What's it like to be at these places?

Canada looks different in different parts of the country. I personally loved BC. Vancouver born and raised! Toronto is also pretty fun. I know nothing about the Maritimes or the territories, but my friend told me Winnipeg is boring to live in. I'm in edmonton right now and... there's nothing to do here in my opinion. Calgary seems to be a different story, and Banff AB is on my bucket list.

Also, it snowed hard on the first day of spring after like three days of warmth and sunshine. Don't expect anything when it comes to the weather.

 

United Kingdom

Its really nothing special~ i actually want to move ^.^
Its really overpopulated and theres not much nice countryside anymore especially where i live, and society normals are quite boring and clothing is boring and much more~

There is also a lot of closed minded people and mean people here >.<

The weather can be nice though! And theres London which is always fun ^.^

 

United Kingdom.

SHIT.

It has some nice countryside, a handful of really lovely places and some nice old buildings. It also has castles and some good museums.

Other than that, it sucks.

 

I'm going to give an opposite viewpoint and say that the UK is a really interesting and fun country with a plethora of things to see and do. It isn't all just London either, or those cliched tourist towns such as Oxford and York (zzz) - there are plenty of overlooked cities like Liverpool, Bristol and Edinburgh, which are arguably three of Europe's most beautiful cities, with no shortage of interesting history and world-class museums, as well as being big cities in general so there are some really amazing restaurants, great shops and so on.

There are also areas of outstanding natural beauty, such as the Highlands, the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales, and less rugged but equally beautiful rolling hills of southern England i.e the South Downs and the Cotswolds.

29.3 million international visitors graced our shores in 2012, so we must be doing something right.

 

I'll do Minnesota. It's very different depending on where you are in the state:

Southern Minnesota is mainly farms and small towns.

The Twin Cities are awesome and I'd highly recommend visiting them if you do come to Minnesota.

Up North (North of the Twin Cities) there are more lakes (even though lakes are everywhere throughout the state) and it has more of a woods kind of feel.

The area around Duluth and the North Shore of Lake Superior is really beautiful, but I haven't been up there. I'm going this summer though.

Also, the Boundary Waters by the border is incredibly beautiful.

 

With the United Kingdom, it depends what you are looking for and where you go. Some parts of the country, you wouldn't want to visit, but if you like culture, history, art and scenery then there is a lot on offer. London is good, but look beyond London too - there are other places that are worth a visit.

If you visit the UK, be prepared for all weathers as it's so unpredictable. We had lovely sunny spring days last week, but this week has been grey and cold with yet more rain.

 

I will comment on the two I have been to from your list:

1). New York City: very large and actually unmanageable unless you have a lot of time to spend and really explore. My spouse and I visited last spring for a day trip because we live within driving distance and unless you have something specific, it is difficult to just "go" to NYC and enjoy it, IMO. I've seen the main attractions like the Statue of Liberty but actually was not impressed with the main tourist attractions of NYC as most are over-exposed on TV and in media making it feel blase.

2). Washington (I am going to assume DC): when first approaching the city, you might be completely unimpressed as you will first ask, "So, where is the city?" because DC really has no skyline--it is really more Europoan in design than most American's identify with. However, once you get out and explore the streets, the opportunities are endless. I am, however, partial to DC, because I live here.

 

Only bolding where I have been

Minnesota is a lovely place, trees, atmosphere and it's quite nice until winter hits
UK was a great place too. A lot of history and knowledge to be had
Los Angeles (where I was) was dirty and urban and wasn't all that fun for me. I am biased however because I didn't go to the more posh areas of LA
I love Colorado and Washington. Mountains, beautiful, and nice people where I was
Canada is a really difficult one to explain. It depends where you go. It's like asking what is the US like to visit when you could go to Texas or NYC...there are vast differences everywhere

 

Born and raised in Alaska so will take that one:

Alaska is biggere than a lot of countries so it's hard to say what the whole state is 'like'.min can describe the parts I've been in.

Southeast: lots of fjords and a climate like the Pacific Northwest - wet and warmer with a lot of greenery. You can take a ferry between lots of places and roads are scarce ( actually roads are scarce everywhere in AK). There is a fishing industry and tourism is very big and a lot of communities reflect this. Juneau is practically a big theme park that the legislature and governor happen to work in. There's a pretty impressive glacier nearby though (although global warming isn't doing it any favors). Skagway is also pretty tourist oriented, but has a neat train ride that takes you thru some very scenic country and all the way into Canada if you want to go that far (don't forget your passport and your camera).

Central (roughly): this is the area from Anchorage to Fairbanks (where I grew up). Anchorage is just a city of about 300,000 or so, but there tourist opportunities in the area including whale watching and such if you want. Head north up to Denali National Park and you'll see major mountains and some amazing scenery,including Mt. McKinley. Take a shuttle bus into the park to at least Eileson visitor center ( unless you are bothered by heights...) or even to Wonder Lake. If you're lucky it will be a clear day and you'll see the mountain. Also moose, grizzly bears, mountain sheep, and caribou. Although you can also see some of these just driving around. Moose tend to wander into people's yards...

