Tell me about Great Britain.

[JJ 911SC]

Originally Posted by Stuart993

I'm a Brit.
It's cold, overcast and damp.
Crowded, and the roads are a nightmare.
I moved to the US approx. 12 years ago, I know which I prefer.

They still suffer from the "we used to own half the world" syndrome.

Our head office is in the UK and we had a lot "drop in" to show us are things are done... Really, most of them never returned and became landed immigrant and our very small division make more money for them than their 100's time larger division working on the biggest UK defense program... But I'm not biterrrrrrrrrr

But like everywhere else, people are nice

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by ckissick

I lived in London for a year and a half. It rained almost every day, but you get used to it. The countryside is very beautiful.

There are more cities and industrial areas than you might think. It's much more densely populated than California. Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales) has 60 million people in an area of 85,000 square miles. California has 37 million people in an area of 164,000 square miles. Having said that, there's plenty of countryside to explore.

The reason for the twisty roads is the mish-mash of ancient farm properties, created long before cars.

Well now that you're on to land vs. people, a lot of Ca is uninhabitable. Looks to me that in England most of the land is used sin some form. If you look at a population distribution map of CA you will find (and I'm not going to check my statistics) that over half the people live within 10 miles of the ocean. Fly north out of LA and pretty soon you see that much of the central coast and inland foothills is very thinly populated.

Go to the upper eastern part of CA and you won't even find roads to speak of.

[imcarthur]

Go. It is a great introduction to Europe since they speak English - or an almost intelligible version of it. I have been twice.

I went in 1982 on an 8 day(?) whirlwind business tour with 15 dealers + 3 handlers. I was a handler. London, Cambridge, Southend, Edinburgh, Loch Leven, Glascow. A drunken train ride from Edinburgh to Cambridge. Invading a pub in some thatched village while touring in a double-decker bus. A drunken walk from a Soho ‘gentlemen’s lounge’ to Kensington. Getting stoned in a motel in some godforsaken place on a foggy night . . . the movie American Werewolf in London was popular & walking back to my room outside alone, I heard a canine howl . . . yeah, I had a ball.

My wife & I went to London in 2004 for 6 nights. Museums. Parks. Hampton Court. The Tower. Westminister Abbey. An expensive city but great to visit. We even saw the Queen & Vladimir Putin.

Go.

Ian

[Mark Henry]

Me mums is a British (London) war bride. Came over in a converted Lancaster, had to wear O2 masks over 20k feet, lost an engine mid-Atlantic and had to live a 5 days in Gander with total strangers. I have a bunch of cousins over the pond, but I've never been.
When I was a kid some couldn't understand what I was saying because I had the accent.

[JJ 911SC]

Originally Posted by Mark Henry

... had to live a 5 days in Gander with total strangers... When I was a kid some couldn't understand what I was saying because I had the accent.

Mark

Sound like you were inflected with the Newfie accent syndrome

[Bill Douglas]

Since the recession they have been thinking about renaming Great Britian Quite Good Britian.

Don't spend all your time in London, as much fun as it may be. There is London and there is England and they are both quite different places. Cornwall is the best bit. Southern Ireland is beautiful, just beautiful. If they didn't ask me to leave I'd still be there.

[GWN7]

This is North London yesterday (stole the pic from a buddy who lives there). Not much rain or fog then. Best time to visit weather wise is Aug or Sept (or so I've been told).

Places get a bad rap just because most people learn about those places from their TV's. Example Seattle: it rains there all the time, except when I visited I got sunburned.

As to the twisty roads best to read about the divison of England by the Romans and the following divisions over the next 1500 years.

[DARISC]

Wandering aimlessly for hours through stunningly beautiful countryside in a RH drive (original) Mini, happily hoplessly lost, finally stopping in the twilight to ask directions, chit chatting with delightful old, half in the bag, tweedy country gentlemen, drinking beer and eating steak and kidney pie in a Cotswold country pub; mmmmmmm! No finer travel memories have I.

[aigel]

Great place to visit. I would not want to live there though. Everything is very small (home, cars, stores etc.) and the standard of living compared to the US for the same middle class profession(s) is significantly lower.

The weather is poor but skies rip open to sunshine more often than central Europe. The gulf stream hits the western part okay. People are very friendly from what I have encountered.

G

[Normy]

Great Britain is Great. Just don't expect much of a culinary tradition!

It is a fun place. The weather sucks BIG TIME! Brits are unusually friendly overall, but of course everyone is different.

Good lord these people like to party!

I actually walked out of a dance club in Nottingham because it was too loud and the people in there were too wild. I still can't believe that happened!

-A night out in England: You get drunk off your ass. Then you go to a curry shop run by a Pakistani, where you eat a pound of cheap and terribly-done fried chicken. The you drink some more alcohol, try to enter a club, get thrown out by the bouncers because you are wearing trainers, wind up grassed-up by the cops when you are caught throwing up the fried chicken in someone's garden...ultimately wake up at 1300 the next day in your hotel room with one of the three nastiest hangover's you've ever had, with no idea how you got there.

No.....of course, I've never done that-

N!

[Jim Bremner]

I have never been.

This monument is for one of my forefathers James Bremner.

I might make it there in a few years

[WolfeMacleod]

Originally Posted by GWN7

Places get a bad rap just because most people learn about those places from their TV's. Example Seattle: it rains there all the time, except when I visited I got sunburned.

