Gotta say — I love this quote. I was 41 before I left home alone on my first international trip, and 42 when I arrived solo for three weeks in a country whose language I couldn’t speak. In fact, I didn’t even know the alphabet! I still remember stepping onto a bus in the dark after 15 hours of travel and being dumbstruck by the reality of what I was doing. How could I have been so naive totally lacking in good sense?????
And I am eternally grateful, because those three weeks alone in Crete taught me more about myself than 42 years of living, and worlds about “foreigners”, adventure, and the biggest risk of all — opening the eyes and heart to new experiences.
More, please.
Mosaic Art Retreats 
I can totally relate to Twain’s quote and to your experience in Crete. Leaving one’s own familiar surroundings and adapting to new ways of life, a new country and culture, is for me as you well wrote ä “opening of the heart and eyes to new experiences”. It may change you and your life for good.