Trains, Small Cars, & Bicycles

I'm a complete newbie to international travel, but after traveling to South American and northern Europe, one notices things.

With $5/gallon gas, our huge gas guzzlers (I'm guilty here), and collapsing economy it was refreshing to see what the U.S. can aspire to.

In Europe the infrastructure is totally different and more catered to handled public transportation. Cities have a more centralized feeling to them, and because cities having a clearly central hub and everyone living close to this center, public transportation is so much more useful and efficient. Buses, trains, and subways are truly more practical and do-able options.

More centralized-structured cities also make biking and walking easier. In Amsterdam for example, bicyclists clearly were the lords of the roads. This leads to another difference between the U.S. and the world. Overall, people are just more healthy--obesity isn't the fashion.

Another noticeable transportation trait is the lack of huge gas guzzlers on the road. The streets in other countries are miraculously void of huge gas guzzlers. You see tons of smaller aerodynamic, and new vehicles. Perhaps gas prices twice as high as the States helped push them to this state. If that's the case, bring on $10/gallon gas prices here!

Clearly America is behind the world, but we have many examples to follow.