So only one in five Americans have a passport? American people are so ignorant to the rest of the world, are so scared, or know they'll be hated so much, they just don't go anywhere?

This is a conversation I hear thrown around so often. Firstly, I believe around half of Americans have a passport. Secondly, have you been there? it's bloody huge!

Think of an ideal holiday; beach, walking, skiing, climbing, fun-parks, city-break, golfing - you can do it all there. Why would you need the hassle of going abroad when you have so much - in your own language and using your currency? I speak to people in the UK and hear about some fabulous places they've been, yet many haven't seen half of their own country. America has patriotism, something lacking over here.

Some people love to laugh at the 'stupid Americans', and yes, I'm sure there are plenty of them - just as there are plenty of stupid British, Italian, French, German, Chinese. America is a huge place and you'll find there what you'll find anywhere - good, bad, intelligent, stupid, fat, thin, friendly, miserable - every kind of person.

I've had four holidays in America and they've each been great and each been completely different. I'm happy to accept that I still know very little about the place, despite driving over five thousand miles around there. If you haven't been, go and have a good look around - see that our newspapers have been telling us the worst, or just making stuff up as usual. Don't forget, they gave us The Simpsons, Friends, Cheers, The Big Bang Theory, Madonna - they can't possibly be that bad!