[Closed] What's your favourite country? And why?

I'd move to Canada given the chance, it's a great place.

People who aren't afraid to have a laugh, take the mick out of themselves and just seem to have a nice outlook on life. There's plenty of space too.

It's like a melting pot of people who all seem to get on.

Fantastic.

lol @ brits commenting on foreign food. UK = Subway, MacShergars, stodgetastic eat all you like Pizza, Kentucky Fried Pigeon,... NL=huge selection of just about every nationality on the planet (except english )

That has to be a troll. Never been to London or any major city for that matter? Or even big town?

the rest of Europe does seem to be more family friendly than this country

For 'family friendly' read 'stiflingly conservative' much of the time 🙂

It's like a melting pot of people who all seem to get on

Oh the irony 🙂

no-one's mentioned Oz yet...

not my favourite (dunno if i have one) but, sooooo much space, amazing bush (both varieties), laid back attitude towards the work/play lifestyle, great food & wine, beaches, mountains, wildlife, weather. basically got a lot going for it.

i've lived in Oz, NZ, France & UK. For some reason i keep ending up back in the UK...think it's more to do with mates & family being here though than anything else. i do love Scotland though.

I like china because it seems to upset Guardian readers.
Also the food is good 🙂

Doesn't Canada get too cold for much of the year?

France is my ideal country - partly helped as close to UK so as to get back to my family easily and I might have a chance with the language as used to know a bit. Quite tempted to live there when I'm old.

As my wife's Chinese a possibility we could go to China if things go down hill here but not sure where in China I'd want to live though.

Disadvantage of Canada imo is millions of square miles of culture free boondocks. So I've heard anyway 🙂

The UK. It's home.

Peru has ocean, desert, mountains and rain forest. A few well know touristy bits too.

I like china because it seems to upset Guardian readers.

Nobody is upset - they are just sorry for you.

Whilst I love the country I was born in, grew up and call home (i.e. the UK), I have traveled a fair bit and would cheerfully move to either Italy (Tuscany area), France (Loire Valley or thereabouts) or Canada (BC or Alberta) at the drop of a hat.

I've not been to Oz or NZ yet, but people tell me they are nice enough.

Ooops... Forgot to add why I would go to the places above.

Italy: Fantastic scenery, lovely food/wine and very friendly people. Good climate too.

France: Lovely food, amazing wine, nice people, beautiful scenery.

Canada: Huge place with lovely scenery and genuinely friendly people. Rubbish beer/wine and so-so food, but the chance of getting a huge garden/smallholding outweighs that.

Cool - so if I tell you to go f*** yourself, I am not rude, I am just adopting another social construct

LOL, you probably meant it cynically, but this is precisely the case. It may make life unpleasant to some as I have to admit it is quite a direct form of communication (albeit very liberating).

On the other hand as a Dutch person in the UK I sometimes have difficulties with the hypocrisy, gossip and backstabbing of other people when they are not around (if people annoy you so much, just be honest and tell them to go and **** themselves :-).

Merely a different social construct, which can be perceived as equally rude.

I personally quite like Belgium btw, nice and chaotic!

London.

Merely a different social construct

Dismiss things as social constructs if you want, but there are some social constructs that are more productive than others, for example, holding the door, letting people in a traffic queue, not sitting on someone's tail and hooting because they have the audacity to want to wait to turn left across traffic.

In the end everything we like about living in a different society is function of social constructs, so let me rephrase my posting - the social constructs in NL are such that I found living there profoundly unpleasant.

terrible food, lol @ brits commenting on foreign food. UK = Subway, MacShergars, stodgetastic eat all you like Pizza, Kentucky Fried Pigeon,... NL=huge selection of just about every nationality on the planet (except english ) - always took ages to decide where to go - could have chosen a different restaurant every day I was there (about 4 years).

You jolly well have not really thought this through, have you?

How long were you in the Netherlands and whereabouts?

Having spent two weeks touring the whole country I simply don't recognise the same place as you seem to have found. Never had poor service, everyone helpfull and kind.

I positivly enjoyed being left alone - touring by tandem in the UK people call out at you and interrupt you to talk at you all the time.

I really don't see it like DrJ - no worries there but most of the guys I've worked with in Holland have been OK with the Dutch

They do seem a bit off with Germans though, the last war is still in living memory so I guess that doesn't help

I like the Netherlands, but I really like Belgium. It's like a dirty Holland..

