On the power of travelling

This post made me think.
It came as a nice coincidence. Yesterday I was talking to my friend (who was one of the girls in Amsterdam with me) and she said - It was such an useful  thing for me to just break away from here for a while. It did me well.
And I started thinking about the healing power of changing your landscape for a while.

I have always believed, since I tried it on myself, that when something goes wrong, running away is not the solution. You can start again somewhere else, but you'll find yourself tied in the same situation you run away from, unless you change.
But a brief escape has some magical powers.
At some point, when I was living in Buffalo, I had a mini meltown. I was running a bunch of experiments, but the instrument I was using would cooperate once every 5 times. I didn't have much time. I was tired. I was starting to hate everything and everybody.
I took 3 days off and drove to Toronto. Had lunch on the shore, that day, then went to lay on the grass in High Park for a couple of hours. Thinking about nothing.
And I followed the same recipe for the two following days: do whatever you feel like doing.
I came back another person.

It's nice to go elsewhere. See people who live slightly differently. Eat something different for breakfast. See different shop windows, wander which train is the right one, look at the houses and imagine who could live there. Use a different bed, pillow, shower.
And then come back home and see that you know exactly how to attain the right temperature in your shower, realize how you missed the smell of your neighborhood or your breakfast bun (I am a huge fan of breakfasts, in case you didn't realize) or your fridge.
And realize your life is just wanderful as it is, that you made it this way, and you are the only one who has some power to change it for the better.

Waiting for my next trip!