Alright, let me start over. First of all, my apologies if I hurt your feelings or offended you in any way. That was not my intention. As I said, I based my comment on what I know of England and GB in general. You are right in that I have not been there myself, so all of my insights are based on first hand accounts with friends or, my own knowledge based on tv and internet viewing.

I have no quarrel with old. Some of the most beautiful places were built centuries ago. What I meant was, for instance, a typical row house, which might have small rooms and outdated kitchen and bath facilities. When I mentioned high prices, I again based that on my own research (thought of getting a place over there) and got a whole lot of it from Escape to the Country episodes. Where, imo, the small country cottages sell for outrageous prices. For instance, it's not uncommon to see a smallish place with a small yard sell for the equivalent of $750,000. To me, that's a LOT. And it makes me wonder how people pay it. I don't know, but I can't imagine that the average salary there is twice or more what the average salary in the US would be. And I'm not even sure twice the salary would still be able to pay that much. And I'm talking about a small place, not a place where people might have a family with 4 or 5 kids. So unless what they are representing is false, or just a skewed view, I would say the costs there for housing (which is most people's biggest expense) are far higher than in most of the US (obviously, places like NYC and San Fran excepted) and the accommodations are much smaller, to boot.

As for stereotypical Americans -- some stereotypes have at least a grain of truth to them. Some are wildly speculative. I have been outside my country, but I look at things differently. When I think of the US, I consider travel within its bounds as akin to visiting other 'countries.' Sure, we have language in common, and the ubiquitous McDonald's restaurants, but there is so much variety between one state and another, there's really no need to go 'abroad' unless one specifically wants to see a different country. From the mountains in Colorado, to the beaches in California or Florida, the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico, the urban cities of NY, DC, to the history associated with birthplaces of our country, like Boston and Philadelphia, not to mention the hospitality of the southern states and the wide open plains of Nebraska and Kansas ... there's plenty for us to see here, while spending our money at home and supporting American businesses.