re: UK trip

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I was leaning UK since I figured it be an easy way to knock out 3 countries in one trip, but the more I lean towards a 10ish day single country tip I guess I could go to any European country.

This will be my first Europe vacation, have done Mexico multiple times and Thailand as my other non US vacations.

For a first time European vacation for a 1 country trip of 9-12 days would England be a good first trip? Also interested in Germany if just doing a single country curious which the more traveled would pick as a first?

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I think you pick based on the culture/environment you're most excited about. You can do 3+ countries in Europe in the same time with ease. I'm not saying you should, but it's absolutely doable.

The UK is a good starter trip because language isn't much of an issue and for some it feels more familiar. That said, I want things to feel less familiar, so I'd probably opt for the continent. But you can get a little more "different" by getting out of London, which you'll do regardless.

My first trip to the UK was London/Liverpool/Netherlands. It worked well for us (we had reason to go to Liverpool and friends in London), but it was nice to break up the UK portion with a few days in the Netherlands because it got our feet wet for more adventures in Europe later on. I usually suggest three ideas to people who want to go to the UK/Europe:

1) UK+Scotland or UK+Ireland or UK+Netherlands. This usually ends up being London+daytrip or one other UK city+Dublin/Edinburgh/Amsterdam. You don't have to combine, but a lot of people won't be back for multiple years so seeing a little more now is reasonable, IMO.

2) Paris + some other region in France (Alsace, Normandy, a wine region, etc.).

3) Some combination of German, Austrian, Czech and Hungarian cities (not all). It's a region with fairly good travel between the major cities and provides immediate, easy exposure to fairly differing cultures.