I want to live in America

LordSplodge said:
It is places like Dartmoor, Exmoor, Snowdonia, The Lake District, the Scottish Highlands, the Norfolk Broads, the North Yorkshire Coast, and a myriad of other varied landscapes makes me wonder why people think vistas are any better elsewhere.

Sure you have bigger wildernesses out there but this emerald isle holds her own.

*gets misty eyed*
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Because none of those are natural wildernesses. At best they are wildernesses but very few are natural or big enough to actually get "lost" away from civilisation (parts of Scotland). All UK national parks are the second lowest catagory due lack of natural biodiversity and heavy management. In fact by international standards we don't actually have an national parks...

http://www.nationalparks.gov.uk/lea...nationalparksareprotectedareas/iucncategories

That's why the draw of places that are truly natural where you can walk for days without seeing a path, road, house or field. In the UK it's lucky if you can walk for a ccouple of hours without running in to one, even in the so called wilderness.
 
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easyrider said:
What's the attraction?
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Beer, efficiency and big busty german women. Also; sausage.

Amp34 said:
Because none of those are natural wildernesses. At best they are wildernesses but very few are natural or big enough to actually get "lost" away from civilisation (parts of Scotland). All UK national parks are the lowest catagory due to the lack of natural biodiversity and are heavily managed, largely to stop them going back to nature.

That's why the draw of places that are truly natural where you can walk for days without seeing a path, road, house or field. In the UK it's lucky if you can walk for a ccouple of hours without running in to one, even in the so called wilderness.
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Very few places in the developed world aren't managed in some ways. Even the wilder parts of North America have been sculpted by the indigenous people.

You can get actually lost quite easily in places like Dartmoor and Wales. Whilst you might not be able to wander in a straight line for days you can easily get lost and it is possible to not bump into other people.

I'm not sure how many people need to be able to walk for days without seeing somebody though. I suppose they could do that more easily in America or even better in a rainforset someplace.
 
See my edited post for more info on our "national parks".

As for getting lost on Dartmoor, you can, however it's pretty difficult IMO. It's also hard to walk somewhere on there without hitting a road/modern wall/gravel track. I used to live next to Dartmoor and just last year did a long weekend backpacking over it. Besides, Dartmoor, while beautiful, is not natural in the slightest. There's modified by humans and there's destroyed and the environment totally changed. Dartmoor and many of the other UK moors are the latter, mostly due to the draining, chopping down of trees and grazing of domesticated animals (and slash/burn techniques for keeping grouse/quail on other moors).

While the US has plenty of managed land, for example Maine is full of trees, almost entirely second growth due to the logging industry over the last century is still more natural than any national park in the UK.
 
hargi said:
Think it was from a International teaching pool thing. I will ask him exactly and get back to you. I think its like some kind of agency that you apply to then they have Jobs over there that you then apply for.
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Ok here is the reply

"The first time I got into teaching in the US I used the VIF and the second time the IBO website to find a job. The international section on the TES website also had the ocasional job on it. Using a recruting agency like search associates might make it eisier to find a job here although it costs to join and it's likely you will have to attend a job fair. As far as i know there is not international teaching pool. Hope that helps"
 
LordSplodge said:
It is places like Dartmoor, Exmoor, Snowdonia, The Lake District, the Scottish Highlands, the Norfolk Broads, the North Yorkshire Coast, and a myriad of other varied landscapes makes me wonder why people think vistas are any better elsewhere.

Sure you have bigger wildernesses out there but this emerald isle holds her own.

*gets misty eyed*
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Because they are. Not only are these places tiny in size, they're tiny in scale and view as well. We don't have a high mountain, even ben Nevis is tiny, large canyon? Anything like fly geser or Barringer crater. Any ice fields? any thing dramatic at all? Yes uk landscape is nice, but it is distinctly average, let alone the thru hiker community USA enjoys.

I'm well aware you can wild camp in Scotland and dartmoor, I've even said that in this thread, I was meant to be wild camping in dartmoor this weekend until I got ill, and spent my three days off work in bed.
 
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Amp34 said:
Besides, Dartmoor, while beautiful, is not natural in the slightest. There's modified by humans and there's destroyed and the environment totally changed. Dartmoor and many of the other UK moors are the latter, mostly due to the draining, chopping down of trees and grazing of domesticated animals (and slash/burn techniques for keeping grouse/quail on other moors).
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Obviously our small island has felt the impact of mankind over the many thousands of years. Dartmoor, pre stone age / bronze age was heavily forested.

Even your beloved 'natural' America has been shaped by thousands upon thousands of years of mankind altering it.


While the US has plenty of managed land, for example Maine is full of trees, almost entirely second growth due to the logging industry over the last century is still more natural than any national park in the UK.
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More natural?
 
Glaucus said:
Yes uk landscape is nice, but it is distinctly average, let alone the thru hiker community USA enjoys.
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It doesn't have the majesty of some places but for such a small island we have the variety.

Bigger doesn't always mean better (somebody should tell your average American that!)
 
LordSplodge said:
It doesn't have the majesty of some places but for such a small island we have the variety.

Bigger doesn't always mean better (somebody should tell your average American that!)
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We don't have a big variety.
One of the American thru hikes, you will have more variety than you could get in the entirety of the uk. It is exactly the big things that cause variety. Change in elevation is a cause of many changes.
 
Glaucus said:
We don't have a big variety. Change in elevation is a cause of many changes.
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We don't? I listed a few examples above.

Not sure what change in elevation has to with much. I've been to the foothills of the himalayas and it is big, and often stunningly beautiful but it doesn't have much variety.

