I don't know how it got deleted, but my response is marked as such. As I said, born and raised in California, but living in upstate New York, the part with the cows 'n' sows. Big state--would you believe, after 26 years, I've never been to the City?
What country are you from?
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Ian_Adkins odd, I don’t see it deleted on my end. You've never been to New York City? I hear the food alone is worth the trip. I was planning on going this year in may for a few days before catching our flight to italy. Oh well...someday.
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Lilikins Very odd, now it's back. Since I noticed about three days, it's said [deleted] where my username should be. Chalk it up to gremlins in the server.
No, never, not once. My brother almost had his wedding there last year, and I was very excited to see the Met, but they ended up eloping. Google Maps claims it's 188 miles/303 kilometres, or 4 hours 22 minutes. We've been to just about every other large city in the Northeast and a few in Canada, just New York City eludes us.
We had a trip booked for March to Glasgow and Edinburgh, but then coronus hit, the border closed (we were flying out of Pearson in Toronto), and missus came down with cancer, so she really didn't need to be exposed. We'll try again in a year. We are going to Korea for three months in January for one of her experiments. I've really enjoyed the dining there and throughout East Asia. If you don't care for the local cuisine, all of the major world cuisines are at most a short trip by rail away. Some of the best Indian I've had was in Taiwan.
EDIT: In re-reading this, it occurs to me that I may have given, in the light of the cancer, the impression my wife will be experimented upon, when indeed she will be the experimenter, being a scientist. The cancer, thanks be unto God, is no more.
I am from the USA, state of Illinois. NOT Chicago area, LOL. I live in a rural tiny city called Lena.
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What is wrong with Chicago? Some very nice people live there. I have seen them twice in twenty years. They like it there, but the wife, my niece, is from Devon in England so has no real taste... Don't tell her though. I visited it last January and really enjoyed the place.
@Colin Hudson#789 i think what Toadi was probably getting at is people tend to generalize certain locations in the US. Like when I say I’m from California they assume I live near the beach a surf a lot. In fact I live a couple hours from the coast, in farm country. Lots of agriculture and cows. So when I say I’m from California generally the next thing I say is I don’t know how to surf lol. I’m sure you’ve run into the same issue, Colin, with people generalizing you based on the country you are from. I take pride in the fact that I grew up on a farm, homesteading, so it can be frustrating when people assume I’m a beach bum. I could be totally wrong, but that’s how I inferred it, haha.
Hi doggymomee8301 - I was only joking. I think the UK humour is slightly different from some others. We tend to deprecate ourselves rather than other folks. I am originally from Liverpool, England. It has a reputation, ill-deserved, of being full of scallywags and thieves so there is a joke that most racing teams prefer to have Scousers (Liverpudlians) in their pit team as they can remove wheels and tyres quicker than anybody else... It is not true as Liverpool is one of the most friendly, happy and generous places in the UK. I could see he was joking so I responded in the same manner. 8-)
@Colin Hudson#791 That’s great Colin! Sorry for misunderstanding. There’s been a few times where language has been a barrier and things have been lost in translation so clearly I’m the one who misunderstood the joke here!
Yes, people do assume everyone is from Chicago if you say Illinois. I understood your humor Colin after I re-read it...LOL. Thanks for sticking up for me Doggymommee. I like the fact that you have the same issue as I do. I use to live in Wisconsin...the land of cheese for 20 years until I moved back down here to be closer to my Mom. The minute I moved, people started assuming I was somewhere in the Chicago area.. I guess that is why I wrote it like that.
The wonderful thing about this site is that people are supportive and don’t have mean things to say. So most of the time it’s just a misunderstanding. Everyone here is supportive!
Korea has been probably my favorite trip yet. Great food and super friendly people. Could be that they were extra friendly because I've spend 3 months studying Korean for hours every day to prepare for the trip though 
(I've been to Japan the year before and had some troubles getting around with English only)
It sounds like you've been there before. Have you visited Gyeongju?
Felix - you think you have problems. You speak and spell American English which most of the world understands. I speak and spell British English! There are not that many British comedy shows on TV's around the world so few understand our humour. Should we change our sense of humour? No chance! We have to retain that ability to laugh at ourselves.
@Colin Hudson#806 haha Colin! British humor is great! There’s a few British shows and movies I enjoy watching.
Felix that’s great you put so much effort into learning their language before going. I’m horrible at other languages. I did that before going to Germany, and I couldn’t retain squat. I learned more the week I was there than the three months preparing. Now, I don’t remember any of it! Dated a Portuguese guy for five years, and still only learned enough to be cordial to his parents. 
@Colin Hudson#806 There's Mr. Bean, which everyone here in Austria absolutely loves. I've just started watching The IT Crowd, which seems also very british to me. I love your humo(u)r!
doggymommee8301 I just really like learning languages! 
Problem is that I can't do it without some strong motivation like an planned trip to a country where people aren't that likely to speak English.
I tried the same thing with Chinese last year. I have relatives working there who can speak Chinese, so I always had a translator and didn't learn anything besides "hello", "yes", "no" and "thank you" 
Bom dia!
Felix - the problem with Mr Bean is that he mostly grunts. Anybody saying that I do will get a smack in the nose!
Felix I have not, my time has been mostly spent in the Cheonan-Asan area on the west coast, with day trips into Seoul. I'd like to see more of the provinces this time. I was in Busan overnight to catch a ferry to Tsushima for a day, and got around okay, but yes, the Japanese are fairly monolingual, though it seems they understand quite a bit, particularly in writing, but are reticent to use less-than-perfect English. Also visited the DMZ twice, which is surreal.
With the sole exception of some pungent seafood I have always greatly enjoyed the food throughout East Asia. So far I've been to Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, and I've always eaten well for quite reasonable prices, even at Michelin-starred restaurants. Gourmands could do far worse than East Asia.
@Colin Hudson Misunderstandings of British humor is real. My family is relatively fresh from Glasgow and London, and I've inherited a sense of humor a few beats off from what most Americans find funny. And it has definitely got me in trouble on a few occasions.
@doggymommee8301 I'm from Orange County, so the stereotype fits a little bit, but I never spent a lot of time on the beach (too many people when the weather is nice) and I certainly never surfed. I usually go back once a year, but I prefer to hang around the desert. However, I've lived in rural New York, "the part with the cows 'n' sows," for the last 26 years, with the exception of a couple years in Indiana (not far from Muncie, in fact). I could not for the life of me convince locals I wasn't from the City, I had never been to the City, and that this area is more rural and isolated than anything there. The concept just doesn't register that New York is a very large state, only a fraction of which is New York City and its environs.
Ian_Adkins You should definitely try to go to Gyeongju, the area is full of historic buildings and famous for their table filling meals
If you'd like I can try and lookup the name of the place when you get there
Where do you start?
