Let’s talk geography (in a fun and interesting way of course!).  

The United States of America (USA) is made up of 50 states.  

The United Kingdom (UK) is made up of 4 countries (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland).  

The U.S.A.  is about 40 times the size of the entire U.K.  There are five U.S. states that are actually bigger than the country of England alone!!  (Alaska, Texas, Oregon, Montana and New Mexico are all larger than England)

England is an island located almost directly across the Atlantic from New England.  So, when someone asks me if I have a layover on my flights to England from Boston, well hmmm…. let’s hope not!!!

I am originally from New England, Central Massachusetts to be exact.  New England is comprised of 6 states: Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island and is located on the eastern coast of the United States.  

If I were to fly to Los Angeles, California, which is on the west coast of the U.S., the flight time from Boston, Massachusetts, which is on the east coast of the U.S., would be approximately 6 ½ to 7 hours, traveling roughly 2600 miles.  A flight from Boston to London is roughly about the same duration, 7 hours or so, and is roughly 3200 miles.  Most people I talk to can’t believe it takes the same amount of time to get to England as it does to get to California from Boston (and usually there are layovers enroute to California from Boston, extending the flight time by two or more hours)!!

 That’s how large the entirety of the U.S. is!

Let’s talk population!

The latest official government estimate of the population of England is approximately 56 million people. England is the largest of the four countries which make up the United Kingdom.

Wales’s population is 3.136 million, Northern Ireland is 1.885 million and Scotland is 5.454 million.  The United States has a population of 331.9 million!  Only China and India have larger populations than the U.S.!!

Almost always, when I first meet someone over here across the pond in England, they naturally detect my accent isn’t Brit and will ask me where I am originally from.  I usually start by saying, “I’m from the states, New England area, Massachusetts, on the East Coast.”  I then prepare myself for additional questions!  When I elaborate and say Boston area, some folks will know, and may have even been to Boston, even if only on a layover to Orlando, Florida or Los Angeles, California!  Some have been to Boston for business or maybe even a vacation.  But a lot of folks will say they’ve been to Florida, or California and ask me if Boston is close.  Then comes my attempt at trying to explain the size and expanse of the U.S.  And trust me, geography has never been one of my strong suits!

On the flip side, I’ve had folks in the states ask me, “Where is England located?”.  And when I went to Greece on vacation (holiday), folks in the states thought that was such an exotic place to visit!  What folks in the states don’t realize is that people in England go on vacation (holiday) to places like Greece, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Sweden and Turkey as often as folks in the U.S. travel to Florida or California for a vacation!  The flight time for me to fly from England to Greece was about 3 ½ hours.  We can travel to Spain in less than a 2-hour flight time.  We can travel to France and take our own car via a ferry!!

The world isn’t as big as we think, and traveling is easier than ever!  

Think global, make the world yours for the experience!