UK or England thread?

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I'd love to do more travelling, but just can't afford it. If I get my disability benefit come through, I'm going to go to either Paris, Avignon, Dordogne, Stockholm, Reykjavik, Vienna, Berlin - or the Scottish Highlands this year.

That all sounds nice. I also think I would love to see Big Ben. It's such a beautiful-looking clock tower.

I've never travelled outside of the US because I don't have the money (or the freedom) to do things like that. But I think that the UK would be a nice start because it has a long and interesting history and everybody there speaks English so it wouldn't be that hard to find my way around.

I also really want to visit Hawaii someday. That's top of my list before I die. I want to see the islands that my father's family came from and learn more about my ancestry there. I want to see a real volcano, eat poi and other local foods, learn all about their Gods and Goddesses (like Pele and all the rest), see some traditional dancing, and experience anything I can about the islands.

I love Cooplands salad sandwich with salad cream and onion.

For chips I like salt and vinegar unless I'm abroad or it's an actually hot day (inland, they actually exist which came to a huge surprise to me when I first experienced one)… then I'll have mayonnaise.

Places that think salad cream and mayonnaise are the same thing are really annoying.

I've been listening to The Kinks a lot. I've calmed down quite a bit.

Unless you love cities, don't spend all your time in London.

Hampton Court
Royal Armory at Leeds
York Minster/Canterbury Cathedral/Lincoln Cathedral (less tourists)
Yorvik Centre
Blenheim Palace
Warwick Castle

I'd skip Buc House. It's not even old.

If I could I would visit Piccadilly Circus, Carnaby Street, Oxford Street, Penny Lane, Manchester locales were post punk started, Wembley Stadium, the Chunnal, The Tube, A proper English pub, and so many more.

If you're in York go to Castle Museum. And unless you're the sort of person who despises shopping in all forms, try shopping for souvenirs and sweets (candy) like fudge. These streets have architecture older than America.

Try the coast too. Whitby seems to appeal to Americans who like things like Dracula or just the goth scene in general. Scarborough is bigger and better if you just want to experience an English seaside, or go out of Yorkshire and go to Skegness or Blackpool. And if you have a car and like the Brontes, there's Haworth (this is in Yorkshire right? Google is telling me some obscure county I've never heard of but it was in Yorkshire when I went as a kid).

If you go further north, there's Beamish which is one of the best living history museums in the world.

If you want to go to Scotland, there's Aberdeen with its science museum. It used to have story book glen too but teenagers smashed it up. And there are lots of lovely smaller places in Scotland, I've had nice times in the borders. Edinburgh is nice in general but easier to research and I can't think of anything which won't be heavily covered in guide books (Greyfriars's bobby maybe?) August will be busy because of the festival but the festival is fun itself and many good events are free.

I'd try for the towns, villages or countryside unless you're a city fan and if you are, I'd try for Edinburgh, York, Lincoln type places. London is OK for a day trip or if you're a heavy sleeper but I find the whole up all night, light shining into your window, music blaring atmosphere of the place not very aspie friendly and it isn't 'quaint' enough for an average American tourist hoping for a sense of something older/more 'merry old England'.

I am not a fan of London (I am there once a month with work - too busy, too much going on) but I think as a tourist there are some interesting places to see. My family are from Cornwall so I am biased towards that part of the country (slow, quiet, old fashioned) but as someone else said the Scottish highlands are just amazing. I reckon a good trip would be 2 days in London, 1 day Manchester area, a couple of days in Yorkshire and then a few days up in the highlands.

That all sounds very interesting!

I actually like both the city and the country. I grew up in the country but we've taken trips to big cities like Atlanta and New Orleans and I fell in love with everything about those places so I have no doubt that I would love London too.

I love London during the day and the evening. I just find it impossible to sleep in.

(Same as Glasgow if I go to a hotel in the city centre)

There are probably lesser known parts of London where this isn't an issue or maybe you're a better sleeper than me.

I like the British library, it has exhibits. I wouldn't recommend Madam Tussauds though - not many waxworks for the amount of queues there are. (Jorvik in York is a long queue too but it's worth it and you're all in a cart so it doesn't feel as crowded inside)

I am in London next Thursday for a work meeting. It is on the corner of Pudding Lane (where the great fire of London started in1666) and as a history lover I do really like that I get to walk down that road, pass by the big monument to the fire and then into an office a few doors down. I often spend time in London daydreaming about all the people that have walked on that road before me, all the blood that has been spilt for it to be what it is now, the generations upon generations of people who made their way around the city just as I am really - just getting about, working and trying to earn a living.

I grew up in the countryside and remain there now. I find cities just too busy, too much going on. I do love the history of London though, you can hardly go 5 minutes without there being something significant.

I often feel the same way about the city of Atlanta every time I visit. It was burned to the ground during the American Civil War but they were able to rise from their ashes like a phoenix and rebuild and now they are better than ever. Atlanta has an amazing history itself because it played a key role in the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement (Martin Luther King Jr. was from Atlanta). There's also lot of fun things to do there.

Of course being an American city it's not as old as London.

I do like the American Civil War as a subject, I have read a lot on it before, it really fascinates me.

I am in London the week after next too, in Pimlico. By the sounds of it annoyingly rather than going right there from Paddington Station I have to go to Waterloo first to meet with some others. That does mean though that I can possibly walk from Waterloo across Westminster Bridge, past Big Ben, past the Houses of Parliament* and then past Westminster Abbey. Haven't done that walk in years and years



*if the rampaging mob haven't burned it down after next week

The Civil Rights movement is very fascinating too. I actually saw photographs of it in a museum in Florida and there were pictures of protests and people holding signs demanding equal rights for everybody in this country. I fully support equality in every form because we are all human beings.

Btw is there a riot going on?

There was one I saw on the news here in the US a few years ago. I believed it happened in Chicago and angry people were looting stores and setting buildings and cars on fire.

That's exactly why humanity scares me.

^I think he meant all the aggro over Brexit, hopefully there won't actually be a riot (most people are too lazy). I could

be wrong though, I don't have a telly maybe there's been one going on for weeks.