Apologies. You did say it was October. I forgot. I'll start again.

It seems to me you just chose a ridiculously priced hotel in Salou then (and obviously half board is more expensive!). This is what I find (average price per person based on family of four, 2 weeks from first week of October, 4 star hotel)

Salou - £326 (based on flights with EasyJet and staying at Regina Gran Hotel). WAAAY cheaper than your hotel.
Orlando - £598
Sydney - £1033

My point is just because YOUR Spanish holiday was expensive does not mean that that is the case generally.

GOOD LUCK finding a 2 week holiday in Australia that's cheaper than £326! Oh, isn't this FUN? ;) (It's kind of making me want to go on holiday though!)

I missed all the "What do you think of..." threads. ;D

I'm American. Ha! Another one responding.

I'd love to visit a lot of these countries. Canada, Britain, Australia, and (though not mentioned, I think) France. I really love language, so accents amaze me. I've always been disappointed in mine. What's worse than Southern American? (Off subject: with France, I just really love the language. xD I took French I in year 8 and am planning on taking a course a year until French V in senior year.) However, my one pet peeve with British English (right term? probably not...) is s's where z's go in American English. generalize/generalise. I know which came first, but this is how I was taught to spell. Plus, it makes the [z] sound. ;D

Weather seems to be a lot of people's issues, but I actually would enjoy it. I used to live in Las Vegas, NV (and I still visit), and I hated the heat. I love cool weather and like cold weather well enough.

I love me some British humor. Monty Python is hilarious, of course (I fart in your general direction! Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!). But my all-time favorite might have to be Wallace and Gromit (It's just a bit of...harmless brain alteration, that's all). I do love books, and one of my top authors is definitely Douglas Adams (The World Wide Web is the only thing I know of whose shortened form — www — takes three times longer to say than what it's short for).

Government-wise I have no qualms. The set-up of the UK and which kingdoms are united and whatnot took me a while to get (pathetic, yeah), but other than that, it's all fairly simple. Having both a prime minister and a monarch, again, threw me for a bit, but I understand it (for the most part) now. I do prefer the distinct separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches we have here in the US. But, again, that's probably just because it is how I was raised.

Of the people, I really don't hear many stereotypes. The only prevalent one I ever really know of is bad teeth. C'mon, America! That's pretty weak compared to our stereotypes. Then again...we meet most of ours. ;D

Just for fun... some stereotypical British people.

THE CHAV. Not so much stereotypical, as unfortunately alive and well and breeding at an alarming rate. A lot of folk believe the Chav is most easily identified by their style of dress (Tracksuits, Burberry, Bling) and by their strange rituals (Hanging around in gangs, Drinking cider in bus stops). Personally I think Chav is an attitude problem as I know plenty of people who dress Chav and are perfectly great human beings. Also Chav's can be hilarious to watch (The Royle Family, Shameless, etc).

THE LA-DE-DA'S. I always thought that this is the stereotype most people in other countries gave us. That we all speak like the Queen, have butlers, eat cucumber sandwiches on the terrace and drink copious amounts of Tea.

MOSHERS/EMO'S: I believe Emo's are a worldwide stereotype at the moment. However unlike America, with their many highschool stereotypes, I rarely see more than two teenage stereotypes in my town - Chav's and Emo's. Emo's here straighten their hair, dye it black, wear drainpipe jeans, band shirts and far too much eye make up. They're generally less of a nuisance than the Chav's but there are still some that have the same attitude problems. It's a teenage thing I think.

THE BENEFIT FRAUDS. These are often linked with Chav's but are certainly not restricted to Chav's. These are the folk that falsely claim disability or claim jobseekers/income support because they just plain can't be arsed working. And why should they? The majority of professional benefit fraudsters are popping out children just to bump up the amount of free money they get off the benefit system. These kids are then mostly left to run wild and become the Chav teenagers that are most commonly found on Jeremy Kyle or at least in the audience.

Please feel free to add to this list... I think my list is quite limited because of the area I live in.