Not everything here is going to match the splendour of some of Americas natural features. After all there isn't that many parks on a super-volcano in the world or that many grand canyons. Not one bit of that doesn't mean we don't live in a country that offers splendour and variety.
 
I never said this country wasn't beautiful. It is, how ever it does not have the variety other countries does, it doesn't even have the variety in a localised area either.
How many places in the uk, can you start in dessert or low landau, travel through forest, hit the tread line, hit the vegetation line and go up through the snow to the top and see so much.

We barely have forests, we go from green low lands to green hills. A bit of bogs and a bit of interesting rock formations. But it's mainly just average green with little change in any thing.
No where near the change you see in other countries.
 
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Used to live on Dartmoor, now in the states. Interesting view points from people :-)

Your life is what you make it (Generally speaking).

Good luck easyrider.
 
LordSplodge said:
Obviously our small island has felt the impact of mankind over the many thousands of years. Dartmoor, pre stone age / bronze age was heavily forested.

Even your beloved 'natural' America has been shaped by thousands upon thousands of years of mankind altering it.




More natural?
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Yes, because at least it has the same land use it originally had... As you say, and I alluded to, Dartmoor (and most of our national parks and "wilderness" in fact) is not remotely the same environment it was originally. Other parts of the world still have their large deciduous forests, large carnivores/herbivores and subsequently stable ecosystems. We have towns, cities and farms as far as the eye can see (even on top of the so called unspoilt areas like Snowdon and Ben Nevis).

As you say Europe has gone through thousands more years of human destruction than all other continents. On the other hand the UK is one of the few European countries standing against the rewilding trend sweeping across Europe. The idea of turning many of the national parks back to nature is strongly opposed by national park authorities who are still advocating keeping national parks and moorland as they are now, areas of low biodiversity, overgrazed by sheep, rather than letting them rewild and increase in biodiversity. Woe betide anyone who suggests reintroducing animal species... All this is ignoring the dead zones that are forestry commission forests, full of life strangling pines not native to the UK.

So yeah, while many places like the US aren't whsolely unspoiled at least they have a semblance of nature, whether that be areas that were deforested but returned to nature or areas that weren't destroyed in the past, with a significant portion of their large mammals left (ignoring the megafauna that was wiped out when we first got there 15,000 years ago).
 
Just reading through some of these comments is quite funny. It's amazing what some people take for gospel, because they read something on the internet about one particular city/state.

Some people will absolutely love living in the States, and some people would not like it at all, however I really believe that there is something for everyone over here.
People love visiting FL on holiday (I don't mind a quick stay there), but I'd absolutely hate to live there.

On these boards people moan about the free loaders in England, claiming the doll etc. then when it comes to the health care system in the States people moan about it not being free? The NHS is neither free and never has been. The 99% of people in this thread I'm sure are smart enough to have a decent job and receive health insurance that covers you and your family for a small cost over here. Is it perfect, no not at all, however if you have a job and don't gamble on your health then you'll be absolutely fine.

I've lived in England, Oz and NZ before moving here. Love them all and all are unique and different.............besides England which is pretty boring :p
 
I really wanted to live in America too until I actually spent some time there on two occasions. I mean time in the 'real' America not the tourist areas.

My good friend actually married an American girl and emigrated over there several years ago. He seems to like it but then he grew up being bullied and picked on so 'home' was always something he wanted to escape from.

I found the people to be nice enough, and welcoming - but not in that "have a nice day" way they have in tourist areas.

But I just found some situations ridiculous. We were having dinner at a friends parents house one night when the subject of being gay came up and being the area it was - it was met with very heated exchanges from the bible loving people at the table. When I say heated, I mean a fight broke out at the dinner table and there was much spilled drink! We were guests and didnt know what do do with ourselves!

Add the fact that the people in these situations all have guns and it presents, I feel, quite a scary environment.

The father of our friend had guns all over the place, and explained in a matter of fact way how he had almost shot a person who came knocking on their door univited (apparently you dont just go on someones land and knock the door asking for directions - you may get shot).

Another odd situation is when it rained heavily, the people on the freeway all pulled over and stopped. Like they didnt know how to drive in the rain.

Also you had random cars just suddenly slowing down, and I was told that using a mobile while driving was not illegal but often people would drive erratically whilst doing it!! :eek:

Everything felt over the top. Like you couldnt go in a shop and buy a bag of crisps like we do here. You had to buy a jumbo bag that would feed 4 people. If you went out for a meal the single portion sizes were always big enough for two. Everyone had an obsession with 'truuucks' and the culture is so lazy, they even had drive through cash machines!!

I enjoyed my time there as a break but there was always a feeling of edginess, like I never felt safe.

Maybe it was just part of the areas I was in, but even when we went to New Orleans there was just a sinister feel.

I gues it is horses for courses at the end of the day but I dont think America would suit me. OP if you have not been, I recommend you visit a few places before deciding :)
 
Youstolemyname said:
It's great for a holiday but am not so sure about living there full time. California takes some beating but a free health service, more paid holidays and the lack of guns make the UK a bit more appealing to me.
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Pretty much this for me.

When I was a kid I also wanted to live out there (too much tv :p). But then growing up I realised that unless your are rather wealthy then there is little point. For me anyway. Nice place for holiday though, for sure :)

I am more than happy living here in London :D
 
hargi said:
Ok here is the reply

"The first time I got into teaching in the US I used the VIF and the second time the IBO website to find a job. The international section on the TES website also had the ocasional job on it. Using a recruting agency like search associates might make it eisier to find a job here although it costs to join and it's likely you will have to attend a job fair. As far as i know there is not international teaching pool. Hope that helps"
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Dude can you ask him if its ok to email him directly?

Cheers :)
 
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