Vagabonding.  A must read.  Go buy it, TODAY.

It may resonate particularly strongly with me because I already hold the belief that salvation of our temporary soul and life lies in experiencing multiple cultures and ways of life.  If it's the only thing you ever get from my site, then I can die in peace now.  Just scurry to your local bookstore, or go to Amazon.com and buy it.

The book focuses primarily on the fact that it is perfectly reasonable and attainable for ANYONE to live abroad, travel, and combine the currently accepted cubicle lifestyle with meaningful exploration of the real world.  It is a critically important read for you especially if you've been fooled into believing that your 9-5 life, bills, and everything that goes with it is all there is.  Without going to extremes, without having to make any real sacrifice you too can become a real person, experience adventure, life, and one day be old with a big smile on your face.

Take notes, read it twice, use it as the greatest tool you've ever found to make the small tweaks necessary to break out of the shell and see the world.  The underlying important fact is that you may come to realize that what you currently believe as 'real' is merely a subtext of your life that is created by your surrounding culture.  It isn't any universal truth.  Finding happiness, meaning, and fulfilling goals often are out of reach for the average individual who has not broken through the veil of our 'default cultural context'.  This is what makes the book so ultimately important.

There.  I'm done over-emphasizing it all now.  If you get it and it does something for you, drop me a line.  It'll make me happy.