Apart from GeordieLand probably Icyland because nobody lives there apart from volcanoes so peace and quietness. 😆

I used to have a petrol station just outside Durham City & got loads of tourists in on the way to see our Awesome Cathedral. Some of the nicest people were the Dutch (including one guy who used to tell me jokes about the Belgians like we do/did about the Irish) The Frogs were crap cos they couldn't speak English.
& I work with a Dutch guy who's ace.

A sort of related article today

[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13545386 ]Are Germans or Brits the rudest?[/url]

Thailand or Ireland depending on the time of year.

Living in Yorkshire's pretty good mind

For me, it's got to be Germany. I love Berlin; I love Aachen; I love its countryside; I love its outlook on life. And I love the fact that Brits, for the most part, just don't 'get' it.

Having moved to the UK from Canada by choice, I have learnt to love where I live, but it took moving to Wales from Salford for me to start. I am feeling good about living here, and am glad of it, but I still think that there is a very bizarre tendency on many British people's part to think that they have nothing to learn from any other country. It [i]can[/i] be very insular.

And as for Canada, there is much to love, and I am always happy to see that people think so highly of it. I would argue that even the winters can be enlivening if you learn to use them to your advantage. Having said that, molgrips is right when he says that he has heard there are millions of miles of uncultured wasteland there. Ultimately, it was one of the factors that came down in favour of moving this side of the Atlantic.

And I love the fact that Brits, for the most part, just don't 'get' it

Interesting - what makes you say that?

. Having said that, molgrips is right when he says that he has heard there are millions of miles of uncultured wasteland there. Ultimately, it was one of the factors that came down in favour of moving this side of the Atlantic

Whenever I meet people from other countries I ask them why they move. It's usually not the weather, or the price of houses - it's similar to this .

Saxon are you in Wales now? Where abouts?

As for Britain being insular - in my somewhat limited experience I have found an enormous difference between big cities (especially London) and the rest of the UK. Cardiff, whilst a young happenin' city, is still very parochial when you talk to the locals rather than the student incomers.

Generally Spain, but it's doing it's best to be a complete **** at the moment.

Wales, Snowdonia to be precise.

Not really sure why, it just makes me happy.

Been all over the place, but nowhere else has quite the same effect.

Ireland's nice, Italy is lovely but I'd rather have Llanberis anyday. Wierd I know.

@molgrips

As for Brits not seeming to 'get' Germany, I am speaking tongue-in-cheek, except that I still often find many of the old stereotypes carted out. You know: the ones about the Germans having no sense of humour, etc. The fact that I try to spend some time every summer there, and hardly ever encounter other folk from the UK on my travels sort of confirms this. Having camped in Spain and across France, I have encountered all sorts of Brits at the various sites. Yet as soon as we cross the border into Germany, we hardly hear the language again until the return to Dunkerque. I suspect that few people think of German wines, sausages, and baked goods when they are thinking of European culture; nor do they seem to recognise that the Germans enjoy a fine quality of life in terms of work-life balance. It's not perfect, certainly; but I love it! (Having a German father helps, of course...)

As for where I am now, it is Cardiff I call home. Lived here for more than six years now, and love it. And however much I might covet a farmhouse in Mecklenberg, I am also quite happy being able to go to the Chapter whenever I want, ride through Pontcanna fields everyday, and get into the woods around the city whenever I have a free day.

Scotland. The Bullheart JOGLE last year showed me a country that I just can't get out of my head.

It's staggering in its beauty.

The Dingle Peninsula

I'm happy in France, it's home despite my British upbringing. A year working in Spain stressed me and I found it hard to integrate, family dominates so if you're not one of the family... . I worked a summer in Germany, do exchange visits and take holidays there. I could happily live there and may spend more time there one day.

Of the coutries I haven't visited but would like to Canada tops the list. Quebec appeals perhaps because we get quite a lot of Canadian stuff on French TV.

dd, Dingle is indeed amazing.

Dick Macks, The Rainbow Lodge, that little museum on the coast road - beautiful.

The only place I've ever been where you can buy a pair of wellies, a pint and a haircut in the same shop - that was quite a night 😀

If I came into money, I'd build myself a nice little spot there. The view as I come over the Conor Pass. Ahhh. I don't miss much about Ireland, but I do miss Co. Kerry.

@Saxonrider -

Strangely enough i much prefer Germany to France for those reasons. I like the German sense of humour (Watching a German friend of mine play Richard III at Bosworth and deliberately giving 'the' speech in an exaggerated German accent was hilarious), i like German food, i love German architecture - especially in Bavaria.

Lovely place, never lived there but i'd like the opportunity to try it out.

