A vintage version of the kind of person waxes so strongly about something he/she could not possibly have any insight on; in this case foreign lands by someone who's who's never stepped out of his/her immediate borders (city/country). This would be a 19th century masterpiece if ignorance were a collectible... Check out more splendid ignorance @ source.

yes, evidence that the trait of strong opinions on foreign lands, without support of experience, knowledge, facts, research etc. is not new!

you are right Geekette & abailart, i much agree with u, yet here is another aspect i ask as food4thought:

if we ever have to tread our foot on every land we talk about, what should be with us, dreamers of the tomorrows, explorers of possible futures? .. we do wish dreaming our insights on lands & seas human foot was never tread be4 .... (!!?)

Yes, syncopath, that too. If we look at things with our imagination everything becomes mysterious and beckons, even our own land and people, even ourselves. May I recommend to you 'Invisible Cities' by Italo Calvino? Now there is a travel book to dream upon!

10x abailart, didn`t read `invisible cities` its on my wish list
yet i often read kafka that never left his home in prague (metamorphosis 4exmp) and i warmly recommend Borges that takes me regularly to lands & times never been b4 ....