Taras Grescoe on how we can misunderstand the places we visit

"The problem is that, unversed in the local language, their vision framed by the boilerplate of literature, [travelers] often fail to see the new land with their own eyes. Gradually, a kind of self-creating travel circuit emerges, reinforced by travelers who have read the same books; the route becomes populated by people enthusiastically confirming one another's prejudices."
--Taras Grescoe, End of Elsewhere: Travels Among the Tourists (2003)