On your first question, I tend to specify the city where I go in the US: “I’m going to NY” or “I’m going to Seattle”. Thinking about it, whenever I travel anywhere I tend do the same: I’m going to London and Brighton in the UK, or going to Paris, rather than just going to the UK or France. Unless is somewhere “smaller” with not that many big cities, eg. Puerto Rico. Then, for me saying “I’m going to Europe”, would be the equivalent of saying “I’m going to North America” :)