This leads into one of the weaknesses I found while taking flying lessons; that is instruction is specific to where you live. Where I am nearly all runways were within 100' of sea level, there are no mountains but there is lots of open water and military airspace. I dont think either of my instructors ever discussed how to operate at a higher alt runway; latter on I went up with a friend and I had trouble staying at an airports pattern altitude what was not at 1000' + "a bit", mentally I had trouble remembering to stay at 2400' to maintain 1000' over the airfield, never had to do that around here :-) For you you may need to independently research best practices on how to fly near wide bodys of water, or read a bit more on military airspace.
For this I wish private students were required to spend 2-5 hours in a simulator to expose them to different geographic areas as well as some common malfunctions. But I work with sims so maybe I am biased.