Take a Briton abroad and it can result in embarrassing misunderstandings. Remember the woman from Manchester who took her television to Spain so she could watch Coronation Street?

Or the couple who thought that they had booked a flight to Santiago in Spain, then found themselves taking off for the Chilean capital?

So it's no surprise to hear that a survey by laterooms.com found that most of us can't tell our Arenals from our Elbas. Four in five couldn't place the Costa Brava and half couldn't pick out the Algarve (it's in Portugal, dear).

Furthermore, two thirds couldn't identify more than half the countries in Europe. And it's getting worse. Cheap flights to buy cigarettes mean that people are flying to Polish cities that they can't even pronounce, let alone place on a map.

Meanwhile, Bulgarian resorts are becoming as popular as Bravas and Baltic cities are pinching partygoers from Barcelona. So what is the capital of Lithuania, then?

I take comfort from a Mori survey a while ago which said that foreign nationals find most British travellers humorous, polite and tolerant. That is what you'd have to be if you find yourself in Chile by mistake. Or you tried to tune in to ITV on the Costa Brava.

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