What is America like in general?

I've made a few visits to the States and all I can say is that it's simply too vast and regionally diverse to get an easy handle on. There's a common culture which you can recognise from one end to the other but the landscapes and character of it's cities are all very different indeed.

Generally speaking I always found it's people friendly and welcoming (to quite humbling degrees in some cases). For a country often characterised as arrogant and self-absorbed I can't overstate how surprisingly open and welcoming they are and how wrong many of the negative stereotypes are.

People are louder and more extrovert than I'm used to. I'm used to being and living amongst eccentrics and introverts. I'm not sure Americans like such people very much and not taking part in community culture doesn't seem to get looked on all too fondly. Only on a couple of occasions did I get a dose of genuine culture shock (I'm British). Many of them take their flag, their symbols of state and military prowess seriously so if you're like me and are about as nationalistic as a tatty dishcloth and given to being sarcastic about everything, I'd recommend keeping away from matters of politics.

NY is vast and filthy but endlessly fascinating and extremely well organised in terms of infrastructure. I haven't been to LA so can't comment on the place.

What did seem to be a common requirement was the ability to drive. Something I lack so was always dependent upon others to get around whenever I was in an area without public transport (which there are MANY).

America is vast and greatly varied. From enormous cities to small, rural towns... from high tech to old-fashioned... from religious to godless... from sub-tropical paradise to deep woods. And from frozen forests to charming meadows.

That's a very tough question. One thing I can say, is that Americans can be very great and giving people. We can also be murderous wretches when pushed, but that isn't really a secret, now is it? :)

If you are planning to visit us, I would recommend seeing New York or Los Angeles - it would be very expensive and time consuming to see both. But we also have beautiful natural places, as well... The Grand Canyon... Yosemite National Park...

To be fair, you could spend months trekking around the United States and never come close to seeing it all. Canada is no different. Mexico is also large and greatly varied... I include Canada and Mexico because "America" usually applies to the USA, but it often also applies to "North America", as everyone always adds the "South" when speaking of our southern neighbors.

If you are planning to come, talk to a travel agent... and study the last 60 years of our history - you don't need to master it, obviously, but it's good to know that some things, said in harmless naivete can be explosive when in the wrong company... But I suppose that's the same in every culture.

L.A. is a terrible place to visit first of all. People are going to be different depending on where you visit. Wherever you are from, expect America to be very different. It's different from anywhere else.

The people are idiotic (not all, but mainly the christians). Christianity keeps getting in the way of our political system and goals in our government, thus making it a chaotic nation to live in. There is so much controversy over almost everything, and many people you meet here are condescending, rude, selfish, and close-minded.

Don't get me wrong, there are some AMAZING people here that you will meet as well. Many other Americans unlike the ones I listed above are intellectual, nice, caring, and giving people.