This is a good observation. I don't know if there's a name for this psychological effect, but I observe it in many areas of life. The basic rule is: The fewer

This is a good observation. I don't know if there's a name for this psychological effect, but I observe it in many areas of life. The basic rule is: The fewer future choices you think you will have, the more risk-averse you will be when making the current one. You're more willing to roll the die and lose if you know you'll get more rolls in the future. Americans generally take fewer vacations than Europeans, so the opportunity cost of a single trip is higher. Because of that, it's natural to choose safer known vacations. Trying out someplace new and running the risk of it going poorly is harder to swallow when that may be your own significant trip in a year or two. A European is more likely to gamble on a new destination because if it doesn't work out, well, they've got a couple more trips coming soon to even it all out. (Also, there is the practical matter that Europeans have access to a much wider variety of vacations for less money because everything is smaller and closer. Americans do in fact vacation in a wide variety of places, but those are usually different states in the US, which is mostly invisible to Europeans. Most people in the US have visited a number of other states.)