What Is Your Favourite Country In North America?

[watchthis!!]

You can vote for countries in the poll even if you haven't been there, but you like what you know about the country.

So which are your favourites? (You can vote for as many as you like.)

 

[skatingguy]

Seems to be a pretty limited list.

 

[Spikefan]

Saint Lucia and Dominica both look like places I would enjoy. Beaches, rainforests and mountains. I enjoy a mix of water and hiking activities. However, there are zero direct flights (and often two plane changes) which is not cheap so I have not been to either.

 

[cygnus]

St Vincent and the Grenadines form an archipelago that is gorgeous and a bit off the general tourist track-few cruise ships go there. And the islands have their own characters-sailing from one to another, with the next one always in sight is lovely. The Tobago Cays has great snorkeling and swimming, and Denis's Hideaway on Mayreau has the best Pina coladas anywhere!

 

[once_upon]

I think if you visit the countries as a tourist you get an entirely different viewpoint than if you spent time with the people of those countries.

For example - Belize is beautiful, at least the area I saw in the 4 hour cruise ship stop.

Same with Panama - interesting, at least from the locks viewpoint.

 

[DaveRocks]

 

[MacMadame]

It does seem weird that Canada and the US aren't on the list. But then I realized that most, if not all, of those countries are actually in Central America, not North America.

 

[PeterG]

It does seem weird that Canada and the US aren't on the list. But then I realized that most, if not all, of those countries are actually in Central America, not North America.

Central America is not a continent.

I'll take your quote and change a few words if the poll was about favourite European countries:

It does seem weird that England and Scotland aren't on the list. But then I realized that most, if not all, of those countries are actually in Great Britain, not Europe.

 

[Cachoo]

Have I been to Belize? No...but I had friends who like to scuba in certain areas around Belize and another friend went to a destination wedding there and had a great time. So Belize!

 

[watchthis!!]

Seems to be a pretty limited list.

How so?

 

[skatingguy]

How so?

There are many more countries are in North America than the ones listed. I'm assuming that there's a limit on the number of entries in a poll which is why so many countries (Barbados ) were left out.

 

[skategal]

One of my favourite countries, Costa Rica, was also left out.

 

[Japanfan]

Central America is not a continent.

I'll take your quote and change a few words if the poll was about favourite European countries:

It does seem weird that England and Scotland aren't on the list. But then I realized that most, if not all, of those countries are actually in Great Britain, not Europe.

Great Britain is a country, Central America is a region.

 

[tony]

Great Britain is a country, Central America is a region.

Great Britain actually is not a country, though IIRC. It’s a combination of countries. Don’t think of this in ISU-clumping terms.

There’s also a 6-continent idea that a lot of European and even South American education systems teach, combining the Americas. I remember the first time I had this argument after moving to Miami, only to look it up and see that it’s true.

 

[PeterG]

Great Britain is a country, Central America is a region.

Great Britain is three countries: Wales, Scotland and England.

 

[skatingguy]

The United Kingdom is a country.

 

[Sasha'sSpins]

 

[paskatefan]

&

 

[VGThuy]

I think what’s confusing to people is that in Olympic sports, the UK is called “Great Britain” and some people use that term to talk about the UK as a whole in conversational speech.

I think most people know Great Britain is the big island containing England, Wales, and Scotland while the UK is all of Great Britain plus Northern Ireland (part of the UK but not part of Great Britain…part of the island of Ireland but not part of the Republic of Ireland) and those islands that are part of Scotland, Wales, and England that aren’t attached of the big island itself.

Now some people say both the island of Ireland and the island of Great Britain and all the little island surrounding it are collectively called “The British Isles”, including the British dependencies that are not part of the UK but are located pretty close to Great Britain like The Isle of Man, Guernsey, and Jersey…although their citizens are considered British citizens like the oversea territories far away (like the Falkland Islands).

TL;DR: everything with a Union Jack on its flag or QEII on its currency is under the crown. Only four countries make up the UK. Three of those countries make up Great Britain but not some of the islands of those three countries. However, in some conversational speech and in terms of Olympic sports - Great Britain is used as opposed to the UK because the team is actually called Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic Team but is just often shortened to Team GB and the initials are GBR. I won’t get into how it makes some in Northern Ireland feel or the fact that many Northern Irish athletes compete for the Republic of Ireland instead.

Also, another note:

I learned in my Asian studies in my geography classes in college that there’s no real need to fight about whether there are 6 or 7 continents because it all changes depending on what context you’re using it in and who you are talking to. To many Asians, the idea that Asia is one giant continent is still preposterous to them considering how incredibly different regions are from one another and was obviously a western construct to put all the “weird” eastern orientals into one category. That said, sociologically-speaking, in “western countries” where there is a huge “Asian” diaspora, there has been a push to include all of what the west considers “Asian” in groups and organizations because of shared similarities in treatment and the immigrant experience and not fitting in due to looks/language/religion/culture.

Regarding the right answer to the question how many continents there are…I saw an interesting argument once that used tectonic plates, but that argument would create totally different “recognized” continents than we have now, e.g. does separate the Americas into 3-5 different ones.

 

[MacMadame]

Central America is not a continent.

I'll take your quote and change a few words if the poll was about favourite European countries:

It does seem weird that England and Scotland aren't on the list. But then I realized that most, if not all, of those countries are actually in Great Britain, not Europe.

Except those countries are absolute in Europe.

 

[watchthis!!]

There are many more countries are in North America than the ones listed. I'm assuming that there's a limit on the number of entries in a poll which is why so many countries (Barbados ) were left out.

I assumed there was a limit, but I didn't know what the number was (it's ten). I had other countries that I was going to add to the poll, but after ten, there were no more boxes to add other entries. I assure you Barbados was #11.

 

[skatingguy]

I assumed there was a limit, but I didn't know what the number was (it's ten). I had other countries that I was going to add to the poll, but after ten, there were no more boxes to add other entries. I assure you Barbados was #11.

You should have done a series of polls with the top answers advancing to the next round - get a bracket going - who doesn't like a good bracket.

 

[Winnipeg]

Canada

I like USA too.

I have heard Costa Rica is great but I have never been

 

[watchthis!!]

You should have done a series of polls with the top answers advancing to the next round - get a bracket going - who doesn't like a good bracket.

I could have. But that wasn't really the point of this thread. I don't know how I came across the article that made me create this poll. But when people think of North America, they think of the United States. And Canada and Mexico might get a nod, but what about those United States of America!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I thought there could maybe be some discussion about something new.