Originally Posted by
stevento
Indeed, I see the American culture has spread far and deep, and has replaced the British art of subtle superiority and condescension within polite discourse with just being outright rude.
No one was talking about one country per day. As it happens, this post was spurred by my asking if Banff National Park will be mostly open on the Memorial Day weekend in the US, and being told that 3 days was not enough to explore it.
A little sensitive perhaps? The point I was making is that it depends what you are looking for, or perhaps even what you are able to look for. I absolutely accept that, if you have no holiday allowance, spending a week somewhere is out of the question. But if you can spend a week in a major world city, you will learn far more than if you spend a day. And, you will return with a much better understanding of that place.
For example, I recently spent a week in Buenos Aires as part of a three week itinerary (over Christmas and New Year, when business at home is closed, I might add) and I felt I got to learn a good amount about Argentina during that time. The reading made so much more sense, and it allowed me to discuss things with people in a way you simply cannot. As a result I feel a real connection with Argentina and follow it very closely.
By contrast, I spent one day in Egypt, in Cairo as it happens. I stayed in a Hilton, I went on the Nile, saw the old city and toured the Stock Exchange. Have I been to Cairo? Yes. Do I know anything about Cairo that goes beyond what I read in the news? No. Did I meet any Egyptians, or people who were not Western tourists? No.
And, as for Banff, the OP never mentioned it in the original post, or indeed any subsequent one until this. And a tourist sight is quite different from a city or a country.