That is the magic of travel. You leave your home secure in your own knowledge and identity. But as you travel, the world in all it's richness intervenes. You meet people you could not invent; you see scenes you could not imagine. Your own world, which was so large as to consume your whole life, becomes smaller and smaller until it is only one tiny dot in time and space. You return a different person.
Kent Nerburn (1999). “Letters to My Son: A Father's Wisdom on Manhood, Women, Life and Love”, p.111, New World Library