

The United States is the country with the largest debt in the world.
The external debt of the U.S.A is more than $13,399,859,000,000.00 (94% of GDP in 2009)

Wealth
The European Union has a GDP (millions of USD) of $16,447,259, whereas the United States only has $14,256,275 (in 2009) .
In terms of overall gross domestic product (GDP) at purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita, the United States only ranks 6th in the world, behind several European countries who are on top of the list. The E.U has the highest GDP (purchasing power parity) in the world.

Several European countries (such as Luxembourg, Norway, Iceland, Ireland, Switzerland and Denmark) has a higher GDP (per capita) than the United States (in other words, people are wealthier than in the U.S.)

In several European countries people work fewer hours than anyone else in the world, yet European countries are also among the most productive in the world. US workers are claimed to be the world’s most productive, but they put in more hours than Europeans to score higher, according to a study by the United Nations.

World View & Culture
The average citizen in the United States has a very limited view and understanding of the world.
Only one in five Americans has a passport. The number of Americans who have a passport, according to the State Department, is 68 million, or around 22% of the population. That means roughly only 1 out of 4.5 Americans can even visit Canada, let alone travel to anywhere else in the world. So, only about 22% of Americans own a passport and only 10% of those actually leave the country.

Multilingual:
The majority of European citizens speak more than one language.
Most Europeans can speak at least two languages, and a significant amount can even speak three or more languages. English is the language most widely spoken in the EU, even though only 16% speak English as their mother tongue. Nearly 50% of all EU citizens can speak an additional language. 89% of pupils in the EU learn English.
Yet there are 45 indigenous languages are in everyday use in the E.U and of these 11 are official languages of the E.U.

Yest, only about 9 percent of Americans can speak another language (in most cases, only ONE other language).
[Note: Even the president of the United States, Barak Obama, can only speak one language - English. Perhaps he is one of very few "world leaders" who can speak only one language?]

Education
The education system of several E.U countries is significantly better than the U.S.
Finland is widely known to have the best education system in the world.
The education system of the United States is placed near the bottom of the list, according to the United Nations. The United States is 18th on a list of 24 countries.

Lifestyle:
Europeans walk and bike more. Europeans use more public transit, and drive economical cars.
Europeans eat well. They eat more healthy than Americans.

Medical care in most E.U countries is much more advanced than the U.S. Most other major industrialized nations provide universal health coverage, and most of them have comprehensive benefit packages with no cost-sharing by the patients. The United States, to its shame, has some 45 million people without health insurance and many more millions who have poor coverage.

Vacation:
The United States is the only developed country with no required minimum vacation days.
The seems the average American dutifully work him/herself into an early grave.
Typically, the American workers are granted only 10 working days with 8 national holidays per year.
Countries in the European Union has a required minimum number of vacation days, that range between 20 days and as much as 42 days. For example, elderly employees in Austria received as much as 42 days leave per annum.
Another example: according to the European Occupational Health and Safety, on average Swedish workers took 44 days off work in 2004.

Military power:
The USA dominates the world in military power- since it spends more on its military budget than anything else.
However, the European Union alone, has more military personnel than the USA (not even counting other east European countries, not part of the E.U).
The USA has a total of about 1,445,000 active military personnel, with 850,000 reserve personnel.
The European Union has 1,536,274 enlisted personnel, with 4,156,680 total reserves.