Saxon, Cardiff for me too when I return from Germany 🙂

It's been hard for me to get involved in life in Germany so it's hard to say for sure what goes on. Things aren't so nice where we live, but it could just be a bit of a crappy estate. Work is indeed low stress but astonishingly dull, and really annoyingly stupid a lot of the time. And everyone who works there's been there for 20 years and doesn't care. Is that Germany or just that company? Can't really say.

Spending time away makes me appreciate the UK though. There's a motorbike advert on the way to work showing a guy doing a burnout on his bike; an advert for Marlboro showing someone enjoying his fag; loads of adverts for cars and other macho things with half naked bimbos draped over stuff; and family based products advertised with skinny models and fat kids... All seems very base and backwards to my foreign eye.

Mind you I think the same about aspects of US culture too. Makes me glad we've tried to move away from that at home.

Belgium - motocross, cycling, chips and mayo, chocolate, beer and they still wash the pavements outside of their shops each morning.

Uk first for me, I really quite like it here. France next, outside the cities people have the most wonderful approach to life.

Having spent two weeks touring the whole country I simply don't recognise the same place as you seem to have found.

I was there 4 years in The Hague. People say that outside the Randstad people are nicer, but I didn't investigate in detail.

For as long as I can remember I've always thought that Afghanistan and the Hindu Kush would be an amazing place to visit.. still a wilderness and ancient and stoically and stubbornly refusing to embrace rampant capitalism and westernisation..

I've got to admit to being put off the idea somewhat over the last decade or so.. 🙁

US.. San Francisco to be specific...

surprised SF or Vancouver hasn't been mentioned - not been to Vancouver myself though

in my short time i've lived in UK, France and Netherlands. Travelled through Belgium and Spain and i'm now moving to Finland. Hallelujah!

As seen as i speak french with a flemish accent, Belgium would be great place to live. If i could get a grip with Finnish and Finnair wouldn't be so damn pricey, then i'd choose Finland.

Belgium for the beer, cycling, friendly people, plurality of languages and proximity to fast transport.

Finland for the wild, beer fuelled traditions and jeckyll/hyde weather.

Nice photo of Koli 😀 loved my time in Finland.

Screw you Flash Wales is a counrty, it's my country, it's where my heart is even if I am miles away.

Actually one of the nicest places I've ever bin was Norway. Really peaceful, mainly friendly people, access laws the Scots can only dream of, and good quality food. Lots of very very pretty Blonde Nordic ladies about, which for a small, swarthy brown feller like me, is perfect. 😀

I'm an urban person though really. So it's big cities that excite me the most. Hence why I'm happy where I am.

If I found a job in Finland I'd go back straight away 🙂

I like china because it seems to upset Guardian readers.
Nobody is upset - they are just sorry for you.

you seem to be getting upset that fact you even bothered to reply means im winning ****ing moron!

you seem to be getting upset that fact you even bothered to reply means im winning **** moron!

You're right - I'm completely outwitted by the latter-day Oscar Wilde.

DrJ - Member
you seem to be getting upset that fact you even bothered to reply means im winning **** moron!
You're right - I'm completely outwitted by the latter-day Oscar Wilde.

yep i bet im fast than you on bike as well.

I think it's hilarious that you like China iloveyourears, and I bought a copy of the Guardian this morning ...........should I have been 'upset' ?

*confused* .........please help 😕

yep i bet im fast than you on bike as well.

I'm a better dancer than you, so shut up! 😀

I was there 4 years in The Hague. People say that outside the Randstad people are nicer, but I didn't investigate in detail.

Fair enough, that's one of the biggest shitholes in the country. Cannot blame you there. Shame you didn't go beyond the Randstad though.

I'm coming round to ilovemygears' way of thinking. I loved North Korea when I was there. Can't wait to go back sometime. Better dancers than even Effin.

Elfin
[img] [/img]

Better dancers than even Effin.

Don't talk daft. 🙄

Have you ever seen me dancin...?

I quite like NZ really. In terms of quality of life it is right up there. Not nirvana of course but for access to outdoors/income/decent place to live/lifestyle you can;t beat Wellington i reckon.
If you want good solid weather then it is of course not the place to be.

Your missus said you had two left feet (and a baby's arm). 🙂

Elfinsafety - Member

Better dancers than even Effin.

Don't talk daft.

Have you ever seen me dancin...?

[img] [/img]

What would that cah know always out of her head on meths was a miracle she could even stand up straight most of the time...

Spain is nice. I like Spain. But I agree with PeterPoddy about England. It is a beautiful place, maybe we just get a bit complacent and take it for granted.

I'd live to visit Iceland.

Can't believe there are so many votes for France. OK its a nice country but its full of French who are the most arrogant and unfriendly people I've ever come across.

