Being a stranger in a strange place is a kind of liberation

“The freedom of being a stranger in a strange place, knowing no one, needing to know no one, with no obligations, elicits deep feelings of liberation. The farther from the beaten path I go, the quicker my attachment to any idea of how I should be treated is discarded — I’m grateful merely that my needs are met. Without an agenda, or company to distract me, I invariably feel a certain hopelessness that can appear contrary to my aimlessness. Perhaps it’s just the simple joy of being alive.”
–Andrew McCarthy, The Longest Way Home (2012)