anchorite

“Travel into foreign countries is of very great use; not to bring back (as most of our young monsieurs do) an account only of how many paces Santa Rotonda is in circuit; or of the richness of Signora Livia’s petticoats; or, as some others, how much Nero’s face, in a statue in such an old ruin, is longer and broader than that made for him on some medal; but to be able chiefly to give an account of the humors, manners, customs and laws of those nations where he has been, and that we may whet and sharpen our wits by rubbing them against those of others.”
–Michel de Montaigne, “Of the education of children” (1579)

Although I only scratched a handful of countries most of my memories aren’t from places, but memories of people, smells, sounds and other unexplainable sensations. The truth is nowadays I don’t carry a “places to see” checklist like I did, or maybe that list became just a guideline not as strict as it use to be. The problem is sharing your experiences back home is getting harder each year, not everything can be shown with landmark snapshots.