The whole of England is not London ;-)

I get this all the time, too. Most recently (this week), someone was asking me about all the CCTV in London. I'm sure CCTV is everywhere in London, and it is around here in there in the local market towns, by my little village in Somerset doesn't have so much!

I still get this all the time and I live in the UK now in Brixham in Devon about 5 hours from London. But all my friends still ask me how life in London is...no matter how many times I tell them I don't live in London they just don't get it...my family understands where I am but the rest of the world doesn't lol

I like that when I get some distant relative coming over on a 'trip of a lifetime' which is a 7 day whirlwind tour of London, Paris and Rome and suggesting they pop up and see us for a bit.

I can't help wondering whether those whirlwind tours are one of the main reasons that some people get the idea that places are much closer together than they really are.   It works the other way as well, when tours here are advertised as something like "See the Grand Canyon, spend a night in the famous casinos of Las Vegas, see all the sights of Hollywood, visit Disneyland, and end with an exploration of historic San Francisco."   In 4 days!   I would think the only thing you'd want to explore in San Francisco by the time you got there would be a comfortable bed.

Yes, it's a very common phenomenon. London=England to many Americans. They've just never heard of any other British cities or towns.
But then there was the British woman who, on learning I was American, wanted to know if I could fix her up with any rich Texans!

Yes, it's a very common phenomenon. London=England to many Americans. They've just never heard of any other British cities or towns.
But then there was the British woman who, on learning I was American, wanted to know if I could fix her up with any rich Texans!

Hehe!!!! 

Yes, it's a very common phenomenon. London=England to many Americans. They've just never heard of any other British cities or towns.

I don't know I guess I had the benefit of my parents and half my family at least knowing of Sheffield when I mentioned where DH was from.  They were like "Wow, Sheffield Steel..." and wanted me to get them knife sets as if I'm made of money!     I'd like to get a set of Sheffield knives before anyone in my family, but I'm not holding my breath on that nor is it a priority purchase.  But they do like their sets of coasters and plates that they now have that were given as wedding gifts.

Birmingham all you have to say is that's where Ozzy Osbourne's from. 
Sheffield - mention knives (steel), Sean Bean or the movie the Full Monty. 
Liverpool - the Beatles.
York - mention that the castle was featured in the movie Braveheart.   

Birmingham all you have to say is that's where Ozzy Osbourne's from. 
Sheffield - mention knives (steel), Sean Bean or the movie the Full Monty. 
Liverpool - the Beatles.
York - mention that the castle was featured in the movie Braveheart.   

Ha!  My family wouldn't have a clue about any of the above, except *maybe* the Beatles. 

Sheffield - It's where Def Leppard is from.

Birmingham all you have to say is that's where Ozzy Osbourne's from. 
Sheffield - mention knives (steel), Sean Bean or the movie the Full Monty. 
Liverpool - the Beatles.
York - mention that the castle was featured in the movie Braveheart.   

If I told any of my family or friends that Ozzy was from Birmingham, they would probably say, "Oh he's not from London??" Hahahahahaha.

Sheffield - It's where Def Leppard is from.

And Joe Cocker, I think.    Who?   

Yes. People keep telling me they have layovers at Heathrow, and I should come see them.  I then mention that it's a couple of hours by very fast train to Manchester! (Let alone trying to drive...)

I had this happen a few times when I lived in southwest Pembrokeshire. I had to carefully explain that it was about five hours on the train, involving two changes, and that there were very few trains a day to London - the earliest I could possibly get there was mid-afternoon. Oy.

But it wasn't much different when I lived in the US. We moved from Canada to Shreveport, Louisiana. During our first few weeks, some friends from Canada phoned and said, "We're here! Come and get us at our hotel!" They gave us the address, and my Dad and I drove around forever trying to find a hotel on Canal Street. We eventually gave up and went home to find out that they Canadians were in a hotel on Canal Street in New Orleans.    This was before the interstate had been built, so it was a good 6-7 hour drive.

But it wasn't much different when I lived in the US. We moved from Canada to Shreveport, Louisiana. During our first few weeks, some friends from Canada phoned and said, "We're here! Come and get us at our hotel!" They gave us the address, and my Dad and I drove around forever trying to find a hotel on Canal Street. We eventually gave up and went home to find out that they Canadians were in a hotel on Canal Street in New Orleans.    This was before the interstate had been built, so it was a good 6-7 hour drive.

At least they had the correct state. 

Sheffield - mention knives (steel), Sean Bean or the movie the Full Monty. 

Does that work? Sean Bean was on TV here and DW said "I didn't know he was English!" Same with Def Leppard as well!

Same thing with my cousin who is trying to plan some kind of whirlwind trip including Brussels, Paris, Italy, and the Arran Islands off of Ireland!  She's got a layover in Manchester and trying to fit us in (it tires me out just thinking about it!).

although, when we learnt that an old friend of DW's she's not seen in years, who now lives in California, was doing a Mediterranean cruise this summer we did try to arrange to have a long weekend in Barcelona so we could meet up - seemed the easiest and cheapest way that we'd get to see her. Unfortunately the timing was wrong so we didn't manage it.

I hate it when, having established that no, you do not live in London, they want to know how far Leeds is from London. So you try to explain that it's roughly half way to Edinburgh and they still look blank.