So who's been to the States then, and where?

[Pert_UK]

Seems a sensible question....

I went to New York about 8 years ago (aged about 22) to be Best Man at a wedding on Long Island. I stayed in Manhatten for about a week with a few friends and had a fantastic time.

Since then I've only been back once, immediately after September 11th (I was actually in a flightshop making a booking as the attacks happened) to visit my friend (who I'd Best Manned for) in Brooklyn, who'd only just managed to escape from the Trade Centre area when the planes crashed into the Twin Towers.

I also managed to take the bus down to see EarlG in Washington/Maryland. He's been a friend of mine since I was about 10 years old but moved to the States about 9 years ago (very approximately). I travelled up the East Coast with him and his band playing gigs in a few places until we got back to New York after a few days.

Hopefully (fingers crossed) I get to go and work in Manhatten for a week in January and will try to book some holiday time after my job there is finished so I can stay on.

As a schoolboy, I always felt deprived that my family never made it to Florida for their holidays in the Summer, so NY and Washington (and the bits in between) are the only parts I've seen. I'd love to go and do a Masters in the US (Uni, not golf, although that would be nice) and see more of the country.

How about you guys?

[LibLabUK]

1. I've been within 100yds of the US...

Niagra Falls in March 2002, Canadian side.

From what I saw of the US at that point, it didn't look like it was worth the extra walk :)

I would have liked to visit, but I didn't have the foresight to take my passport with me to the Falls.

[asjr]

2. And I am thinking of just the opposite. If Shrub wins I am already

making arrangements to live with a friend in London. She has one child and another on the way. I will stay as her nanny for room and board. If the Reps still control this country after 11/2 it will not be a country fit to live in. And I am an old lady.

[DemBones DemBones]

4. I share your sentiments entirely. nt

[DemBones DemBones]

3. Does it count if I've been to the UK?

We stayed in London a few days, then rented a care and drove out to Devon to stay with a distant cousin of mine near Totnes. On the way out, we went to Wells and saw the beautiful Wells Cathedral, stayed that night near Cheddar, also in Somerset. Wanted to see the Wookie Hole and Cheddar Gorge but decided we didn't have time.
The next day we toured the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, drove on through Bath and down to Budleigh-Salterton, where my gran lived as a teenager. That was lovely, seeing the house where she lived, walking along the cliff paths she walked as a girl, walking on the beach, walking around in the town, on the same streets where she and her teenaged friends had congregated around the turn of the last century.

Finally, we drove to my cousin's farm, arriving in time for tea with them. After tea and the next day, he took us around to a whole slew of ancestral graves and homes and we toured Totnes, also, climbed up in the castle, etc. After leaving around lunch time, we drove over Dartmoor, seeing the wild ponies, then on to Avebury and spent the night there, staying in rooms at a pub. In the morning before it was light we went to Stonehenge, seeing Silbury Hill on the way. Then back to London to return the hire car by 4 p.m.!

Our big mistake was in planning to spend 3 days in London, 3 touring, 3 back in London. My husband had been to England twice before and thought there couldn't be much to see out in the Westcountry. He was very surprised and said next time we wouldn't spend more than a couple of days in London. Not that there's anything wrong with London, mind you, just that there's a lot more to England than just London. I hope we are able to visit again one day. I have a 3rd cousin in the north of Devon whom I'd like to meet, and I'd love to see where my gran lived as a young girl and the coastal areas. Her family was a long line of merchant seamen.

Our UK trip was in 1991 but since then we've been to Italy seven times, about to go for the eight time next month. Seems like it's about time to return to England, doesn't it? I truly love Italy, too, and feel very at home there. Both the English and Italians are lovely people, for the most part.

Hope you get to continue your visits to the U.S. and see more of our country. There's a lot of it that we haven't seen. Our daughter is a rocker who tours almost year-round and has seen every state in the contiguous U.S., plus parts of Canada, so we've seen photos and heard descriptions of a lot worth seeing.