I'll add a vote for Germany- and Sweden if it wasn't for the long dark winters.

uponthedowns - Member
Can't believe there are so many votes for France. OK its a nice country but it full of French who are the most arrogant and unfriendly people I've ever come across.

I'll add a vote for Germany- and Sweden if it wasn't for the long dark winters.

And of course the Germans are such a fine race of people as well aren't they? 😉

[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13545386 ]UK vs German manners[/url]

Elfin - you are so right. England/UK is a beautiful country, when i fly in it is always a joy to look down the patchwork fields etc. Grass is always greener (no pun intended) and most peeps could get what they want where they are - if they tried.

Dingle Peninsula - where my parents live and central Switzerland where i live.

Elfinsafety - Member
yep i bet im fast than you on bike as well.
I'm a better dancer than you, so shut up!

Love the UK, with its diversity of landscape, and the seasons just to keep us on out toes.
Would love to see Canada and NZ, but from the countries I've been to Zimbabwe (1990) was awesome.

Hmm.. dark winters never bothered me. The sky might be dark but the landscape is brilliant white... 🙂

This is a mountain bike forum you know

Don't be so silly... 🙄

Oh.

Hmm.. dark winters never bothered me. The sky might be dark but the landscape is brilliant white...

I visited Norway during the winter. About 3-4 hours daylight per day. Temperatures regularly below -10ºC. Dropping as low as -30ºC. No bike riding due to snow and ice everywhere. Very limiting in terms of outdoor activity. If you're ill or injured, you ain't going out at all. Crap telly. Very expensive pubs/nightlife. Limited in terms of art and culture and that, outside Oslo.

And it's like that for over 3 months. Further North, for longer.

Having said that, I was prepared to give it a go for a while, but sadly it din't work out. 🙁

Stunningly beautiful country though.

My "SO" lived in Bavaria for 6 years and loved every minute of it. I've only been to Dussledorf and the south on my way to Austria/Hungary so when I comment on the lack of German humour she's the first to pull me up on it. I've only delt with business folk in Germany so no real idea of humour which I think is a shame. She's quite adamant that they do have a sharp wit about them, but I've yet to see it.
Oh, I spent so time in Hangary too, befoer the wall came down, now that was lovely..

No bike riding due to snow and ice everywhere. Very limiting in terms of outdoor activity

Whoa there boy. No outdoor activity in the winter?

Snow and ice everywhere is a brilliant opportunity!

[img] [/img]

I really really miss it... As for the cold.. I loved it. Like being in a sauna in reverse. Mmmmm crispy cold snow.. aahh.. tingly on the nose and in the lungs 🙂 Plus I went biking all year round on studded tyres. As did everyone else in Helsinki 🙂

Oh yeah cos you can do that all the time, of course....

And what else? 😐

Studded tyres are very heavy and riding in snow is sloooow and tiring.

The lack of sunlight thing woon't be any good for me. Love the XC skiing though.

In the winter you can!

The sunlight was ok for me. In the middle of winter in Helsinki it wasn't that different to here. Still went to work in dusk and got home in darkness. The middle of summer though was bonkers of course, but what I really loved was that you had light until 8 or 9pm for months and months. Plus dusk takes longer so even though the sun might go down at 4pm there's usable light for much longer, helped by the white snow everywere. I was a bit aprehensive about it before going but I really never noticed the dark - just tons and tons of light. I will always remember it as a country of light.

MTFU Elf 😀 biked all year round in Joensuu, the dark thing is weird but as there is snow everywhere it is not really dark if that makes sense. I saw on average about 3 live bands a week and 9 euros was the most expensive.

Finland flat out rocks 😀

Might not be a trendy thing to say as it's so easy to bash them but for me the USA.

I love lots of other places but I'm happy for them to be holidays.

USA; I could live there. Or maybe just a holiday home in France would work.

Only in hours of daylight you can! And as I said, what else? The extreme cold limits things somewhat.

Don't get me wrong, I love Scandinavia, will deffo go back there sometime, but the long dark winters aren't for me.

hey molgrips, can you recommend any spiked tyres? Or did you have homemade jobbies?

and yeah, i do waaaay more outdoor sports in the finnish winter than i do here in UK. As pgface says, you need to mtfu

There must've been hundreds of miles of lit XC trails around Helsinki.. plus you can of course use lights like you do for biking.. you can ski, skate, snowboard, ice climb, walk.. having a barbecue by a roaring fire out in the woods is fantastic.. especially if you have a sauna to hand... Extreme cold is no issue, just wear more clothes.. 🙂

Elf - I think you're a great bloke but you are a bit of a city boy - no offence intended 🙂

USA; I could live there

You'll never know until you actually have lived in a place... It's a different ball game.

