Originally Posted by
Giggleswick
Conversely, visiting a country doesn't necessarily mean somebody will appreciate its history or culture.
My mother grew up in poverty in New York City, was an art student (High School of Music and Art and Cooper Union, if you need her credentials), spent lots of time in the Metropolitan Museum, Cloisters, Frick, etc. (all of which, by the way, have actual art...from other countries!) and used the NY Public Library to the fullest. Did she comprehend less about the Italian Renaissance than someone who went to Florence for wining, dining, and shopping, with a few hours walking through the Uffizi and maybe a visit to a few churches?
"Oh you read about it? Well, I was there." A statement that I'd never use, even if I had been there. How about "Oh, you went there? Did you understand, or even consider, what you were looking at?" I wouldn't use that one, either, and of course for sheer snob appeal it doesn't adequately dismiss people who lack the resources to travel.
I travel as much as I can and on a budget, and I've been to about 25 countries, but I will never in my lifetime be able to travel to all the places I've learned about from books or classes (Leptis Magna? Bamayan? Çatalhöyük? Aksum? Mars? or even just all the places in the US). I guess I've just wasted a lot of time stuffing my nose into a book. Unlimited travel, or even limited travel, is simply not within everyone's grasp. And for those who can travel, it's not always a educational experience; nor should it have to be.
As I said the combination of both book learning and first-hand experience is unbeatable. The book experience is richer and more meaningful if you can actually go to where you've read about. There is not a single country that when there I haven't changed my opinion about and not always in a good way.
If you've visited 25 countries then you are a rarity among Americans most of whom do not go beyond their own borders and are the lesser for it. I'd also say the same thing about the minority of Canadians who don't hold passports and don't leave our borders.