I second this wholeheartedly. Of course it’s the only place I have been outside the US 
but it was a fantastic trip with a good mix of castles and outdoor things. I could go on forever but the Isle of Inishmore and Slea Head were highlights.
We’re Americans, we don’t generally travel overseas, we don’t want wild and crazy! We only get two weeks vacation a year and we’re lucky if we can take it. Most of us don’t have passports. 37 is like 67 to the rest of the western world! Kidding!
All joking around aside, was thinking you might try a Rick Steves tour of Europe. They take care of the logistics, transport & hotels, but you’re free to explore on your own as you like, or they’ll connect you with local guides. Might be a nice mix of independent and supported, probably safer than the US, and you can generally get by with English in most of Europe. Have fun, whatever you guys end up doing!
Oh and of course, as others have said : Australia, Great Britain, Canada & Ireland are wonderful & the people are fantastic. Never been to NZ, but have heard great things about it. Probably couldn’t get much safer or easier I’d guess.
nm
This may be my own perspective speaking, but you may want to consider something more exotic rather than less exotic. I’m thinking maybe the more out-the-way parts of Asia. Some of the easiest, most relaxed, most kicked back travel has been just kicking around with no agenda in the Philippines, rural China, Mongolia, and Nepal.
The fun thing about these areas is that the cheesy organized tourist stuff is spread pretty thin. Basically the only thing to do is hang out, relax, get to know people, and just enjoy life. But the setting is so interesting that even the most relaxed day is still very engaging. And while your average busy Londoner might not have a lot of time to cheese around with random tourists, in these areas you are exotic enough that people will go out of their way to talk to you, and if you are lucky, invite you to their homes.
The advantage to out-of-the-way Asia is that it’s often largely safe, the tourist infrastructure is relatively good by developing world standards, there aren’t too many scams and touts (outside the most obvious places), and pepole tend to be very welcoming. English isn’t a strong point in many places (though it’s fine for the Philippines), but there is enough tourist infrastructure that you can get around and enough people learn English in school that you will have no shortage of people eager to try their English lessons.
I’m going to have to respectfully disagree. I just got back from Japan, Vietnam and Cambodia and had an awesome time. I would love to go back. Highly recommend going.
That being said, I would NOT recommend it for a first foreign country for the non adventurous… Completely different language, alphabet, numerals (Cambodia.) As a white Westener, you stick out like a sore thumb and feel on display. You can’t read signs, the traffic is crazy, and everything is, you know, foreign. English is the language to have, but it gets real thin on the ground out of tourist areas.
“Foreigness” is great, that’s why you travel, or go move, or study abroad. The OP hasn’t, and isn’t sure if he wants to now.
When I was answering this question in my head, I thought of my husband. Who’s a great guy, and we’ve gone places all over together in the US, but he’s never been abroad. Not a high priority for him. Sounds a lot like the OP. I could convince my husband of Ireland or Scotland (golf.) And he’d love it. It would be foreign, but not too foreign. People would look like people he knows, speak kinda like people he knows with just a bit of exotic accent, throw some golf courses, lakes, pubs and castles in there. Call it good.
Additionally, the flight to Ireland isn’t too terrible awful, maybe 7/9 hours. The far east is a long ass plane ride, not to mention connections, not to mention 12/13 hour time zone difference.
Seconding Singapore.
And I think Japan would be good. Everything is so clean and efficient that the lack of English is less of a problem than in other places, plus there are lots of English speakers in Tokyo and Osaka/Kyoto.
Maybe Hong Kong too.
Then don’t miss the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Free but the National Orchid Garden on the grounds has a small admission fee. And Casa Verde in the middle of the park is a nice place to grab a bite.
Then there’s the Gardens by the Bay, also free but the two large greenhouses have an admission fee.
Yeah, I might be wrong here. But the impression I get is that the OP is more turned off by the tourist grind than actually uncomfortable with things that aren’t just like home. He just wants to relax and hang out with local people. London is a lot of fun, but I’m not sure it’s the best place for that travel style-- it’s expensive, local people are busy, and it’s basically like home but without the comforts of home.
