I have to take exception to the advice on Heather’s question about whether to take her old Alfa to Italy. Tom & Ray said not to bother taking it to the ‘little’ island where she was heading. The ‘little’ island where she thinks NAS Sigonella is located is the the island of Sicily, which takes far more than a couple of hours to drive around, has two major cities and a 5,000,000+ population. As there are plenty of Ferraris running around there I wouldn’t expect that she will have any difficulty getting support for a 20 yr/old Alfa. I’m sure she’d find the Sicilians quite resourceful at restoring this car.
Geographic ignorance is at an all-time high, I think.
For example, some surveys have shown that a very high percentage of the US population believes that the state of New Mexico is part of the nation of Mexico.
If a great many people are this ignorant about the geography of their own country, how can we expect that they will have a clue regarding European geography?
Edited to add:
Quite a few years ago, one of my students excitedly told me about her summer travels with her parents.
She stated that, “We went to England, and France, and Italy, and then we went to Europe”.
For all we know, perhaps the caller who thought that Sicily is “a little island” might actually be this former student, all grown up.
Having lived in NM, VDC, I can confirm that. When people find out I’m from there, they still sometimes ask me if I’m here on a work visa.