<p>Refusing to go outside one’s comfort zone reeks of provincialism. In my experience some of the most east-coast-centric people I know are incredibly opinionated about how awful the south is–without ever having visited it. In fact, they claim they are “afraid” to go there because they would not feel comfortable. They might cut the midwest a bit more slack because a) they live here now or b) because it contains Chicago. But the people like this who live here are also not people who would vacation in the northwoods or settle for their kids going to college anywhere but the northeast.</p>