Landmade vs. manmade

If you're looking to travel to Europe, you must be interested in manmade/historical sites, at least according to Orbitz's top 10 European travel packages. (http://www.orbitz.com/App/PerformMDLPDealsContent?deal_id=europe&cnt=PKH) Say, for instance, you want to go to England. Clearly you need to sign up for the "TOTAL LONDON EXPERIENCE," Orbitz's #1 European travel package, which features Westminster Abbey, the changing of the guard, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London (to see the crown jewels, of course!), Big Ben, and the Houses of Parliament. You will not see any nature, even though you will be stopping at Covent Garden on this excursion. However, for those of you, like myself, who have never been to London, you shouldn't expect to see any plants in the Garden unless they are for sale. Upon further investigation, I discovered that Covent Garden is a piazza with shops and street performers, not rose bushes or trees. Even mention of the Thames River in the package details makes sure to let you know you can see the views of landmarks such as the Globe Theater or London Bridge (it apparently has not fallen down yet) while on the cruise.
The same type of deal is found in the #2 most popular travel package- Simply Paris. Here you will be immersed in the same type of sightseeing, stopping at the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, and strolling/shopping on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, one of the most expensive real-estate areas in Paris. This package bills Paris as "historic," "romantic," and "fashionable." Once again, the only mention of nature is the Seine River, from which you can see all the monuments. Europe offers history and landmarks associated with its history.

The opposite is true if you're coming to America for a vacation from Europe (at least from Spain, as I used my Spanish skills and the website Destinia.) (http://www.destinia.com/www/searches/index.php) Apparently the only places of interest in Los Estados Unidos are New York City and a few select cities on the East Coast, and the "natural wonders" of the Western U.S. With the Western package, travelers will see every natural landform possible, including Yosemite National Park, valleys, waterfalls, forests, the Grand Canyon, and the Colorado River. Even when heading to Las Vegas, the travelers won't be hitting the casinos! They're going to see the desert and the agricultural communities who live/work there. In Santa Barbara, the travelers are more interested in the palm trees and beaches than the city itself. A day trip to Phoenix allows travelers to see Southwestern architecture, which may be of interest to Spaniards since it was Spain who colonized the area and they can see how their ancestors left a mark in the "New World."
Trips to the East Coast offer more of the same landscape-oriented destinations, such as the "legendary" Catskill Mountains (did anyone reading this ever know this mountain range was legendary???), Niagara Falls (by way of the Maid of the Mist), and, my personal favorite, the agricultural zone of Pennsylvania.
Cities take a backseat to America's natural wonders, except when they are important to our national birth. Washington, D.C. is a big draw for Arlington, the Washington Monument, the Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Casa Blanca. A stop in Philly is vital because it is where "the original 13 colonies declared their independence". Five of the seven packages offer stops in New York City, in order to see the rascacielos, or skyscrapers (as we know Europe doesn't have many). It's curious that the top destinations in America are mostly natural, as America was one of the sources of natural resources in the age of exploration, and institutions of their ideas of democracy, which is arguably the greatest export, at least the most far-reaching, and when Americans travel to England, they seem to want to see institutions of the government from which they rebelled. In many ways, travellers to/from Europe/America seem to be stuck in the Columbian trade agreement.