For me it's not any lack of aspiration, it's just that flying long distances over fields and houses at 10,000 ft isn't where my aspirations lie. Just a personal thing, you understand.
That's not actually what I do (or like to do) but fair enough
When I sit at FL100-FL190 it is perhaps over the Alps, taking pics of the mountains. That's pretty good.
Long distance IFR above a solid overcast is totally boring, and most flight over N France is totally boring.
And my club statistics agree with you - no-one want to fly abroad. Around 120 pilots fly with us, so it's not a bad sample.
I am sure there are many syndicates which are indeed like that. They are mostly large groups with resulting very low hourly cost, which appeals to many people. Poor access so good only for short jollies, but it is cheap flying, and this has its place in the GA community. Most of the most visible bit of UK GA is indeed skint. But I also know of loads of counter examples - people who go places and enjoy the challenge.
It does cost more money to do the more interesting stuff; I would not deny that. I am fortunate I can afford it. But to put this in perspective, my two sons have just left private schooling and I could do 3x more flying now that I do already, on the money saved.
What I think is wrong is assuming that everybody posting on here is skint, and advising them on thas basis as a default. Some are, some are not. I am in touch with many many pilots and while some are skint, many are not, but even those who are not generally find it hard to do interesting stuff because their training was too basic for it. The whole business is geared up for the lowest common denominator...
It is difficult because most people enquiring post one-liners, more or less, and everybody jumps in trying to guess what the man wants to do / is able to afford. That's why my first question tends to be "what is your budget"?