"Knowing" a country and judgments about it
So, two things that I've noticed over the years:
1) I'm a reasonably quick traveller (and that's the way I like it, so please, refrain from advising me to slow down or whatever) in that I frequently spend 2-3 days in a city, or even country, and move on. A significant amount of the destinations involve the capital of a country; not always, but most. Too frequently, especially people from the west of the Atlantic, outright declare you 'can't get to know or the feel of a country' this way. However, I believe I can get a vibe for a place/country in such a short space of time, especially as I understand one city, even the capital, isn't always a fair representation of a country as a whole. It's quite rare I don't enjoy a place, or even a country as a whole, so I at least retain an open mind about things like this.
2) Related to this, it seems to me that people are quite happy to judge an entire country, or even region, based on visiting just one or two places, my husband being a prime example of this. Example - we went to Bolivia in 2017, only La Paz and Salar de Uyuni. Both of us suffered from altitude sickness, and even with just 3 days in the country, he made it clear he never wants to return to Bolivia ever again. This is despite not even knowing about the lower parts of the country, other ecological areas, etc. He also deemed Laos unworthy of ever going back to again despite only spending 2 days in the capital. Additionally, I also realise that people will judge cities/countries without ever having been there. Case point - I lived in Birmingham for 7 years and many people from the UK I knew who didn't come from or live there would say "I hate Birmingham" "Why?" "Just don't like it" "Have you ever been?" "No/I've been to the NEC/New Street station" "..." - not exactly fair, is it?
What are your thoughts on these issues?