[Pert_UK]

5. I went to Wookie Hole for New Year with EarlG+friends 2 years back..

Needless to say, various Chewbacca jokes were exchanged.....

:-)

Glad you enjoyed the UK and got to see some parts that not many foreign visitors bother with. There's a lot of natural beauty here (and I can recommend a superb lakeside hotel in Wales with the best food you'll ever eat if you come back over and want a few days peace and tranquillity).

The UK may be small but there's still lots to see and it does take a while to get around.

I've seen more of Australia than I have of the UK! I really want to get to see some of the wilds of Scotland - my g/f's relatives own a farm up there so we might be able to get up and help out with the cows!

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. I worked there for a year and a half

in Pittsburgh, and have been for short work trips or vacations to some other bits - New York, Florida, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Austin. I probably didn't have long enough in any of them to do them justice, let alone the wide open bits in between. There is so much that it's sort of understandable that some Americans never get out of the country; but I thought the Pittsburghers who'd never made it to Canada weren't really trying (you could drive there in half a day).

[LibLabUK]

7. I've heard good things about San Francisco..

Is it a city that can stand up to a two week holiday, or would it be better to use it as a starting point to travel round that part of California and head over to Las Vegas?

I'm thinking of making a trip over to that side next year.

[yvr girl]

16. Hi from Canada

It's amazing to me, how many Americans have never left their country. I read somewhere that only 7% of them have passports. I don't know if that's true, but it certainly would be shocking. It would be hard to find a Canadian who hasn't been to the States. Of course we tend to cluster around the border, but still. Make a bit of an effort.

Just for the record, I've been to:

Washington
Oregon
California
Hawaii
Idaho
Montana
Colorado
Arizona
Nevada
Illinois
Minnesota
New York
New Jersey
Connecticut
Massachusetts
DC
Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia
Florida

I've kind of skipped the flat bits in the middle.

[Guy_Montag]

8. My sis live just north of San Fransico

Wine country, so I've been there.

I might be going to Texas, around New Year with work. (Going to work on a ship) Then hopefully I'll be dropped off in Texas again. I've been getting to know one TX DUer so I might risk getting killed & eaten & visit her. Assuming they let me in after posting here.

[DragonWolf]

9. Been there twice :-)

Hi,

I've been to the States on a couple of occasions. Mostly to Ohio to see one of my best friends who live out there :-). In fact, I may end up moving there at some point in the future, esp if the Tories get back in, lol.

[Guy_Montag]

10. Hi DragonWolf

Welcome :toast:

[Pert_UK]

12. You'd move to the US if the Tories got in?...

Only if the Democrats were in, I take it?

Personally, I'm seriously considering a move to Australia if Bush and Blair remain in charge......At least in Australia you can forget about the bellend in charge and concentrate on getting a tan or off-roading!

Welcome to DU DragonWolf - how did you find out about this place?

:hi:

P.

[Guy_Montag]

13. New Zealand appeals quite a lot

but I guess it's full of LOTR weirdos now.

[Wols]

19. I'll trade you....

Especially if Bush is re-elected and his efforts at turning this country into a theocracy are accelerated.

[D-Notice]

11. Florida Oct '95 for 2wk

Family holiday: went with parents, sister & family friends. At least one of us made it ;-)

Stayed in a hotel in Orlando & did the normal touristy things: Disney, Universal Studios, NASA, Wet 'n' Wild, Sea World, Daytona Beach.

Weren't able to go to Busch Gardens due to a lack of time/money...

Even in October it was a lot hotter than our summer: 25C+ every day!

[LeftishBrit]

14. Visited Cambridge, Massachuetts in 1987

I enjoyed my visit, and remember thinking that Dukakis seemed to be doing a much better job of running things decently than our Maggie Thatcher!

Have also been to Canada. Liked Toronto; less keen on Edmonton, Alberta in the winter. I've been spoilt by our mild winters. But I loved the National Parks nearby (Elk Island and Radium Hot Springs) - absolutely beautiful.