I think the Emo thing isn't too bad anymore. A lot of my friends in their 20s still dress like it, but they are all in bands haha. I think now it's just the fashion.

Unless you live in Scotland in which case you don't say CHAV, you say NED. Pretty much means the same thing though.

And don't northerners say 'scally' to mean the same thing.

I've never heard of la-de-das!

Where I live La-de-da's are called Raa's, they were a lot of Jack the Wills clothes and the girls have really big back combed hair in rough pony tails.

LA-DE-DA'S? I THOUGHT IT WAS THE HOORAY HENRIES, YO! OR... ER... THE 'RA RA RUPERTS' IF WIKIPEDIA IS TO BE BELIEVED, BUT I'VE NEVER HEARD THAT ONE! ;D

'SLOANE RANGER' WAS ANOTHER SUCH EXPRESSION, BACK WHEN I WAS A YOUNG 'UN, YO, ALTHOUGH I DO BELIEVE THAT IT IS NOT IN USAGE ANY MORE (IF THE NAUGHTY RYAN IS TO BE BELIEVED - I NAIVELY ASSUME HE REPRESENTS BRITISH YOUTH EVERYWHERE, YO! ;D).

GOSH, CHAVS AND EMOS WERE TOTALLY NOT AROUND WHEN I WAS A WHIPPERSNAPPER, YO! WE HAD PLEBS AND GOTHS. ;D

Ahh the z's in place of the s's irritate me haha! Unfortunately majority of Brits will use the z.

And Wallace and Gromit - ugh. I hate that show. Hate hate hate it. And I'm not a big fan of Monty Python, although some stuff is good. I find American things like Friends way funnier!
Douglas Adams is pretty awesome though.

All you need to know about the Queen and Prime Minister bit is basically, the Queen is head of government in name only (pretty much). Her assent is required to pass an Act of Parliament, but it is HIGHLY unlikely she would ever refuse to give it. The BBC tells me that Queen Anne in 1707 was the last monarch to refuse it. It's just a bit of a silly tradition that hasn't faded. Other than that, she has no input.
And gosh, well done for getting your head around the legislative, executive and judicial (you forgot that one!) branches, I'm 21 and only just understand it, AND I'm studying law haha!

Oh, I love Friends! That's one of the few shows I might still watch. I watch about an hour or two of TV a week now. Scrubs is another show I like, but a different type of humor. I still like it. It's a medical setting with 5% medical content. xD

Bad teeth, really?

GOSH, YES, YO - THAT IS TOTALLY THE NORTH AMERICAN STEREOTYPE OF THE BRITS, YO! WE ALL HAVE BAD TEETH! I HEARD THAT ALL THE TIME WHEN I WAS IN CANADA - SO MANY PEOPLE WERE SURPRISED AT MY LOVELY WHITE TEETH, YO! ;D

Oh yes. One of the TV shows, Family Guy, had a field day with that. Bad Teeth and the "spot o' tea" and the Queen. Hilarious. ;D

Oh I almost forgot the other countries in the UK (sorry!!).

IRISH: The Irish stereotype (and I stress that it's a stereotype and not a generalisation) tends to be a person fond of their ale (mostly Guiness and whiskey), not that bright, over-zealously religious and fond of potato's. Father Ted captures these stereotypes brilliantly I think!

WELSH: I don't really know any Welsh stereotypes, except that all the Welsh contestants on our Big Brother tend to be a bit ditzy.

SCOTTISH: My general opinion growing up of Scottish people was largely influenced by Braveheart (they hate the English) and Trainspotting (which could just have easily been set in any English town to be fair!). I know a lot of people who go there to walk and in general, the Scottish dont' seem to differ too much from the English... though I don't think that all Scots would appreciate me saying that. Oh and they eat sheeps stomachs and fried mars bars... weird!

Lol. I've never had a fried mars bar. I don't think they're sold much now. It was a bit of a 90s trend. And haggis is delicious (although I prefer the veggie version).

