"We travel because we need to, because distance and difference are the secret tonic of creativity. When we get home, home is still the same. But something in our mind has been changed, and that changes everything." --Jonah Lehrer, " Why We Travel ," Panorama Magazine (Deccember 2009)

The truth of a place is revealed by its scent. Forget political boundaries -- if you want to know what two places or lifestyles have in common, compare their smells. Tracing a fence along the back of the Allentown Fair last week, past the carny trailers, I smelled India. It was both a surprise and...