[Nihil]

15. Pittsburgh, Seattle, Denver (never did make it to Nashua)

All on business with far too little time to enjoy the country itself.

I doubt I'll be across again in the near future - especially with the
new "security" arrangements - but we can always hope ...

Nihil

[Atlanticist]

17. Been all over the USA -

went first in '94 for 3 weeks with a load of old Uni mates - we went to NYC, Philly, Baltimore, State College (PA), Denver, Boulder, Cody, Yellowstone, Salt Lake City, Vegas, Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon. It was a great road trip.

Since then, been to Princeton, Chicago (3 times), New York (4 times), LA, Toronto (where I'm returning next week with work), San Francisco, Columbus Ohio a couple of weeks ago, Atlanta (5 times), Charleston SC (3 times on vacation), Hilton Head Island (twice), Savannah, Orlando (once for a conference) and Jacksonville FL.

Great country, great people (apart from the Freepers), but home is home.

[sweetheart]

18. visiting the indian nations is not to be missed

I Love the natural beauty of the USA, as a yank, and i love the
scottish highlands for the same reason.

I recommend these places to visitors to the USA: Northern Arizona
(grandcanyon, and upstream along the san juan and colorado rivers
in to utah and colorado) THe "national park" is just a tiny bit
of the river basin, and all of it magical. Fly in to tucson and
rent a car:.. some place names: Kayenta, Moab, Hopi indian nation,
navaho indian nation, bullfrog.

Glacier national park, arches, natural bridges national monument,
lake powell, lake mead, Taos (new mexico), Albuquerque (restaurant
on the top of sandia peak reached by cable car, the most awesome
sunset view in the west.. a mile up a cliff at 11,000 feet, you
can see for 200+ miles while you sip your wine) West of albuquerque,
about 100 miles is an indian reservation on a rock knoll, name
slips me at the moment (Acuna?), really stunning.

West texas - big bend national park. hawaii - big island, oahu (makaha, kahuku, mucapu (sp?), hanauma bay, Kauai, Maui (hana).

Eastern california, the deserts... borrego springs, death valley.
north to mammoth lakes, yosemite, big pines, mono lake, sequoia
national park.

Oregon crater lake, 3 sisters, mount hood, Washingon, mount ranier
olympus national rainforest.

As a well travelled american, besides parts of appalatian mountains,
there's not much east of the mississippi river, and to the west,
you've gotta get west of nebraska to start seeing the stunning
vistas of the mountains and the nature that even today is untamed
in parts.

[Mizmoon]

20. Actually, there's lots of cool stuff east of the Miss

There are the Adirondack Mountains in New York (which become the Berkshire Mountains when you hit Massachusetts). Lots of bears around there, mountain climbing, camping, etc. There are all kinds of Shakespeare fesitvals in the summer up there. There's also Tanglewood, with fantastic music of every kind, but especially jazz.

You can go to Assateague Island National Seashore in Virginia and see the wild horses that actually swim in the ocean in herds. It's amazing. There are lots of mosquitos, though. If you like a good scare, go to Washington D.C. and then drive to Assateague Island on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge:



Florida's Everglades are very interesting. I'd never seen a real alligator outside of a zoo until I went there. Not to mention Florida's gorgeous beaches.

UK tourists might be interested in New England - as the Eddie Izzard joke goes, "The pilgrims took off from Plymouth and landed in Plymouth! How lucky is that?" In other words, you can check out Plymouth and all of those historical areas - see what we say about the Revolution behind your back :) .

There is also the Appalachian Trail - over 2000 miles and spanning 14 states. (You did mention that)

There is also Niagra Falls, of course. The city of Niagra Falls is nothing to brag about, but the Falls are still very impressive. It reminds you of how small you are in the grand scheme of things. Also, I have heard that a boat trip through the lochs of the Great Lakes is an amazing experience.

There's Quaker Island and Martha's Vinyard and Cape Cod in Mass., the Florida Keys, the Deleware Water Gap in Pennsylvania (lots of rafting, fishing, cabins, things like that) ... I could go on and on.