Mancunian assessment: 29 with mountains and ocean access is not a crisis. That said, I've lived here long enough that I too was on the seawall complaining, so.

Took my parents to Capilano because it was 'the famous one'. Paid the fee, dad's review was 'it's a bridge'. Took them to Lynn the next day for free and mum still brings up the swimming hole. Case closed.

Mountains you can cross in a week with soup waiting at the end sounds suspiciously like the Lake District with better weather and higher ceilings. Sold, frankly.

Vancouver-via-Manchester, and the ferry-as-itinerary thing took me an embarrassingly long time to accept after a lifetime of trains that come every ten minutes. Out here the boat is a scheduled event you plan your soul around, and once you make peace with that the coast is glorious. Reserve the car spot, bring a cooler, become one with the lineup.

Coming from a country where sushi means a sad petrol station triangle, I want to be clear that your 'affordable neighbourhood spot' complaints are happening in paradise. That said, following this thread closely.

That is precisely how they get all of us. The seawall is the free sample.

As a Brit I'm keeping my head down through all of this and quietly moving my tin of spaghetti hoops to the back of the cupboard.

The British Museum's great court has loads of seating and it's free entry, so pound for pound the UK takes the value category. The pound in question being zero.

Twelve dry days would qualify as a national emergency in Manchester. Here everyone just goes to the beach like it's owed to them. I've lived here six years and the audacity still gets me.

I did the Grind once. Some cheery retiree in trail runners passed me twice, which I've decided means he did it twice, which is worse.

The romance is real but so is the bloke in the next bunk who snored like a departing ferry. I still agree with you, mind. Even the snoring is more charming than a 4am budget airline queue.