I see a lot of highly upvoted comments that amount to something like: travel won't change you or fix you. In general, I disagree. I think most people don't have the self-awareness to even know when they are being changed. We are all products of our past environment and our current surroundings define our behavior much more strongly than most are even capable of admitting. We're talking deeply-held ego-protective defense mechanisms here. Strong stuff.

To walk outside of your native environment is to walk outside yourself. Do that long enough and often enough and you will become a new self. You can carefully bring along a bubble of your comfort zone while traveling and insulate yourself from change. With the internet that's easier than ever and I have done it. On the other hand, the longer I get immersed, the more reverse culture shock I feel when I get home and that's the feeling of having changed more than you realized.