And there sadly is a bit of an anti-English attitude amongst some Scots, but I don't think the majority of us feel like that. If we did, then the SNP would have more support for their ridiculous idea of making us independent (an idea which only 30% of Scots support). Most of us are proud to be Scottish AND British.

The walking is very good up here. And I'd agree we're pretty much like the English, but perhaps a little more laid back. ;) And I'd say we're more like northerners than southerners. The south of England is more snobby posh, and more conservative, compared to Scotland.

OOH - ME AND MY CANADIAN FRIEND TOTALLY FOUND A PLACE THAT SOLD DEEP FRIED MARS BARS IN BONNIE SCOTLAND, YO! AND DEEP FRIED PIZZA TOO!

AND YES, YO - THE NAUGHTY TOUR GUIDES WERE TOTALLY ALWAYS SLAGGING OFF THE ENGLISH. WELL, UNTIL THEY REALISED THAT THEY HAD AN ENGLISH PERSON ON THE TOUR, YO - ONCE I OPENED MY MOUTH THEY WERE SHAMED INTO BEING A LITTLE LESS HARSH! ;D BUT I THINK PART OF IT WAS TO ENTERTAIN THE TOURISTS. THEY TOLD US THAT FAIRIES REALLY EXISTED AND STUFF LIKE THAT TOO! ;D AND A LOT OF THE AMERICANS TOTALLY BELIEVED IT!

AND YES, THE SOUTHERN PUCK IS MUCH POSHER THAN YOU, YOU WILD UNCIVILISED SCOT, YO! ;D

WELSH STEREOTYPES THAT I'VE HEARD ARE THAT WELSHIES ALL WANT TO BE ON THE STAGE - THEY ARE ALL ASPIRING ACTORS/SINGERS/ETC. AND THAT THEY ARE ALL DISHONEST. AND GOSH, YO - LIKE IT MUST BE TRUE, BECAUSE CATHERINE ZETA JONES IS WELSH AND SHE'S AN ACTRESS, YO! ;D AND, LIKE, A WELSH FRIEND OF MINE HAS TOLD SOME NAUGHTY LIES! ;D

Brilliant reasoning by Bloop standards. ;)

your humor = win. i grew up on british tv. it pwns american and aussie tv by far. lol.

also, i personally think i was born in the wrong climate. i'd love your "shit" weather. rain, snow, cold. i'll take it all on. you can have the shitty hot weather we get. though in melbourne it doesn't even stay that hot for that long. darwin on the other hand. no way. if i was born there i'd have moved away as soon as humanly possibly.

Apparently the US has more rain that England! I read that a few months ago. It doesn't rain overly much here, we just experience a lot of overcast days.

But America is much bigger... the chances that it will get more anything than us in tiny little Britain are pretty high! :)

WELL, DEPENDS WHERE YOU ARE IN ENGLAND, YO! LIKE DOWN HERE ON THE COAST IT RAINS PRACTICALLY EVERY DAY! I'D SAY THE COMPARISON IS PROBABLY MORE IN TERMS OF RATIO ONCE YOU TAKE IN THE COUNTRIES' VERY DIFFERENT SIZES. LIKE, THE COASTS OF AMERICA WILL TOTALLY GET RAIN JUST LIKE THE COASTS OF THE UK. EXCEPT THAT BECAUSE WE ARE SUCH A TINY ISLAND, OUR COASTS TAKE UP A MUCH LARGER PROPORTION OF OUR COUNTRY THAN THE AMERICAN COASTS WILL TAKE OF THEIRS.

Depends on where you are. Our Northwestern border is a "temperate rain forest" and gets *Googles* 100-200 inches (like 250-500 cm., I think ;D) a year.

A kindred spirit!

Fortunately I am from the UK, so I can enjoy our rain.

The phobia of sunburn doesn't help.

I live in england and havent been to scotland, ireland or wales so cant speak for them but i love england, the fact we have free healthcare! when i read peoples diaries and see the medical bills they have to pay my jaw drops and thank god i was born into england lol, love the town i am in, im on the east coast and 10 mins from a gorgeous beach! with lovely sand and NO pebbles up one end of it :D