You'll never know until you actually have lived in a place... It's a different ball game.

+1

hey molgrips, can you recommend any spiked tyres?

Nokian, naturally 🙂 Although I think they are now rebranded Suomi tyres.

I have had [url= http://www.suomityres.com/hakka300.html ]these[/url] since 2003 and they haven't perished or anything, still look new apart from tread wear. Of course they don't do many miles. I didn't lose a single stud the whole winter in Finland, but lost about half a dozen on one rocky but icy Beacons ride. I looked for spares but couldn't find any so I eventually emailed Nokian and they sent me a whole bag of them for free - he said 'oh let's just call it a warranty claim' 🙂 Mine weigh about 650g btw.

Top stuff. I'd recommend anyone have a set of winter tyres of some kind in the shed - it's a great feeling riding around with impunity in the worst conditions. I'd have had some for here in Germany but I only had my road bike and it won't take anything bigger than 23c 🙁 They used to do an insane DH winter tyre that had bonkers tread and was covered loads of angry looking 3mm long spikes.. but I see they don't any more...

Just got me thinking.. one of the best things about Finland was that whatever 'crazy' mad thing you find yourself doing in the outdoors - be it biking through snow, skinny dipping in an icy lake, having a barbecue in -20C - it seems perfectly normal to Finns. They completely understand. You don't get any of the 'omg you must be crazy hahaha I'd rather be at home' etc etc that you get from people here. They even keep the barbecue pits in the woods stocked with firewood all year.

Elf - I think you're a great bloke but you are a bit of a city boy - no offence intended

None taken. But you're missing my point; Scandinavia is fantastic, as I've said, but you are limited for things to do in the cold dark winter months. Ask any Scandinavian over here! They come here for culture and excitement. Outside of the larger towns and cities, there is very little in terms of cultural stuff to do. Life's not all about skiing and snowboarding and that. I'd get bored pretty quickly. And imagine if you broke a leg or something? Cabin fever!!!

It's not about MingTFU. The cold don't bother me. I'm naturally adept on skis. I'd adapt my bike.

But we want different things. An urban environment is better suited to me personally. Hence, why i'm happy where I am. Other countries are great for holidays, but nowhere has ever made me want to leave home.

Speshly not Belgium.

Well that's true about urban life. But surely that's proportional to population density? So anywhere there's lots of people you'll get more 'cultural' stuff.. by which I assume you mean arts, theatre, cinema whatever.. right?

I got a strong sense of culture from zipping through the woods in freezing cold weather. Or is that just history and tradition?

Life's not all about skiing and snowboarding and that

It's not? 😉

To those who have suggested that countries like Sweden, Finland, and Canada, with their long, dark winters, suffer for it due to things like a lack of mountain biking, I would re-iterate what molgrips posted above in his 'ski shot' post.

I would also say that, at least in Canada, every good bike shop switches to skis for the winter and back to bikes in the spring. It was always a pleasure marking the seasons with the change in activity.

Not that I mind being able to ride 365 mind...

Cheap fuel bills in Norway though. Bloody hell. You can light and heat a largish family house in Norway for less than it costs in my tiny flat here. 😯

Good food as well, although loads of stuff is imported and it's quite difficult to get a good selection of fresh fruit and veg in winter.

See, I'm not dissing a place just cos of one thing, I'm considering what it would be like to actually live there for me personally. I really don't think my personality disorders would be helped by long, dark winters with little to do. I'd need a bit more than sports.

I could do it for 3 or 4 months in the summer, mind. And it's fairly close to home, so nipping back and forth would be ok.

Oh.. if we are shopping for countries, then it's worth noting that the 'cold' Northern parts of the USA and Southern parts of Canada are not actually all that far North by European standards. Wisconsin, which gets -30C winters is on the same latitude as Southern Spain I think, so they get long baking hot summers as well as proper cold snowy winters 🙂

Elf.. yeah.. if I were ever to buy a holiday home overseas it'd be in Finland or even Norway. Prob won't though.. it's not very eco friendly to keep hopping back and fore.

Unless I get myself a sailing boat too, then I can come and go as I please 🙂

Spain would probbly offer me the optimum climate tbh. Love Barcelona, for sure. Yeah I could live there easily for a while.

Not for ever though. No place like home. I do admire folk who have left their own home countries to live permanently elsewhere; I coon't do it.

Choose the right place and you can have pleasant 365 biking combined with five months skiing with less than 50km (and 1300m) separating the two abodes.