I think the road surfaces must be a special soft landing type as well, judging by the general standard of motorcycle helmets and protective gear I see around the country, although the constant radius bends are useful for motorcyclists I must admit

Sanibel
 

I love my holidays.

I go on several each year. Usually long haul, occasionally Europe.

I love exploring different places and experiencing different cultures.

Generally i prefer to visit a warm climate and get some sunshine.

Of all the places in the world that i have been, one stands out as a clear favourite - Sanibel island, Florida.

I've been 15 out of the past twenty years.

Why?

The weather. Its fairly quiet. It's picturesque. It has great wildlife, great beaches, good accommodation, decent restaurants, no fast food chains, no high rise buildings.
The locals think I'm cute because of my English accent and in my experience, without exception all have been very friendly.

There are plenty of different attractions, including its reputation as one of the three best shelling beaches in the world.

There's lots more I could add, but the thing I love more than anything else is the totally relaxed atmosphere and lack of pretentiousness. I go everywhere in shorts and a T shirt. I only need to take hand luggage for two weeks stay.
I don't feel the need to dress up to go anywhere.

I'm going again next friday and I can't wait!

The only downside will be sitting at the very rear of a Virgin 747 :(

+1. This is why we're HGVC members via the Marco Island property. If we don't like the trade options, a week on Marco Island (just south of Sanibel) is great.

Just to confirm, driving here is a bit of an adventure, although I've lived here all but a year of my life so I'm used to it. My own theory is that people spend so much time going 5 mph for most of the day, that presented with the chance to actually drive, they overcompensate by going 15-20 over (or more).

Interestingly, I picked up a speeding ticket on the 405 in Issaquah (near Seattle). I was going 65 in a 60, which around here (DC) would get you honked off the road for going too slow. I chalked it up to a cultural difference :)

???Naan bread is served in UK Indian restaurants,same as in the US
I mostly cook my own Indian food because I live in an area where all the Indian restaurants are terrible, Bradford and Birmingham have decent Indian restaurants but its still just restaurant food. I have been in some horrific Indian Restaurants in the US and the UK the only place outside India that comes close is Toronto for Tamil food

Have you been everyplace outside India?

nope, Given up searching:D

I am going to respond to the original question. When I was young - so much younger than today (!) I went to the USA to see the country where everything was supposed to be so much better than anywhere according to all the people that one encountered who came from there.

Nothing prepared me for what I found and how my breath was taken away. It was bigger, it was so open, and my goodness that air of "can do" that abounded. It was a country without history to tie it down and that looked to the future. I loved it then and I love it now. The sheer level of manners and courtesy was something that Britain had long since ditched, sad though it is to say.

Years on and a home owner in the States (Hawaii which I love and which has avoided the sheer slumminess and Latin American bipolarity of Puerto Rico - in spite of the phoney "foreign-ness" of the Tourist nonsense in Hawaii such as the Mahalo which is meant to be breathed as opposed to snapped by so many FAs) I still love much about it.

This is not OMNI so I will not go into the things that I do not like about the place as the list would be still not be as long as that about the UK. Suffice to say that the one thing that I really appreciate is being able to forget totally about home. The news barely mentions anything outside the USA unless the USA is engaged. Europe does not exist outside BBC America.

Suffice to say that I long learn that America is a collective noun as there are so many components and different parts. It is vast. Unlike most people NYC, I can take or leave - I would not spend my money to go there - I far prefer Boston, Chicago, or San Francisco - but that is purely taste. It is big and it is beautiful and it is a country of incredible contrasts. You can fly for 90 mins and not leave the state of Texas (loads of friends made in the Branniff days) All I will say to conclude is that I have met acts of spontaneous kindness and generosity in the USA that my love affair lasts to this day. Actually I am off there later today.

There's a good reason for that. In most states, no formal training is required at all, and most people learn to drive from a friend or relative who most likely isn't very good at either.

Licensing requirements vary by state, but in Florida, you have to pass a simple signs test, a ludicrously easy written test in your choice of languages, and the "road" test is given in a fenced in course with no other cars, and only large enough to get up to 10 mph.

I have heard another explanation. Since car insurance in US & Canada is really hard to come by cheaply and no-claim is therefore extremely valuable most people are scared to get into accidents. Especially when you are young an accident apparently explodes your insurance payments. It sounds like a credible explanation but someone should tell them that the anxious and slower drivers are more likely to cause or be in accidents (or so I keep telling myself).

Enlightening, and thank you ^
I have no doubt it's much harder in CA, of course.
I have 50 years behind the wheel/handlebars, and a strong sense of self-preservation, especially from the latter :D

BTW, don't get me started on road signs ... you know the ones, placed about 25+ yards after the place where it matters :D

Have a good weekend ;)

This is, sadly, true. Some states require courses at a professional driving school, but only if you are under 18.

And afterwards, you are legal to drive not only in Florida, but in the other 49 states (and many other countries) that may have stricter requirements for their own residents.

The written tests are usually ludicrously easy, but oddly mine had 6 questions about bicycles.

However, to be fair, only once have I been run off the road by an insane driver clearly breaking the law, and it was in the UK.

I can't speak for more than a couple of other states, but from what I know you have that backwards. The penalties on young drivers in the US are WAY less than my nephews face in the UK. Most young people here start driving on their parents insurance and there's little or no additional cost associated with that. As a result it's not uncommon to find 16 year olds driving huge 5+ Litre V8 trucks & SUV's, where most 18-25 year olds in the UK struggle to find an insurer willing to cover them in anything bigger than a Fiesta.

When they do get their own insurance, the years they've been driving on their parents policies can count towards discounts.

Also a lot of kids get some formal training, often courtesy of their High School, which also administers a rudimentary check / test, though it's a lot less onerous than the one I went through to get a US license.

The Texan ones always include question about drinking & driving. Hint : pick the worst possible multiple choice answer - it invariably works.

I have heard this regarding Canada and MT. Regarding the poor training; even with poor training people will still acquire basic skills if they drive for long enough, no?