We only say that. To keep the Californians from moving up here.

[widgeon13]

Love traveling to London and the UK. Great people, beautiful countryside, quite civilized.

[The Gaijin]

Originally Posted by Mark Henry

Me mums is a British (London) war bride. Came over in a converted Lancaster, had to wear O2 masks over 20k feet, lost an engine mid-Atlantic and had to live a 5 days in Gander with total strangers. I have a bunch of cousins over the pond, but I've never been.
When I was a kid some couldn't understand what I was saying because I had the accent.

Yup, me too. Mother came over a later, and on a ship. (We joke it was the Mayflower..) I am close with my family over there, and I am happy about that.

On the plus side, most Brits genuinely like America and us Yanks. Many have been here, and we share much popular culture. But as the travel writer Paul Theroux has pointed out, "no Anglophiles actually live in England.."

They can be quite miserable gits. And not always nice towards each other.. (They save their affections for their dogs.)

On the plus side, they can be very stoic and put up with just about anything. Some mishap or misfortune? They literally laugh at it.. The class system is always lurking (although we are blind to it), but leaders (in business, in my experience) can actually lead (a dying art in America).

Back to the OP - yes, go! Summer can be crowded and sometimes too warm (no A/C), winter is cold and rainy. The longer days in May & June are great for traveling. The Cornish and Devon coasts are nice. The trains are great.

[Paul K]

Spent the first 23 years of my life there (39 now).

Great place to visit. Especially the English Lake District & Scottish Highlands.

Avoid Liverpool at all costs (damn Scousers will steal your stuff).

Biggest reason for the haphazard roads & lack of grid iron system is that the UK evolved before the motor vehicle- whereas the US evolved with it. Plus, may cities used to be walled (to keep invaders out) so they were 'round'.

FWIW, The United Kingdom is a combination of countries (as was previously mentioned) those being England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland. Great Britain is the big island, consisting of England, Scotland & Wales.

If you are planning a trip over there, PM one of us Brits first. We're here to help!

Cheers,

Paul.

[oldE]

Milt,

Since both my ancestors (Methodist Yorkshiremen thrown out in 1775) and my Wife's (Scots, left about 1740) were from across the pond, we told ourselves we had to visit. Finally in 2001 it happened for the first time.

Since then, we've spent about 5 weeks over there in various trips ranging from Somerset, Wales, Lincolnshire, The Cotswolds, Yorkshire, Lake District, Lowland and Highland Scotland. The wife and I are self-professed "country mice", so we tend to pick up our 'hire car' at the airport and get away from the city.

If you like cities, use the public transit, subways, buses and rail. If, like us you prefer the countryside and small villages, get the big AA Atlas (2.5 miles to the inch), get off the M and major A roads, and plan to stop often. They pave everything, so when you meet the Royal Mail van or a farmer on a one-lane blind corner, prepare to dive left onto the verge or the small lay-bys' you notice every 100 yards or so. The biggest problem I had was learning to shift with my left hand. Drivers are quite courteous by NA standards.

Small communities feel so much like home to me (hey, I was a farm kid), so we tend to go where you can walk around the fields (almost everywhere). There is an amazing network of walking paths throughout most of the countryside and a variety of maps available.

The weather has always been good for us, but there are rainy days (that is why the hills are green) The people have always been fantastic and we are planning our next trip for the fall of 2012.

Enjoy.
Les

[scottbombedout]

Originally Posted by milt

I was just poking around in the Lakes District and found a place called Grasmere. I could stay there for 2-3 days just looking at the few buildings. Of course, the pub, a couple hotels and a sandwich shop. What else do you need?

I came across an Arena Red Cayman driving in front of maybe a gallery (seems to be a few of those as well) on Stock Lane.

Milt, I was in Grasmere this morning working. Truly beautiful.
This is Stock Lane, its a small world


Village Church, dates from about 650AD. Very spiritual inside and the woodworking is amazing. You would appreciate that.


Grasmere


Top of Grasmere Valley


Job number 2, had to slum it at the end of Lake Ullswater


Job number 3, coming home after being in Patterdale.



The Lake District would be a great base for any visit to the UK. Easy trip into Scotland, Wales not too far. Who needs London?

[oldE]

Originally Posted by scottbombedout

Job number 3, coming home after being in Patterdale.



The Lake District would be a great base for any visit to the UK. Easy trip into Scotland, Wales not too far. Who needs London?

Scot,

That last one looks like the view from the Kirkstone pass with Brothers Water in the distance.

Thanks for sharing.



Stokesay Castle, Shropshire.

Les

[scottbombedout]

Les, absolutely spot on. Come up 'the struggle' from Ambleside on the other side and down into a beautiful valley heading to Pooley Bridge.

Well spotted.

[Monza_dh]

In terms of motorsport, the UK is the motherload. The first F1 race, the Isle of Man TT race, British Touring Championship, WRC, Moss, Hill, Clark, Surtees, Mansell, Stewert, Joey Dunlap, Lotus, Cosworth, Williams, Mclaren, Tyrell, Prodrive not to mention, Jag, Aston, Triumph, Morgan, Rolls, TVR, Land Rover etc, etc, etc.......

If you ever decide to make a trip try to hit a race at Donnington, Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Goodwood or a good old fashioned hillclimb.