Note: bring a real camera (an SLR or the like with a powerful telephoto lens). Your cell phone or something you use at a relatives birthday party will NOT be up to the task.

Farther North you get into major tundra country and things get much flatter.

Regardless of where you are, odds are good the Mosquitos will be there to say hello. They pretty much have their own Air Force and have been known to carry of small pets and young children

Oh, and if you go at the right time of year it will be daylight 24hrs a day. It's not called the land of the midnight sun for nothing.

Hope this helps,

Todd

 

Colorado is a very beautiful and enchanted state. We went there for a skiing vacation twice and didn't do much sightseeing but did enjoy a few places. Pikes Peak, even during Spring Break in March can be very cold. We were only able to go about halfway up because the roads were closed due to snow but had fun playing in the snow and walking the area trails in 20 degree weather with 30MPH winds in several feet of snow (wearing jeans and tennis shoes :lol.

Another great area to visit is Garden of the Gods. It truly is "God's country." I added a couple of pictures of Garden of the Gods we took in 2005 when we last visited.

 

I've visited NYC 3 times now. It is just a huge city - but with so much to do and to see. It has been a few years now (pre 9/11) but the city was very clean and felt very safe - at least in Manhattan. We had been to a wedding out on Long Island, and we found New Yorkers to be more pleasant than the people on Long Island. Great for shopping, shows, and visiting landmarks / buildings. I was there before I was out (even to myself) as gay, so didn't hit any gay clubs. But there's a crazy night life scene there too. 20 years ago I paid $20 cover to go to a club there. Nuts.

Washington DC is also a great city to visit. We were there last summer with our kids. Great transit system. Tons of history. Very clean and everything is done on a very grand scale. Museums to keep you busy for days. Monuments and the National Mall were moving. We really enjoyed it. We had the kids with us - so there was no night life being experienced. We did so much walking that we were all dead tired by 9!

Canada is a pretty big place. 2nd largest country in the world based on land mass - but most of our population is along the southern most strip close to the US. As someone else said - it's like saying "what is the US like?" because there are such diverse areas. We have major urban centers. Toronto is described as Canada's New York. But there is also Montreal and Vancouver that are major urban centers. The province of Quebec is french speaking, which is cool. Quebec City (the provincial capital) is home to the only 'walled city' in North America - dating back over 400 years to protect New France from British invasion. It is beautifully maintained. Our atlantic provinces are beauitiful in their own right - with a real laid back attitude and pace of life. We have our prairies for farming, the energy sector in Alberta - along with ranching. The mighty Rocky Mountains, the Coastal Mountain range, and then our west coast and Vancouver Island. Northern Canada is another world again. Lots to do and see pretty much everywhere you go.

If you're looking for other suggestions - Rio! Incredibly beautiful AND gay friendly. My husband and I were there a year ago and would love to go back.

 

What I've come to realise about the UK, is that we don't really seem to grasp what we have until we visit other countries.

Yeah a lot of places I wouldn't want to send an enemy to.

However, we have so much history on our doorstep, along with truly beautiful countryside.
The Welsh valleys are my personal favourite, along with The Lake District.

---------- Post added 28th Mar 2014 at 03:49 PM ----------

I notice your location - Cambridge.
A nice city, but not if you're driving.
I was up there two weeks ago and got lost trying to find the multi-storey parking next to the shopping complex in the centre. I kept driving round in circles becoming more irate at the lack of signs.

And those bloody cyclists!

 

I live in Canada, and things are fantastically different depending on where you go. We're the second largest country in the world, we have a helluva lot of land, and way too many different kinda of terrain across the country. Culture varies a lot too, depending on where you go. Where you go depends on what you want to see/do.

I went to the UK in the summer (specifically England, but we spent some time in Wales). I loved it! London I found a bit claustrophobic because it was tourist season and I don't deal well with crowds, but the smaller towns were wonderful, the countryside was gorgeous! We stayed in Cardiff when we were in Wales and I liked it much better than London - not nearly as busy! I'm probably going back to London next year on the off season when there won't be as many tourists.

 

Los Angeles has lots of bad drivers.

 

Well Alaska's cold
Lot of drugs in Denver Colorado
Um in Germany it rains a lot
Same for Washington lots of rain
Um NYC is big yep pretty big
Sweden is some rich some poor
Minnesota well it's ok but I would never live there.

 

As someone living from Glasgow, I can tell you it's not Edinburgh that's overlooked.

It's apparently the second-most visited city in the UK by a huge margin. Anecdotal evidence: whenever I've been there, the city centre's full of American accents.

But it's pretty difficult to summarise, say, the whole of Canada. You might need to be a bit more specific. I guess there are some aspects about an entire country that are going to be completely different to wherever you come from, no matter where in that country you're going. (I'm pretty sure there's a less long-winded way of saying that)

 

New Zealand is gorgeous. Once you get out of the larger cities, such as Auckland, the landscape is incredible. There is basically every type of scenery you could want: mountains, forests, plains, beaches. The cities are usually a bit on the smaller side just because New Zealand is a smaller country. Everyone there is extremely friendly and you can strike up a conversation about almost anything.

If you are travelling I would really recomend visiting New Zealand for a bit.