Cambodia might be a bit much, but a trip to Palawan in the Philippines might be perfect- small beach towns, English basically everywhere, lots of opportunities to meet local people (I made friends with half the island), nice-enough facilities and not a lot of tourist bullshit. Plus, his wife would love it.
Singapore might be another good option if the OP isn’t ready for lightweight developing world travel. But honestly, I think he enjoy small towns more than big cities.
That’s pretty much it.
And I am Chinese-American, so Asia does hold some passing personal interest for me.
Here’s another twist: the wife is vegetarian (“ovo-lacto”). Probably not an issue in most places, however, given what we have experienced at ethnic restaurants around DC, apparently many cultures seem to believe that chicken and fish are vegetables. Even in dishes that contain no whole meat or fish, Asians tend to think that fish sauce doesn’t count.
There’s good beer in Europe. Really REALLY good beer. You’re probably better off either going to a smaller western European city, such as Lisbon (they speak ‘Brazilian’ and English) or Seville, or any eastern European cities (not Prague - too busy), bearing in mind the time of year you go will dictate the weather and how much you enjoy the time. Budapest is brimming over with history, English is widely spoken, the beer is good and cheap, it is touristy in parts but so is everywhere in Europe.
The Baltics are great in summer, English again is widely spoken and although it’s been developed over the last ten years the capitals still retain a lot of rustic charm.
Nm
Hmnm. Vegetarian can be done in major cities or on the more well-worn backpacker circuits in Asia (I’m thinking Yunnan in China, which is one of the best places to travel anywhere), but it will be limiting if you don’t speak the language and outside of China, most places in Asia with enough tourism to have vegetarian restaurants also have enough tourism to develop touts and hassles. If you plan and do research, it can be done, but you’d need to plan what restaurants to go to beforehand.
India, of course, is great for vegetarians-- it’s harder to get meat than veggies. But that is some of the toughest, roughest, most-hassle filled travel on Earth. It’s the one place I generally don’t recommend to all but the most patient. Nepal is much more relaxed, but still pretty overwhelming.
There are lots of vegetarian travel guides. Those might be a good place to get ideas from. A lot will depend on how strict she is. Someone who absolutely will not eat meat stock or food cooked on a meat-cooking grill is a different story than someone who just avoids visible chunks of meat (I was the latter for a decade- usually not a problem).
You don’t seem like an organized tour type, but an organized tour aimed a step up from backpacking that are not overscheduled but can make sure thinks like food work. The example I’m thinking of is my trip to Tibet (where organized is the only way to legally go.) It was just three of us, a guide and a driver. We followed a loose itinerary but it was all quite relaxed, and they arranged hotels and meals for us. I’m not sure if recommend Tibet exactly, as it’s pretty restrictive and you won’t meet many locals outside of your guide. But similar affordable small-group travel exists elsewhere.
I am hesitating to mention this next place because it is such a great location, but under visited: Slovenia. It has cool cities and beautiful countryside, plus it is much more affordable than the rest of Europe, which means you can stay in really nice hotels for what you would pay for a low-end hotel in other European cities. Also, it is centrally located if you wanted to explore other countries.
Do NOT go to South Korea, they will put spam in vegetarian dishes because ‘it isn’t meat’.
Another consideration is even restaurants over here that advertise vegetarian dishes will also often still cook then using lard.
Expats usually work until 1700h and are spread out in several zones so due the expected traffic, 1630h is usually when most arrive.
When I was in Amsterdam, I barely heard anyone speak anything but English. And I think there’s much there that the OP would find interesting.
English is commonly, though not universally, spoken in big cities.
Were you to go to say, Istanbul, not everyone will speak fluent English, but a large portion of people will speak enough English that you’ll not have any problems being a tourist even though you don’t speak Turkish. I’ve found the same to be true in most bigger cities or even smaller cities that have large numbers of tourists.
That said, my first real trip overseas was to New Zealand. English speaking. Ridiculously safe. Beautiful. Friendly. Amazing hiking as you’re into that sort of thing. And very, very easy to drive around and navigate in after you get used to being on the wrong side of the road (about 20 minutes). I would recommend it as a good place to go if you’re unsure about the whole travelling thing.
Really, though, OP, don’t turn this whole thing into more of a problem than it needs to be. After all, what we are discussing here is “going on vacation”.
It’ll be all right.