As a citizen of the US who has spent some time in all fifty states, and in Puerto Rico, I can quite truthfully tell you that "everywhere seems totally-different from everywhere else," and that you can become at-home almost anywhere. I believe that it is entirely impossible to compare the United States. And I would cordially invite you to "throw into the dust-bin" any stereotypes that you might have heard about any one place or region. I believe that it's impossible to stereotype the United States, either.

Welcome to my country.

To be honest, I would have expected better understanding from someone that claims to have relatives and visited the country.

The "blowing up" of which you allude to were acts of terrorists, they were not condoned by the countries involved, or their people. Unlike the US which now has a president that's actively pursuing (and was elected on) an agenda of religious persecution.

"The Troubles", the bombings and terrorist activity, were on the whole in Northern Ireland, the part that belongs to the UK, and the UK mainland itself. The crux of that terrorist activity was generally between republicans (who wanted the whole of Ireland to be a single republic) and loyalists (who wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the UK), however historically, there was a general split along religious lines with the majority of loyalists being protestant rather than catholic. So of course many uneducated people chose to see this as religious rather than political.

The main terrorist organisations declared a ceasefire in activities towards the end of 1994, so over 20 years ago.

Just to clarify things, I'm not actually Irish, and not actually religious.

I just happen to have lived in Dublin (Republic Of Ireland) for ~20 years and also had to work in Northern Ireland for many years before that. Including during the political turmoil and terrorist bombings, and I remember having to listen to radio and check TV to see which streets or shopping areas were closed off due to bomb threats before scheduling visits to customers.

It's a common misconception that's made about Ireland, I assume that there are some that make the same misconception that Canada is part of the US because they share the same landmass and land border.

Damn and I thought Canada was the most northern state of the US, TenTenths...

I would have said Australia would have a lot going for it but in last 20 years we seem to be adopting a lot of US ideas, especially in political circles and business...

I have also found that people from the US seem to think a piece of paper from a college or uni, make them more intelligent... Sadly I have met them in places where they have been in dire straights and struggling to understand why this country has no shops or service stations for hundreds of kilometers...

UK visitors that I have met travelling the highways around this country, don't seem to realise if you don't carry water, then your not only in trouble but could die...

What I am mostly getting at is, education does not give you intelligence or common sense, two critical things for all round survival..

NZ has a free medical system, I found that out when on a hunting trip with my son and a friend... Both needed medical help while we where out in the bush, so mad dash for hospital..(Also discovered those big tough Maori's are not so tough when it comes to sore teeth.)..

To compare countries is not going give much indication unless you have been to a lot of them...

NZ and Australia are the only places I have been, parts of both countries are unsafe but in general both are pretty much the same...

The US I would like to visit some areas, Ireland(republic not nrthn) is another, UK(Scotland and Devon), Thailand, Holland, Germany and Switzerland...

Other than them places, I will be content at home, uneducated, living in the bush, generator for power, killing my own livestock for meat, thinking about physics and the universe...Pretty boring I know, but hey you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink...

That's likely because in most of the UK you're never more than walking distance from "civilisation" and, in places such as the one I am from, water falls from the sky about 360 days of the year ...
personally, though, I'm not sure I'd drive anywhere in 'stralia without a dozen litres of water, a broomstick to check for spiders, a few litres of sunscreen and a few litres of insect repellant. Oh, and some shark repellant,s and a crocodile-resistant suit with dropbear-resistant helmet...

The solution is maybe the umbrella? For health, a lot of rain and humidity can be an issue.

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I've learned to like the rain -- Gore-Tex and the like make it possible to largely ignore it.

Maybe you are now immune to colds.... rain and cold are usually very good friends.

The key to avoiding rhinoviruses is to keep the head warm -- hence no "Ilkely Moor bah't 'at".
For city dwellers it's seldom that cold here that it's more than discomfort and waterproofs keep the phone and the like dry.
I do recall, though, talking to some Norwegians who had lived in York for a few months and they were convinced that they never felt as cold in Norway (was -22C once, when I was there) as they did in York.

klingons?
in britain? again?

Nice! you got a sound about it, maybe from (closed) youtube, to hear the melody.

ROFLMAO...

AAhh, a few dozen litres would last a day or two...Especially if you drank it during the day in the heat, thats when people start to get dehydrated and the more you drink the worse you get... Too much water can actually kill you faster than dehydration...

Perfect example of how to survive the heat.. Driving along at 8 am, dolly and float open to 14 feet, went to cross dry river bed and dolly an float get lifted up by windrows either side, caused by narrow vehicles... Half way across a 100 metres wide dry river and drive tyres hanging...

Don't sound too bad hey, problem was 200+ klm's to nearest town and only one homestead 30 k away, no one home..(passed the station manager about 80 k's back, he was going to town).. Not to worry, 3 people, 2 shovels, we'll get out...Well my Mum was on Billy duties and old Arthur and I were on shovel duties... We dug all day, kept moving truck about 4 feet at a time, Mum was boiling the billy and kept us going with hot tea and a sugar in each cup... We drank about 20 litres between us, all through the billy, hot and with tea an sugar... Finally got within 10 feet of clearing the river when station manager went past, he came back with a grader and by 6 pm we where mobile... My truck was second in line and i drove over the river like it had been built for me(which is exactly what we did)..

Got to the homestead an hour later, temperature under the verandah was 56 degrees celcius, an hour after dark...

So if you do come to Aussie and go bush, tea, sugar, water and matches to light a fire and boil the billy... You dont drink water during the day, drink tea... Very british, anyway... True bushy's know not to drink water during the heat, thats for night time only...

And believe me, you will find people drinking water during the day and sick or bloated at night...

Keeping in mind about the water, it is an easy country to travel in, just be prepared to be stuck with no help and you can easily live out bush...

Amazing.
Is the trick to eat fruits or something that has a lot of water in it, rather than drinking water?

Drink tea in the heat..

You would easily pick the wrong stuff in the bush and then you wouldn't need to worry about anything..

The Aboriginals don't drink much water during the day, they'll sip some, but they teach children not to drink during the heat...

It's funny seeing a city person or someone with no bush skill, empty a 10 litre water bag by lunch time and then curled up with stomach cramps, 45+ Celsius temperatures, all because they where told that you need to drink lots of water in the heat...

If you sweat easy then you'll survive better in the heat, and tea will make you sweat but you drink out of tin cups or an old milk tin, so you get about a litre of tea.. You'll sweat and the tea won't cause you problem's during the heat...

Oh and don't use air con, that also is bad news in the heat...

The thing is that you may get a lot of water in various form before the heat comes. Forget about drink water in quantities, you'll keep them no so long. Rather thinking about alternative way to keep water into the body longer.

Maybe the effect of tea is that it is not completely purely water.