# Non-USA Dopers: Ever Been To The USA? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 11, 2009, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-dopers-ever-been-to-the-usa/496009 "2009-05-11T09:28:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-dopers-ever-been-to-the-usa/496009/21 "2009-05-11T16:22:37Z")
Yes… liked it so much I moved here. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-dopers-ever-been-to-the-usa/496009/22 "2009-05-11T16:33:09Z")
**1. Yes or No** Yes - more times than I can count. **2. How long ago/how often/how long (if yes) and why not (if no)?** I grew up only 20 miles north of the US border, so we frequently went on trips for shopping or holidays - Minot and the Black Hills, and then also family trips to Disney Land, San Francisco, etc. Then I went to university just across the St. Lawrence from upstate New York, so there were the occasional bar trips south. I also studied for a year in the US, and during that time visited New York city and Washington. Since then, I’ve gone on trips to Boston, upstate New York, Vermont, Seattle and Los Angeles. Mrs Piper and I will probably have a short trip to North Dakota later this month on some family business. **3. Did you have a good time/like it (if you were here) or would you come if you had the chance (if you have never been here)?** I’ve enjoyed travelling and living there, but haven’t had the urge to relocate. Mrs Piper loved Los Angeles. I would be more interested in spending a year in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-dopers-ever-been-to-the-usa/496009/23 "2009-05-11T16:51:01Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > If I am not mistaken, there were no bruises on your wrist from me twisting your arm to play that machine…and also, didn’t you sign up to learn to play poker at the Luxor and then continue to play when you could have easily gone back to your room and read Ulysses instead? I enjoyed your explanation and am happy being a low-stakes gambler. 🙂 (I would rather gamble and lose than read Ulysses…:smack:) ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-dopers-ever-been-to-the-usa/496009/24 "2009-05-11T17:28:29Z")
1. Yes. 2. A three month trip beginning of 2004, followed by a permanent move end of 2004. 3. Yes, I enjoyed visiting here a lot. I’m enjoying been married and settled here as well! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-dopers-ever-been-to-the-usa/496009/25 "2009-05-11T18:16:48Z")
1. Yes. 2. Many times. Far too many to count. Like most Canadians, I grew up fairly close to the US border, so it was an easy thing to pop down for a while. I guess my first time in the US was when I was about six years old: our family visited Niagara Falls and we walked across the bridge to see the Falls from the American side. Since then, I’ve been to many more places in the US, and I honestly don’t know how many times I’ve been there. 3. I very much liked it. Mind, there have been a few experiences I would not like to repeat (making a wrong turn and getting lost in the South Bronx, for example, but I’ve made wrong turns here in Canada too and ended up where I don’t want to be). For the most part, I’ve enjoyed my visits to the US, and look forward to when I can return. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-dopers-ever-been-to-the-usa/496009/26 "2009-05-11T21:01:38Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > I wouldn’t want to live in the US, though. In my estimate, the US is a bad place to live if you want a laid back life, or if you are poor, or get sick. The poor and the sick definitely have issues here. As for a laid back lifestyle, that depends greatly on where you live. If your impressions are based upon Vegas, :eek: Phoenix (and eventually NYC), I can see where you’d have that feeling. I’ve done the city-living thing and now live in the country on the shores of a lake. Your life can be as relaxing as you choose it to be here. ---
**Author:** ![Dublin11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Dublin11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dublin11)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-dopers-ever-been-to-the-usa/496009/27 "2009-05-11T21:10:58Z")
1. Yes 2. The first time was about fifteen years ago and I’ve been nine or ten times since, for three and four day trips to New York. 3. I liked it well enough. I was visiting a university pal of mine and staying with her there. She seemed to have a great lifestyle and had lots of interesting mates - both American and foreign - who all made me feel very welcome whenever we met up. She returned to Ireland last year when she got married, so the main reason I went there is there no more and I have no plans to go in the near future. Though you can never say never. It’s a big place, maybe I might go and have a look at a different part of it, some time. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-dopers-ever-been-to-the-usa/496009/28 "2009-05-11T22:32:58Z")
1. Yes or No 2. How long ago/how often/how long (if yes) and why not (if no)? Yes, twice, both to Florida. First time was an ordinary tourist trip when I was fifteen, second was to visit a friend when I was 25 or so. 1. Did you have a good time/like it (if you were here) or would you come if you had the chance (if you have never been here)? Oh yes, I really enjoyed it both times. There were some downsides - like going to some awful dinner-dance thing where my ‘vegetarian meal’ was a huge bowl of raw broccoli - and the second time it was really cold! On the whole, though, they were great trips; one of the things I most appreciated was discovering just _how spread out_ that part of the US is, because that explains a lot. I have a lot of friends in LA, and that’s one of my top ‘must visit when I have more money’ locations for that reason. Another friend lives in North Dakota and makes it sound so gorgeous that her home is high on the list, too. I’d never, ever, ever live in the US, though. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2009, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-dopers-ever-been-to-the-usa/496009/29 "2009-05-11T22:57:18Z")
1. Yup 2. Thrice. First time, I was 8 and went along on an all summer trip with my parents. I don’t remember much about that time. Second time, I was 14, shy and was sent for a month in a Maryland family to better my English. I had a rotten time - the people were germophobic health freaks, made me do _shudder_ sports, and I didn’t open up much (shy, remember ?). Third time, I was 21 and interned as a web designer/translator for a summer in Colorado Springs, again living with a local family. It was an… interesting trip. My boss and his family were awesome (took me to a S.O.A.D./Metallica concert, FFS ! Best boss evah !), the family I was staying with however were 100% religious nuts. And it was hilarious to me, the lost heathen they preached and preached and PREACHED to, because their kids were seven shades of fucked up : eldest daughter was a total skank and coked to the gills, second son was a racist perv with a gun fetish, and the little girl was a skittish and paranoid creature. That month was surreal for me. But it was fun, too, in a dysfunctionnal kinda way. First time in my life I ever was in a rush to go out the door and go to work ASAP :p. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2009, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-dopers-ever-been-to-the-usa/496009/30 "2009-05-12T12:26:31Z")
1. Yes 2. First time, summer of 87, working as a receptionist in a summer camp in New Hampshire. Second time, 08-94 to 08-97, in Miami, started a PhD which ended up being a MS and then worked for a year. Third time, 01-03 to 03-04, based in Philadelphia but travelling to several places within the Americas (80% travel time, we had to measure it because of a local tax). 3. Yes in general (I loooved that summer, my first paying job and the amount, while ridiculous for an American, was huge for me; most of the people I met were real cool). I don’t want to go back for work, although I still want to visit New Orleans. Border measures keep getting stupider and I’ve had problems with visas and the people from human resources in both the 97 and 04 jobs… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-dopers-ever-been-to-the-usa/496009.md?page=1)